162 upvotes, 8 direct replies (showing 8)
It **does not take a bank account or lawyer to file a DMCA request and ask reddit to remove content**. This isn't unique to reddit, either. Most websites comply with DMCA requests.
Here's all you need to do to send a DMCA request. **It is literally a single page sent to reddit staff**.
A quick google search gave ~~this page~~[1] /edit: it was hacked, google cache page here[2] has the content. there's nothing illegal about this content.
1: http://sarafhawkins.com/how-to-file-a-dmca-takedown-notice/
So you follow those steps and then use http://www.reddit.com/contact/[3] to pick the best method in contacting reddit staff/admins.
3: http://www.reddit.com/contact/
Q: "But what if reddit fights the DMCA?"
A: First, ask yourself, "would reddit spend resources in fighting my DMCA?"
I think you'll find the answer is often: no.
If someone claimed to own a picture that was posted on /r/beatingwomen2 and filed a DMCA request to have it removed, do you honestly believe reddit staff will spend money+time in fighting your request? Isn't it much more reasonable to just accept that the claim is valid, remove it, and no one would blame them for removing it?
You might say this opens the door to DMCA abuses, and you may be right. *But flaws in the DMCA process are not reddit's problem*. Reddit will only do what is minimally required of them. If the DMCA process was improved, reddit will still comply with them. If the DMCA process was entirely *removed* from the laws that bind reddit as a business, then reddit won't comply with them anymore. Fixing DMCA's is a fight for another battlefield. (though if you wanted to have a discussion about it on reddit, you can do so in places like /r/stand, /r/netpolitics, or any place that has similar topics. EFF and ACLU are organizations that are very familiar with the DMCA.)
Also, users can downvote, report, and unsubscribe from content they don't like. The admins don't want to be in a place where **their morality** is deciding what subreddits stay or go. They want **us** to decide what stays.
Have they achieved this "hands-off" approach? Most would say no, but their intent is to do a hands-off approach, and it is up to us to hold them to that task.
If reddit doesn't have the tools to let users do what is necessary, then we can come up with them ourselves[4]. If reddit doesn't accept the tools that the community wants, then we can build another reddit that will.
4: https://github.com/reddit/reddit
Comment by [deleted] at 07/09/2014 at 22:27 UTC
69 upvotes, 3 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by Spandian at 07/09/2014 at 23:19 UTC
19 upvotes, 2 direct replies
If someone claimed to own a picture that was posted on /r/beatingwomen2 and filed a DMCA request to have it removed, do you honestly believe reddit staff will spend money+time in fighting your request? Isn't it much more reasonable to just accept that the claim is valid, remove it, and no one would blame them for removing it?
You might say this opens the door to DMCA abuses, and you may be right.
Please note: knowingly filing a false DMCA notice is a crime. Large corporations regularly get away with it, but if you make a habit of abusing the DMCA (even for a good cause), it probably won't end well.
Comment by bioemerl at 08/09/2014 at 00:28 UTC
10 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It is a federal crime to do so, and you can very easily get in a lot of trouble for doing so. Filing these for the sake of "internet policing" is going to benefit nobody and hurt you in the end.
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If you want to be rid of those subreddits, stop discussing them, stop talking about them, stop bringing them up. With lack of awareness they will die, and the people going to them without being notified by things here are out of our control and out of the control of anyone else.
Attacking and trying to censor things you do not like will never result in progress, only groups of people fighting against you and gaining attention, along with popularity/users, through doing it. It fixes nothing, and makes the issues harder to target or to deal with.
I'm honestly not a fan of the "if you tolerate it you support it" viewpoint that seems to be common. Reddit removed the stuff mentioned, the fappening, because it got to big and was causing issues for the rest of the site. Sorry if I'm alone on this, but I support banning a subreddit if it's making so much traffic the site is crashing, especially if it's a sub like /r/thefappening. That isn't a decision based on morals, it's one based on reality.
Comment by IMakeApps at 07/09/2014 at 22:35 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It does not take a bank account or lawyer to file a DMCA request and ask reddit to remove content.
More People need to know about this. There is no reason why someone simply can't send a DMCA request to a website and, 99% of the time, they will comply with it. They don't want bad press on them either!
You might say this opens the door to DMCA abuses, and you may be right.
Unfortunately (as I said before), not many people know that they can simply request a DMCA that easily. The system isn't considered broken *yet*, however, if more and more people learn about this, then the government will have to step in and do something about **actual** abuse of the system.
Also, users can downvote, report, and unsubscribe from content they don't like. The admins don't want to be in a place where their morality is deciding what subreddits stay or go. They want us to decide what stays.
This is the only part of your comment I do not agree with. While its true that only the things that are upvoted are actually seen by other redditors, everything that is on this site is saved indefinitely. That means that a simple Google search can pull up that very link. Plus, this only hides the image ***link*** on reddit. No images are actually submitted to reddit, they are submitted to sites like Imgur, where the DMCA request would also go. Anything posted to reddit is just a link to another website that the image or article was posted on.
Besides that, however, I think that your comment hit the nail on the head. I hope that more people will see your comment and will use those links to protect what is legally theirs.
Comment by [deleted] at 08/09/2014 at 02:22 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
http://sarafhawkins.com/how-to-file-a-dmca-takedown-notice/
It just says "Your visit has been noted."?
Comment by americass at 08/09/2014 at 02:46 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I agree with your point but at the same time everything should be treated equally, those subs should be banned too but since there is not celebrity involved reddit don't care about the average Joe ....
Comment by Fizzol at 08/09/2014 at 05:52 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
A small tangent here:
You might say this opens the door to DMCA abuses, and you ~~may be right~~ **are absolutely right**. The DMCA is a bad law that gets massively abused.
Comment by [deleted] at 07/09/2014 at 23:39 UTC
-1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Ah, an advocate for DMCA abuse. Well, good luck with that vile law. I hope everyone and anyone who does this gets nailed to the wall for perjury and sued for every penny they have.