Microsoft Mistakenly Asks Google to Ban Wikipedia, CNN and the US Government

In an attempt to block pirated versions of its software from reaching the web, Microsoft requested the search engine giant Google to block access to links coming from CNN, The Huffington Post, Wikipedia and even the US government.

The latest Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) comes with what appears to be an unfortunate mistake, as some of the copyright infringement claims mentioned by Microsoft are aimed at legitimate websites.

The DMCA system allows companies to request Google to remove specific entries from its search engine results because they may infringe copyright and link to unauthorized content.

Microsoft sent a total of 587 links for Office 2010, 155 links for Office 2007, 66 links for Windows 8 beta, 33 links for Office 2013 and many others for various software across its product lineup.

The Windows 8 section however includes plenty of legitimate websites, The Next Web writes, such as Wikipedia, BuzzFeed, BBC, The Washington Post, Digital Point, AMC Theatres and EPA.

Since the takedown request was sent on July 27, 2012, some of the included links are back online and can be freely accessed by Google’s search engine users. Others, on the other hand, remain down, such as the AMC Theatres links.

Google indeed posted a notification on the search results page whenever you’re searching for “Windows 8 beta,” informing users that one result has been removed from the page.

“In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org,” the notification reads.

Microsoft is yet to comment on the matter, but more information is very likely to be released soon, so we’ll keep you posted.