Abusing DMCA Notices To Take Down Content You Don't Like

Last year, we wrote about how people were figuring out that they could abuse the DMCA to take down just about any content they don't like -- and apparently the practice is becoming more widespread. Boing Boing notes that Uri Geller has been using the DMCA to take down videos that debunk his "psychic abilities" while Robert Cringely claims that someone (he's not sure who, but it's clearly not the actual copyright holder) has issued a takedown notice of a video of Steve Jobs from Cringely's Triumph of the Nerds documentary. In both cases, it was not the actual copyright holder issuing the takedown notice -- which is illegal. But since the DMCA requires sites to take down content first and ask questions later, the content is quickly removed. This, of course, is not the intended purpose of the DMCA, but since it's apparently so effective, expect to see it happen a lot more frequently.