Google's help department: clueless by design

Google's previous delay in complying with my requests to stop using my copyrighted material could merely be attributed to the fact that they hardly ever read their own help forums.

But the latest development showcases the deliberate cluelessness that now rules the roost at Google's help department.

Today, I finally got an e-mail response to last Wednesday's help ticket. Their response shows they didn't even have any grasp of what the problem I was complaining about was!

They denied there were any bugs on their end - which is a lie, because their post removal tool has been down for weeks. Then they said that all I needed to do was log on under my old e-mail address to delete the posts.

As I told them before, I no longer have that address. In fact, I'm pretty sure I followed this procedure while I still had it - only to see the posts reappear recently, when I no longer had this address. I can't get another account with this address.

If they bothered to read my original complaints, they'd know this.

So I had to tell them yet again.

This time, they sent back a form e-mail about how Google "does not monitor or control the content of" postings.

Idiots. I'm not asking them to "monitor or control" content. I'm asking them to stop using my copyrighted material. Is that so hard to understand?

Then they told me that in order to remove posts made using an outdated address, they need for me to get a court order proving that address was mine.

A court order? They expect me to spend money I don't have on legal fees for a court order just because they have no respect for copyright law? If they think I'm getting a court order, they can kiss my ass.

For another thing, this is also a lie. Google's post removal tool (which they won't fix) never required a court order.

Every time WMG or Universal opens its spleezox yip to get a clip pulled from YouTube (even though they don't own any of the material in the clip), YouTube (which Google owns) complies instantly - court order or not.

What about the Deja days when requests were accepted to modify posts that had already been archived? Clearly, Deja never required a court order. If they did, some of the fraudulent modifications by people impersonating other users would have never been accepted.

I know exactly where on Google I can find one of my posts that someone changed after it had been posted. I sure don't know of the person who changed it ever getting a court order.

Half the people I know who are of average intelligence haven't been able to find a job in 5 years, but Google's help department keeps hiring total idiots who lie to users and don't even comprehend their complaints.

Right now, I've shifted from being concerned about the content of the posts in question to being outraged over Google's double standard in demanding a court order and its complete disregard for basic copyright law that was passed even before the DMCA.

As for the fraudulent changes to my posts, at least now the other side can't have it both ways. My adversaries have insisted I wrote everything in those posts, just because my name appears on them. I did not. Now that Google is demanding a court order to prove the address is mine, I can point to the lack of a court order as proof that it isn't.

In the meantime, Congress or the states need to pass laws requiring Google to remove posts on demand, if the person who posted them requests it.