Google Files Amicus Brief in Hotfile Case; MPAA Requests It Be Rejected 214
An anonymous reader writes "Google has once again stood up in court for the rights of users and services online, this time defending Hotfile from copyright infringement accusations. [Quoting the article]: 'Google takes a sort of hard-line approach via the DMCA, telling the court that however the MPAA may try to mislead them, Hotfile is in fact protected under safe harbor provisions. And furthermore, Google suggests that the MPAA's approach is contrary to the language in and precedents surrounding the DMCA. The onus is on copyright holders to alert a service to the nature and location of an infringement, and the service's responsibility is to alert the user if possible and remove the material within a reasonable period of time.'"
The full brief has been uploaded to Scribd. The MPAA, naturally, has requested that the amicus brief be rejected by the court: "Google's proposed brief appears to be part of a systematic effort by Google, itself a defendant in ongoing copyright infringement cases, to influence the development of the law to Google's own advantage — as well as an effort by Hotfile (whose counsel also represent Google) to circumvent its page limits. Google is acting as a partisan advocate for Hotfile, making arguments that Hotfile has or could have made in its own opposition to summary judgment. The parties here are well-represented and have the incentive and wherewithal to make all the arguments the court will need. Although Google purports not to take a position regarding summary judgment here, Google unmistakably seeks a ruling against plaintiffs. Google's motion should be denied"
Re:Google Gov (Score:2, Interesting)
MPAA/RIAA becoming increasingly shrill (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Google Gov (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's push that whole analogy a little farther:
One of the arguments against the death penalty being a deterrent is that many of the people it gets applied to are not capable of looking ten years or so down the road and seeing themselves in the position of a condemned killer actually strapped into an electric chair or on a lethal injection table. Our worst criminals tend to be strongly socially stunted and fixated only on immediate gratification and immediate consequences. They severly lack the empathy to put themselves in another's position, whether it's with their victims, or with other killers who have gotten caught and punished.
Sounds like a corporation - relentless focus on a point no father away than the next quarter's profit statement, little or no concern for the long term consequences of their actions... The very act of calling disbandment a corporate death penalty says corporations have the mentality of criminals, and we are hoping we have come up with something severe enough to get them to look past the immediate gratification mode they are in.
Re:They aren't "defending rights of users" (Score:5, Interesting)
Proposed reply (Score:4, Interesting)
Google should just change a few words and use the MPAA quote as a template:
Re:Yessssss, Google... (Score:5, Interesting)
That's the point to good legal engineering: laws are written such that greedy self-interest tends to work toward the common good. It's a pity most laws aren't written that way....
Re:Yessssss, Google... (Score:4, Interesting)
Let's not forget that, in general, Google must necessarily be involved in the matter at hand. You don't just start writing amicus briefs on a whim. If you want to have any impact at all, then it must be an issue that affects you and/or your company.
I'm sure Google could have their lawyers write up briefs and letters on any random topic, but if it is not relevant, why would the judge bother with it?
Oh, look! Google submitted a brief on the produce export restrictions. We'd better read it with the utmost scrutiny...
Re:Interesting legal argument (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Yessssss, Google... (Score:3, Interesting)
Honestly, I don't even understand the privacy concerns. I realize that some people hold complete control over every action and breath they take to be sacred, but at the end of the day, we have always been advertised to and we have always had our behavior in public observed to a greater or lesser extent. Traditionally, we have gotten many pointless ads wasting our time and gotten very little if anything in return for observations of our behavior. I don't see how Google's attempt to alter that balance to give people a meaningful return of value in exchange for information about their activities, while also guarding that information and using it to provide better, more targeted advertising that is more likely to be useful to me, is evil.
You can go on and on about privacy and it's supposed sacredness, but at the end of the day, everything Google knows about me is information I freely gave them using services they provided to me for no financial cost. And what do they do with this information? They collate it to both better serve me and also to better generate revenue through advertising that is more meaningful to me than the advertisements I would have otherwise gotten. I am not saying they are some savior of humanity, but this is how corporate business SHOULD be done. Leveraging the size and power to try to improve the lives of customers while making a profit without getting in the way of your customers. It isn't like Google is trying to steal your information from you or even isn't clear about what they intend to do.
Re:Hypocrisy much? (Score:3, Interesting)
The MPAA's brief appears to be more stupidity than hypocrisy (or they're just milking their client). Their argument against the amicus brief is a presentation of the best reason why the amicus brief should be accepted.
Re:Yessssss, Google... (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's the issue with the privacy thing.
Imagine that a corporation can track and inspect your every email, phone conversation, instant message, and footstep. They correlate it. They know who your friends are, what books you read, everything. That's an incredible amount of information. Even if you assume that the information is only going to be used for relatively harmless purposes, such as advertising. And if you think that's far-fetched, Google is trying pretty hard to get that level of knowledge of you. As are many others. And much of it is behind the scenes. Turn on Ghostery and see how many web sites pop up Google scripts. Even if you don't use any Google product, they are tracking you.
Now, imagine that they collaborate with other companies. What if they could use that knowledge of your every thought to raise prices in real time for the things you need most? Gas when you're about to run out? Use your imagination. Fair dealing is based on the notion of reasonably symmetrical information. If they other side knows everything about you, and you know nothing about them, you're at a disadvantage.
There is a legal right to privacy, which is being eroded. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_laws_of_the_United_States [wikipedia.org].
Now, imagine that an organization knows everything about you. And let's say the government decided it needs some information. So now the government knows everything about you, too. Do you completely trust the government? Are you sure they'll never make a mistake?
Now, imagine that people come to power who do not share your enlightened views on humanity. They think that there's a problem with, oh, left-handed people, people who wear socks with sandals, redheads, people born in February, people not from around here, people with certain political leanings. And let's say they get their hands on the aggregated information about you. Maybe they won't lock you up. But maybe they will. Or maybe they won't lock you up today. If you behave.
Think about all of the organizations, both real and fictional, that want unlimited knowledge of the general public. Not one of them inspires confidence. Think Big Brother. Spanish Inquisition. Total Information Awareness.
In my mind, unlimited personal knowledge aggregation leads straight to political repression. It is, in fact, evil.