Abuse Reporting Is Not For Deleting A Blog For Which You Lost Control

Sometimes, people lose control of their blog, with no ability to regain control - and simply want the blog deleted.

How do I have Blogger delete the blog, for me, since I can't prove ownership?

When advised that Blogger does not delete blogs on behalf of former owners, the next thought by the former owner is to have the blog deleted as abuse.

What category of Abuse should I use, to have a previously owned blog, deleted?

While not genuinely fraudulent, the latter approach is misuse of the Abuse reporting process.

The Abuse Reporting process is properly used to report blogs owned by another party, for TOS Violations.

Blogger currently provides the Blogger Help: Report abuse form, which has specific categories of abuse.

• Legal issues
• Hate speech, violent or crude content
• Harassment
• Spam, phishing, or malware
• Nudity
• Posting of private information
• Impersonation

All of those categories refer to content published by another person. Nothing there is for reporting a blog previously owned, with control lost by negligence.

Whatever the loss of control, it's yours to correct.

• Corporate blog, control lost.
• Personal blog, control lost.
• Team blog, control stolen.

None of these scenarios warrant abuse / TOS violation reports.

Note a very specific warning, about misuse of the DMCA Violation complaint.

Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your copyrights. Indeed, in a recent case (please see http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/ for more information), a company that sent an infringement notification seeking removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees. The company agreed to pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first contact an attorney.

If your company publishes a blog, you are responsible for retaining control of the blog, as with any corporate asset. If you lose control of a corporate asset, you don't contact the vendor, and demand that they delete the asset that you lost. Your problem is with the current owner - whether it's a civil or criminal issue, it's not the responsibility of the vendor to correct an ownership problem.

If the blog was personally yours, and you forgot the account name and / or password, it's your responsibility to regain control.

If the blog was under team ownership, and another team member stole the blog, your problem is with the former team member. If the team member was (righteously or spuriously) classified as a non repentant spammer, you may have to get the blog reviewed, to regain control.

If you believe that you can prove your right to control (or delete) the blog, you may hire a lawyer, and have a judge certify your identity. None of these cases can be resolved, using abuse / TOS violation reporting.

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If You Cannot Prove Ownership Of Your Blogger Account, Your Next Step May Involve Court Action

We've explored the issues of Blogger account and blog recovery policy, repeatedly. We've mentioned the business concerns, the personal support issues, and even the strategic hacking possibilities. Even so, we continue to see evidence of blog owners who just don't understand the message, posting in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I started a blog under an alias, to be able to post anonymously, and can't remember the login details or the e-mail recovery. How can I regain access to my blog?

Last year, Blogger Support offered the "final" word about account recovery assistance, in the forum.

Due to the sensitive nature of these issues, we won't be able to troubleshoot your issue in this public forum.

Even giving that advice, some blog owners still insist that Google is not cooperating, in refusing to restore access to Blogger accounts and blogs, to people who cannot prove their right to ownership.

The policy on ownership recovery is quite simple. Anybody requiring recovery has to prove their right to a given Blogger account or blog, using the tools provided.

Because Google doesn't ask for much personal information when you sign up for an account, we don't have many ways to verify that you own an account.

Blogger / Google provide two automated recovery tools - and that is the limit of their cooperation. Every Blogger blog owner, who actively publishes a blog, and who wants to keep their blog under their control, needs to appreciate this limit - this is how Blogger and Google prevents devious hijacking of our blogs.

For those blog owners who truly need - and deserve - control of their lost blogs, there is one final recourse. Any owner, who cannot use the Blogger / Google automated tools, are entitled to take their concerns outside Google, and have their identity certified by the courts. Start by hiring a lawyer, take the matter to a judge, and get a properly issued court order. Then, serve the court order, properly, to Google.

Let's let the courts assume responsibility of deciding who is a worthy blog owner - and who is potentially a hacker.

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Submitting A Court Order To Google

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.

We know that Google Legal has to take a conservative approach in evaluating the various complaints submitted to them, using the Google Content Removal process. Every complaint may involve a third party, who has equal rights that must be considered.

In cases where Google Legal must deny action, and generally will not respond to a submitted Content Removal form, the person making a complaint is advised to use the courts to verify his identity and / or legal relationship with the blog in question.

Anybody who does not receive appropriate response from Google Legal may hire a lawyer, start a lawsuit, and get a court order issued by a judge. A properly issued court order can be then submitted to Google using the Google Help: Submit a Court Order to Google form.

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The Internet Has Created Various Opportunities For Conflict

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.

Many people, offended or threatened by an abusive comment or post in a Blogger blog, immediately report their concern, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

The assumption made is that Blogger, when informed in the forum, will immediately remove the offensive or threatening content.

Not everybody realises that the varying nature of any given abuse, even when expressed in a Blogger blog, won't always be the responsibility of Blogger / Google to provide action. Some abusive content will require contact, with somebody in your local area.

Some abuse can be handled by your reporting it to Blogger / Google - and other abuse must be handled by the courts system - lawyers and judges, or by law enforcement.

• Assault, or serious threat of imminent physical damage / death, is a criminal issue, and should be handled by your local police.
• Battery, or actual physical damage / death, is likewise a criminal issue, and must be handled by your local police.
• Defamation (ridicule, slander, trash talk) is a civil or criminal issue, and must be handled by a lawyer and the courts system.
• Impersonation (identity theft) is a Google TOS issue, and can be reported using the Google Content Removal procedure.
• Harassment is a mild type of assault. It's generally a civil offense - and should be handled by a lawyer.
• Spam is a Google TOS issue, which generally cannot be reported, as it is automatically detected by the Blogger / Google Spam Classifier.
• Stalking is a criminal offense in many locales. It is a type of assault - and if you feel seriously threatened, may be handled by your local police.
• There are a variety of other Blogger / Google TOS issues, which are reported using the various Blogger / Google Abuse Reporting procedures. And, there are a variety of other civil and criminal issues, which must be handled by the courts system, and / or your local police.

You are responsible for reporting any offense accurately, and to the right agency - not solely to Blogger / Google. The above list is based upon USA legal terms. Other countries may use different definitions.

You need to understand the differences between Defamation and Impersonation, and other abuses, before attempting to report any threat to Blogger / Google. And, take action depending upon the medium used by the threat. Blogger / Google won't accept complaints about comments - as comments are jointly the property and responsibility of the blog owner, and of the comment publisher.

The bottom line here is that some Internet conflicts may take time and effort to resolve. The courts system, which is currently based locally and nationally, may have to evolve, as the Internet brings strangers together - and creates opportunities for conflict.

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Your Blog Address Is Unique - Though Many Other Identities Are Not

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!!

Some of these complaints are reasonable - and could keep a team of judges and lawyers very busy, for a while, when properly reported. Other complaints come from people who don't quite understand what identities in our Blogger blogs are uniquely our property - and what identities are not uniquely ours.

When you setup a Blogger blog, one of the first things that you must choose - and choose carefully - is the blog Address. Once you have chosen the Address for your blog - and until you successfully give up this Address, the chosen Address is yours, for eternity. Nobody else can use this Address, in publishing their blog.

You can change the Address (also known as the URL) of your blog, whenever convenient to you - but any change that you make is subject to availability, based on Addresses which may have been chosen by other people. And it is worth your while to plan any Address change, carefully.

When you setup a Blogger blog, and choose the Address, you also choose a blog Title, and Template. Anybody else, setting up their blog, may choose the same Title, and / or Template. Many people will choose the same Template as you do (and later customise their template, using the Template Designer). Similarly, anybody is free to choose any Title (and later change the title, whenever convenient to them).

A blog which simply uses the same Title as yours is probably not Impersonating you. A blog which contains content scraped from your blog, and with the same Title, may constitute Impersonation. Contrarily, a blog which simply contains content scraped from your blog, without impersonating, may constitute a copyright, or DMCA, Violation.

The Internet, in its ability to bring people together, is going to cause conflict. Some conflict will come from many different people, simply not understanding other peoples lifestyles and traditions. Other conflict will come from people intentionally abusing you.

You need to understand the differences between the various abuses, before attempting to report any perceived offense. You are responsible for reporting any offense to the right agency.

It's up to you to report impersonation, copyright violation, or other abusive content to the right agency - and it's up to each individual agency to decide whether or not to act upon your complaint. You must report any problems properly, for any action to be taken.

Comments, posted to various blogs, are handled differently. Blogger / Google considers comments published to blogs (and not dismissed as spam) to be a freedom of speech issue. Comments are jointly the property of the blog owner, and the publisher of each comment.

If someone else, publishing a comment, offends you, that is a concern which can be handled only by the blog owner. Blogger / Google, without a court order, will not get involved. If the blog owner permits anonymous comments, anybody can use any identity that pleases them. This may lead to apparent impersonation - but any impersonation conflicts will be up to the blog owner to resolve.

The bottom line here is that some Blogger / Google hosted problem content may require discretion and patience by you, for you and other people to receive appropriate treatment.

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Blogger Won't Censor Comments, Or Accept Abusive Comment Reports

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.

Any abuser of Internet services (aka "hacker", "spammer", or "troll"), with any ability, knows how to create multiple Google accounts without effort. Blogger Engineering is unlikely to spend time developing a new feature ("Block this comment publisher") that will simply provide you with a false sense of security, have no effect in the long term, and require an unproductive use of their time.

If you realistically feel that a comment publisher represents a legal and physical threat to you, you should report the threat to your local police agency. Other than physical threats, Blogger regards comments as a "freedom of speech" issue. Comments published on your blog are jointly the property - and the responsibility - of the comment publisher, and you.

As the blog owner, you are allowed to choose which comments publish, or remain published, on your blog. You can moderate before, or after, comments are published.

If any comments offend you, moderate or delete them promptly. Concentrate on publishing your blog, and ignore the abuse. Eventually, the person abusing you will get bored, and move on.

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Reporting Illegal Activity In Blogger Blogs

Blogger / Google provides two forms, for us to use when reporting unacceptable content, in Blogger blogs.

• Blogger Help: Reporting abuse
• Google Help: Removing Content From Google

Each form has a different use - and both forms have their stated limits.

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.

We've known, for a while, of the various options to report Blogger blogs which violate Blogger or Google Terms Of Service. The option to report abusive blogs (aka spam hosts) has been an option since 2009. In 2010, Google added the complementary ability to report copyright violations. Recently, we see that the latter form, now titled Google Help: Removing Content From Google, has been expanded to include a dozen different Google services. The existing Blogger Help: Reporting abuse continues to be available.

The "illegal content" list for Blogger, in the Google Help page, has been expanded, since 2011 - though some selections, in the list, offer only a disclaimer. Removing Content From Google seems to cover clear cut legal issues - while problems reported using Reporting abuse appear to involve the complainants personal perception.

Regardless of which form is submitted, we must note here that all problem reports may not produce immediate - or appropriate - response. Also, strict attention to detail is required - your reputation may be on the line, with your abuse reports.

Claiming A Brand Name Based BlogSpot URL

Periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, we see a hopeful query.

How do I claim the brand name URL for my clients blog?

Many merchandisers are unaware of the simple Blogger / Google policy

Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire.

Another way of saying that would possibly be first come, first served.

If the clients brand name is a registered trademark, you may be able to report a DMCA Violation. This action will likely get you two things.

• The offending blog may be deleted - with the URL locked to the current owner, for eternity.
• You (your clients company) may get some bad PR.

You probably won't get a third thing.

• The immediate use of the trademark URL.

To avoid bad PR, you might make up for the inconvenience, and compensate the current owner to have the URL transferred to you - but you may have to provide compensation, imaginatively. Traditionally, Google forbids us from selling Blogger / Google resources - including URLs.

Blogger supports our right to publish our blogs, anonymously. If the current owner, of the blog in question, can't be contacted directly, you may have to do some research to find the owner, or - again - get a court order.

If you do manage to contact the owner, and arrive at an understanding where you are offered control of the blog, have the URL transferred to you, properly.

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