The Real Blogger Status

Some blog owners, filing a complaint against another blog owner, don't understand the delays involved, in a DMCA Violation. I have just recently filed a DMCA notice on this blog for copyright infringement of my blog. So far nothing has been done except receiving an automatic reply from Google. When will the other blog be taken down? This blog owner does not understand that not all legal actions can be executed immediately - and some, never.

Recently, Google publicised advice about a new type of abuse that may be reportable, when present in a Blogger blog. Our philosophy has always been that Search should reflect the whole web. But revenge porn images are intensely personal and emotionally damaging, and serve only to degrade the victims—predominantly women. So going forward, we’ll honor requests from people to remove nude or sexually explicit images shared without their consent from Google Search results. This is a narrow and limited policy, similar to how we treat removal requests for other highly sensitive personal information, such as bank account numbers and signatures, that may surface in our search results. Supposedly, "revenge porn" mitigation is limited to removal from Google Search. In one forum discussion , however, the new classification appears to have successfully resulted in an offensive blog being removed from Blogger.

We see an occasional question, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger , about content protection. How do I prevent other blog and website authors from stealing my posts? This is a question that has plagued authors, for centuries. It's not new, in online life. Before the Internet, most authors would simply register a copyright, using their governmental registration. The USA, for instance, has " Copyright.Gov ", which is now part of the US Library of Congress. Many other countries have their own registration services.

Many, many years ago, I was called to court, to provide testimony in a case that involved a co worker, during a weekend in question. As part of my testimony, I provided a code listing ("compilation" log), with date and time printed on each page of the listing. The testimony also required presenting of the printed "system console" log, to substantiate my testimony. I endured several hours of intense grilling, by attorneys for both sides, who examined virtually every hour of my day, to verify that the co-worker and I had been physically "at work" on that day. The code listing was but a small part of my testimony. Even then, both the judge and both attorneys were very aware of the possibility that the code listing date / time stamp could not constitute legal evidence, without careful "chain of custody" backup. Anybody knows that a computer can be easily restarted, with the system clock reset, and made to produce a "code listing" / ...

We see occasional tales of woe, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . My friends are making fun of me, because my name, when searched in Google, comes up on a non complimentary blog. The owner of the blog has forgotten the password, and can't recover control. How do I convince Blogger to have the offending blog removed? The answer, here, is not promising. You can't. No laws have been broken, nor has Google TOS been violated. That's harsh reality, that is going to happen, a few times.

Some blogs offend their readers - and the readers are legitimately concerned about viewing inappropriate content. Instructed in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , to report offensive blogs using the right complaint form , they may reply I did - several times, but with no result! In some cases, the blogs in question may be offensive only to a local audience. Though distasteful, blogs should not be unfairly censored.

Have you ever heard the old saying I had a friend, and I had a secret. I told my friend my secret - and now, I have neither a friend, or a secret. Occasionally we see signs of naivete, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . I have a private blog! Why do I see my blog listed in Google? or I distinctly set my blog to be invisible! Why is my blog being indexed? Not all blog owners know that neither the "disallow" statement, in "Robots.Txt" - nor the "noindex, nofollow" directives, in our blogs - are mandatory.

We see various complaints, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , about perceived poor response, in removing offensive blogs. I've reported this blog, repeatedly, for impersonating me - and it's still online! or That other blog was removed from service after only a couple of days! Why is this blog still online?? These bloggers do not understand that complaint volume, against different blogs, can affect how promptly Blogger Policy / Google Legal can take action, and remove problem blogs.

Some blog owners don't understand the severity of DMCA violation citations. We see occasional naivete, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken I got email After reviewing your account, we noticed that you have violated the terms of service frequently: http://www.blogger.com/go/terms . And where we have sent you several warnings about these abuses and offered you information about our policy towards repeat infringers, we were forced to disable Blogger service provided to you. Thank you for your understanding. - Blogger Team Why can I not login to Blogger, now? This blog owners, and too many others, do not understand about the severity of repeated DMCA / TOS violation, upon their Blogger / Google accounts.

Occasionally we see confusion and impatience, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , about previously submitted DMCA complaints . I have repeatedly submitted a complaint about "offendingblog.blogspot.com" - and nothing is done! How long must I wait, for results?? We should start by noting that Google staff attention cannot ever be promised immediately - but if a valid complaint is submitted, repeatedly, with no results, maybe the problem is in the presentation of the complaint.

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , we see victims of Copyright / DMCA Violation action, asking how to get their blogs or posts restored. In the past, many blog owners, who did not check their email carefully , or who had even setup Blogger accounts not based on actual email addresses , were frequently surprised by DMCA takedowns.

As referer spam continues to be reported in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , we see occasional signs of confusion. Some blog owners, knowing how to use WhoIs lookups and similar online utilities, to their advantage, are looking up the referer spam targets - and are reporting the targets to their registrars and hosts. What these blog owners may not realise is that not all apparent "customers" of referer spam "services" may have actually contracted to be featured in the services.

Periodically, we have discussions in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , about issues, that absolutely cannot be resolved in a forum problem discussion. These issues will vary, by relationship to a given blog, as well as by nature of the offense perceived. Some blog owners have lost control of their Blogger account, and lack ability to recover control . Some people are offended by a Blogger blog, but an offense which may not constitute a Google TOS violation . Some people may believe that a Blogger blog name, in use by someone else, may reflect badly upon their hard earned business identity . Some people may be the survivor, in a relationship where the owner of a given blog is now deceased . Some of these complaints may have been reported to Google, in an ongoing effort, for years.

Most physical threats used to require physical proximity, to be seriously considered by the authorities. Before the Internet became a reality, if you were to report a crime which involved a physical threat to you or some one whom you knew, chances are that you would be reporting a friend or relative - or at least a neighbour or somebody geographically close to you. Now that the Internet is part of our daily lives, many Blogger blog owners, readers, and comment publishers - all of who use the Internet for various networking activities - have no idea of the possible international challenges involved in their activities. With the Internet involved, these dangers can come from somebody in another city, state, or country, who is a complete stranger to the potential victim.

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , we see signs of people who don't understand the concept of unique Blogger identities - or contrarily, Blogger identities which won't be unique. I can't publish my blog to the name that I want. or Another blog is using the same name as mine! or Someone is impersonating me!!

We have seen this question, periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? When will Blogger provide me with the option to block an abusive commenter, from my blog? This is a request that simply cannot be fulfilled. The issue of blocking individual commenters won't be solved by a new Blogger feature. It's technically impossible. It's contrary to Blogger policy.

Blogger / Google provides two forms, for us to use when reporting unacceptable content, in Blogger blogs. Blogger Help: Report inappropriate content Google Help: Removing Content From Google Each form has a different use - and both forms have their stated limits. You'd be wise to look at both forms - and read the instructions, for each, carefully. Neither form will produce an absolute, nor immediate, result. Google has to consider that either form may be intentionally misused, for various reasons , when evaluating any claim made.

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , we see various queries about our blogs, and how to gain or regain control. How do I get a blog, which is attacking me (impersonating me, insulting me, publishing my secrets), removed from Blogger? How do I claim a dormant URL? How do I recover control of my blog? My blog is now under somebody else's control! How do I get my blog back? Any of these queries may be simply one more attempt to gain control of someone else's blog, or URL. As we gain experience in reading between the lines in Blogger Help Forum, and as Blogger Support gains experience in researching blog histories, we can start to see patterns, and signs of multiple attempts to assume control of the blog - or the URL - in question.

One issue in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , that has always fascinated me, involves how we validate our existence, as a Blogger blog owner. Along with the periodic demand I want that URL for my blog - it's my name! and Why was my blog deleted? comes the intriguing demand I want that blog deleted - the owner is impersonating me! Some time ago, Blogger provided us with a definition of the complementary concepts of defamation and impersonation . Impersonation (identity theft) is a Blogger TOS offense - and if righteously reported, can be judged by Google Legal. Defamation (ridicule, slander, trash talk), on the other hand, is a civil or criminal offense (depending upon your country of residence) - and must be judged in a government court. Even with the difference defined, there are ways to confuse defamation and impersonation, in forum discussions.

Every day, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , we see the complaint I've been reporting this abuse to Google for a week, and I have yet to see a reply - or a result. What is up with that? This is possibly somebody who does not know what abuse category to use - or who maybe can't find the right category.