The company said the culprits took advantage of a "hole" in YouTube's DMCA security that let anyone claim to represent a rights holder, effectively letting "any person, anywhere" misuse the system to suit their own ends.Īccording to Bungie, the perpetrators created a Gmail account in mid-March that was intended to mimic the developer's copyright partner CSC. TorrentFreak reports the game studio has sued 10 anonymous people for allegedly leveling false Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) claims against a host of Destiny 2 creators on YouTube, and even Bungie itself.
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It also contains a warning to anyone else thinking about taking advantage of Google's takedown policies: "Bungie brings this action to recover for the Doe Defendants’ tortious and illegal conduct, and, frankly, to demonstrate to anyone else stupid enough to volunteer as a Defendant by targeting Bungie’s community for similar attack that they will be met by legal process."īungie's lawsuit against the as-yet-unnamed defendants is available in full from Torrentfreak (opens in new tab).YouTube's copyright claim system has been repeatedly abused for bogus takedown requests, and Bungie has had enough. The lawsuit says that Bungie will have the identities of the perpetrators soon, and when it does it wants actual and punitive damages, legal fees, and an injunction barring them from future infringement. "The level of connection and community that Bungie's players share directly affects Bungie's bottom line," the suit states, before going on to note the extremely negative reaction among the player base, which initially assumed Bungie was responsible, and the widespread coverage the takedowns received across mainstream gaming media. The studio is therefore particularly conscious of the need to keep its fans happy, something that this kind of nonsense does not make any easier.
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Destiny 2 is free to play: Bungie earns its money on sales of additional content like expansions, seasonal content, and Silver, the in-game currency. One of the interesting things about the lawsuit is the way Bungie acknowledges that the action is, in part, a kind of fan service. "Fortunately for the people whose videos were targeted by the Fraudulent Takedown Notices, Bungie has the financial resources to begin that civil process in order to meet Google’s requirements," Bungie said.īungie's initial reaction to fraudulent DMCA takedown notices It refused to share any information about the people responsible for the takedowns without either a request from law enforcement or a civil ruling, however. The wheels didn't start to turn until Bungie's global finance director fired off an email to multiple Google employees beseeching them for help after further clarifications and delays, and double-checking to ensure Bungie "had gone through standard channels to file a help ticket," Google terminated the accounts that had submitted the fraudulent takedown requests and promised that all takedowns would be reversed. The suit includes a step-by-step breakdown of Bungie's efforts to stop and reverse the false takedowns, a weekend-long litany of escalation and runaround that will likely sound familiar to anyone who's ever had to deal with customer service at a large, distant company. Restoring videos and removing copyright strikes, on the other hand, is much more difficult: "Bungie had to work through several layers of YouTube contacts before it could adequately communicate and begin addressing the problem," the suit states. The lawsuit describes YouTube's DMCA policies as "flawed" and suffering from a "gaping security loophole" that allows literally anyone, including "a disgruntled infringer or a competitive content producer," to issue takedown notices without verification. "Bungie had to devote significant internal resources to addressing it and helping its players restore their videos and channels-an effort complicated by the fact that while YouTube has a form that allows anyone to claim to represent a copyright holder and issue copyright strikes, it has no dedicated mechanism for copyright holders who are being impersonated to let YouTube know about the DMCA fraud."īungie's criticism of YouTube in the lawsuit is surprisingly harsh. "Destiny community members were also misled to believe that Bungie’s brand protection agent was also fraudulent, causing confusion among users as to the authenticity of legitimate DMCA notices. "The Destiny community was bewildered and upset, believing that Bungie had reneged on a promise to allow players to build their own streaming communities and YouTube channels on Destiny 2 content," the lawsuit states.
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