InternetRemovals.com - Names of Clients Exposed in Google Takedowns

We recently discovered that a company by the name of Internet Removals Pty. Ltd. has been submitting removal requests to Google under Australia's outrageous censorship laws and the names of their clients are not redacted. As a result, all any webmaster must do to find out which names have triggered removals from Google is go to the Lumen Database, search for their domain, and request full access to the content. Usually companies like Internet Removals have the presence of mind to make sure that Lumen redacts the names from the complaint. Why that does not seem to be the case with InternetRemovals.com is unclear.

During our first ever Lumen Database audit, we noticed a lot of content from Canada, Australia, and the U.K. some of which is useless because too much has been redacted. However, there is plenty of content which is not redacted or only redacted somewhat and therefore useful. In this case, we learned that a company by the name of Heir Hunters has been using Internet Removals to remove Google search results linking to several websites because the name of the company and its owner Deanna Mannix are featured prominently in the complaint. The body of the complaint is clearly visible on the Lumen website and could potentially be indexed by search engines.

Our discovery comes not long after Google was fined 10 million Euros by Spain for frustrating citizens' so called "right to be forgotten" by failing to redact their names from takedown requests before submitting them to Lumen for publication. Likewise, Google may have similarly violated Deanna Mannix's rights under Australian law, but we would have to do some homework to be sure. Australia is well known for being harder on speech than the EU, so it wouldn't surprise us of Mannix might have a valid claim against Google under Australian law as a result of this. Unlike us, Google has physical assets in Australia that can be seized in the event that fines or judgments are not paid. We simply have no assets that the Australian government could seize, so we don't care that most of our sites would not be legal there. It wouldn't surprise us if we're doing Mannix a favor publishing her name like this. Surely this article will give her the idea of looking into suing Google.

We are frequently on the lookout for businesses trying to make it their business to make our business less valuable. When we catch such a business screwing up this badly, we do not hesitate to call them on it. If someone doesn't want us pointing out problems with their business they can choose to stop motivating us just as easily as they can choose to be less obvious with their faults. We are not in the habit of systematically smearing anyone that gets in our way, but if you do get in the way do yourself a favor and make sure you have your stuff squared away first.

Finally, we will claim Fair Use in the event that Internet Removals uses any of that copyright nonsense in their complaint as part of a DMCA complaint. We have the right to present this work in full for the purpose of criticizing it.