{"id":59282,"date":"2021-09-12T09:02:42","date_gmt":"2021-09-12T09:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=59282"},"modified":"2021-09-12T09:02:42","modified_gmt":"2021-09-12T09:02:42","slug":"massive-adult-site-rule34-prepares-legal-action-to-fight-bogus-homepage-delisting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=59282","title":{"rendered":"Massive Adult Site \u2018Rule34\u2019 Prepares Legal Action to Fight Bogus Homepage Delisting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"target\"<\/a>Two years ago we reported<\/a> on a wave of bogus DMCA notices that targeted various adult sites. Many of those platforms were so-called \u2018hentai\u2019 sites which focus on adult-orientated comics and cartoons.<\/p>\n

The theory was that these bogus notices were sent by rivals or competitors to these platforms in an effort to damage their presence on the web<\/a>. While unaffected by that wave, the operator of adult site Rule34 \u2013 a site with around 100 million monthly visitors \u2013 now believes he is being targeted in a similar but entirely more serious way.<\/p>\n

Traffic to Rule34\u2019s Homepage Nosedives<\/h2>\n

In discussions with TorrentFreak this week, the operator of Rule34 explained that sometime around July 13, 2021, Google stopped sending all traffic to the site\u2019s homepage at Rule34.xxx. The immediate concern was that someone had sent a DMCA notice complaining about the page which, incidentally, carries no infringing content. <\/p>\n

However, after checking with Google the company confirmed that copyright wasn\u2019t the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no record of the following URLs having been removed from Google\u2019s search index due to a legal complaint under the DMCA: https:\/\/rule34.xxx\/. If you believe this is in error, please check the URLs in question again,\u201d Google responded. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf your site wasn\u2019t removed due to a legal complaint and you don\u2019t believe it violates our Webmaster Guidelines, but it isn\u2019t appearing in Google search results or isn\u2019t performing as well as before, you can request reconsideration of your site.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"Rule34<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

As the image above shows, the impact of the delisting was clear but the reasons were less so. That was until Rule34 began digging and found something pretty unsettling.<\/p>\n

Google Reveals That Content Was Indeed Removed<\/h2>\n

By using the query \u2018site:rule34.xxx rule34\u2019 and scrolling to the bottom of the search results, Rule34\u2019s operator found a notice from Google: \u2018Suspected child abuse content has been removed from this page\u2019 <\/p>\n

While Rule34 is clearly an adult site (The Internet\u2019s informal \u2018Rule 34<\/a>\u2018 asserts that pornography exists for every conceivable topic), its operator is adamant that his platform has done nothing wrong and would not allow such material, certainly not on the front page.<\/p>\n

As things stand, Rule34\u2019s operator believes that rather than using bogus DMCA notices to have sites like his delisted, people could be turning to CSAM complaints instead since, as far as he\u2019s aware, there is no way to effectively counter them. So the big question remains: who is behind it?<\/p>\n

No Clear Culprit But There Are Options<\/h2>\n

Early on in our discussions the operator of Rule34 mentioned contact with Russian telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor which issued a complaint to the site a couple of months ago. The entity, which administers Russia\u2019s site-blocking regime (which covers everything from piracy to terrorism), wrote to Rule34<\/a> claiming that there was CSAM on the site\u2019s homepage and, if it wasn\u2019t removed, the site would be blocked in Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe repeatedly asked them what on our front page was [CSAM] but they couldn\u2019t clarify. We then replaced the only thing on there, our logo. But they still blocked the site in Russia. I guess they didn\u2019t like the meme,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"Rule34<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

However, blocking in Russia is carried out by local ISPs, not Google, and Rule34\u2019s operator says that as far as he can see, the site has been removed from Google everywhere, not just Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I\u2019m seeing, the front page is gone in every region. My hypothesis on the situation is that Google doesn\u2019t verify CSAM complaints, so it would be very prone to abuse as there is no counter-form in this case,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

The other possibility is that Google acted on another complaint. Rule34 shared a complaint with TF that was sent to Cloudflare which claimed that the site \u201cis directed at underage audiences using bright colors and familiar characters from tv shows like my little pony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not want to be contacted about this, that is why my details are intentionally false,\u201d the complainant added while noting that the report had also been sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).<\/p>\n

In response, Rule34 contacted NCMEC to ask which URLs were problematic but they said they were unable to confirm if any reports had been made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis in itself is very strange, considering if any of the complaints were valid then I should remove said content? I firmly believe that CSAM complaints are being weaponized as a tool for censorship as Google becomes better by catching bogus DMCAs,\u201d Rule34\u2019s operator says.<\/p>\n

Legal Action is Being Prepared<\/h2>\n

In order to get to the bottom of the problem, Rule34\u2019s lawyers submitted a letter to Google and while the company\u2019s lawyers say Google is \u201cworking on it\u201d, a month has passed with no further action.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re currently filing for a suit and the date will likely be somewhere next month. My lawyer said if Google does restore the page before the date I can always cancel. I have little faith Google will actually do anything without it but we\u2019ll see,\u201d the site\u2019s operator explains.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see what information Google provides but in common with DMCA anti-circumvention notices, there doesn\u2019t appear to be a straightforward appeals process to tackle problematic notices. So, in the event this is indeed a malicious attack and not simply a huge mistake, this route could represent yet another weapon in the toolbox for those seeking to hurt or censor rivals. <\/p>\n

From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\n

Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two years ago we reported on a wave of bogus DMCA notices that targeted various adult sites. Many of those platforms were so-called \u2018hentai\u2019 sites which focus on adult-orientated comics and cartoons. The theory was that these bogus notices were sent by rivals or competitors to these platforms in an effort to damage their presence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torrent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}