Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Since it's all user generated content, I don't feel safe at all. It's not possible for me to check every single post. So, a member could cause my account to be potentially suspended/terminated, that's so sad! :( I never had any complaints about copyrights from google in the 3 years the forum was up.
Realistically, it's going to happen, anyway. As you said, the content is user-generated and you couldn't possibly know if any of their posts are infringing on a copyright. But hopefully there won't be very many complaints to Google.
If you want to minimize Google's involvement, you could also offer a form that sends you a message to let people report copyright violations to you directly.
email sent from Google saying that one of the threads contained copyrighted material
It would seem puzzling for Google to voluntarily go into the copyright enforcement business. Could you infer from their email whether this was generated by someone sending them a DCMA takedown notice?
<email quote removed>
I see google ads placed on many sites with links to copyrighted material, so does that mean the thousands (possibly millions) of sites will be suspended now...why do they care about copyright so much, most of the copyright owners themselves don't give a crap and yet Google wants to stick their nose in. *shrug*
On the program policies, they also mention the ads can't be placed on pages which contain copyrighted images, well there are literally millions of celebrity fan, blog sites which contain copyrighted images used without permission. Come on, do you seriously think the makers actually contacted the owners for permission? How do you even make a site without using copyrighted images, even the owners don't care much.
[edited by: encyclo at 2:53 am (utc) on Feb. 8, 2008]
[edit reason] no email quotes please, see terms of service [/edit]
[edited by: MyNewPC at 2:43 am (utc) on Feb. 8, 2008]
Not sure why you didn't check the links yourself before you responded to their email or before you removed the posts.
That said, it is not a violation to simply post links to material protected by copyright.
Note that even if it was a recording the poster had made themselves, unless they also WROTE the song themselves it could still be a copyright violation. I would simply write back and make the best case you can, and forget about the idea that it's a "strike" against you. I'm not aware of any evidence that Google thinks in those terms.
Not sure why you didn't check the links yourself before you responded to their email or before you removed the posts.
Note that even if it was a recording the poster had made themselves, unless they also WROTE the song themselves it could still be a copyright violation.
So all those sites (many well known) that link to personal recordings on YouTube are violating google's terms. eeeeek! I can't imagine how many sites will be suspended if they decide to go down that route.
I would simply write back and make the best case you can, and forget about the idea that it's a "strike" against you. I'm not aware of any evidence that Google thinks in those terms.
I already emailed them before making this topic so maybe it's best if I wait for their reply before sending another email? Well, they did say that future violations may lead to a suspension, that's why I thought it may be another "strike" on my account.
There aren't that many staff at Google Adsense and your situation is unique enough for them to know your id.
Not that I think you've necessarily said anything bad here; it's just a word of caution. Be careful.
Also, they are extremely busy and understaffed there, so it's not entirely difficult to see how an occasional misunderstanding could happen.
Forums are tricky. You just have to stay alert.
Google is relaxing its policy. Before it was very heavy-handed. Nowadays it suspends sites instead of terminating accounts. You don't have to walk on eggshells like you used to.
p/g
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
My point is, these people are busy, arguing with them about this and that would just annoy them. I am imagining that the staffs want to finish one case immediately and move into the next one.
I once had a warning email on a many-year-old forum post, that had someone asking where to buy a widget, and another poster responded to click the ad at the top of the page. At that time, a single widget supplier had an exclusive on ads in that location. This all predated AdSense by quite some time, but their bot still ferrited it out. (And even years later the text wouldn't have affected AdSense, since it wasn't shown in the top position.)
All you can do make their bot happy by deleting the offending content. I am somewhat surprised that they cut you off and THEN told you about it; on mine I was given a certain number of days to comply and ads continued to be served.
User generated content always needs policing, there are too many people trying to trick you not to need constant monitoring.
I'd not mind a warning about inappropriate content, just as they don't mind me warning them they are carrying inappropriate ads. It's called working together to a common goal.
My forum often has adult content that get's removed as soon as one of the moderators spots it. Same for the occasional link to copyright violations (material is by default copyrighted, that's not the problem, the use without permission is the problem): If I spot it, it'll be removed. Should I miss it, I'll thank them for telling me.
copyrighted material (...) rapidshare links (...) It's not possible for me to check every single post.
Also, forum software usually includes something like "word censor", or "censorship options", or "profanity checker", etc. You can do a simple test to verify if those filters, in your specific software, can be used to prevent links to rapidshare, megaupload, warez sites, etc.
