Rippoff of Sam's Material.... First step to zapping da theif

[pickmonger]

All to often material from lp101 gets reposted against our wishes.

As a example of what can be done about it here are a few easy steps.

Emails and phone calls are often ignored. If however you can appeal to the domain registrar's and hosting companies' self interests they may be willing to help you.

For example we can use the case of Sam's Choice.

Seems the folks at rotteneggs.com do not choose to do anything about lp101 material being stolen.

We can try to use the domain registrar and hosting company to get the webmasters attention.

If that is ignored, hosting companies have been known to pull the plug on sites that do not respond to complaints of copyright violation.

Samspade, (free utility at samspade.org)a net utility tells us that the domain rotteneggs.com was registered by

Boktor, Monir
ja4r67zb8m5@networksolutionsprivateregistration.com
ATTN: ROTTENEGGS.COM
c/o Network Solutions
P.O. Box 447
Herndon, VA 20172-0447
570-708-8780

Perhaps an appropriate email to dear ol' Monir via his Domain folks email might get his attention. Its:

ja4r67zb8m5@networksolutionsprivateregistration.com


Then again maybe appealing directly to his domain registrar might get some action. They are at

Network Solutions, LLC

email: nocsupervisor@networksolutions.com
Network Solutions LLC
13861 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 300
HERNDON, VA 20171
US
570-708-8788 fax: 703-668-5817

SamSpade also tells us that rotteneggs.com resolves to
an ip of 216.240.150.25

So rotteneggs.com appears to be hosted by the folks at

OrgName: ATMLINK, INC.
OrgID: ATMLIN
Address: 600 W. 7th Street
Address: Suite 360
City: Los Angeles
StateProv: CA
PostalCode: 90017
Country: US

Their abuse info is:

OrgAbuseHandle: NOC1610-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Network Operations Center
OrgAbusePhone: +1-213-627-1937

OrgAbuseEmail: noc@atmlinkinc.com

Their techie is listed as:

OrgNOCHandle: KJO26-ARIN
OrgNOCName: Joostens, Ken
OrgNOCPhone: +1-213-627-1937
OrgNOCEmail: ken@calpop.com

Emails to noc@atmlinkinc.com and/or ken@calpop.com may also rattle a few cages.

It seems Monhir is not always the nicest guy. Who knows what is true or not but for a laff at the goings on at rotteneggs.com check out

http://www.rotteneggs.com/r3/show/se/178152.html

I do hope no one would be as nasty as to google Monhir and call him on the phone directly.

OF course getting a message to the webmaster and contacting his domain registrar / hosting company may not do anything. but... its easy, free and at least ya can feel you did something.

Would it help if every lp101 user called and emailed ?

Pressure tactics to enlist the co-operation of the hosting companies have sometimes been effective. But ...... keep it legal.

[cL4y]

ok one thing was taken mind you, a "a paperclip pick guide" and you went to the end of the earth,but nice work anyway,maybe this will help future things getting stolen in the future.

[cL4y]

future things STOP getting stolen*

Sorry,stupid mistake there.

[illusion]

Nothing will happen - nothing happened last time LP101 was ripped off, and nothing will happen now.

Nobody cares, for that matter I don't care. If somebody reposts one of *my* guides then I would be rather pissed off. I give clear indication at the beginning of my guides that they may not be copied of of LP101 in any form. As far as other stuff goes Sorry, but I couldn't care less about sam's choice's guide. Perhaps he approves of his guide being made more readily available?

[bembel]

It's the internet. If you publish something interesting it will reappear somewhere else. If you don't like that, don't publish.
That's what I learned when one of my own web sites was copied (stolen) at least a dozen times. In the beginning I also asked to remove the copies, but then I gave up. Got other things to do.
Mark your pictures and videos if you want, but you cannot mark text.

[Bud Wiser]

Actually in cases where the host is located in the USA, often all that is needed is a DMCA to stop it dead in it's tracks!

Sam would have to draft a DMCA himself or have an attorney do it, but in this case I don't think an attorney is needed.

Considering the theme of rotten eggs, the fact they used Sam's pics, and guide with out permission, and also no credit given, this would be easy to fix as long as every one concerned is in the USA.

Sam, do a google on what a scary DMCA looks like, plenty of sample copies floating around. Draft it to your liking. Send a copy to the host. Include some legal jargon on the line of if the material is not removed in 48 hours legal actions will begin as required by law. Be sure to work in the questionable content on the site in question too. That would be a nice touch.

Hosts (in the USA) take DMCA's verry seriously. They have to! Most hosts won't even investigate any further then to see if this material is on the site and either remove those pages or block the account until the owner removes it. They won't take any chances on a cheap $10 a month hosting account.

Most people are smart enough to use proxies to register domains, and host out side of the usa with questionable material that could come back and bite you. This would be child's play

[Schuyler]

Actually in cases where the host is located in the USA, often all that is needed is a DMCA to stop it dead in it's tracks!

This is true, I've actually had a DMCA takedown notice filed with my provider and the responded immediately. I use Dreamhost, who are the friendliest company, and the person who pulled my files was very funny in his correspondance with me and even encouraged me to ask the organization that filed against me to buy me a new iPod.

[pickmonger]

For what its worth I have had success getting material removed from web sites.

Fighting the material posted on sites like ebay can be done but it takes a lot of effort.

Most times it can be sucessfull. Remember that you have to show the host or sometimes webmaster how its in his best interests to remove the material. Success is not in complaining, but how you complain, and what will motivate co-operation.

However, we also have a problem preventing the material being posted in the first place.

Getting it removed after the fact takes a bit of work.

In fairness, I admit that I have failed getting results in certain cases. The hassle was not worth the effort.

[pickmonger]

Check out this link http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=270.

Secondlife.com explains how they handle a DMCA take down notice.

Responsible hosts will yank the content and rely on "the safe harbour" that can be created.

While grossly over simplified ....that means that they won't be sued. If they ignore a DMCA notice they can be open to extreme financial punishment.

Of course, this tool has already been abused. Some hosting companies do not bother to really examine the alleged violation.

It all gets yanked, causing all kinds of problems getting justice for the screwed over webmaster.

What would be interesting to hear about is the provisions for a DMCA type notice in Europe or even Canada.

[Bud Wiser]

Check out this link http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=270.

Secondlife.com explains how they handle a DMCA take down notice.

Responsible hosts will yank the content and rely on "the safe harbour" that can be created.

While grossly over simplified ....that means that they won't be sued. If they ignore a DMCA notice they can be open to extreme financial punishment.

Of course, this tool has already been abused. Some hosting companies do not bother to really examine the alleged violation.

It all gets yanked, causing all kinds of problems getting justice for the screwed over webmaster.

What would be interesting to hear about is the provisions for a DMCA type notice in Europe or even Canada.

There is no doubt this is abused a lot! And for most hosts it's just cheaper, faster, and safer to remove the material or account. Why bother to go any further for a cheap $10 a month account. Who can blame them really? The threat is there.

Of course it's a whole different ball game in the adult biz where most adult webmasters host on adult friendly providers that know the score very well. Here a webmaster would be provided the courtesy of responding to the allegations. Simply because it's already heavily regulated by the 2257 provisions. In most cases a webmaster can prove they have legal rights the same day the DMCA is issued. If not, the material has to be removed. Now I don't know how it works when a DMCA is issued to another country, but I do know what happens when a DMCA is issued from another country, they are ignored in the adult biz. The threat of action is no longer there, unless it's from a big company with offices in the USA

[Schuyler]

I just wanted to make it clear that dreamhost gave me ample opportunity to respond to the folks filing the takedown notice. They simply moved my files to a private directory while I worked it out. However, the company never responded to my emails. Da Jerks!

[sams choice]

i contacted the site, and today it appears that it was taken down. Seemed fast and easy. It's always nice to hear Illusion that you care less about one of my guides i made....

[illusion]

I was being honest.

I could have said I cared, but I don't to be honest. Does this make me a bad person? perhaps, but an honest bad person, which is better imo than a bad person who puts up a facade of caring.

[sams choice]

well first thing first, the site told me too bad a little while ago. They said i would have to follow their terms of service when it came to copy right which is alot of work.

Second thing second, no one asked you if you cared or not. You gave your input. Then i gave my input that its nice to hear that you dont care. Basically i think you dont care because things get ripped off all of the time. Plus it is a lame paperclip guide. No big deal really. The thing that gets me is the principle behend it. It's nice to hear that you are honest Illusion. hahah.

[Romstar]

What would be interesting to hear about is the provisions for a DMCA type notice in Europe or even Canada.

The company I worked for here in Nova Scotia won't even honor them. They are essentially mailed by a lawbot. Absolute rubbish.

I won't acknowledge them either. Unless a flagrant copyright violation occurs, I maintain the basis of fair use.

In the case we are discussing, it is a flagrant violation and should be looked into, however I expect in every case to hear from a real human, and to hear something other than thinly veiled threats.

I do not take kindly to threats, and I have fought with my previous company 14 of these idiocies.

As much as I hate to say it, this is Canada, not the United States, and we do not bow down to the American (money) Justice system as it pertains to so-called copyright infringement.

The RIAA, Microsoft, Apple, and so many others have used this as a bludgen for too long. It just goes back to everything I have been saying about fear, legal mumbo jumbo, and too many special interest groups and every other idiot clogging up the system preventing honest people from getting honest representation in the courts.

Big business is stealing everything out from under you, and they are using the laws they have twisted to take away your rights as consumers and to some degree, even taking away the rights of artists.

Romstar