UK website taken down by spurious copyright complaint regarding UK ultra-right groups

Richard Bartholomew maintains a thoughtful, well-informed British site about religion and religious extremists, as well as hate groups. His site was taken down last night, apparently in response to a US DMCA copyright complaint from Charlie Flowers, who had allegedly posted remarks about a debate between the English Defence League (a UK rightwing extremist group) and the Muslim Debate Initiative, and concluded them with "a legal notice forbidding anyone from 'reproducing' what he had written." According to Bartholomew, Flowers used this as the basis for a DMCA complain to Bartholomew's ISP, objecting to a 16-word quotation." Bartholomew writes,

If we take seriously Flowers' claim that no-one should be allowed to quote (or even to report indirectly) what he has written, then there isn't much hope for the future of any kind of discussion or reportage on the internet. Apparently, the only course of action that my webhost will accept is a "counter notice” from me, which has to contain my address and which will then be passed on to Flowers. If Flowers does not respond to that within two weeks, then the disputed content can be restored. My host is interested only in "liability”, not in the merits or otherwise of the complaint. Further, the DMCA process is concerned only with establishing ownership; it does not appear to take account of fair usage or the public interest.

Of course, if Flowers really thought he had a case, he'd be suing me personally for copyright infringement in the UK – where we both live – rather than misusing an American law to go after my webhost. It's a typically desperate and unprincipled act by a thug, and it makes a mockery of his free speech pose in relation to the EDL/MDI debate. Al Andalusi ought to be embarrassed by him.

Blog Post Removed Following Vexatious Copyright Complaint in USA - Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion: Auxiliary Site (Thanks, Feorag!)

• [Nathan Hornby]

  Well put.

• [ocker3]

  ” religion, hate groups and religious extremists, as well as hate groups”

  Needs less hate groups

  • [RadioSilence]

    Everything needs less hate groups.

    • [bluest_one]

      Except for incorrect grammar usage hate groups.

      I’m against fewer of those.

• [digi_owl]

  And USA complains that free speech will be harmed if the ITU gets a say in matters Internet…

• [Spieguh]

  Nice host ya got there. It’d be a shame if someone or someones, say, filed DMCA takedowns for every one of their clients. Hard to make money when every paying customer is shut down, maybe inspire some due diligence before fucking over said customers…

• [Richard Bartholomew]

  Thanks for posting this and for the kind words. We all know about the “libel chill” emanating from the UK; but this “copyright chill” from the USA is new to me.

• [andygates]

  It’d be a terrible shame if someone posted that censored text. #streissand

• [Col McGillveray]

  Charlie Flowers…. http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/archive/strange-bedfellows

• [Col McGillveray]

  Here is the censored text   http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GuHl1e_xas0J:barthsnotes.com/2012/09/27/muslim-debate-initiative-debate-with-edl-cancelled/

• [Richard Bartholomew]

  My auxiliary site has been removed – I’m not sure whether as a result of an automated process that didn’t like my links or because of a new complaint. However, there’s a good account of the story here: http://torrentfreak.com/online-thug-dmcas-critics-site-off-the-internet-over-16-word-rant-121011/

• [bruce cat]

  Looks like the blog post was taken down too. I’m getting 404 error