Google Drive flags almost empty files as 'infringing on intellectual property rights.'
Users were caught aback when Google Drive's automated detection algorithms flagged a totally empty file as infringing on their intellectual property rights.
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according to one Drive user, the file contained nothing except the number "1."
Is the number '1' protected by copyright?
This week, Dr. Emily Dolson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Michigan State University, discovered unusual activity when using Google Drive.
'output04.txt,' one of Dolson's Google Drive files, was almost empty—it included nothing except the number '1'.
Google, on the other hand, argues that this download violates the company's "Copyright Infringement policy" and was so reported.
Worse, the professor's warning added, "A review cannot be sought for this restriction."
@googledrive, How are you getting along? This file just has one line with the number "1." pic. twitter.com/4tLhOzQY1T
Dr. Emily Dolson (@emilyldolson) on January 24, 2022
Dolson's file 'output04.txt' was stored in Drive under the directory 'CSE 830 Spring 2022/Testcases/Homework3/Q3/output,' prompting the professor to wonder whether the file placement was a factor in the erroneous alert.
The file was among a collection of texts containing output from a homework assignment on Dolson's "non-educational Google account."
There are an excessive number of digits.
A pseudonymous user also provided images of their Google Drive account, demonstrating that files containing just the digit "1"—with or without newline characters—were recognised.
The 1 byte files include just '1', the 2-byte files contain '1n,' and the 3-byte (unmarked) file contains '1rn," the user said.
And it turns out that the behaviour isn't limited to files beginning with the letter "1."
r. Chris Jefferson, Ph.D., an AI and mathematics researcher at the University of St Andrews, was also able to replicate the situation by uploading a large number of computer-generated files to Drive.
Jefferson created over 2,000 files, each containing just a number between -1000 and 1000.
Google Drive swiftly flagged the files with the numbers 173, 174, 186, 266, 285, 302, 336, 451, 500, and 833 as infringing on the copyright.
According to others, if the file includes just the number "0," Google will permanently cancel your account; nevertheless, this is more likely to apply to persons who Google believes to be repeat infringers.
I deleted the experiment merely in case my account was terminated due to having too many dirty numbers," Jefferson explains.
According to Mikko Ohtamaa, founder of the Defi firm Capitalgram, Google's automatic approach of notifying possible copyright infringement suspects may contradict with elements of the GDPR rule.
However, according to the UK's Information Commissioner's Office, GDPR Article 22 aka "automated individual decision-making, including profiling" refers to making automated judgements about individuals based on their online behaviour, such as before giving a loan or when making hiring decisions.
"I'd have more sympathy if it didn't say 'A review cannot be requested for this restriction,'" OneLeggedCat writes on HackerNews. "It is designed to be as severe and draconian as possible. They chose this choice. It is presumed guilty until proven innocent, and no recourse is available."
t is unclear what causes this behaviour, and BleepingComputer was unable to replicate it at the time of writing.
In 2018, Google published a comprehensive report describing how the company combats piracy. However, when it comes to Google Drive, the study suggests a "full-time investigation of abuse
grouping "was developed by Google to fight illegal streams available on Google Drive. As a consequence, limited information is available on how Google's algorithms analyse non-video content stored on Drive.
BleepingComputer approached Google well in advance of publication with specific concerns, such as whether Google relied on checksums to monitor copyrighted content and if this behaviour was the consequence of a possible hash-collision between illegal and harmless files sharing the same hash.
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