Microsoft Mistakenly Ask Google To Block BBC And The US Government Over Copyright Infringement

Microsoft France have mistakenly filed a takedown notice to Google, under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) accusing seemingly innocent sites such as the BBC, The Washington Post and the US government of infringing copyright.  Beyond this, the automated system Microsoft seem to have running has also requested the block of any webpage containing the number 45.

Yep, sorry Mum, you've got to skip ahead a year, this age is copyrighted. Under the DMCA companies can make requests for content that infringes their copyright to be taken down from search engines like Google. Back in July however Microsoft's automated system had somewhat gone wrong.

The list of claims by Microsoft published by Chilling Effects lists URLs from the BBC, Cbeebies, The Huffington Post, AMC Theatres, The Washington Post, CBS, CNN, Tech Crunch, the Environmental Protection Agency, the US government's Department of Health and Human services (HSS), and the Wikipedia entry for Britain's Got Talent as infringing the copyright of Microsoft's Windows 8 Beta.

The request largely covered websites frequently hosting illegal content but many innocent websites were pinpointed due to the presence of the number 45. For example, an article from the BBC on Day 45 of the Olympic Torch Relay and the Wikipedia entry about the 45th Fighter Squadron of the US Air Force.

Source: Microsoft DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Google (Chilling Effects)

Suzy Aldridge