Check out this video hotlinking fucker
 

http://www.sensibleerection.com/entry.php/7282

Tons of videos being hotlinked on that page.

hi, i'm the webmaster of that site. just wanted to pop in and apologise for the hotlinking.

if anyone catches their server being hotlinked from my site, please email me (matt AT sensibleerection.com) and i'll remove the links.

it also might be worth getting an account at SE and messaging the users doing the hotlinking, letting them know you don't want your server getting hit. the people doing it are all quite reasonable chaps, and i'm sure they'll see reason.

why is the page still there? all of those links should be removed

sobri, why do you allow anyone to post hotlinked videos? you should ban them immediately.

Do you enjoy lawyers?

Do you enjoy having your host cut-off your hosting because you support hotlinkers?

Do you enjoy your sponsor banning you for supporting hotlinkers?

Because you're headed for trouble with supporting hotlinkers

Do you think we really want to email you everytime we find someone on your site hotlinking us?

That gets old fast. It's much easier (and more fun) to get lawyers involved to cut-off your hosting and get your sponsors to ban you.

You know, it's really not very hard at all to stop hotlinking.

Providing services on the internet is dangerous unless you put restrictions in place to prevent abuse of the services.
I really don't see any way hotlinking could be illegal, but then I'm not from the land of lawsuits either ...

The people who are being hotlinked have purchased the videos being hotlinked and own licenses and/or copyrights to said material. You figure out why that's illegal.
It's like taking a Tom Clancy book, changing the name and re-releasing it as your own piece of work.

Actually no, since the one doing the distribution is the one hosting it. The one hotlinking is pointing people to the licensee.

But I'll agree that the copyright complaint is a much stronger one. But I still don't get why people just don't take the time to put in some good anti-hotlinking measures..

and what anti-hotlinking measures do you suggest people use for video? .htaccess does not protect video files

There's also the issue of stealing bandwith...

I have no clue what you're saying...

i haven't banned hotlinking to date, because i try to run a completely uncensored website (or at least, as uncensored as i can achieve without breaking the law).

if someone can make a good case for why it is illegal (and psyko514's scenario does sound plausible), or point me towards information on the web that proves the illegality of it, then i will ban it.

i hate hotlinking as much as anyone else, but i try to keep away from enforcing my own morals on my users. but as i said, if it's illegal, then i'll make it stop.

i'm also aware that it's quite difficult to come up with a technical solution to the hotlinking, from the host's perspective (.htaccess tricks failing due to media players not passing referrer strings, etc), so i don't think it's a fair argument to say that people hosting the movies should be solving it their end.

Anyone who is big enough to have lots of money to waste on (probably internetional) lawsuits would easily have the money and programmers to quickly make up a anti hot link system.

There are systems out there that prevent movies from being hotlinked. Those who got'em just want share them :winkwink:

are you saying that my examples aren't good cases?

you pay for bandwith and webspace on your server. if someone hotlinks content from your site, they are stealing from you. theft is illegal, isn't it?

you pay for the license to your content, or you shoot your own content and own the copyrights. the person hotlinking the content and displaying it as his/her own doesn't not have the license or the copyright for the content being hotlinked. theft of intellectual property. look it up at google, and i'm sure you'll find the actual laws pertaining to this.

i hate wieners who ask people to point them to something on the web as opposed to finding it themselves.

you don't want to enforce your own morals? its your website!

who's hosting do you think will get shut off? YOURS!

who's sponsors will ban you for supporting hotlinking? YOURS!

who will have to deal with the lawyers should anyone decide to take legal action? YOU!

There are no benefits to supporting hotlinkers. I have seen many a hotlinking forum website come and go, you wanna know why? You might find out very soon.

I suggest you don't continue to allow people to post hotlinked videos to your website. You will be the one who pays the price for it, not them.

regardless of any other issues, it is bandwidth theft. in fact that page at mentioned at the top of this thread is costing me money, out of pocket - right now.

i haven't emailed you about it, because it's well below my 'radar screen' in terms of theft.

i'd appreciate it if you removed all of the links.

Quiet has videos being hotlinked by that guy. I think he has plenty money to waste on an international lawsuit if he wanted to, and he has said before that he has shut down many hotlinking websites before.

psyko514, i already have found information on the web with regards to linking/hotlinking. from what i've read, the case is far from clear. i'm asking people to point me to something that IS clear.

for your reference:
the linking controversy
http://www.jura.uni-tuebingen.de/~s-bes1/lcp.html

i would personally refer to ban hotlinking. as i said, i don't like it either. but i refuse to enforce my personal *morals* on my users. what i *will* enforce is legal restrictions.

although, the suggesting that my sponsors have rules against supporting hotlinking is a good point. if that's the case, then that would be enough justification for me to ban it too.

...

in the meantime, what i'lll do is switch off the auto linking, so that at least the hotlinks currently there are no longer links.

Stop making a fool off you're self, you're walking into a one way highway blindfolded.

There are no benefits to owning a website that becomes know as hotlinker heaven. However, there is a whole world of pain to experience once you get big enough to start getting the attention of enough webmasters that have gotten hotlinked by your site.

what part of that do you not understand, or disagree with?
do you really want me to find laws stating theft is illegal.

here's another analogy. you open with shelves of merchandise you've purchased from suppliers. someone walks in, ropes off an area of the store and sells the merchandise in that area as his own merchandise. figure out what's illegal with that.

no psyko514, i want you to point me towards information that states that linking/hotlinking/deep-linking is theft. not whether theft itself is illegal.

but either way, it appears there's enough angry people willing to throw around their weight, or at least threaten to, that i might as well back off, illegality confirmed or otherwise.

although i do suggest that those people interested in the legal arguments either way read the page i linked above. there's a wealth of case study, law suits, etc referenced there that make for interesting reading (not that legal writing is ever all that fascinating, i guess).

i'm not talking about linking or deep linking.
if you read the case studies on that site, you'll see that many cases ruled in favour of the victims of hotlinking, or that the case was settled out of court.

i pay for my bandwith. by using *my* bandwith for *your* purposes, without asking *me*, you are using *my* property without *my* permission. that is theft.

i paid for my car. if you use it without asking me, you are stealing my car, right? same concept. theft is theft is theft, be it electronic or otherwise.

Good stuff. You don't want to get a reputation as a hotlinker. It's almost as bad as being in kiddie porn.

Stop the hotlinking and everyone will be happy.

I wonder how clear a lawsuit has to be to make it clear to this guy that what he is doing is W R O N G and no amount of moralistic free speech bullshit makes it right.

I think Rack Shack would be only too willing to co-operate with any webmaster who might contact them with a hot linking complaint about this idiot.

i never said i thought it was right.

it does seem odd though, to hear someone in the porn community of all places, putting free speech and bullshit in the same sentence.

ugh .. now i'm just getting trolled ..

look, i said i give in. i'll ban the hotlinking. enough already.

yes, that's the easiest route to persue.

I never said that free speech was wrong - please don't misunderstand me.

I just said that the way you were hiding behind it was bullshit. You don't want to impose your morals on others using your site to steal - oh come now!

Anyway cock your morals aren't so high and mighty - I wonder if I checked out the Auckland street directory if I would find a 123 Eatme Street - so it seems that you may not be averse to falsifying your whois details.

Actually, it's right next to 123 I'm a Turd Burglar Street :1orglaugh

actually that's exactly the case. i really have never liked the hotlinking, but have never stopped it purely because i don't censor anything on my site unless it's illegal.

but if you'll calm down a little, and reread my posts, you'll see that i am going to ban hotlinking anyway, as a special case.

the whois details are falsified due to the fact that i do not have a PO Box, and i move regularly. i really don't have an actual address to put in there. there's no conspiracy to be found there.

i'd appreciate it if you'd back off with the personal attacks and details prying.

if you really want to continue flaming me, i'm happy to listen to it via icq (9135229) or email (matt AT sensibleerection.com). i don't think it serves much purpose to continue cluttering this thread with bickering.

Everyone sends a hotlink complaint to rackshack with topic : Theft of Services - Hotlinking

If they (hosting company) don't want to escalate that problem to further instance (content owners/providers copyright etc) , they'll need to or shut the site down or block any access to that site until the matter is fixed.

Hotlinking is a delict also known as theft of services. Anyone with server logs confirming a theft of services can bring that into court and request a compensation for that damage.

Though, with a mass complaint to the involved hosting company, it's already enough to be done ;)

Michael

Well perhaps you just learned a very valuable lesson sport - hotlinkers and people who support hotlinkers are not appreciated, tolerated, respected, liked or anything else but abused and reviled in the adult webmaster community.

And as for prying? Get a grip sport - looking in the public record is not prying.

Very true.

All hotlinkers must die. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Seems to be a lot of new nutters floating around the boards lately. I suppose at least this one has a little understanding of the English language even if his head's too far up his ass to see out.

Yep contacting there host is the best way, Rackshack has some very harsh spamming rules so i'm sure they won't much like a bunch of webmasters complaining about one of there customers either. Lawsuits are too expensive for this sort of thing, but taking down there host is pretty easy. Or at least having all of the hot linked images/movies removed.

Sammy

i'm in the process of removing all the hotlinking posts, so i'd prefer if anyone with a complaint contacted me first, rather than rackshack.

It still amazes me how some webmasters complain about free traffic.