How Digg Handles DMCA Takedowns

Jay Adelson, the chief executive of Digg, told Saul Hansell of the New York Times how the social news site responds to DMCA takedowns:

From time to time, Digg has received a request, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to take down a post, or a comment, that contains copyrighted material. Mr. Adelson said the company complies without complaint. But he said that often isn't necessary. ...

But many of the items on the front page used headlines and descriptions lifted directly from the site to which they are linking. And in the active debate on the topic on Digg, I didn't find people arguing that Digg, such as here, has a policy that prefers paraphrases over quotes.

Adelson clarified his comments with the explanation that the site files all of its DMCA takedowns with Chilling Effects, a database of legal challenges issued to web sites. (I did so as well, but it hasn't been published yet.)

Chilling Effects has 18 DMCA takedowns filed against Digg, including eight filed in the month of May:

Kappa Sigma Doesn't Digg Posted Manual, filed by Kappa Sigma Fraternity
Drag City wants link dragged off Digg, filed by Drag City, Inc.
How Not to Release a Bear - Photo, filed by an unnamed photographer
Dark Knight Strikes Again, filed by Warner Brothers
People Complains of Carey/Cannon Photo, filed by Time Inc. on behalf of People magazine
People Complains of Carey/Cannon Photo, Again, filed by Time Inc. on behalf of People magazine
No Time for Dugg Carey/Cannon Photos, filed by Time on behalf of People magazine
Dark Knight Strikes Again, filed by Warner Brothers
Pizza Hut Doesn't Dig Scanned Coupon, filed by Pizza Hut
Dark Knight on the prowl for linked images, filed by Warner Brothers
Unauthorized Use of Warner Bros.' Property, filed by Warner Brothers
Dark Knight on the prowl for linked images, filed by Warner Brothers
Time Doesn't Want Richie Photos Dugg, filed by Time Inc. on behalf of People magazine
Zanpakuto complains of Dugg copy, filed by Zanpakuto.com
Techthrob claims Digg linked to copied post, filed by techthrob.com
USMLEworld complains to Digg about user comments, filed by USMLEWORLD, LLC
Facebook Doesn't Digg Posted Source, filed by Facebook
Farworks Doesn't Dig Digg Link to Far Side Video, filed by Farworks, Inc.

Digg replaces removed posts with a link to the DMCA takedown.

Like Hansell, I'm skeptical of Adelson's claim that Digg actively pursues and bans users who share links using the headlines and excerpts of news articles rather than putting both into their own words. Given the volume of contributions on the site, finding and evaluating whether its posts are fair use would be an enormous if not impossible task.

The DMCA takedown dispute with AP has ramifications for all social news sites that employ a model like the Drudge Retort and Digg, where short user blog entries are paired with long discussions that contain most of the analysis and user commentary. Michael Kwun, the senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, believes we're on solid legal ground:

Drudge Retort posts regularly draw numerous comments, posted on the same web page, from Drudge Retort readers. This transforms the AP's content from (an excerpt from) a news story into a discussion and a debate.

Law · Journalism · 2008/06/19 · 1 COMMENT · Link

Comments

According to Staci, the matter is closed between you and the A.P.: "In response to questions about the use of Associated Press content on the Drudge Retort web site, the AP was able to provide additional information to the operator of the site, Rogers Cadenhead, on Thursday."

Any details? I suppose the chatterers on Making Light and TechCrunch are more focused on Bob and the MBA at this point.

Jon

#1 · Jon Garfunkel · 2008/06/20