back to article Google takedown requests mushroom as copyright holders play whack-a-mole

Google received more than 65 million removal requests for search results containing alleged copyright violations in the space of the past month. The takedown demands have come from the usual suspects, including the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI), which asked Google to remove 7.1 million URLs as of mid-November this year …

  1. Unep Eurobats
    Coffee/keyboard

    Google takedown requests mushroom

    Surreal.

    1. NoneSuch Silver badge
      Devil

      "Yes, Google is your friend."

      Google is your friend, but like some mates of mine you watch them like a hawk and never pass out in their company. You wake up with one eyebrow and half your hair missing on a northbound train, no wallet, with a one way ticket to Ben Nevis.

      1. Barry Rueger

        Re: "Yes, Google is your friend."

        You wake up with one eyebrow and half your hair missing on a northbound train, no wallet, with a one way ticket to Ben Nevis.

        Really? That sounds more like Facebook to me.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Google takedown requests mushroom

      "To date, the BPI has requested the removal of 179,764,920 URLs from Google's search results, many of which relate to the same repeat-offending domains."

      Just include a date or changing hash in the URL - and redirect old ones to the current page. BPI and similar copyright cartels defeated automagically.

  2. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    At least...

    This might keep them too busy to look at all that lovely data that they slurp from a few billion users/poor unsuspecting souls.

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Not a chance. There's this thing called multitasking, and Google is rewriting the book on that.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What about the other guys?

    If these copyright holders are like everyone else, the don't even bother sending takedown requests to any search engines besides Google. So if Google's your buddy, chances are the other guys are even better buddies.... unless the pirate sites don't bother to do any SEO for them either.

    +1 for the pointless not-a-mole pic :D

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: What about the other guys?

      +1 for the pointless not-a-mole pic :D

      Why?

      Just why???

  4. davenewman

    requests mushroom

    Why does Google want a mushroom from them?

    1. Anonymous C0ward

      Re: requests mushroom

      Because the copyright holders are clearly on some good shit if they think this is a good way to put an end to piracy.

    2. Adam 1

      Re: requests mushroom

      I guess the copyright holders must know something about living in the dark.

      1. a_yank_lurker

        Re: requests mushroom

        In the dark? Where they are being in the dark would be an improvement of the lighting. Mass entertainment is rapidly changing literally before our eyes. We are transitioning from radio/record/concert model to something else which includes streaming media. Plus demographics are probably working against them, a little more slowly, as the populations of most develop countries age.

  5. x 7

    Is there a list of those domains anywhere? Presumably they're good sites for freebies. Does Google have a public listing of blocked sites?

    1. Tim Brown 1

      "Is there a list of those domains anywhere? Presumably they're good sites for freebies. Does Google have a public listing of blocked sites?"

      See https://lumendatabase.org/

    2. KLane

      Try: https://www.chillingeffects.org

  6. Haku

    That's a hell of a lot of requests, but how many of them are legitimate URLs?

    For example, TorrentFreak reported earlier this year about how anti piracy outfits are sending out takedown requests of URLs that don't actually exist.

    https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-outfits-boost-numbers-with-bogus-takedown-notices-150628/

    1. John Lilburne

      Re: That's a hell of a lot of requests, but how many of them are legitimate URLs?

      Torrentfreak are a bunch of bullshitters. About 97% are legitimate and fresh, the bulk of the rest are URLs that have already been reported.

      1. Turtle

        @John Lilburne Re: That's a hell of a lot of requests, but how many of them are legitimate?

        "About 97% are legitimate and fresh..."

        Google itself has said that 97% of all takedown notices are legitimate although the specific statement that I have in mind is from about a year or two ago. On the other hand, unless there are more recent statements with greatly changed numbers in them, there's no reason to think that the situation is much different at the present time.

  7. martinusher Silver badge

    Time for a Capcha

    Its obvious that these are roborequests -- there's no cost involved so they're just Spamming Google with these requests. Time to change the system so a takedown can only be generated manually.

    1. Adam 1

      Re: Time for a Capcha

      Time for an upfront fee that gets refunded if the link is found legitimate.

  8. rtb61

    I smell another pigopolists law suit targeted at google coming. Basically they seemed focused on flooding google with takedowns fair or fowl and seeking to add sneak PR actions to take down say political activists sites buried in those take down requests or sue google for failing to act upon those requests.

    Clearly the law needs to change so that google can inflict severe penalties upon false requests, to pay for the cost of properly reviewing take down requests to ensure they are valid.

  9. Fungus Bob

    Dammit, El Reg, use a different photo!

    How dare you associate the sadly-missed-and-loved-by-Old-Farts Gopher protocol with copyright Whack-A-Mole!

  10. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

    Whack-a-mole

    Lawsuits from PETA in 3...2...1...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Meh

      Re: Whack-a-mole

      You'll get no traction with this tack. PETA's 'must save' policy does not mention moles, because: a) They aren't cute enough, and b) Everyone knows whacking one just makes it pop up elsewhere.

      Besides, that beastie is not a mole, it's a prairie dog, and their eyes are too good to make for easy whacking...

  11. Mr Spoo's Owner

    Not really addressing the underlying source of the problem

    So... The list of takedown requests would be a smashing index to pirated material. Great... :-/

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not really addressing the underlying source of the problem

      I thought Chilling Effects site was good for those llinks.

      Edit: chillingeffects.org drops you at Lumen database. I guess I don't get out on the 'net's Wild West.

  12. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    Good News

    No how do I take down all the "John David" GMail accounts?

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