Blogger and the DMCA

Lots of posts this week about claims that Blogger is removing blog posts without giving users any notice. From LA Weekly:

Google, the bloggers believe, has quietly changed the methods by which it enforces its user agreement. Whereas in the past, a blog owner would receive a warning before a post’s removal, Google is now simply hitting the delete button.

This article got fairly wide pick-up in the ensuing days, and has resulted in a fair number of concerned e-mails to me and others on the Blogger team. I left a comment a few minutes ago on the LA Weekly site, but don’t see it yet and am not sure what their moderation process is… so to be safe, I’m posting here to help get the word out.

First things first: we have not changed our DMCA policy. It’s documented here, and it remains the process by which we deal with DMCA complaints by copyright-holders: upon receipt of a valid request, we are legally obligated to take down the content in question. We notify the blogger by e-mail, send the DMCA request to Chilling Effects, and invite the blogger to challenge the DMCA notice by filing a counter-notice. The original complainant has 14 days to file suit, or we reinstate the content in question.

A point worth making here: if you’re a Blogger user, it’s a very good idea to ensure that the e-mail address you have associated with your blog is one you continue to check on a regular basis.

Questions? Suggestions? Best to direct them to our Help group, where we monitor all feedback and address specific issues.

(Disclaimer: in general I do not pre-clear blog posts with our legal department. But in this case, because it involves specific questions related to our policy of dealing with legal complaints, I double-checked with our legal department.)

4 responses to “Blogger and the DMCA”

  1. There's a difference between having a policy and the way it's enforced.sThe policy may have remained the same, but Blogger has pretty much had a let-sleeping-dogs-lie attitude until recently.s I know so many friends that have had posts deleted.s There should be a warning system – because all I can see right now is a bunch of people migrating from Blogger.

  2. Roland – Thanks for the comment. As far as I'm aware, the policy and its enforcement have stayed the same. (I joined the team last month, but have talked with many who were involved previously and have been told that we've been pretty consistent on this.)sThat said, I'm looking into the issue of people not receiving the e-mails that were sent; that's obviously a challenge – if you don't know you've had a post become the subject of a DMCA complaint, you don't know to challenge it.

  3. Why not post something in the blogger dashboard?sHave a “notes” section or something that you can alert the blog owner about the complaint.

  4. hmm. So some people believe that a site owner does not reserve the right to edit or delete any of it's own content? Now that's funny stuff. No forums owner can delete a post made by a member? lolsMight I suggest that people pay for a real domain and own the darn thing and stop freeloading off of others? … just a thought. A thought if you truly wish to have content that is your content and keep it all for yourselves. What did you think was suppose to happen if your content is on someone else's site? A big “Duh”?

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