Sep 19, 2017
Link sites vs hosts: who should get the takedown notice?
A pirate page and a pirate file are often on different services, run by different people.
In short: when a copy is found, there are usually at least two places to report: the site that links to the copy and the service that stores it. Sending the notice to the right party is what gets something removed.
Who is who
- Link site: publishes pages with titles, posters and links or embedded players. It may store nothing itself.
- Host: the file host, video host or server that stores and serves the copy.
- Network providers: the hosting company behind a site and, where relevant, services in front of it such as a CDN.
Where a notice should go
A notice to the host removes the copy itself. A notice to the link site removes the page that points to it. Where a site ignores notices, the hosting provider behind it may still act on a valid complaint.
Each notice should list the work, the exact URLs and the sender's details, as set out in how DMCA notices work.
Following up
Record which party received each notice and when. If the link page stays up but the file is gone, the page is no longer a working copy, but it may still rank in search, which is where delisting helps.
Related service: DMCA & takedowns.