#dmca takedown request

[johnnymartyr]

Taking Down a Scraper Site for 35mmc and How You Can Fight Image Theft

by Johnny Martyr After many years of readership, I finally made my inaugural post on the internet’s largest film photography blog site, 35mmc. While in communication with owner Hamish Gill, he lamented about having found a what is known as a scraper site that was carbon-copying nearly 100% of the content from 35mmmc. All author links were being stripped from articles with their words and photos…

[yanderedrabbles]

Yandere YouTuber

Short drabble request for @labodabi

I see him as a commentary YouTuber. Always on podcasts talking about the latest fashion or TV sensation. A good looking guy, always perfectly groomed and styled. Falls into that soft boy category - fluffy hair, lots of sweaters, a rescue cat that's always in the video out-takes. Approachable, comforting.

You interact for the first time when you make a video response to one of his controversial takes. You're no established youtuber, your channel doesn't even have any videos before you post about him. You don't add any fancy graphics or music. Just you and your slightly busted ring light, ranting at him for totally misrepresenting your interest.

But people are totally into it. You're passionate. You're funny. You're a breath of fresh air compared to the over produced, over budgeted videos that crowd the homepage.

He invites you on his podcast. Secretly, he expects you to back down. Be camera shy. You're just a no name with a phone camera and he's a guy who gets a million views within a day of uploading. It's got to be intimidating, right?

Nope. You're just the same in person as you were in your video. Not scared to challenge his opinions, not afraid of the lights and team of editors. When the video finally goes out, people eat it up.

User17899: OMG THE CHEMISTRY

sakura blossom: theyre so cute together im putting money on a hard launch in a week or two

YouTube Daddy 69420: he's so into them. just look at his eyes

And with such a great response, it's only natural that you get invited on again. That you start featuring in his full length videos. That he starts tagging you in every Instagram post.

You have no intention of being an influencer. But damn if the money isn't good. If the PR packages aren't sweet.

You move to the same city as him. Let him teach you the ins and outs of the biz. And he eats it up. Takes every opportunity to be your 'internet big brother.'

Yeah, right. Some sick big brother he is, going home and jerking it to pictures of you together. Shooting all over his screen just so it lands on your face. A real great guy.

It's only when you start build your own following that the toxicity really comes out. He wants you reliant on him, on his fame. Having your own channel blow up is just annoying. It gives you too much leverage - you don't need him for views anymore, you can walk away whenever you want. He can't stand it.

That's when he starts being sneaky about things. Starts hitting your videos with copyright infringement and DMCA takedowns the second you go live. Starts contesting your monetisation. Starts using bots to mass report your posts. All anonymously of course. Or through a shell company. Hey, he's been in this biz too long to make a rookie mistake.

And when you're at your wits end, when rent is due and you're broke from trying to get your videos back up, that's when he steps in. Says you guys can collab and he'll give you more than half of the sponsorship money.

Smiles all sweet and charming when he leans in and says, "There's lots of ways to pay me back, so don't worry about it."

You naive thing. He was never going to ask for money in return. No, what he wants is much harder to come by and all the sweeter for it. You think just 'cause he seems like a good guy that he's nice all the way through? That wearing nail polish and doing mud masks on cam makes him any less of a man? Any less hungry? No way baby.

And when it's time to pay up and he's pushing you to your knees, fingers practically ripping his belt buckle loose, you think he's going to stop just because you ask him to? When he has you exactly where he wants you? No matter how polite he is on the surface, he's still just a man.

[tacky-tramp]

An open letter to the Organization for Transformative Works' legal team:

Dear @transformativeworks Legal,

I am requesting that you take action on Speechify/WordStream's wholesale theft of non-commercial fanworks for commercial purposes.

As you are probably aware, Speechify, an app that uses AI voices to turn user-supplied text into audiobooks, has created a spinoff app called WordStream. WordStream has scraped many, many works of fanfiction from AO3, and has published AI-generated audiobooks of these fics. They charge users for access to these audiobooks, under a subscription model. Not only has this company, run by Cliff Weitzman, violated AO3 users' copyrights, it has done so for profit.

I understand that only authors themselves can file DMCA takedown notices when their fics are stolen. However, there are steps the OTW can take on this matter:

1. Notify all AO3 users via email that their work may have been stolen, and give them next steps. This is what companies are required to do in the event of a data breach, and that's effectively what this is.

2. Publish a blog post about WordStream's theft, and promote it on social media.

3. Send a letter to Speechify, educating them about fanfiction and copyright. Explain that fanfiction is *not* in the public domain, and therefore the users whose work they've stolen have legal recourse against them. Demand they take down all fanfiction they have stolen.

4. Reach out through your networks in tech and publishing to raise awareness of this and marshall support for a campaign to pressure Speechify to remove all fanfiction they posted without author permission.

I am a former OTW volunteer, and I would be happy to assist with any of this!

Thanks,

tacky_tramp

[erika-xero]

!ATTENTION FELLOW CRITICAL ROLE FANS!

This person is selling tons of stolen artworks on their Redbubble, including my Mollymauk piece which was featured in one of the Critical Role episodes.

I singhandedly had to file DMCA takedown requests for 83!!!! OF THE LISTING FEATURING THE SINGLE ONE OF MY ARTWORKS

Please, spread awareness among fellow artists, tag the ones who's art you recognized! Let's bury this acc under a huge pile of DMCA takedown requests!

[josephthesnailshow]

No, I actually mean it. Do NOT use my work like this ever, especially with a political and violent message like that. Burnt Luigi was created to be just as a fun creepypasta/ARG character.

I don't use Facebook, nor do I want to use it; please ask the original posters to take this down. I have no tolerance for my work to be used like this.

Please don't use my work like this….

[deposedefenddeny]

An entity claiming to be United Healthcare is sending bogus copyright claims to internet platforms to get Luigi Mangione fan art taken off the internet, according to the print-on-demand merch retailer TeePublic. An independent journalist was hit with a copyright takedown demand over an image of Luigi Mangione and his family she posted on Bluesky, and other DMCA takedown requests posted to an open database and viewed by 404 Media show copyright claims trying to get “Deny, Defend, Depose” and Luigi Mangione-related merch taken off the internet, though it is unclear who is filing them.

404 Media on Dec 19, 11:24 a.m. ET

[ceilidho]

just curious - how do c.ai bots work? does someone feed your fic into the AI and it "creates" a character?

I don't support it (if a fic author says no it means no!) I'm just confused abt what it does/ how it plagiarizes

I’m not 100% sure how it works since I don’t use it but this is one of the bots using my work

And my fic:

So I’m not sure what else the bot creator has to fill out or add other than the initial prompt (which is what the above is) but I’m ASSUMING they took more than just that initial blurb since you presumably can interact more with the bot.

And c.ai is making it unbelievably difficult for me to get it taken down without providing my home address and phone number for a DMCA takedown report, which I would never do. And they’re likely doing it because they know their platform is 90% stolen content so they make it extremely difficult in order to ensure people can’t just request that stolen content be removed.

[blackkatmagic]

hello! i was just informed that a fanfic of mine was scraped off of AO3 and I'm currently going through the process of getting it removed from the audiobook/reading site it was posted on. I've been looking through this site for other authors, and unfortunately found like 10 from you.

here's the reddit post that talks about it, and includes the site that's posted the fics: https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/comments/1hkrb47/netflix_of_audiobooks_scrapes_thousands_of/

I'm really sorry this happened, and may this site get dumped on with a ton of DMCA claims.

Hilariously, they yanked every single one of my fics they'd stolen in the 20 minutes between me starting the DMCA takedown request and me hitting submit. Fucking cowards.

[walkawaytall]

How to Request a DMCA Takedown re: Word-Stream.com

(I, WalkAwayTall, am merely a messenger; this info was copied directly from this post on r/AO3 and posted here with permission from its author, @fuegopi. Use it as you see fit.)

----------

The relevant statute, FYI is 17 U.S.C. § 512 (c)(3)(A), available at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512

OPTION 1: MAKE A REPORT TO CLOUDFLARE

https://abuse.cloudflare.com/

Step 1: Select “Copyright Infringement & DMCA Violations”

Step 2: Fill Out the Form

(some notes below)

Your Full Name: I understand many fanfic authors prefer anonymity. However, your report/complaint may be taken more seriously if you use both your name and your pseud. For example, I would write, [MY NAME] (“FuegoPI” on AO3).

Holder’s Full Name: Again, that is you, the author.

Contact Information Fields: The DMCA only requires that, you provide “Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party” — An email address should be sufficient.

Infringing URLS: List the URL of every work you have made that is available on the offending website.

Describe the Original Work: I would list the names of your stories, the word counts, and give AO3 links.

For example: A Fanfic Story (200k Words), originally posted and available at [LINK].

You MUST check the box that says 512(f) acknowledgment, “Good faith belief, Authority to act” and you MUST provide a digital signature or your report will not be accepted.

OPTION 2: MAKE A REPORT TO GODADDY

OPTION 1: Fill out the form at https://supportcenter.godaddy.com/AbuseReport (you may not wish to do this because of the information requested; if so, I recommend sending a letter).

Step 1: Select “Make a Claim”

Step 2: Select Claim Type, “Copyright Infringement”

Step 3: Are you the Copyright Owner or an authorized representative? Select “yes.”

Step 4: Please enter the domain name associated with the website you are complaining about – Fill in “https://word-stream.com/”

Step 5: https://supportcenter.godaddy.com/ipclaims/copyright/infringement If you want to fill this out.

OPTION 2: The form is probably not for everyone, because it requires address information that the DMCA does not strictly require. As a result, I made a template letter for y’all. I recommend attaching to an email.

copyrightclaims@godaddy.com

[ai-art-thieves]

Fun fact: If you or anyone you know may be affected by art theft of any kind, including the manipulation of an image via AI, edits via photoshop, cropped out or replaced signature, or other such uses of your art that you do not approve or want (as the creator), please submit (or have the artist submit) a DMCA take down request to tumblr and they will 100% remove it. :)

Do not submit takedown requests on behalf of other people or lie and claim you're the creator if you're not, obviously.

All you need is:

A link to the re-uploaded stolen art on tumblr.

A link to your source image/original post of it. No matter where it was posted (reddit, tumblr, shitter/x, ect), as long as it was before the date of the re-uploader and you can 100% for sure say you are indeed the creator of it, it is your right to have it removed.

www.tumblr.com/dmca

You do not need a lawyer or an attorney or anything for any of this, your personal information will not be shared with anyone outside of their team that handles it.

Stand up for yourself, don't let your art be stolen and used without your permission!

⬆️

[olderthannetfic]

This morning, I used tumblr's "insert gif" function in the new post editor, and now I'm irritated.

I've made and posted gifs on tumblr for over a decade, and it's always been something where I knew people are going to save them, repost them, try to steal them, and so on. I figured this out pretty early and I always add watermarks. No sweat.

Recently, I was adding some gifs to a post, and I saw one of my own gifs in the selection list. I added it to my post to see it, because it was one of my favourites. Then I noticed the username in the credit, "GIF by username", was some random person that was obviously not me. This gif was created by me, it even had my watermark in the bottom corner. I checked some other gifs and found more like this, all with different usernames.

After some googlefu, I discovered that if someone saves and reposts a gif, tumblr will somehow detect them as being the creator, instead of the person who originally posted it.

I vaguely remembered a form to report problems like this. But there's no form to request re-attribution at all. Tumblr only provides a DMCA takedown request page, which requires you to be the original owner of the copyrighted source material. In other words, you actually need to own the companies whose content you used, and you also have to put in your phone number and personal info.

Welp.

So now, there are dozens of my gifs in the gif search, with burned-in watermarks of my own username on them, but with some random schmuck's name listed in the "GIF by (name)" once someone adds it into their post. And there's no way to re-attribute it. It's not a big deal because they're just gifs, and I did add watermarks precisely because I knew they would get spread around without proper credit (whether unintentionally or not). But having a systemic, automated attribution problem is a new low for tumblr.

Really, the bar is now in hell.

--

[furyreblogs]

Art Theft/Repost Warning

A user reposted artwork of Fenris from Dragon Age onto Tumblr, which they had pulled from Pinterest. And is now threatening retaliatory reposts for everyone who calls them out for reposting work that doesn't belong to them. This post can be found here. I did my best to locate and credit the original artists in my reblogged post.

After several other users commented about the reposting without permission or credits, the reposter is now threatening to upload more artwork each time someone comments about the unacceptable behavior.

You can see this post threatening retaliation for those who comment to credit the artist here. Artists, particularly those who have drawn Fenris from Dragon Age II, should monitor this user in case their work is posted and report them for Copyright Infringement—Submit a DMCA takedown request. They're also actively trying to hide and remove replies on their posts.

If you recognize an artist that has been stolen from, please inform the artist directly so that they can submit a report.

[monetizeme]

An entity claiming to be United Healthcare is sending bogus copyright claims to internet platforms to get Luigi Mangione fan art taken off the internet, according to the print-on-demand merch retailer TeePublic. An independent journalist was hit with a copyright takedown demand over an image of Luigi Mangione and his family she posted on Bluesky, and other DMCA takedown requests posted to an open database and viewed by 404 Media show copyright claims trying to get “Deny, Defend, Depose” and Luigi Mangione-related merch taken off the internet, though it is unclear who is filing them.

[watair-gt]

In light of what is going on, I wonder if an artist can request their art be scrubbed from sites such as tumblr via DMCA https://www.dmca.com/FAQ/What-is-a-DMCA-Takedown

As long as you are the owner you can request take downs.

Just a thought 🤔

[phoenixyfriend]

IDK if I've mentioned this but in addition to that year-long plagiarism fiasco, I also recently had to submit a DMCA takedown request to youtube because a content farm had an AI read out an 80k fic of mine with zero permission.

Thankfully, the DMCA request worked, though I'm not sure if it was because I hold the rights (I mean, it's fic) or because it was fanfiction and not covered under Naruto's transformative work copyright wiggle room since afaik they were in fact monetizing it.

[yukipri]

Wanted to make a quick apology.

There will be no Prime Override chapter update tonight.

Reasons are kinda depresso, so beneath cut. No need to read.

This week has been...rough. I wanted to bask in the satisfaction of having finished my May 4th art, but instead I've been spending every spare moment fighting art theft, some of the art that I'd literally just posted. I've filed numerous DMCA copyright takedown requests on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest (well over a hundred here). I know there are more out there. I am exhausted, and it's a second type of burn out, a worse kind, on top of the burn out of drawing.

I wanted to apologize because this means that instead of drawing or writing, I was copy-pasting links and explaining to various social media staff why thieves shouldn't be allowed to post my work. How "do not repost" is on my watermark on my art itself, how it's on all my socials bios, how it's in my FAQ. Instead of drawing or writing, I had to read the comments other folks were giving people who did not contribute a single second to my work.

I was aiming to get a new chapter of the Prime Override out tonight, but I could not even start.

So yeah. I'm sorry. The emotional toll aside, the very real fear-of-safety anxiety aside (since, y'know, filing DMCAs essentially means doxxing yourself to every thief), this also just took up all the time I would have otherwise spent on art and, it didn't happen.

I also wanted to say thank you.

Many times this week I felt like an absolute idiot, a complete and utter fool for bothering to feel motivated and excited about creating, for being excited to share it, when this is the result. Especially after the marathon effort I'd just gone through...it felt like punishment, in a way, for daring to think my work is worth anything. I will, can, and have left fandoms in the past for art theft, and part of me wondered if the time had come for me this time as well.

In those times, I scrolled mindlessly through the comments y'all have left me. Both on my art posts, in the tags and such on Tumblr, and just going through all my fics on AO3, just kinda reading all the kind words you folks have left me on my work blearily through my tears, to remind me why it's worth it, and it's not just people who want to hurt me out there.

The vast majority of you are so kind, so generous, have taken the time to look at my work and give a like, a reblog, a kudos, a retweet, or the greatest gift in the form of your thoughts and allowing me to feel that I've connected with you.

So thank you. I've had a rough week, but I'll get back up again. I'll try to get out the next chapter, the next art, as soon as I am able. Until then, please know that I appreciate you, and I hope that my future work can mean something to you too.