My Blog Was Hijacked. Google Search Is Helping The Thieves - And Itself!

My old blog was hijacked. The perpetrator is using Google Search to effectuate the fraud. Google is using the fraud to boost its public image.

I formerly wrote a blog, When the Abuser Goes To Work, where I covered topics relating to workplace bullying and the systemic abuse of workers by U.S. employers and federal courts.

I ended the blog a couple of years ago. At least, that’s what I thought.

I recently discovered that the blog has been hijacked by a company based in Greece called “Latenode,” which describes itself as an advanced AI workforce automation platform. Latenode even inserted new text into the “About” page of the old blog stating:

• “For companies interested in leveraging Latenode to streamline their compliance and training programs in employment law, Ms. Barnes could offer strategic guidance… .”

• “Moreover, by understanding the benefits of BPM (Business Process Management), Ms. Barnes could assist organizations in refining their processes, ensuring that compliance activities are not only effective but also efficiently managed through automated systems like Latenode, enhancing overall workplace governance.”

I have no relationship with Latenode, which supposedly has an office in Delaware, and I had never even heard of it until last week. It is also featuring various articles that I wrote for abusergoestowork.com.

Google Search

At some point, I realized the problem was not just Latenode but also Google Search, and various other search engines, which give Latenode a platform to distribute its theft of my intellectual property. Google Search is a marketing tool for companies like Latenode.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), passed in 1998, requires search engines to remove content from their services “expeditiously” upon receipt of a valid takedown notice. The service provider must then promptly notify the user who originally uploaded the material that it has been removed. In exchange for these perks, the law exempts search providers from monetary liability for user copyright infringement.

Another Copyright Violation?

Last week, I filled out a Google online request form asking it to de-index Latenode’s self-serving rewrite of the “About” page. The next day, “Google Search” emailed me to say I needed to fill out a different form.

After filling out the new form, I hit a dead end. The form could not be submitted unless I checked a box granting permission for my takedown request to be publicly catalogued at Lumen, an archive run by Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. My first thought was that this must be a scam.

But, no.

Google and Berkman have entered into a mutually beneficial partnership whereby Google sends Berkman’s Lumen database all of its takedown requests in exchange for Berkman smiling while Google claims that it is promoting accountability and trust

Today, I checked the lumendatabase.org and found my take Google takedown request listed there, even though I didn’t check the box. Google took it upon itself to send the info I wrote n the first form to Lumen.

Am I the victim of a second copyright infringement - this time by Google Search?

Meanwhile, Google Search has not removed the link to the Latenode rewrite of my “About” page.

I sent an email to Google’s press office asking why Google Search refuses to de-list illegal content unless the copyright holder checks a box granting permission to send the request to Lumen, which will publicly display it on its database forevermore. “What right does Google have to keep distributing false information after the affected party notifies you and asks you to stop?” I asked.

A Google spokesperson referred me to a statement posted on Google’s help center that says Google sends Lumen takedown notices to “promote transparency… [and] to facilitate academic and industry research concerning the availability of online content.”

I submit there is more to it than this.

Financial Influence?

Google and Berkman may be independent actors but both benefit from a suspiciously cozy relationship.

Google, Inc. is officially listed as a financial supporter on Berkman’s support page, which raises questions about Berkman’s claims to be an objective critic of Big Tech. It also undermines any appearance of independence with respect to Berkman’s research on AI, data privacy, and antitrust.

Meanwhile, Google wraps itself in the blanket of Berkman’s claim to be an independent tech watchdog that strives to promote human agency, dignity, and genuine connection on the internet.

Without Google, Berkman could not have built the Lumen database, which is a comprehensive, searchable repository used in Berkman’s educational programs and plumbed by scholars and regulators. Lumen helps Berkman secure foundational grants, endowments, and court-awarded settlements.

So this is all very nice for Berkman and Google but what about me!

I am slowly working through the obtuse and complicated process of loosening Latenode’s iron grip on the years of work that I put into my old blog, When the Abuser Goes To Work.

I feel abused at this point. Maybe that should be the focus of my next blog?

BTW, employers looking for help to establish a safe and productive workplace, check out my book, Surviving Bullies, Queen Bees & Psychopaths in the Workplace.