Acephoto Reporting Manics Tumblr Users for Copyright Violation

[Bathtub]

Originally Posted by Porco

But the whole thing is ridiculous, copyright badly needs reforming in the digital age... It has made some progress, but we're still in a very transitional phase. If a photo is not posted purely to be defamatory or to be used commercially I don't think it should be so prohibited.

Personally, I disagree, I think the principles of copyright, the ones that function in the world of print, still apply in a digital age.

Originally Posted by Porco

And complaining to get take-downs without even letting bloggers know specifically which images need to be removed is just crazy.

I agree with this wholeheartedly, the closing down of entire blogs over a few images is massive overkill.

[amay]

I think another thing is the lack of warning - some people I know have been offline, received the email warnings, then next time they are online, their blog has disappeared. So they had no chance to delete the images or back up their blog or appeal against it (deletion of the blog is irreversible). But I suppose that's a fault of Tumblr mainly, even if the excessive reporting of images in quick succession by the photographer is what causes it.

[graspTHEsanity]

How many of you have tried contacting tumblr about this?

I tried twice and they refused to do anything, then stopped replying altogether. Maybe if we get a joint compaint we can reverse this? I don’t mind knowing which photos they don’t want us to put up. Does anyone know if they’re reporting photos which are theirs or are reporting randomly??

[handbag]

A facebook friend had a Manics tumblr deleted FOUR times. The first time it gave the reason that PS had reported a photo for copyright violation, and if she received two more reports her account would be deleted.

Unfortunately, it was deleted even though she said she'd deleted anything she thought was his work from the blog.

The other accounts didn't have any PS photos but were still deleted. She used new email accounts to make the new tumblr accounts.

Those were deleted without warning.

These are a couple of emails she received.






I have no idea how tumblr check if the person reporting really is the owner of the work. To me it's odd how the PS-less tumblrs were deleted.

My own tumblr isn't a band fan blog, but none of the photos I use are my own. I've never had violation report and after X amount of years, if it was suddenly deleted I'd be pissed off. I was following other Manics and Morrissey tumblrs and they've been deleted too.

I have no idea if anything can be done. I'm not even sure why something like this bugs me so much, but it does.


Edit: I don't know if she tried to get in touch with tumblr. I'll ask.

[Dac X Lee]

Originally Posted by Bathtub

Personally, I disagree, I think the principles of copyright, the ones that function in the world of print, still apply in a digital age.



I agree with this wholeheartedly, the closing down of entire blogs over a few images is massive overkill.

Sometimes it feels like copyright owners are simply abusing of their position. I think what really is missing is the part which should grant some kind of protection to the party accused of copyright infringement.

[handbag]

Originally Posted by handbag

Edit: I don't know if she tried to get in touch with tumblr. I'll ask.

Quoting myself for an update.

She said she didn't bother trying to communicate with them because the blog was gone and it couldn't be reversed and couldn't see the point. Apparently they don't give a flying one about pro-ED/thinspo accounts being on tumblr because she'd had a "ball ache of a time" reporting them and nothing was ever done.



I agree with the post above. Why can't they just remove the image that's been reported?

Anyway...

[hummingbird]

I would imagine Tumblr do whatever is easiest for them... someone's complained? Delete the site. I'm sure 99.99999 % of those sites infringe copyright daily. The whole ethos of Tumblr is to post pictures which people find elsewhere.. They can't have assumed when they set up it would just be people with personal photos?

The best thing you can do is close your accounts and go elsewhere

[graspTHEsanity]

But go where?

Anyone had any luck? I got terminated today.

[MarilynRoxie]

I got an anonymous message in my Tumblr today saying: "I'm coming for you. Sincerely, Paul Slattery." I'm not sure if this is him or someone trolling and trying to rile me or other people up, but just wanted to post to let people know to be alert. I have combed through my blogs deleting anything that could possibly be by him.

[Dac X Lee]

At this point it should be you the one to be able to report him for blackmail. No joke.
This guy seems disrespectful, no matter what.

[Aestivate]

Next they'll be dragging us off the streets for having our picture taken whilst wearing a band's t-shirt showing the copyright protected album cover artwork.

[amay]

Originally Posted by MarilynRoxie

I got an anonymous message in my Tumblr today saying: "I'm coming for you. Sincerely, Paul Slattery." I'm not sure if this is him or someone trolling and trying to rile me or other people up, but just wanted to post to let people know to be alert. I have combed through my blogs deleting anything that could possibly be by him.

I've seen other blogs apparently get messages from him too, and I'm convinced a rude anon I received a few months ago was from him, although it wasn't signed. If it is him, he's got a serious problem and needs to grow up. The worst thing is I'm not sure Tumblr can do much about it apart from telling us to block the person sending the messages.

[hummingbird]

He can't be very busy if he's still chasing this

[MarilynRoxie]

Had my account terminated after a single url came through as reported, even though I set the blogs to private and am totally unsure of which picture it is. Here is my letter to Tumblr:

Hello,

Yesterday I - formerly marilynroxie on Tumblr - received a notice that my account had been terminated due to another copyright violation attached to my account. I received several other notices from the same photographer earlier in the year and, at that time, immediately set the blogs with the offending posts to private since I was unsure about which photos belonged to the copyright holder (Acephoto) in the first place. I didn't want to risk having another strike against my account.

I work and go to school full time, making the task of combing through thousands of photos to find this one photographer's work impossible. I also heard that other users were getting these notices from this same photographer, some even being terminated.

I scrubbed my main blog for any possible photos as well, spending hours hiding anything I was uncertain about. I would have gladly simply deleted any requested photos from my blogs if the copyright holder had asked before submitting takedown requests; unfortunately that wasn't the case. Months later, I get another takedown notice, a single url, and now my account is terminated. I had no idea someone could submit a notice for a photo that is no longer even publicly available and don't know how they even had the url. I would have just deleted the sideblogs altogether to avoid having this horrible incident happen and would do exactly that if my account could be reactivated.

I had been a user of Tumblr since 2009. I had a blog helping queer teens and young adults answer questions about gender identity and sexuality with over 10,000 followers. Thankfully, this site is safe because an additional admin joined me a few months ago and they carry on posting there. Everything there would be lost too if they were not part of it. I can't imagine how much more heartbroken I would be if that was the case.

I am thinking the rights of the photo/s in question were indeed owned by the submitter of the claim, and that is why I am not filing a rebuttal. However, I set my sideblogs to private, with no one even viewing them, to avoid this happening and was baffled when I revived the termination email. Now I am forbidden from ever again being part of this wonderful community on Tumblr I made so many friends on over the years because of a photo no one could even see being reported.

Again, I would be happy to simply delete these additional blogs if my account was reinstated. I am in no confusion about copyright law. Please let me know if you need any additional information from me.

Sincerely,
Marilyn Roxie

[Porco]

That's disgraceful, I'm really sorry that has happened to you MarilynRoxie, it must feel incredibly disheartening. The phrase 'this is why we can't have nice things' springs to mind. Would it really have been so hard for any copyright holder to make a note of any offending image URLs and contacted you first? So uncivilised.