Facebook review their DMCA/ photo reporting procedure
It has recently come to our attention that Facebook have changed their procedure for dealing with Copyright/ DMCA reports against photos that are uploaded to their website. Given the fact that their old procedure was somewhat a bit of a shambles, this can only be a good thing. Although their new procedure is still not perfect, it is however a great improvement on how they used to deal with such reports.
Facebook’s old DMCA/ photo reporting procedure
- Claimant reports a photo being shared on Facebook, claiming copyright infringement.
- Facebook receives the report.
- Your photos are deleted from the website & are issued with a warning for each photo that has been reported & removed. You are given no details as to which photo(s) have been removed, given no contact details of the reporter (or even a name)*, nor any real reason for the removal of the photos. If you question Facebook over the removal of the photos, you would receive no reply.
Flawed?
This procedure was far from perfect, or even acceptable. After all, there are over 200 million active members on Facebook and many people have enemies or share different views from others, on various matters. Not to mention the sheer number of business pages that exist on Facebook- every business has some form of competition, or jealous/ childish person (stupidly) looking to set them back or damage their business to make theirs seem better.
The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.
Given the ways of the old procedure, people could simply report photos belonging to people (or businesses) that they don’t like, or are looking toplay childish games with- and within a day or 2 those photos would be removed from Facebook without notice.
Facebook’s new procedure seems to be slightly better- surely a sign that they’re aware of their flawed system, and that they’re working towards perfecting it.
Facebook’s new DMCA/ photo reporting procedure
- 1. Claimant reports your photo, claiming copyright infringement.
- 2. Facebook receive the report.
- 3. Facebook remove all reported photos and issues you with a warning (shown below). For each photo that has been reported & removed; you’re issued a warning. In the new warnings, details tell you which photo(s) have been removed from the site (Date & time they were uploaded, the name of the album the photo was in, and also the photo caption (If it had one!). Contact details of the claimant (or a name)*, nor reasons for the removal of the photos are provided to you, although you are issued with a link so that you can appeal against the decision.
- 4. Should you choose to appeal, you are asked to fill in this short form. We advise you to be as specific as possible when completing this form, or if possible- seek legal advice before doing so!
- 5. Facebook then receive your appeal/ DMCA Counter-notice, & review the report(s).
- 6. You will receive a copy of your appeal via email.
- 7. Facebook then review the case, and decide whether or not to reinstate the photo(s).
The outcome of a Facebook DMCA appeal
If Facebook reinstate your photo(s), the claimant is issued with your contact details (as provided in the appeal form); they can then contact you to discuss the matter further, or issue notice of legal proceedings.
If Facebook deny your appeal, they’ll let you know via email. You can then request the contact details of the claimant, and issue them with notification of legal proceedings.
Much better, right?
Undoubtedly! But one flaw that we have spotted so far in their new procedure- Since it’s near impossible to relate to the photo(s) that have been deleted, based on the info Facebook provides you with in the warning, we feel they should provide you with a link to a thumbnail (or watermarked) image of the removed content- so you know exactly what has been reported, and so that you can deal with the matter more easily. After all- if you have over 500 photos on Facebook and recieve just 10 reports/ removals- the info Facebook have provided you with probably aren’t going to allow you to know exactly which ones have been removed
If you look at the counter DMCA form (screenshot above), one section states:
Where did that content appear on the Facebook site? Please include the URL if you know it.
Forgive us Facebook, but how can we provide the URL of a photo that no longer exists on your website? We suggest that since you cannot provide them with the URL of the photo(s), that you provide them with the date & time that the photo(s) was uploaded, and also the name of the album/ image caption (They provide you with these details).
Summary
Great move my Facebook. Although not yet perfect, it’s undoubtedly a huge leap in the right direction towards perfecting their DMCA report procedure.
*If a DMCA report has been submitted to Facebook against you, contact details of the reporter are provided to the uploader of the photo(s), so you can settle any argument with them yourself via telephone of email.
