Steemit News: DMCA Claim for Copyright Infringement
I am a huge supporter of the SteemCleaners initiative, and believe that the work they do is crucial for Steemit to be a successful reputable mainstream blogging platform! This post illustrates the importance of the work that they are doing to stop users from posting copyrighted material without permission.
Someone submitted a copyright infringement claim against some of the content posted on Steemit today!
Normally this type of thing would get addressed behind the scenes and would not get brought to the community's attention, but a GitHub issue was opened, so it is now public knowledge: https://github.com/steemit/steemit.com/issues/525
Here is a quote from the user who submitted the claim:
"There are 30 instances of copyright infringement, 15 of which are completely stolen content (right down to the title of the article), and 14 where the client bought usage rights to the article from our site, but did not comply with the terms. We have two types of licenses for our customers: full rights, an exclusive license where the customer owns the content and can customize (including removing the author’s byline); the other is usage, a one-time rights license, where the author byline must be attached to the article. In the instances where Carlidos purchased usage rights, he posted the articles with his own byline."
Most importantly though, look at this:
"If we don’t hear back from you by the end of this week, we will have to take next steps to rectify the situation, such as filing a a DMCA complaint with Google."
This is really serious! If that occurred, it could cause a lot of damage to Steemit.com and the community!
Thankfully @ned has responded and is working to protect the community from the potential damage this user could have caused!
"We take copyright infringement very seriously. If you believe you have a valid DMCA claim. Please send all of the necessary details to [email protected] and we will look into your claim as quickly as possible."
Let this serve as a warning to all Steemit users. If you are reusing content that you found elsewhere on the web, please make sure you are allowed to use it and you site your sources appropriately!
Unrelated to this post, @timcliff is a backup Steem witness.
If you like the work that @timcliff is doing, you can vote for him here :)
https://steemit.com/~witnesses
Better hope the post is not a month old. The delete and edit buttons have been removed...
Will it take legal action to get these basic user functions back, or will they fork the code to delete the offending posts?
This is the key moment. If a DMCA action can make the developers remove someones post from the blockchain (without having their password) the whole concept of steemit is dead. They will either stand their ground over free speech and "uncensorable blockchain", or they will fold, give control to an outside source, and destroy the remaining confidence in the project.
Give back Edit and Delete to the users, and this becomes the offending users problem and not a steem or steemit.com problem to get sued over.
I think the way they handle it is by preventing them from showing up on Steemit.com
Yes, that would be simplest. But that solution doesn't remove the data so I doubt they will be happy with that answer. If either steem or steemit.com takes responsibility to correct this manually the first torrent or video linked through IPFS will be used by the MPAA to take this site down.
That censorship solution also puts yet another gatekeeper in charge of deciding who get censored and who doesn't. Who gets to be gatekeeper on a decentralized blockchain? Is it the bot runners that don't care if they detect content correctly? What about on Golos.io, who will be censorship cop over there, any old Russian intelligence agent that can buy a whale account?
Instead of monitoring, censoring, or deleting what users post, this project should act like an adult decentralized technology stack and give the users control, responsibility, and blame for what they post. Anything else destroys the whole "trustless uncensorable decentralized ledger" concept and just creates another position\group with power over everyone.
Simply giving back the edit and delete functions puts the responsibility back to the user, anything else will cause a loss of trust.
The main reason that users can't do this, is because it is actually not easy from a technical perspective. The way the blockchain is currently written, anything that can be edited is part of the active database. The witnesses, miners, etc. that are running it would need an exorbitant amount of memory as more and more content got added, if it were setup this way. They are looking into potential solutions, but it is not an easy problem to solve.
Also I feel that putting the responsibility and blame purely on the user has it's problems as well. How would the situation be handled where the user refuses to take their material down? Also, how do you punish a wrongdoer if they choose to remain anonymous?
That is simply not true. That story has been fed to people over and over since the changes were implemented, mostly by developer sockpuppets I suspect.
If you were here for the past 3 months you would know that those functions worked just fine until they disabled them. It is completely possible for the steemit.com website to display only the last (edited) copy of an entry in the blockchain.
Want proof it works fine? Just go find yourself a old comment without a vote or reply and then delete it. Viola, steemit.com will not display it anymore, just like it should be. If it causes performance problems on the completely separate steem blockchain, that is directly because of questionable development and release practices.
(Que Canned Excuse: It's in beta!)
The complete lack of regard for the user experience around here is depressing, and I tire of arguing with the developers and even supporters for it to get better... Believe whatever you want, if they cave to outside pressure on this issue then I think this horse is probably dead anyway.
So I don't claim to be an expert on this but I have a technical background, and I have done some research on it.
I don't know what changed 3 months ago, but if I were to guess it would probably have something to do with the blockchain size growing as more content got added. Again this is just a guess, so I could be wrong.
As far as the comments with no upvote, it probably has something to do with what is held in consensus in the blockchain. What we are talking about as far as actually removing content that is over 30 days is at the blockchain level, and at least today the blockchain does not allow it (regardless of what the Steemit UI allows or doesn't allow the user to do).
The issue where the development team is taking about trying to find a way to make this work is here. It is something that they are looking into, but I don't think it is a huge priority compared to a lot of the other changes they plan to make.
https://github.com/steemit/steem/issues/339
I know this post is old, but I just joined a week ago and on the fist day found my own stock image being used without permission or compensation. I have found several more images that I recognize as stock from my peers. Something has to be done about this! Copyright is not being taken seriously, and as I found from one user, copyright is being ridiculed! Steemit is different in that it's users are gaining monetarily from their posts!
You can report it in the #steemitabuse channel of Steemit chat. You also have the option of filling an official DMCA claim if you want it removed from the website.
It looks like there is a problem with the Block Chain and DMCA notices! Seemingly everything is permanently on the Block Chain!
There is truth to that. It would be entering new territory to try and enter a DMCA against that, since it is not owned by anybody. Stuff also can't be deleted.. The current approach is to go aver all the websites that actually render the data from the blockchain and display it to users.
@timcliff, I recently learned that images are not stored n the Block Chain,but can be removed by Steemit, so I think they should be voluntarily removing images that are in violation of copyright, before they get more DMCA notices!
With more uninformed people coming on here, and more photographers searching Google Images and Tineye for unauthorized use of their work, the likelihood of more DMCA takedown notices, or lawsuits is very real!
It would require someone from Steemit to police this, which would be a fairly time consuming process. I'm pretty sure their stance would be to do whatever is required by law.
I read somewhere about a proposed (or maybe actual) project where the Block Chain is going to be used to BENEFIT content providers by providing a data base of work from the stock agencies, making it a snap to track down illegal uses! People need to be educated. They cannot use the works of others to provide income for themselves without explicit permission. (Steemit is NOT FACEBOOK!) Most times that permission would need to come from the photographer AND the agencies involved. Seeing as many times a photographer has the images on multiple agencies, the likelihood of getting a free pass is highly unlikely! Unfortunately, Steemit has opened a whole legal can of worms!
No argument from me. I support the work of SteemCleaners and the #steemitabuse group to try and detect+flag all plagiarized content.
Thanks for that info. I gave you a penny Upvote. :-)
Keep up the good work! I'm so glad I voted for you as a witness!
Thanks :)
Resteemed too! The word needs to get out!
If Julian Assange was on here, would he be allowed? See, he could be exposing corruption in governments. But, see, many of those governments, and others, can say, allegedly, that he is not allowed. So, they could also claim copyright. So, what would you do?
Steem != steemit.com
Sharing Not Stealing
Some people are claiming that I'm stealing content. They sent complaints to DMCA and emailed Steemit. I'm not stealing. I've been quoting, referencing, linking back to, some comments on and from and by users of a public message board. I've included links just like Google Images includes links to their pictures. Same structure, same form, same philosophy. What I do is protected under Fair Use. However, they seem to be disagreeing with me on that. I may not have enough money for a good enough lawyer that can defend me. That's the problem, @ned, @timcliff, is that I'm being falsely accused of things I'm not doing. They're claiming that I'm doing things I'm not really doing. I'm quoting people, not stealing. I shared a drawing and linked it back to the person that drew it. I wrote that it was her art and not mine. I didn't say it was my art. I was encouraging people to visit the message board. I was promoting the website by linking to the website. What I do is educational, supplemental, transformative. I quote and I comment on what I quoted on. I cite what I quote. I link it. I reference it. Weird Al does that. Weird Al doesn't have to ask for permission, legally, to parody songs. He does ask for permission as courtesy but isn't required to. So, some of my Steemit content might be taken down, falsely, because of the allegations, the fake claims. I may even end up in jail or forced to pay a bunch of money. I'm thinking worse case scenario. I have no idea what's going to happen. I'm scared to death. Two of my YouTube channels were terminated for false copyright claims in 2017 and 2018. So, this is scary. I don't know what to do. It's a long story.
I don't work for Steemit, and I don't think Ned will read your comment. You can try emailing [email protected] and someone there may be able to help. (I have no control over what they do though.)
Good idea. I've done that already. I've been waiting.
Indeed~*~
thankful for people/tools helping to catch this/cut down on this!
This is a huge problem...and why we need to be so vigilant about the content that we use, especially if it's not our original work! Not only does it affect the plagiarist/thief, it really affects the ENTIRE site.
I have a feeling that since the copyrighted material is permanently etched on the blockchain, the entity who filed the claim is going to want monetary compensation. Hopefully an agreement is made to rectify the situation for everyone. Which begs the question: who is ultimately responsible when this happens...and I fear it won't be the last time a ticket like this will need to be addressed. :(
So my stock image that is being used without my permission is now permanently stored? Not good!!
It's a problem for Steemit and EVERYONE here. Under the DMCA, the site is not liable if the work is removed immediately (impossible I guess with the Block Chain) AND there is no monetary compensation. Unfortunately those who are using the images illegally, plus Steemit are making money!
@timcliff, my REP fell 57 to 55 today because of three flags by @steemcleaners because, allegedly, they say that I say "hi" too often to new users as opposed to automated bot messaged which are sent to new users which they seem to be ignoring or claiming are in fact an exception that I don't get to be part of. So, I say hello to people too much. So, I must be a pretty terrible criminal.
users/accounts are allowed to upvote/downvote for whatever reason they want. You can discuss with them in their steem.chat channel if you want: #steemitabuse.
My concern is that some bots were going after me automatically, not manually, but automatic, specifically @steemcleaners (not @steemcleaner) and others. See, they put me on these blacklists and target me again and again.
you can talk to the steem cleaners group here: https://discord.gg/JnvkJMV
Tim, I did. I went on the @steemcleaners group on Discord and they placed me on timeout: Here is what I wrote to them:
Steem Cleaners
06:25 PM - @steemcleaners - Three of my comments were flagged. I wrote hi to three different people. So, I am an evil monster, right? Because hi is too simple, right? I can't start a conversation? I wrote an article about this.
I go back to they are allowed to use their stake for whatever they want. You can try to talk to them and convince them to do otherwise, but they are under no obligation to do what you say.
I think you and others make it too easy here. If I flag you once, indeed, I am under no obligation to justify that, but if I automatically flag every of your comments and posts, until you leave STEEM, then I think I should have a good reason for doing so and be able to justify my behaviour, because otherwise one might think all I do is damaging the platform.
I don't know if the flags in the case above are justified or not ... just saying ...
Steem is a decentralized self governing system. Other people are going to act in ways that differ from your personal value system of what is right and wrong, and they are allowed to do so provided the blockchain rules allow it. Self governing does not mean complete anarchy - but it does mean that users / the community are responsible for dealing with their issues with each other. There is no central party to step in and tell anyone they are right or wrong.
Awareness:
It is good to respond to those types of actions. That is what I'm trying to promote. I want people to be aware of how subjective it can be.
50 Shades of Oatmeal
In other words, sometimes, things are not as black and white as we may want them to be. Perhaps, there are different sides, perspectives, to situations, stories.
Art & Beauty
Spam can be hard to define. Many things can be when defined subjectively as opposed to objectively.
Tyranny vs Free Markets
Now, a fake version of objectivity can be bad too and it can lead to bad tyrannical centralization. Now, to some extent, decentralized blockchains like Steem are promoting the freedom for individual to make choices concerning upvoting and downvoting based from a decentralized and subjective point of view, on the other hand, and that might be like an aspect of the free market.
The Meaning to Life
So, I believe in promoting the freedoms for people to do what they want. So, it comes down to private property rights.
Is My Comment a Form of Private Property?
So, by the way, hypothetically, if my comment was my private property, and if people downvoted that alleged private property comment, then did that flag (downvote) damage my alleged private property? Good question. I would say yes. But I don't know if a comment is private property or not. So, that is another can of worms that we can open in these types of debates, etc.
I agree with that.