Google Provides Scientology Warnings To Free Speech Site Newsbytes April 12, 2002 by David McGuire http://www.newbytes.com/news/02/175863.html

Last month, Google de-listed some of the pages on Xenu.net after the Church of Scientology claimed that the site violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by misusing several copyrighted words and phrases relating to Scientology.

Google later re-listed many of those pages.

"Our DMCA policy strives to balance the rights of copyright holders with our users' desire for all the information relevant to their searches. If we are unable to show a search result because of a DMCA-related complaint, our users have the right to know this," Google spokesman David Krane said today.

Cindy Cohn, the Legal Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and one of the developers of Chillingeffects.org, applauded Google's decision to make the letters available.

"If Google is going to do us the service of providing the cease and desist letters they receive, it's just going to make the Web site stronger," Cohn said.

Google has also posted a page on its own Web site detailing its obligations and policies under the DMCA.

"is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the (DMCA) and other applicable intellectual property laws, which may include removing or disabling access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity," the site says.

In addition to providing instructions on how to notify Google of possible infringements, the page includes guidance for Web site operators seeking to fight infringement claims by filing counter-notifications.

Scientology officials were not immediately available for comment.

Google's DMCA page is at http://www.google.com/dmca.html .

Chillingeffects.org is at http://www.chillingeffects.org .

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