Discover Automattic's new DMCA scandal with explosive Star Trek fan blog

Confusing a Star Trek blog with an adult actress

DMCA content removal company Piracy Prevention is having trouble distinguishing between two different uses of the name "La Sirena". For Star Trek fans, "La Sirena" refers to the Kaplan F17 Speed Freighter spaceship that was featured extensively in the "Picard" series. For those more interested in adult content, "La Sirena" (69) is associated with a Venezuelan actress. Tumblr, Automattic's parent company, has decided to add DMCA Piracy Prevention to its "Hall of Shame" for this mix-up.

Tumblr and DMCA removal requests

As one of the leading specialist blogging platforms, Tumblr receives thousands of DMCA removal requests every year. Many of these are for copyright-infringing content, but this isn't always the case.

Tumblr's parent company, Automattic, carefully examines all takedown requests and has a history of defending its users, whether intentional or unintentional abuse is involved.

To set an example, the company sometimes highlights the worst offenders in its "Hall of Shame". The latest entry was prompted by the unlikely confusion between a Star Trek fan blog and an adult entertainment actress.

La Sirena

The most recent entry in the "Hall of Shame" concerns "La Sirena", which means "The Mermaid" in Spanish. In addition to its dictionary meaning, Star Trek fans know "La Sirena" as the Kaplan F17 Speed Freighter spaceship featured in the Picard series.

This spaceship is much more than just an accessory for die-hard Star Trek fans. The person behind the Tumblr blog "Mapping La Sirena" has devoted many hours and written dozens of articles on this iconic ship.

However, the term "La Sirena" is not exclusive to the spaceship. Others have adopted it too, including Venezuelan adult actress Antonella Alonso, who chose "La Sirena 69" as her stage name.

In theory, such diverse uses of "La Sirena" should never cross paths. According to Automattic, DMCA content removal company Piracy Prevention has trouble distinguishing between the two, which has earned it a place in the company's "Hall of Shame".

The Hall of Shame

DMCA Piracy Prevention began sending takedown requests to Tumblr at the beginning of the year, and has since submitted over 300. In this case, many of the blogs reported did not infringe copyright at all.

DMCA Piracy Prevention seems to be confusing the fan blog "La Sirena" with its client "La Sirena 69", based solely on the similarity between the names. This has led to a series of inaccurate takedown requests.

"In a recent copyright claim, the monitoring service targeted more than 90 publications on Tumblr that matched a keyword search for 'la sirena'," writes Automattic's Emily Fowler.

"Instead of alerting our team to the allegedly infringing content of La Sirena 69, the company flagged a wide range of original posts from mappinglasirena.tumblr.com, such as a short essay on a new La Sirena booklet, an analysis of the spaceship design article and even the blog owner's thoughts on the fourth trailer for season two of Picard."

None of the reported links from the fan blog contained anything that would violate the actress's adult rights. As a result, Tumblr's takedown team rejected the notices and kept all publications online, adding DMCA Piracy Protection to its "Hall of Shame".

Preventing DMCA abuse

Automattic's trust and security team hopes that by reporting these excessive takedown campaigns, companies will review their processes and improve in the future. In this case, there's plenty of room for improvement.

"Copyright monitoring services should not lightly flag content that is totally unrelated to their clients' content; this is an abuse of the DMCA. These companies have a responsibility to verify that the content targeted in their takedown notices actually belongs to their client," explains Automattic's Emily.

The Automattic team scrutinizes DMCA takedown notices and has noticed that "La Sirena 69" is not "La Sirena", but this is a difference that takedown companies should notice before sending their requests. Otherwise, independent creators like "Mapping La Sirena" risk being unnecessarily censored.

"Tumblr is a special place, not just for Star Trek fans, but for anyone who writes prose, creates art, builds moodboards or expresses themselves in unique ways. It's for this mission that we do what we do, and we'll never stop fighting for users to defend this right in our little corner of cyberspace," concludes Emily.