Google unblocks the Downloader app, but the developer is still upset about the broken Ars Technica DMCA

Zoom in / Screenshot of the Downloader app on Google Play.

Google has lifted the suspension of an Android TV app hit by a copyright infringement claim simply because it is capable of loading a pirated website that can also be loaded in any standard web browser. The Downloader app, which combines a web browser with a file manager, has returned to the Google Play Store after an absence of nearly three weeks.

As we previously reported, Google suspended the app based on a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaint from several Israeli television companies that claimed the app “allows users to view the notorious copyright-infringing website known as SDAROT”. But that same website could be viewed in any standard browser, including Google’s Chrome app.

“The app was removed on May 19 due to the DMCA takedown request,” developer Elias Saba wrote in a blog post today. “Instead of acknowledging the absurdity of the claim that a web browser is somehow responsible for all unauthorized uses of copyrighted content on the internet, Google took a back seat and denied my appeal to restore the ‘app”.

The free app has been downloaded over 5 million times on Google Play and is available on the Amazon app store for devices like the Fire TV.

In addition to the denied appeal, Saba filed a DMCA counter-notice with Google. That “a 10 business day countdown has begun for the [TV companies’] law firm to file legal action against me,” Saba wrote today. contacted Google to restore the app.”

Google made another mistake, says the developer

Saba said it was notified yesterday by Google that “the app was no longer suspended but has now been rejected by Google due to an invalid data security module.” This was another mistake, according to Saba’s blog post:

Afraid that another appeal would be like “argu[ing] with a brick wall,” Saba said it “accepted defeat and updated the Play Store data security form for my app and stated that the app collects email addresses.” That means Downloader is now marked by the Google Play Store as collecting and sharing personal information.

“Be assured that the Downloader app itself does not collect or share any of your personal information,” Saba wrote. “Good, unless you plan to report your taxes using Downloader’s built-in web browser because, again, apparently what’s done in the web browser on the Internet is somehow my app’s fault.”

Saba said it updated its data security module yesterday and the app was restored today.

The DMCA is broken

Saba advised users who sideloaded Downloader while it was unavailable to uninstall the ported version and reinstall the Google Play version.

“The app went offline for 20 days, all because the DMCA was violated with no consequences for people or TV companies on the other side of the world, who choose to abuse it for their own benefit,” he complained. “Although it was only unavailable for about 3 weeks, the app has now lost 47% of its active users from the day before it was removed.”

Google appears to have followed its standard procedure for complying with valid DMCA requests although the complaint in this case essentially blamed a web browser for being able to browse the web. As Saba told us for our previous article, “There is no other way to view content in the app than using the web browser to navigate to a website. The app also does not present or direct users to any website, other than my blog at www.aftvnews.com, which loads as the default homepage in your web browser.”

In an email response to Ars today, Google said it followed the process set forth by the DMCA and “allowed both parties to exercise their choices under that law.” Google noted that its standard approach is to forward any counter notification such as the one filed by Saba to the complainant and wait 10 business days for the complainant to seek a court order or file an infringement complaint with the US Copyright Office Copyright Claims Board .