takedown
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Google adds copyright takedowns to Transparency Reports, 1.2 million a month and growing
Google has been publishing what it's dubbed Transparency Reports for some time now -- detailing things like government requests to remove content from search results or requests for users' information -- and it's now added another big chunk of data to them in the interest of full disclosure. Starting today, you can see the number of removal requests it receives from companies over copyright and piracy concerns. As you can imagine, there's a lot -- over 1.2 million in the past month alone, a number that Google notes is increasing at a substantial rate. Among those asking for takedowns, Microsoft is by far the leader, filing well over half a million requests all by itself in the past month (the film and music industries are also, of course, well represented). You can pour through all the results yourself at the source link below.
Apple sends takedown notice about customer support email
If you've ever corresponded with Apple Support (or any major customer support outlet, really), you might have seen that little notice at the bottom of the email that says any conversation included "may be privileged and may contain confidential information." Most of the time, that's just a weak move to try and cover up any issues that customer support may cause. But in Apple's case, they sometimes try to take it seriously. David Bowles is a blogger who had an issue with his Thunderbolt display warranty, and when he corresponded with Apple about it, he posted it on the Go Inside magazine website. Just a little while after that, however, he received an email from Apple's tech support notifying him that they'd seen the "confidential" information posted online, and telling him that he should take it all down, under threat of "further action" (whatever that may be). After discussion with a support manager, Bowles eventually decided just to take down the correspondence from Apple (the rest of the post is still up, and TechCrunch is publishing the takedown notice), and that seems to have calmed the beast for now. So what does this mean for the rest of us? Probably not much -- Bowles emailed the link of the blog post directly to the tech support crew, so even if Apple is searching the web for its emails being posted, it's unknown if the company would have found Bowles email post at all. And though the takedown email did threaten "further action," it's hard to guess just what that further action would be. Even if Apple really did want to keep these emails from being published (and they probably don't really care, otherwise they would go after TechCrunch), it's hard to say what kind of legal ground they'd be able to stand on. In other words, much ado about nothing. As for Bowles, there's no news on if his Applecare warranty ever got fixed the way he wanted it, but his blogs sure didn't suffer for the attention.
The Register fighting Apple takedown notice
'Twas the night before Snow Leopard, and all through the 'net, Apple was sending takedowns for previews of software that technically wasn't out yet... Snow Leopard is almost out, but "almost" isn't quite good enough for Apple. Apparently they sent a last-minute takedown notice to The Register for posting their Snow Leopard preview a little early, and The Register is declining to do anything about it. Similar previews have appeared around the 'net (our friends at Engadget have published their own review), and while Apple claims that images and descriptions in the post are still confidential, The Register disagrees, saying that many features of Snow Leopard were seen and known way before this week. So. Will Apple be angry? Will The Register be locked out of any future events (actually, we can identify with that one, given our metaliveblogging chops here on TUAW)? Will they care? It does seem a bit strange that Apple has targeted them with a takedown -- we doubt, as The Register suspects, that Walt Mossberg will be getting any takedown notices. Then again, maybe Apple was just trying (or their lawyers were just aiming for some extra legal fees), and they won't bother enforcing what seems like a shaky case anyway. Most likely Apple will pass. We'll probably hear them exclaim, however, though it may be less staunch: Merry updates to all, and to all a good launch!
Palm issues takedown for TealOS
If you're a fan of TealOS (you know, that fairly striking webOS-aping launcher for Palm devices), you're in for some bad news. According to a post on the company's TealTalk support forum, a rep tells users that Palm has issued a takedown of the lookalike. In their words:I'm sorry to say that at Palm's request, as of this upcoming Monday, March 30, we will no longer be selling or distributing TealOS.While we can certainly understand the motivations on Palm's part behind wanting to scuttle this copycat, we do find it a little odd. When we met with a Palm rep to retrieve the Pre earlier in the month, he actually had the software installed on his phone and seemed pretty excited about its existence. Our money here is actually on Palm's legal department being a bit hair-trigger, though we hardly think TealOS is posing a threat to the company's bottom line. Bottom line? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.[Via PalmInfocenter; Thanks, Herman M.]
Redbox puts the kibosh on community-developed iPhone app
Davis Freeberg over at Zatz Not Funny has a detailed post this morning on the takedown of the Inside Redbox Mobile app for the iPhone, which was removed from the App Store at the request of Redbox. If you've never heard of Redbox (I hadn't myself before this morning), it runs DVD rental kiosks in hundreds of supermarkets and other retail locations -- you can walk up, rent a movie from the vending machine, and then return it to any other Redbox kiosk. It's not 100% clear why Redbox objected to the iPhone app; could be a trademark issue, could be that the tool made it too easy to track and use free movie promo codes that ordinarily would require a bit of research. Since most of the functionality is accessible via the redbox.com site anyway, it's fair to ask why Redbox wants to make things more difficult for its customers. Perhaps the rental company has its own iPhone app planned, or it just wants to sort out a few issues with the Inside Redbox developers before giving the green light. If you used the Inside Redbox app, let us know about your experience.
The Bourne Conspiracy 'Takedown Trailer' demonstrates groin punching engine
Those who wouldn't consider themselves fans of office equipment-related acts of violence should probably go ahead and skip this video altogether -- but if you're the kind of person who owns multiple copies of the Jean Claude Van Damme masterpiece "Bloodsport", feel free to treat yourself to the above trailer for Sierra's adaptation of Robert Ludlum's popular series of espionage novels, The Bourne Conspiracy. Who knew literature could be so ... pugilistic?We're still waiting for that lackluster gameplay montage or negative hands-on writeup to confirm our general apprehension towards adapted games, but with the continuing font of sizzle trailers Sierra is churning out, our steadfast trepidation is waning. Damon be damned -- we can't wait for Conspiracy's June 3 release date.
Apple issues C&D takedown order to Hymn project software
Wow. Good thing that DoubleTwist is waiting in the OS X wings for anyone who wants to rip DRM from their iTunes purchases. Apple just issued a C&D off to the ISP hosting the Hymn-inspired Requiem software. DrmBytes, a hymn moderator, posted that hymn-project.org will no longer allow links to DRM-stripping software, writing "We've complied with the C&D and removed all DRM breaking software from the site." The Hymn Project was established to allow people to use the music they'd purchased on the device of their choice. DrmBytes suggests you avoid purchasing your music from vendors who mandate DRM. You should still be able to use burn-and-rip solutions like MyTunes and DRM Dumpster for now.
Apple sends takedown notice to iPod hacker's ISP
Yesterday, Erica posted in her state of the iPod touch jailbreak that a hacker named "Martyn" had obtained a broken iPod touch, and was planning to dive in and download every bit of code on it in the increasingly complicated effort to put 3rd party applications on the iPod touch. He didn't plan to release the code to the public, but he did plan to upload the code to a secured area of his site in order to let the other touch hackers have a crack at it.But even before his upload finished, we're told, his ISP showed up, with a takedown notice in hand. Apple had somehow found his site, had contacted his ISP, and let them know that it would be against copyright law for him to upload that code to the Internet. Martyn isn't interested in breaking the law (and it would be illegal to share that code), so he pulled the page off. But what's amazing here is how fast Apple moved on this-- either they've got someone listening in on the development wiki, or they're taking cues from us on how things are going over there (hi, Apple!).Despite what we've heard before, clearly they are very, very interested in making sure the iPod touch doesn't get hacked. Martyn tells me, as has Erica, that Apple has clearly gone out of their way to keep hackers out of their latest iPod. We're also told that progress continues despite all that, but Apple is apparently bending over backwards to do everything they can to keep the iPod touch closed.
