Recently, we've seen a few problems reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, requesting return of blogs stolen from the rightful owner.
Supposedly, the "rightful" owner is the person posting the problem report. We've learned from past experiences that this may not always be the case, however.
Long ago, when a stolen blog claim was posted in the forum, we could report it to Blogger Support as a "blog theft".
In many cases, given enough patience, Blogger Engineering and Google Legal would carefully examine the blog ownership history, and eventually restore the blog to its "rightful" owner. Unfortunately, even with the most careful forensic examination, the "blog theft" claim was occasionally used by hackers, to steal other peoples blogs.
Most recently, when "blog theft" is reported, Blogger Support declines to consider the case. Considering all of the issues, we generally see that they are making a responsible business decision.
Instead of spending massive amounts of time verifying individual claims, Blogger Engineering appears to be working on overall improvements to Blogger - to encourage blog owners to not put themselves, or their accounts and blogs, in unrecoverable positions.
Any blog which contains abusive material - whether malware, porn, or spam, or illegally obtained material - can be reported using the proper complaint form. Blogs which do not contain abusive material are the property of the current owner - and Blogger / Google will respect and support the current owner.
Blog owners, claiming theft, can generally report a stolen blog as abusive - if the current content justifies that claim. Other than that, the best solution is to hire a lawyer and convince a judge to issue a court order - and require Google Legal to become involved.
The issue of Blogger account and blog recovery is a long and painful one - for many people.
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Showing posts with label Report Abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Report Abuse. Show all posts
Friday, 2 August 2013
Thursday, 23 May 2013
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.
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.
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.
Whatever the loss of control, it's yours to correct.
Note a very specific warning, about misuse of the DMCA Violation complaint.
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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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
Whatever the loss of control, it's yours to correct.
- Corporate blog, control lost.
- Personal blog, control lost.
- Team blog, control stolen.
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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Sunday, 26 August 2012
Reporting Illegal Activity In Blogger Blogs
Blogger / Google provides two forms, for us to use when reporting unacceptable content, in Blogger blogs.
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.
- Blogger Help: Reporting abuse
- Google Help: Removing Content From Google
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.
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