Automated DMCA Takedown Notices Request Censorship of Legitimate Sites

Techmeology writes "Microsoft has sent automated DMCA notices to Google demanding the removal of several legitimate URLs from its search results that Microsoft claims were facilitating the distribution of illegal copies of Windows 8, including links to BBC news articles, Wikipedia pages, U.S. government websites, and even Bing! The erroneous DMCA notices are being sent automatically by rights holders, who are increasingly using such techniques."

Takedown the election

[jonsmirl]

Someone please send DMCA takedown notices to all sites currently covering the US presidential election. That might get the problem fixed.

Knock out the spammers

[MrDoh!]

Sounds like Google would be well within their rights now to label Microsoft a spam network and ignore ALL future takedown requests.

Well, that will teach Microsoft

[ohnocitizen]

With all the embarrassment from a snafu like this, Microsoft is sure to reform their ways. Starting with a complete rewrite of the DMCA-auto tool in something other than VB.net.

Re:Knock out the spammers

[Anonymous Coward]

How can you say that? Do you know for sure that the Caesar's Civil War [wikipedia.org] entry on Wikipedia isn't infringing on the Windows 8 Beta IP? I mean, 5 years after Caesar crossed the Rubicon he was named dictator. And 5 years after Windows 95 was released Microsoft was named a monopoly. Is this a coincidence? Consider this: Steve Ballmer was born on March 24, 1956. 2000 years and 1 week prior, Caesar had defeated his last enemy on March 17, 45 BC. Coincidence?

The only logical conclusion that any sane person can come up with is that Gaius Julius Caesar is the property of both Ballmer and Microsoft and any reference to him or the number 45 (for 45 BC) is a copyright violation. Case closed.

Re:Takedown the election

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahaha, yeah nothing would fix the election like an uniformed population. Removing news coverage would just let the candidates escape the dumb things they say.

And that would differ..... how?

Re:Knock out the spammers

[dbIII]

I don't think that's ever been done, and to make things worse how do you get a bot to face penalties of perjury? Pinning responsability for the bot on someone would be difficult and would most likely get put on the most junior coder or somebody that's left MS.

Re:Takedown the election

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

And that would differ..... how?

Since the recent debate Romney's popularity sharply dropped in the ages 3-8 demographic.

Re:Takedown the election

[dryeo]

I'd guess that some decide to not vote after hearing the candidates.

The Real News

[Daimaou]

The real news here is that somebody would be willing to download Windows 8, pirated or otherwise.