Machine needs more Learning: Google Drive dings single-digit files for copyright infringement
- Reference: 1643133843
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/01/25/google_drive_copyright_infringement/
- Source link:
"When [a file is] restricted, you may see a flag next to the filename, you won't be able to share it, and your file will no longer be publicly accessible, even to people who have the link," Google explained at the time.
That [1]system is now up and running, just not very well: Google Drive's scanning system has been finding copyright violations where they do not exist and flagging innocuous files.
[2]
Dr Emily Dolson, assistant professor at Michigan State University, in the departments of Computer Science & Engineering and Ecology, Evolution, & Behavior, [3]had a run-in with the errant scanner recently when she uploaded a file named "output04.txt" that consisted of a single character, the numeral one.
[4]
[5]
One wonders what exactly upset Google – the digit or the output04.txt filename? Certainly the number 1 does turn up in all manner of copyrighted works. No one let the internet search giant know that Microsoft has its own cloud storage named OneDrive.
"I'm currently teaching a graduate-level algorithms class where students need to write code that solves problems I give them," Dolson told The Register today via email. "I like to make the test cases I use to evaluate the code freely accessible to students to assist them with debugging.
[6]
"This issue occurred when I uploaded a large set of files to Drive containing inputs and expected outputs for these test cases. Among the expected output files, there were a few that contained just the character '1'. Shortly after uploading them, I received a string of emails from Google indicating that those files had been flagged for copyright infringement."
Uh, [7]@googledrive , are you doing okay? This file literally contains a single line with the number "1". [8]pic.twitter.com/4tLhOzQY1T — Dr. Emily Dolson (@emilyldolson) [9]January 24, 2022
Dolson can still access the files, but she cannot share them, which she said was unfortunate because she created them to share with her students.
Others have reported similar experiences. Richard D. Morey, a Reader (UK lingo for professor) in psychology at Cardiff University, responded to Dolson's Twitter post [10]by noting , "I stopped using Google Drive professionally for this reason. It was flagging and pulling down documents I authored myself, and no students could access them!"
And other people responding to Dolson's post claim to have independently replicated the issue by [11]getting small files flagged in Drive.
As has been pointed out by those participating in the Twitter discussion, Europe's [12]GDPR gives people "the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning him or her or similarly significantly affects him or her." US privacy law, however, doesn't really do much for those subject to false algorithmic decisions.
[13]
The Register twice asked Google to confirm that Drive's content flagging system is broken but we've not heard back. However, a Google engineering manager responding to Dolson's Twitter thread [14]acknowledged that Google is aware of the issue.
Google's post announcing its Drive abuse notification system depicts a sample message that includes a button labeled "Request a Review," to have a human check the violation scanner's decision.
But Dolson said the automated email notification she received offered no way to push back against the determination of Google's content vetting algorithm – the Request a Review button was not included in the message she received, as can be seen from the screenshot she posted.
Which, you know, is a bit worrying for people concerned about the dead hand of AI being used as arbiter in these matters.
"The e-mail explicitly said 'A review cannot be requested for this restriction,'" she explained. "I do think that it is problematic to automate processes like this without providing any mechanism for a manual override.
Relying on viral social media posts as a sort of backdoor communication channel to the developers should not be the only option
"In this case it's a fairly minor inconvenience (I can just tell my students that the answer is 1), but in a different context it might be a much bigger problem. It's totally normal and understandable for software to have bugs, but that's exactly why there needs to be a mechanism for communicating those bugs back to the developers."
Dolson also took issue with allowing social media to drive customer support.
"Relying on viral social media posts as a sort of backdoor communication channel to the developers should not be the only option – that opens up a heap of equity concerns," she said. "Your ability to receive support for software products should not depend on whether you are sufficiently well connected to technology Twitter."
Netizens reported problems with other numbers, including 0, while the wags over on [15]Hacker News pointed to a mildly relevant [16]Onion article , headlined: "Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeroes."
Because there's always an Onion article where automation drives swathes of the IT world beyond satire. ®
Editor's note: Article updated to include quotes from Dr Emily Dolson.
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[1] https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/12/abuse-notification-emails-google-drive.html
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YfCBHOEIRnYx67bF@ntF@gAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://twitter.com/emilyldolson/status/1485434187968614411
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YfCBHOEIRnYx67bF@ntF@gAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YfCBHOEIRnYx67bF@ntF@gAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YfCBHOEIRnYx67bF@ntF@gAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://twitter.com/googledrive?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[8] https://t.co/4tLhOzQY1T
[9] https://twitter.com/emilyldolson/status/1485434187968614411?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[10] https://twitter.com/richarddmorey/status/1485728744719400971?s=20
[11] https://imgur.com/a/RHnEJcj
[12] https://gdpr-info.eu/art-22-gdpr/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YfCBHOEIRnYx67bF@ntF@gAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://twitter.com/MishaBrukman/status/1485804925561057291?s=20
[15] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30061080
[16] https://www.theonion.com/microsoft-patents-ones-zeroes-1819564663
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Well, that's one for the history books
That's one for the money, ...
Re: Well, that's one for the history books
Is this better or worse that those times Google just decided to delete Google Drive files with no warning whatsoever?
I did register the letters G, O, L and E a very long time ago. I remember I had to fight the registration bureau quite a bit because they suggested prior art in literature. But, I've been able to convince them of a time paradox where my thoughts, ideas, designs and all I produced have been scattered over time and have presented definite proof of ownership.
Now I own the alphabet in all its glory. Therefore, you are all infringing! Stop writing you repeat infringers! You owe me lots and lots of money. Are you reading this? Hello? Hello?
"Therefore, you are all infringing! Stop writing you repeat infringers!"
O tm MG tm ! What a good thing we can all learn to write emojii :-)
The one piece of text in that Google notice that really pisses me off and demonstrates Google's arrogance is: "A review cannot be requested for this restriction" which roughly translates as "We can do what we want and there's nothing you can do to question it, suckers!"
I used to merely hate Google, now I totally loathe them.
Not likely
Given the absurdity of this, I'd like to copyright the '@' symbol. (Might get away with it in the nation of Nauru.)
I wasn't even aware that Google Drive files were checked for copyright infringement? Ive uploaded backups of my music ripped from CDs and some films ripped off DVD to it and never experienced any copyright warning. Or is it only if you are sharing the files publicly do they get checked?
yes no no no yes no yes!
Since 1 is now off limits I propose we switch from 1 / 0 binary notation to simply yes / no.
A decimal number like 69 in the new notation would be:
yes no no no yes no yes!!!
The triple exclamation marks serve to clearly identify the new notation. This could be the dawn of a new more exciting era in computing!!!
Re: yes no no no yes no yes!
I'm afraid I've found [1]some prior art going back about two millennia. (NSFW)
[1] https://youtu.be/-dxd17pzHaA
Re: yes no no no yes no yes!
But denial (no) and acceptance (yes) have been appropriated by other forces. You are no longer allowed these traditional methods because they are confusing in the online markets. Denial to accept consumer produce is no longer allowed. Acceptance of TOS and EULA is mandatory to disallow the denial .
Yes?
No?
consume stay asleep buy no imagination no thought conform obey
Re: yes no no no yes no yes!
[1]Jim Trott might have prior art on that :-)
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yXYAK757Oc
Why would anyone in their right mind put copyright material on network drives? Why not just stream from somewhere if you're going to go through network IO to watch or listen to it?
Sharing said content would be another matter entirely regardless, but I honestly don't understand the point. Surely a USB drive of some sort would be more suitable for backups.
I think the point is that it was obviously not pirated material, highlighting the fact that any automated means to detect pirated material is going to be error prone.
Does this mean they may also reject academic documents that quote published material or other similar fair use situations?
Surely a USB drive ... for backups
I guess it depends if "off site" is important to you.
I knew my copyright filing
On the digit "1" would pay off eventually!
Where is the "giant bags 'o cash" icon?
Re: I knew my copyright filing
In place of the "1" we will just switch to using emoji like this -->
Although in Googles case I would prefer a raised middle finger.
*chuckles in self-hosted NextCloud*
Corporate wilful ignorance
but that's exactly why there needs to be a mechanism for communicating those bugs back to the developers.
This is an issue that goes far beyond Google or this story. It is a general issue in all large companies ( and a good few medium ones, I think)
Beancounter lead companies do not want to hear from the public that things are going wrong, that there is a fault etc. To do that would cost money providing customer service and hit short term profits, bonuses etc. So they hide or remove contact details, create websites that take customers round in circles from "contact us" to FAQs to "need more help" to "contact us" to..... Or direct users to "Support forums" where people who have nothing to do with the official company and don't get paid can offer amateur advice that may or may not be helpful, but won't make the company aware of or resolve any genuine product issues.
That they piss off customers and lose them, is a matter for the next financial reporting period.
Well, that's one for the history books
Too bad, Google.