Google is reportedly sending automated notifications to Google Fiber customers, which include notices of copyright infringement and demands that they be remedied.
Google appears to be forwarding fines from copyright holders along with the notice stating that their content has been misused. The automated notices sent by Google Fiber include demands for payments ranging from $20 to $300, according to TorrentFreak.
TorrentFreak reports that it has seen settlement requests from at least two copyright companies sent by Google to Google Fiber subscribers. One of the automated emails warned the subscriber of a permanent disconnection of service if the violations continued.
TorrentFreak has published copies of two notices allegedly sent by Google. One of them, signed by the Google Fiber team, informs the subscriber that a copyright holder had notified Google that the customer's account had been used to download copyrighted material.
The letters are sent under the auspices of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which gives copyright holders the right to send takedown notices to Internet users who use their connections for illegal downloads.
Organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have pointed out that the use of automated systems to identify “illegal” IP with automated notifications to alleged violators often leads to censorship of perfectly legal content.
“Although Google has the means to analyze takedown notices to reject those that are unjustified, it does not always do so.”
According to Mitch Stoltz, an EFF attorney, internet service providers (ISPs) in the US have no legal obligation to forward DMCA requests to consumers.
Nevertheless, the requests seem to have found their way.
