Bogus DMCA Notices Still A Huge Problem As Apple Gets Unfairly Blamed For Reddit Takedown
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191213/09042443574/bogus-dmca-notices-still-huge-problem-as-apple-gets-unfairly-blamed-reddit-takedown.shtml
As we've discussed in the past, the DMCA system is enforced in such a way as to make it wide open for abuse. One of the chief problems is that, while the DMCA does include potential punishments for filing bogus notices under 512(f), the courts have traditionally appeared to have forgotten that this part of the law even exists. The end result is that anyone looking to censor or extort others by either filing or threatening to file bogus DMCA notices is mostly free to do so without risk. The times when 512(f) actually gets a spotlight are so few and far between as to be news when it happens. This has been going on, and has been pointed out by various publications, for years.
And yet it still goes on. Earlier, Mike wrote about Apple sending a questionable DMCA takedown to Twitter regarding a tweet, but there was a separate part of that story. Beyond the takedown to Twitter -- which everyone (including Apple) recognized as coming from Apple -- there were other takedowns sent to Reddit, leading the subreddit /r/jailbreak to go into lockdown. This followed the removal of several posts discussing how that Apple encryption key was taken down (as explained in the earlier post). Many leapt to the conclusion in both the media and wider internet that Apple was behind the shuttering of /r/jailbreak as well.