BBC hit by Microsoft takedown request

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LONDON, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Microsoft mistakenly made automated requests for pages on BBC's website to be removed from Google for "copyright infringements," the British broadcaster said.

The BBC website, along with Web content created by CNN, Wikipedia and the U.S. government, were incorrectly identified by software that surveys the Web for attempts to illegally share Microsoft content, the BBC reported Monday.

Google has put the BBC on an approved list along with other targeted sites, including Buzzfeed, the Huffington Post and Techcrunch, so pages on those sites were not affected.

However, several sites including including AMC Theatres and RealClearPolitics that were also mistakenly accused had pages taken off Google search results, the BBC said.

Copyright holders can make requests to Google or other sites to take down content under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and a successful request means the content does not appear in Internet search rankings.

TorrentFreak, a technology blog covering BitTorrent and copyright issues, said companies should face penalties for wrongful takedown notices.

"Microsoft and other rights holders are censoring large parts of the Internet, often completely unfounded, and there is absolutely no one to hold them responsible," TorrentFreak wrote.

"Websites can't possibly verify every DMCA claim and the problem will only increase as more takedown notices are sent week after week."