A Google Victory
Inroads against AI
Periodically I will do a Google search of my name or my book to check for inaccuracies or results I don’t want public. Data brokers are constantly gleaning and scraping for information and it’s an uphill battle trying to control your personal digital footprint.
Last week I performed a search and found a big surprise. A site had an audio version of my book (something I never authorized) read by a person I had never heard of. The summary under my name and my book cover described a novel with a lead character and premise that didn’t resemble my memoir. They described me as an author and public speaker, even had fake reviews of the AI slop.
Livid, I contacted Google through their content removal process. I got what I can only assume was an AI-generated response. They wrote in an email they were “unsure” if I was authorized to claim copyright infringement because I didn’t “appear” to be the content creator. They went on to scold me by stating I could be liable for damages, including attorney’s fees, for falsely claiming copyright infringement. Finally, if I still believed I was the copyright owner, I was supposed to respond to the email and explain how that could be.
This is when my overly-detailed, researched to the teeth, self kicked in. I was advised not to apply for a copyright for my book. It was redundant because books are already covered by copyright laws. I did it anyway. I looked through my files and found the date in my expenses for when I filed the copyright through the US Library of Congress. Bingo.
I responded to the Google bot with dates and assurances I owned the copyright. The response came back: “It is unclear how you came to own the copyright because it appears you are not the creator of the content.”
Fortunately, after swallowing my tongue in rage, I brought up the website for the US Copyright Office and obtained the certificate in a pdf I could forward to Google. I calmly explained I was the sole owner and if you search for my name on Google, you’ll find a profile stating I wrote the book. Google verified the profile with my driver’s license years ago, I reminded them. I stated the offensive website featuring the ill-gotten fake book attributed to me should be removed for copyright offenses.
Here’s their response:
This happened early this morning and the search results were still up as of a few minutes ago, but I have faith they’re coming down. I redacted the onerous website.
In my wildest nightmares I couldn’t have dreamed up the mess AI would cause for writers. And it’s not coming. It’s definitely here. People are falling over each other trying to make money on the companies that provide it but especially in the current administration there is very little, if any, regulation.
My advice is to monitor your online presence regularly and if you find something amiss, go full on mama bear on your work.
Have a great weekend.
Colleen
OMG. So tacky! And infuriating. Hard enough to deal with humans, now snarky computers. Did Google ever take down the search results?
I'm glad you did your research, Colleen. Copyright does attach to all creative works automatically, but if you want to go after infringers, you have to register it with the Library of Congress. A lot of writers don't know this. And mailing yourself a copy of your work is a myth, not a clever fix.
Is there some way to secure audiobook copyright before you create the audiobook?