StopPiracy

Fighting Piracy

Our goal for this blog:
1.  To be a resource for digital designers who need help fighting piracy
2.  To be a resource for digital scrappers who need to understand what piracy is and how to avoid taking part in it.

A quick definition of piracy:
Piracy is the theft, reproduction, or redistribution of a copyrighted work without the permission or knowledge of the creator/copyright holder. YES, redistributing something you got for free is still piracy.  If you didn't create it, DON'T redistribute it!  Click here for why.

Jen Strange ~ Meredith Fenwick

Contact Us:
stopdigipirates AT gmail DOT com

Please Note:
This isn't a regularly updated blog.  Really, it's a compilation of information -- a static content resource.  When the need arises, I will post new information here . . . but on the whole, the basic message of the blog has been spelled out in previous entries.  I'm always open to e-mails suggesting new content or letting me know if a link is broken; please don't hesistate to contact me! ~ jen 

Copyright Myths Uncovered

Jeanine from ScrapDish was nice enough to share a link to a great article with me, and I thought I'd pass it along.

It's an article entitled "Copyright Myths Uncovered," by Tammy L. Browning-Smith, intellectual property law attorney.  Click here to read it.

Kim Hill's top 10

I love it!  Kim Hill of CGEssentials has created this great graphic.  Click on the graphic to view it larger.  She has given permission to distribute it as needed or for designers to include it in their kits.

Intellectual Property Rights

a great excerpt from Tandika's latest DigiScrapDesigner newsletter:

And now a few words about Intellectual Property Rights: Just because something is on the Internet doesn't mean that it is also Public Domain. There is a difference between the two. When an artist, writer, photographer, designer, musician or programmer makes something, the act of creation assures them of a copyright on their creation. They have Intellectual Property Rights to that creation. They can choose to specifically place their creation in the "Public Domain". The majority of creators do not do this. However, they MAY choose to place their creation on their own or another website where it can be seen, heard and appreciated by others. This does not mean that another person may then take that creation and use it in any way they please. It also does not mean that someone else can take that creation and give it, even in it's original form to someone else. It DOES mean that someone can tell their friends "Go here and look at this!" And usually, that is exactly what the creator had in mind. That you WOULD tell others to "Go here and look". The way you would "share" something created by another person is to tell them to "Go here and look".

Making changes in something that wasn't originally created by you, and then sharing that changed item is a bit harder for people to understand. After all, they aren't distributing the original work... they are distributing a "changed" version! Let's say you find 10 photographs of roses on your favorite photography site. Then you "change" all of these pictures into brushes to be used in Photoshop, or you make them into tubes to be used in PaintShopPro. And you are distributing the brushes, or the tubes... not the photographs! Well, you are violating the Intellectual Property Rights of the person who made took the original photographs! You didn't have the rights to them in the first place, so you are not allowed to distribute them in ANY form, original OR changed! And it doesn't matter how much you change the original. There is NO rule that says "if you change an original XX%, then it is now considered your work."

The bottom line is: You are allowed to do whatever you want to with anything that YOU have created completely from scratch. You may NOT do anything at all with something that is created by another person without their explicit (normally in writing) permission. Period. When you look at it that way, it is very, very easy to understand. There is no grey area.

Keep in mind that Intellectual Property Rights don't just apply to artwork. They also apply to books, magazines, movies, music, TV shows, and everything else that is "created" by an individual! Your public library doesn't make many copies of a book and then let you borrow them. They purchase the original book and let you use it temporarily. This same concept applies to everything you read and see on the Internet. You can not make a copy of  it and give away or share the copy without the permission of the owner. You CAN send someone a link to the item itself.

So, now I will put away my seldom used soapbox and return you to our regularly scheduled show!

---------------------

thank you, Tandika, for giving me permission to quote you.  The bolded sections are my own emphasis.

A polite letter to ask theives to stop.

Well, many pirates/shop-lifters are all up in arms because designers have the gall to come off as "rude" when they are asking for their copyrighted work to not be illegally redistributed.  So here is something for designers to use as a polite cease and desist letter.

(Pirates reading this?  DON'T SHARE ANYTHING THAT YOU YOURSELF DID NOT PERSONALLY MAKE UNLESS YOU HAVE THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF OR A REDISTRIBUTION LICENSE FROM A DESIGNER.)

Thank you to shelleyrae to writing this for me:

Here also is a template for a polite letter to those that are sharing links. If you wish you can make it available on your blog for others to use:

To the group owner:

Dear List Owner ( insert name of group )
Please be advised that a file shared in your yahoo group was done so without permission and against my TOU.  File redistribution is not permitted. (file sharing host ) has been contacted and have deactivated the link upon my request.

Please encourage your members to respect copyright law and do not permit sharing of files where the redistribution is against the TOU. You can delete files after they have been posted and moderate postings to ensure you are not legally liable for the actions of your members.  I thank you in advance for your cooperation with this matter

For more information on the efforts to stop digital piracy, including contacting Yahoo and filesharing services, please visit http://jenjen.typepad.com/stoppiracy/

To the poster of the link:

Please be advised that a file YOU shared in the yahoo group (name of group) was done so without permission and against my TOU. File redistribution is not permitted. ( filesharing site name ) has been contacted and have deactivated the link upon my request.

Please refrain from posting any materials that were not created by you. Whether you are the one who made the link available by uploading it to (filesharing site name) or are simply passing on a link you have received from elsewhere, choosing to share the link which is obviously not your own work and without the permission of the original creator is an illegal act on your behalf. The post has been brought to the attention of the list owner.

For more information on the understanding the issues of digital piracy and what constitutes illegal behavior, please visit http://jenjen.typepad.com/stoppiracy/

The "Fair Use" law

Some pirating groups now have this disclaimer on their websites and e-mails:

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for non-profit research and educational or criticism purposes only.

After speaking with our lawyer about this, we have this information to share with you:

Here's what the Federal Law on fair use actually says - and I've highlighted the key parts:

§ 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include— (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

A court is the one that is going to decide if any of the list of 6 purposes apply, and then weigh & apply the 4 listed factors as necessary.  I think there's probably a good argument for extending the "teaching" and "educational" language of this section to other kinds of training, though I don't think these Yahoo groups would ever fall within anyone's definition of an educational group, no matter how you defined it.  I've seen this argument floating around for months about these Yahoo swapping groups, and never thought it was a good one. (i.e., I don't think those terms should apply to these kinds of groups - that's not primarily why they were created, and they're being used as a diversionary tactic). 

Overall, I just can't see any court condoning as "fair use" what amounts to unauthorized reproduction -- digital theft .  Laughing at it, or continuing to do it, after being informed that it is unauthorized reproduction of a copyrighted work only makes their offense more egregious, at least in my opinion. 

I don't think a judge would even get to weighing the factors in these instances, then.  I think those are saved for cases such as newspapers that quote just a bit too much of a copyrighted work, and it is challenged as being more than "fair use", for example, under factor #2.  Or a university that distributes copies of a copyrighted material in teaching a course, and perhaps the professor copies an entire book for the class (I've been in one of those), and the author challenges the use under factors #3 and #4 (because the professor has taken away the market value of the book for class members, by copying too much, when maybe just a chapter or two would have sufficed).  Those are just examples.  I think I also mentioned the other day about running into a university policy online for posting student portfolios and complying with fair use principles, and deleting the material within a fairly short time period.  That university seemed to be very conscious of the possibility of copyright infringement from the student portfolios if they remained online too long.

10 Big Myths about copyright explained

This is a FABULOUS article, written by Brad Templeton -- someone who knows what he talking about -- and addresses a LOT of excuses the piraters/shop-lifters try to claim as defense for the wrong things they're doing.

Of particular interest to piraters will be:
~ 2) "If I don't charge for it, it's not a violation."
~ 4) "My posting was just fair use!"
~ 7) "They can't get me, defendants in court have powerful rights!"
~ 8) "Oh, so copyright violation isn't a crime or anything?"
~ 9) "It doesn't hurt anybody -- in fact it's free advertising."

I love that he's totally saying all the same stuff WE'VE been saying but that people try to ignore.

Rush on over and read the artice, it's awesome: click here.

You ARE responsible.

I know that when you get called on bad/illegal behavior, your first response is to loudly declare why what you're doing is ok.  But the safer, logical thing to do would be to STOP PARTICIPATING IN PIRACY.  duh.

Some people claim that forwarding e-mails containing links to pirated materials is ok as long as they themselves did not do the uploading.  Do you think that the person driving stolen stereos across town wouldn't get arrested when caught if he said "But I didn't STEAL them, I'm just DRIVING them somewhere" ?

Why a person is, indeed, responsible for the contents of every e-mail they forward.  Thank you to Miki from Microferk Designs for her well-written explanation.

DO NOT PASS ON LINKS TO DOWNLOADS AND/OR FILES WHEN YOU HAVE NOT DETERMINED THEM TO BE LEGITIMATE LINKS THROUGH THEIR RESPECTIVE TOUs.

1.) If it doesn't have an accompanying Terms of Use, and YOU, YOURSELF, did not create it from scratch- DO NOT PASS THE LINK. You do NOT have proof of permission to do so.

2.) Doing so implicates YOU of piracy, as you are complicit in the delivery of STOLEN (illegally obtained) goods and violating US Copyright Laws.

3.) If you download the above sorts of files, you are guilty of RECEIVING stolen goods and violating US Copyright Laws.

4.) If you did not obtain the product from the venue of the artist's choosing (such as her website, blog, store), you have no right to it and continuing the act of stealing it (by forwarding an e-mail with links) violates US Copyright Laws.

CHECK FOR TERMS OF USE before downloading, uploading, emailing, posting yousendit, rapidshares et al links- or any other form of electronic transfer of illegally obtained products.

Help us with Piracy Reporting!

Previously this post talked about how you can get a reward for reporting piracy to us.  I've decided to change this policy and no longer offer rewards.  While it has served us fairly well in the last half a year that this blog has been here -- it helped raise awareness, gave people motivation to speak up -- I feel it is no longer necessary.

Word has spread about this blog, and about the general concept that sharing digital kits is wrong -- it makes me so happy to see all the Stop Piracy graphics on message boards, websites, and blogs.  I love that so many designers and scrappers are all standing together in this fight to make it stop.  We hear from SO many people, about SO many groups . . . at this point it's just about doing what's right.  About banding together and standing up for the integrity of our industry, and respecting our designers enough to not put up with people stealing from them.

We very much appreciate each time you are able to report an issue that arises. Email us at stopdigipirates AT gmail DOT com with any information you have about the piracy groups.  Your identity will be protected by us, the only people with access to this email will be AmyG and Jen.  We promise that we will not discuss your identity with anyone.  The information you provide to us will be passed along to the designer(s) effected by this file sharing and they will be the ones to report the violation to the service.  If you can, forward the e-mail in question to us.  If it's not an e-mail, specific details we will need you to provide us with are:

1. The designer name and kit that is being shared (if known.)

2. User name of the person who is sharing the files.

3. The service being used (i.e. google, yahoo, grouper etc.).

4. The actual web address for the link.

5. If possible an actual screenshot of the webpage you found the share. 

If you only have pieces of this information, please forward that to us too as more investigation could provide the rest of the information we will need to have this link removed. 

Thank you to everyone who continues to help us in this effort.

~ Jen

Two great articles

Shelleyrae Cusbert  has a wonderfully written, very informative article called "What you need to know about Digital Piracy," over at ScrapBook-Bytes.  Click here to read it.

Michelle with Scrapability has written about digital piracy -- you can read her post by clicking here.