Here at Ars Technica, we’ve lined plenty of examples of somewhat overzealous makes use of of DMCA takedown notices, to say the least. But Sega’s newest takedown request, for an innocuous web page on a Steam data-tracking website, would possibly take the cake.
As SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik shared on Twitter Monday, Sega’s attorneys requested that the location and its host take down a web page for Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The takedown request alleges that SteamDB is distributing or linking to pirated copies of the sport, although a quick glance at an archived version reveals that is not true.
That web page, like each different on SteamDB, merely compiles historic data on pricing, concurrent gamers, and different statistics from Steam’s personal API and public retailer pages. While there’s a hyperlink to put in the sport close to the highest, that hyperlink directs customers to Steam itself, which can try to put in a authentic copy if the person owns it.
“SteamDB doesn’t help piracy, it doesn’t present downloads, it doesn’t promote keys, it doesn’t hyperlink to any web sites that do any of those actions,” the location writes on its FAQ page. “SteamDB solely embeds Steam’s official widget for buying the sport… We contemplate our web site to fall below honest use, please don’t ship us DMCA takedowns.”
Djundik says these sorts of mistaken DMCA requests occur about annually on SteamDB, and it is not onerous to think about an overzealous internet crawler misidentifying a web page for some attorneys looking for to discourage software program pirates. But Djundik says earlier issues have at all times been shortly resolved with the takedown requester. In Sega’s case, Djundik says the corporate “didn’t reply to the primary abuse report and despatched a brand new one to our hoster.”
As such, the SteamDB web page for Yakuza: Like a Dragon” has been replaced with the next message: “This web page was taken down as a result of SEGA is claiming we distribute their sport right here (we do not).”
Djundik followed up overnight to say he has been involved with Sega of America, which hopefully means this snafu must be resolved comparatively quickly (a Sega consultant wasn’t instantly accessible to answer a request for remark from Ars Technica). Still, the entire saga is yet one more instance of how straightforward it’s for utterly non-infringing content material to typically get caught up within the DMCA’s web.
