Illegal redistribution of art - e621.net

[thaily.livejournal.com]

The latest in Arcturus' art redistribution scams, one of the former being a "chan" with no DNP (do not post) list. He likes art but has no respect for it's origins.

Despite the message on his site that "If you’re really offended by having your work posted to such a website, please email us with a polite request to have your posts taken down." he has no intent of following through with the promise of respecting artists' wishes.
In fact, when another artist politely requested he take her work down he started harassing her friends via IM and her via FA uploads calling the copyright holder a jerk for not letting him do what he wants with her art.

As further proof I offer up the short e-mail exchange I had with him when I found out one of my pieces was up on the site as well.
Arc's replies are in italics because he doesn't sign his e-mail.

______________________________ Sep 5 - Topic: Redistribution of my art
Hello,

It's come to my attention that someone has reposted one of my images to your site.
As copyright holder I request this image be removed from your database.
The image in question is here: http://e621.net/post/view/1522
- Thaily
______________________________
Can I ask why?
______________________________
Can I ask why you want to know why?
- Thaily
______________________________
We like feedback on removal requests so that we can work to address any
problems and so improve the site.
______________________________
My reason is that it was reposted without my prior knowledge or approval.
- Thaily
______________________________


A week later I had received no reply what-so-ever and the image was still up on the site.
At this point I contacted the hosting provider, a German company Hetzner Online AG.
They replied within the day and the image was finally removed.


To: abuse@hetzner.de
Topic: Copyright Violation, EUCD notice.
Date: [date]

Hetzner Online AG
Industriestr. 6
91710 Gunzenhausen
Deutschland

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to you to avail myself of my rights under the European Copyright Directive. I wish to report an instance of what I feel in good faith is an instance or Copyright Infringement. The infringing material appears on the Service for which you are the designated agent.

1. The material which I contend belongs to me, and appears illegally on
the Service is the following: [description of reposted material]
2. The material appears at the website address: http://e621.net
And can be found via the search tool at this specific location:
[http://e621.net/* whatever the direct link to your work is]
For style reference please refer to my homepage: [homepage url, preferably url to the same image hosted in a location where you have personally uploaded it]
Additionally the site clearly states my real and/or artist name (remove what doesn't apply, as well as this note :P) as being the creator (and thus copyright holder) of said image(s).
3. My contact information is as follows:
[Name, address, telephone number, e-mail address]
4. I have a good faith belief that the use of the material that appears on the service is not authorized by the copyright owner, it's agent, or by operation of law.
5. The information in this notice is accurate as the copyright owner. I declare under the perjury laws that this notification is true and correct.


Signed, [name]


Edit: Comments frozen.
The site is down, time to move on and get a life people.

Comments

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[snapesgirl34.livejournal.com]

So.... is all the art posted without permission? If so, this should be posted on art_theft

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[sunhawk.livejournal.com]

From that award page, this comment is gold and arguing should have stopped at that point due to automatic lose:

And you obviously DO take the internet seriously, Ms. Fuhrer.

Fan entitlement gone wild!

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[rat-the-unloved.livejournal.com]

What. Tha. HELL?

He -really- needs to get off his high horse.

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[snapesgirl34.livejournal.com]

"So I am going to have to say that in this case,
your request is denied. Your SINGLE piece of artwork will remain."


WHAT!?! They can do that!?! *jaw drop* Time to go past him and strait to the domain owner.

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[suule.livejournal.com]

Do not post lists are offensive? My word. What this world is coming to!

Oh and what costumer service e621 has! Where's the formality you should see on a 'professional site' like that. Tsk tsk. Someone is trying to be more important than he actually is.

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[snapesgirl34.livejournal.com]

I posted this to art_theft so hopefully some people will be able to help me identify the stolen art and cotnact the original artists.

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[thaily.livejournal.com]

You should include the form letter, a lot of artists don't know how to go about contacting hosting providers.

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[gothwings.livejournal.com]

You know, there was a time I thought all the hate about Arcturus was purely lolfurrydrama but the more I find out about him the more I realise it isn't

He's a Grade A nutjob who thinks that art is for all and that an artist has no right to control its distribution. I'm fine with my work being reposted IF a link to my original site is given and credit to myself. I do this for a living after all.

The problem is, Arcturus has sufficient technical know how to break sites just for malicious kicks, and has done so numerous times. He's one of those people that doesn't seem to realise the consequences of his actions, or worse still, does realise the consequences of his actions and makes sure he upsets other people deliberately.

I can only assume that someone who takes so much pleasure in deliberately upsetting others has a very unsatisfying life himself.

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[nicolyrezk.livejournal.com]

Since we're talking about controlling distribution, rights and so on..

may I take the time to point out that the image in question was of Thaily in a Renamon suit.

So.. who here is going to tell Thaily off for infringing on Toei Animations Intellectual Property?

Anyone?

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[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Actually Fanart is a grey area, it's only infringement technically and based on the widespread acceptance of fanart by companies you can argue that there is a precedent for it being allowed as a non-commerical enterprise. Most companies have no issue with it so long as you don't attempt to sell the result. Some even outright encourage it, particularly Japanese companies.

Not that such quibbling has anything to do with the violation of her rights. We're not playing who is worse here, Arc has knowingly and deliberately violated the rights of a number of artists and that's what is under discussion. I'm sure though that Toei would appreciate you informing them of it though, and by appreciate I mean "filing it in the round filing cabinet".

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[sunhawk.livejournal.com]

So your arguement is that what Arc is doing is okay because some artists engage in the creation of fanart? Is that really the house of cards you want to go with?

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[snapesgirl34.livejournal.com]

What is this guys LJ username? The mod of art_theft wants to know so she can ban him from the community.

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[suule.livejournal.com]

nicolyrezk Duh :)

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[black-drag0n.livejournal.com]

There's only one thing I can say: PWNED.

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[snapesgirl34.livejournal.com]

Hey, the FA image got removed, guess the other mods weren't too happy. ;)

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[thaily.livejournal.com]

Or he's covering his tracks because people other than his butt-licking squad are seeing it. He does this often.

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[ionotter.livejournal.com]

You know...

I look at all the comments-back and forth, back and forth-but it all boils down to one very basic, very simple question:

"What part of 'It is not yours.' do you not understand?"

Because when you put it that way, every single defense they might think they have is blown out of the water.

What's more, you don't even have to get preachy or threatening.

You see, this is "The Internet", and for the most part, most of the world and the people in it don't really understand how things work here. Our electronic culture is still very much a mystery to the majority of the world, and although folks are catching up, most of the topics and arguments that occur here are a mystery.

Therefore, when you're bringing your arguments into the court of Public Opinion, and especially the law, you have to speak in terms the rest of the non-electronic world can understand.

"It is not yours/theirs, it is mine." is as simple as it gets. You really don't need to say anything else.

Because when you put it that way, anything they say to excuse their shoddy behaviour looks and sounds like bullshit.

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[zhivagod.livejournal.com]

I think that, with all things in life, it's completely how you approached it.

My art was removed quickly and the admin was completely polite and professional with me in each e-mail I recieved from them.

Everyone's jumping down everyone's throats here, trying to find a bullet-proof 'arguement' to use against this guy. But I'm amazed at how many people have seem to forgotten the basics of "please" and "thank you" here.

I'm not defending his reasons or beliefs, but I do admit, the OP's email exchange read off as very stand-offish to me.

"TAKE MY ART OFF. -Thaily"
"Why?"
"NONE YOUR BUSINESS, JUST TAKE IT OFF. - Thaily"

rikutida's exchange didn't read any kinder either. The 'thanks' felt thrown in, rather than genuine.

I'd throw a fit and draw hate art if a higher authority forced me submit to someone being so rude too. :P

A little niceness can go a long way, guys. :/

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[nicolyrezk.livejournal.com]

It's shocking, isn't it? You were nice, you got handled.

-- Arcturus

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[xe-nox.livejournal.com]

no it is not, it's about the same as in the US

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[snapesgirl34.livejournal.com]

Well this is sure turning into a drama-fest. o_O

[sephir07h.livejournal.com]

How is the art being "stolen", exactly? If the signature and the picture itself aren't being altered, then what's the big deal? Half of the artists I've commissioned I found through imageboards. Doesn't really seem to be anything but more exposure to possible clients, both the art and the bitching going along with it.

(frozen)

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

That's enough from you, I think.