The "sharing economy" and "permissionless innovation" have made matters more problematic for copyright owners, but it has always been the case that the government is decidedly not on the side of "the little guy or gal".
There's a very short statute of limitations (is it three years?) from the time a copyright infringement is discovered (or can be proven to have been discovered) and when time runs out to sue. Enforcement of a copyright is the responsibility of the copyright owner, not only to discover it, to send a DMCA notice, and if a counter notice is filed, to sue in federal court.
https://musictechpolicy.wordpress.com/2016/03/04/microsoft-does-the-right-thing-in-songwriter-class-actions-but-where-is-the-government/
An author would have to be wealthy indeed to be able to afford to take a scofflaw through the federal court process. The link above applies to musicians, but the principle is the same.
If you should ever wish to send a DMCA to Google, and if you would much rather avoid the merry-go-round of links that make the process more efficient (ie, only the most determined complainant does not give up before completing the obstacle course), the email address of the DMCA agent is
dmca-agent@google.com
All the best,
Rowena Cherry
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