11/02/2010

Several popular music blogs hosted on the Google blogger platform were recently deleted by Google for violation of copyright law and was precipitated by multiple DMCA complaints against these blogs.

Gaurdian posted about the blog removal notice which these popular music blogs got.

“We’d like to inform you that we’ve received another complaint regarding your blog,” begins the cheerful letter received by each of the owners of Pop Tarts, Masala, I Rock Cleveland, To Die By Your Side, It’s a Rap and Living Ears. All of these are music-blogs – sites that write about music and post MP3s of what they are discussing. “Upon review of your account, we’ve noted that your blog has repeatedly violated Blogger’s Terms of Service … [and] we’ve been forced to remove your blog. Thank you for your understanding.”

Rattled by the uproar, Google Blogger pointed out the Terms of Service and how they relate to their DMCA policy.  Google clarified the issue of blog deletions and pointed to the update enforcement of the DMCA.

Our current policy is that when we receive a DMCA complaint, we:

• Notify the blogger about the complaint by e-mail and on the Blogger dashboard.
• Reset the offending post to ‘draft’ status, allowing the blogger to remove the offending content.
• Send a copy of the complaint to ChillingEffects.org.

When we receive multiple DMCA complaints about the same blog, and have no indication that the offending content is being used in an authorized manner, we will remove the blog.

How can bloggers restore their blogs? Google suggests that if the blogger does have the legal right to link to the music, and their blog is deleted, they should file a DMCA counter-claim, and if it turns out correct, they could restore your blog.

Blogging Lessons Learnt -  Keep reading the updated terms of service often and ensure you are not violating any terms of service. Whenever in doubt, it is best to fix the issue rather than get your blog deleted. Its also a good idea to use your own custom domain name, so that even if your blog is deleted some day (even the official Google blog was deleted by mistake!), you can at least retain your blog branding and domain name , and if you backed up your Blogger blog, you can restore it on a new blog platform hopefully.

Since people are busy reporting blogs and filing DMCA complaints, and one fine day Blogger stopped FTP publishing putting thousands of bloggers in the lurch; if you ask me – why not export Blogger to WordPress on your own hosting and domain name. Its not free, but worth every dollar spent.

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