Mr Robot Premiere in Canada was Censored
Launch of the popular hacking series Mr Robot in Canada was scheduled for last week, but a false DMCA notice disrupted the event. Showcase was offering the pilot episode on its website to attract viewers, but NBCUniversal in the United States has reported the site as pirates, which resulted in Google removing the search link.
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A very popular TV series Mr Robot had quite an unusual launch in the United States: the pilot aired late in spring on online platforms such as YouTube, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, and even Xbox and Playstation. Such technology allowed the show to get noticed and drove word-of-mouth promotion. In fact, this is the same effect piracy has always been providing unofficially via leaked pilots.
The first season of the series is already over in the US, but was due to launch in Canada on Showcase. Like in the US, Canadian viewers have also been given the opportunity to watch the pilot episode on Showcase.ca and ETCanada.com. The problem is that people who used Google to find the pilot failed to get it, because NBCUniversal in the US have reported Showcase to Google, claiming that the copy of the pilot on the broadcaster’s website was illegal.
It is very clear that Mr Robot’s creators were reaching out to those who spend their lives online – even the titles of the episodes were like eps1.4_3xpl0its.wmv or eps1.9_zer0-day.avi. This is why it is particularly disappointing that the target audience of the show will now be even more aware of how ridiculous the careless DMCA notices and companies sending them can be.
It should be mentioned that Google in most cases manages to sort out bogus takedown requests and refuses to satisfy them, but this time it is regrettable that the false NBCUniversal DMCA notice has somehow slipped past its systems. As a result, the pilot episode page has been completely delisted from Google search results.
The statistics showed that the first series of Mr Robot has enjoyed success and great reviews in the United States. However, the Canadians will be offered the show only in the fall, and not without a problem, as you can see. Those wishing to watch the series without relying on censored Google search results should memorize and use direct link to Showcase website.
