Sending a Google DMCA Counter Notice - Legal Considerations

bigduck

bigduck

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Hi,

One of my websites displays publicly available social media profiles, and I believe it may soon receive a DMCA takedown notice in Google search results.
Based on my past experiences, the takedown notice may be issued by the legal team representing one of these major social media companies, citing a violation of their privacy policy.

I don't think they have the right to take down such a website. Search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo (not to mention AI) display public data, images, etc., without permission and nobody seems to care.
Their privacy policy is not a law, and there have also been many recent landmark legal cases that have affirmed the legality of web scraping (hiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn).
My website displays only public profiles, the content is not hosted anywhere, has an account removal form, etc., and I believe it is useful for researchers, data analysts under fair use.
These agencies are sending a ton of fake/auto-generated takedown notices (mostly via tracker.io, etc.) and I believe that they only start inspecting potentially infringing websites when someone files a counter notice.

If I live outside the US, I shouldn't be worried about lawsuits, right? Or maybe they have branches all over the world and can take legal action in my country?
Or maybe it is safer to send a counter DMCA from a fake address since I don't know who my data will be sent to?
I know nobody here is a lawyer, but maybe someone has sent some counter notices?

Thanks in advance.
 
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If you're OK with your pages disappearing from google results, the worst thing you can get is a lawsuit, if they indeed want to take you down completely.

I've been dealing with fake DMCAs in the past and I sent a lot of counter-notices. Since these DMCAs were fake, all my pages were restored, but it took me like 45 days to fully get them back online. Very annoying and frustrating, as Google accepts any kind of DMCA, sent from anyone.

When you send a counter-notice, the data you submit is transmitted to the sender of DMCA. So, you can fill any data you want but it's under your own signature (that means you are responsible if you send fake data). I just sent another address I have, and another phone number I own (I knew the DMCA was fake and sent by competitors, in the meantime I also found out who it was). I was careful to point out the DMCA is fake, but nobody at Google really sees these emails.

If the DMCA is sent from a legit company, which doesn't know how to use bots and just needs to present something to their clients, I would put my usual contact info and will be very interested to have a chat with them :)
 

bigduck​

It depends on where you live, Do u live in the EU?​



Regarding lawsuits, they can higher a lawyer anywhere in the world and he/she can lead the case, but it's not that simple really. Just because something is Not okay in the US, doesn't mean that automatically your country has to follow it, since local laws apply here, but if u live in EU then it's a bit different, since laws are pretty much close to each other, especially when it comes to copyright and intellectual property.

About the fake counterclaim, I really suggest you not do that, because that could lead to actual problems. If you think you are rightfully displaying content then contact the local lawyer who has experience in this, it's basically international law + copyright law.

Also, TOS/Privacy Policy stuff, it's correct it's not a law, just because I write something and you sign it, ( or agree to it when you use it ) doesn't mean it's automatically a rule since such things still have to come to terms with law and if it doesn't then you just have text that is worth of nothing.
 
So basically if you know they (the senders) are right and you're wrong, don't send a fake counter-notice. It can lead to further issues. Accept the fact that your pages will be gone from Google.

If you're 100% sure you did nothing wrong and it's obviously a mistake from an automated script (which I guess it's not really the case), then you can send counter-notices without the help of any lawyer.

This is not a legal advice, though. Consider talking to a lawyer which is good at these things.
 
Don't scare him guys, his niche is in black hat area so it happens a lot
 
Thanks for the answers, I live in the EU, so I suppose I'll need to consult with a lawyer.
Btw, I wonder how big US companies react to legal claims from my small country...
 
bigduck said:
Hi,

One of my websites displays publicly available social media profiles, and I believe it may soon receive a DMCA takedown notice in Google search results.
Based on my past experiences, the takedown notice may be issued by the legal team representing one of these major social media companies, citing a violation of their privacy policy.

I don't think they have the right to take down such a website. Search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo (not to mention AI) display public data, images, etc., without permission and nobody seems to care.
Their privacy policy is not a law, and there have also been many recent landmark legal cases that have affirmed the legality of web scraping (hiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn).
My website displays only public profiles, the content is not hosted anywhere, has an account removal form, etc., and I believe it is useful for researchers, data analysts under fair use.
These agencies are sending a ton of fake/auto-generated takedown notices (mostly via tracker.io, etc.) and I believe that they only start inspecting potentially infringing websites when someone files a counter notice.

If I live outside the US, I shouldn't be worried about lawsuits, right? Or maybe they have branches all over the world and can take legal action in my country?
Or maybe it is safer to send a counter DMCA from a fake address since I don't know who my data will be sent to?
I know nobody here is a lawyer, but maybe someone has sent some counter notices?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
but writing a counter notice recommended when you are sure that DMCA is wrong, only that you should not lie in any way. It is from the cross-border aspect that I would consider seeking legal assistanc.
 
Keep in mind the difference between copyright and TOS. Big social media platforms dont actually own the copyright to user photos or posts... the users do. So when their automated legal bots send a DMCA for privacy policy violations, they are actually abusing the DMCA system because they don't own the rights to that content. Google sometimes catches this and rejects the takedown if you point out the sender doesnt hold the copyright.

If you do decide to counter, using a completely fake name and address is a quick way to get your search console account flagged or ignored. If you want to stay anonymous, it is better to use a mail forwarding service or a business agent address. Honestly though, most of these big companies wont bother suing a small EU setup over public data... they usually just block your scrapers at the server level and move on.
 
@bigduck just keep in mind that hiQ v LinkedIn case didn't really end well for hiQ in the end. they won the initial ruling but linkedin dragged it out so long that hiQ basically went out of business from the legal fees anyway. big tech doesn't need to be legally right to ruin your project, they just have infinite money to outspend you.

if you file a counter notice against a massive social media company, you are basically waving a flag and asking their legal team to look at you manually. right now you are just getting hit by automated bots. if you force their hand with a counter, they might actually decide to block your scrapers or block your IPs completely... or worse.

tbh it's usually safer to just treat these types of sites as disposable. once a domain gets too much heat from dmca, you redirect the clean traffic or spin up a mirror. trying to fight them with legal paperwork when you are a small setup is usually a losing battle.
 
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