Stolen Content - What are your thoughts?
 

This comes up alot at our office and I get calls for advice all the time from Webmasters who have their content stolen.

What would you think of a sponsor program who;

1) Gave you stolen and/or unlicensed content to promote their sites and;

2) opened you up to being liable for damages?

This just came up with the Paris Hilton Sex Tape and I KNOW that this is just the beginning.

Thoughts?

It would probably make some difference to me whether the sponsor program knew they were trafficking in stolen content or believed it to be legit.

it is opening up a whole BIG can of worms:2 cents:

Get to the point Tucker and tell us what you want us to know. Who fucked up and is using stolen content through their webmaster program and exposing all of the webmasters?

xoxo
Leslie

AAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW.......... there is point to this ??

The point is times are changing. I like numerous others have had it with people thinking that it is okay to steal from each other. People who we do regular business with run honest ships and I respect that. What gets me is when theives are caught and they rely on the "hey bud I bought you a drink at a show" instead of just admitting they fucked up.

out them, otherwise people aren't going to know they are sitting on a powder keg. Besides, if they will steal from you, why shouldn't I think they will steal from me?

I am a drug addict so i just steal everyones content to whack off to and sell it to a few poor kids who dont have internet.

fucking major bank.

BOOYA

Its all fucked up go to a password trading site and all you see is banners of programs. They are paying for theft and I dont think they really care one way or another.

So, did you have something new to share? :thumbsup

Totally different scenario, and I would venture that many large sponsors provide temporary passwords there for a reason. I know LightSpeed used to, if they don't know.

We will out ours infringers in time but over the last 9 months of documenting everything I have been shocked at what I have seen and who I have seen it from. I am not trying to be dodgy but rather trying to let some save face because we use court as a last resort. Ours will be outed in time, so will others as I know that there are a few large content companies making the same moves. Titan has been very agressive and Xpays is as well for example. Its time for another house cleaning.

I have and continue to get a real education on Copyright Law. I did not realize that if you use content provided by another you can be liable. Even more of a reason to have 2257 docs on all your content so at the very least you know where the content is coming from and that its a reputable company.

Can you say G U B A?

From now on I will only use content from a sponsor that provides with with a signed and notarized affidavit, attesting to the fact that the content they are providing me is properly licensed to them and they have the rights to let me use it. :winkwink:

I take FHG's from other sponsors and then replace the codes with my XPAYS codes and then let XPAYS sue them for suing me... it works good and it keep my asshole tighter than a frogs ass with a snake behind em.

Hammer that is a great idea; I am going to try that out here if you dont mind.

VROCKS - BAHAHAHAHAHHAA

A 'temporary password' dressed up and presented as a 'hacked/stolen password' is akin in reasoning to a 'adult woman' dressed up and presented as a 'minor' to surfers.

It's exploiting criminal notions (however legal the misrepresentation may or may not be).

Any sponsor that feeds and financially supports stolen/hacked password sites is hurting the biz - not to mention in TOS violation of everyone they use including ISP, host, processor.

RE Sponsors giving away content they are not licensed to do so with (and that includes content which they may have purchased as a sole user but are using it in ways the license does not permit):

Sponsors should start posting their license agreements in the affiliate areas so affiliates can do their due diligence and, if necessary, confirm with original content provider that the sponsor has the rights they claim.

I know many businesses prefer to operate secretly/anonymously and maybe it's time to not accept anything but full disclosure of whom one is dealing with. Every time I've mentioned this in the past, I get some lame excuse of how 'it did not help Enron victims' who knew who they were getting shafted by (as in the case of billing processors not disclosing their corporate identities).

In light of XPays suit, anyone doing business with unknown parties is taking serious and unnecessary risks.

I can see how an affiliate may be unsure of the legitimacy of the content they're using, but how can a sponsor not know?