Shoutout to the librarian who helped me fight a takedown notice

I run a small local history blog about my town in Vermont. Last month I got a DMCA takedown for a post about a 1980s town council scandal. The company claiming copyright was a real estate firm that didn't want the info public. I was at my kitchen table panicking until I contacted the town librarian. She found me the original newspaper clippings from 1985 proving the info was public record. I filed a counter notice with the clippings attached and the post was restored in 10 days. Has anyone else had a library help them push back against bogus takedowns?

2 comments

2 Comments

sarahh481d ago

Back in 2019 I had a similar thing happen with a blog post about an old diner that got torn down. A developer sent me a takedown for a photo I took myself. The town library in Barre had the original building permits and historical society photos that proved my image was fair use, not stealing their promotional material. I scanned everything they had and filed my counter notice with a cover letter explaining the public record angle. The whole process took about two weeks but the librarian even helped me cite the specific Vermont statute about archived municipal documents. Librarians are seriously underrated for digital rights work, they know how to find the paper trail that corporate lawyers hate. I bring a flash drive with scanned public records on every long haul now just in case something comes up again.

victor7591d ago

Dang, you actually carried a flash drive of scanned public records on a road trip after that? That's a whole other level of preparedness right there @sarahh48. I keep my old tax returns in a shoebox and call it a day. The librarian thing makes sense though, those folks are basically ninjas with microfiche and dusty binders. I bet that developer guy never saw the Vermont statute coming, probably figured nobody would dig that deep for a diner photo.