[josephcsible]

> I don't think you can make a DMCA request on behalf of a copyright holder without their permission

In theory, you're right. In practice, there's never any actual consequences for filing a false DMCA claim. Worst case is that the thing doesn't get taken down, but that's no worse than if they didn't file it at all.

[labster]

Corps don’t care about DMCA takedowns from natural persons. I sent a takedown once, the CEO replied that he was sorry it had come to that, but they still distributed it for years under a license I did not grant. This CEO is licensed to practice law in California, btw.

[mlyle]

Anyone is free to ignore DMCA notifications.

Some parties that are distributing other peoples' stuff lose a safe-harbor protection from liability themselves if they ignore it.

This means intermediaries who don't benefit much directly from distributing a given bit of content will immediately comply with the DMCA takedown process. But this does nothing if you send the notice to someone who is actually using it.

The correct move is to send DMCA to the infringer's ISP/host. Then the ISP has to take it down unless counter-notified that they say they're not infringing. In turn, that counter-notification improves your position for any litigation that may ensue.