DMCA Got My Google!

March 9th, 2004 • Rants

Recently, I started seeing a strange message that appears at the bottom of search results in Google.

In response to a complaint we received under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed (N) result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint for these removed results.

Now this isn’t very friendly, is it?. Google has always been a place where you could find the good and the bad, the legal and the illegal. So why does it have to submit to DMCA?!

I personally think that the DMCA is a killer of innovation! I mean if somebody wants to protect his work, that’s fine, but why does it have to be through DMCA’s evil ways? Yes, everyone knows that DMCA’s primary goal is to protect intellectual property, and that it’s the main weapon for authors to make sure nobody can steal their content. But this applies to content in a very bizarre way; like the Prime number that could be illegal!!

Yes, the DMCA can be used for good too, probably. I wouldn’t like to see someone who claims the creation of my music, or that he/she invented the wheel, and that someone is actually doing this intentionally to cause harm. I would notify that person, and then might use the forces of law. But researchers who borrow ideas and develop upon them, university students who are exploring cryptography, these people shouldn’t be exploited for money, and especially not by the government, these people should be paid big instead.

I’m not sure whether there’s something wrong with the DMCA, or it’s the way that it’s applied. But I know for sure that innovation mustn’t be nipped in the bud by any sort of law.

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