Piracy on Steemit, a Rising Problem?
On Piracy and Steemit
Recently I have noticed that (since the release of Dtube especially) piracy and stealing of property is becoming a massive problem on Steemit. While piracy exists everywhere, I think there is one big point which differentiates it on Steemit, and that is the ability to monetise.
Remember this?
I won't lie, I've watched torrented movies before, I've used photos without permission or a link/name of the creator, I've listened to music downloaded off YouTube. And while people have varying opinions on whether these actions are okay or not, I think that what is happening on Steemit is very different.
On Steemit not only is property of others being stolen, but it is being used to make money by people who have no rights to it. People are uploading full movies, music videos, and stealing photographs all over the place.
In my opinion it is okay to download movies and music (that's another discussion) if the person is famous enough that they are making a living and doing well, such an example would be Justin Bieber or Linkin Park. I'm okay with watching Starwars because I know it's already made millions. Further, I live in Korea where piracy is rampant anyway, I can go to places and watch or buy these movies (pirated) for a tiny amount. Of course people will disagree with me, and that's fine! That's not my point.
But my point is that people on Steemit are actually able to profit from others work. The people posting these movies and music videos... They get paid for it. Sometimes small amounts, and sometimes large, but they still get paid.
Even for someone generally accepting of watching movies and obtaining music for free, this is too far for me. Non-profit use of media is different to creating a profit from it.
There are Steemit equivalents in real life though of course, countries you can buy pirated movies on the streets for super small amounts (Korea is one). These people are profiting from these movies and music, so.... What's the difference?
This leads to my main point: The possibility of Steemit being shut down or taking a lot of flack from companies. YouTube has copyright detection (for better or worse) to prevent legal troubles. Pirate Bay always has to shut down and move, other torrent sites are always changing to try and evade authories.
The only reason Steemit hasn't been targeted yet is because this is a relatively new problem here (at least on this scale) and because it's still a rather small site.
Things such as this and the child porn I have heard about (there seem to be a lot of articles on it recently) are what will get Steemit shut down in my opinion. No one can do anything... We can downvote, but on Steemit you can't delete. Whatever you downvote, no matter how much, still exists. If authorities, companies or governments find this dark side, do you really think they will let Steemit continue?
This site needs the ability to permanently delete posts when the downvotes are enough, and it needs real moderators. The current 'vigilantes' we have try to shut down these people, but then they write whole articles on things such as child porn which only brings more attention to it. I ask this question: is that a good or bad thing?
Everything I have said here is a bit ironic seeing as I hate it when people steal my pictures, yet I don't have a problem stealing others property (movies/music).... I'm working on being more accepting of people's situations and I always give full image credit, but I've got a way to go.
It may seem like I only herald doom for Steemit, but I definitely still see a future here no matter what complaints I have. However, the current system does not work. It doesn't. However, if these things are fixed, I still see a thriving community that stretches long into the future.
If Steemit gets Target by Hollywood, authorities or music artists, it won't be good. If Steemit is to have a future we have to stop these illegal activities. And to do that... Steemit needs change.
Still Loving Steemit though and let's all continue to make this a better place!
I welcome feedback, comments, or other opinions and I would love to hear from you.
In the meantime I will keep flagging all of these piracy accounts with what little power I have.
that's a very valid point you raised. The question is how to fight this properly?
I think that having moderators with the power to delete posts (or if posts get automatically deleted when they get down-voted enough), would help to combat the problem.
Yes steemit needs a down vote button!!
I actually really liked Slashdot's model, where they attempt to never delete a post. It happened once that I recall (although I'm not there much these days), when someone posted a Scientology manual, and they sued.
Other than that, posts could be "modded to oblivion" but users could still configure their reading threshold so they could read everything, if they so chose.
My huge problem with child porn is that it is the only instance where possession of evidence of a crime, is an additional crime. Pictures of a car crash? No problem. Even pictures of a raped and murdered adult? No problem.
And it's made much worse with the new revelations of #pizzagate / #pedogate -- because the "elite" like to bugger little children, so they made it a crime to investigate them! Show the police that you've gather intel to put an elite away, and guess what? You're put away. Very clever of them, but rather transparent to critical thinkers.
I think the piracy issue is a real one as well, though; I see a lot of "cheetahs". :)
That's what I think the real problem is, anyone still has the power to view posts. No matter how much they are downvoted or hit by powerful people, they still exist, and in the current state of Steemit, they always will!
Right now Steemit is illegally hosting some content, and I fear for the site if this amount of content keeps growing.
I hadn't heard about those two tags you posted... I will read a bit about them now though. It's terrible how some parts of society are so corrupt that people can get away with things like this.
I've seen a lot of cheetahs too! But surprisingly not on any music videos or movies.. Maybe I just missed them!
I think @cheetah only evaluates text. Which is how I was surprised to find one of my posts flagged, which had an affiliate link in it -- I did exactly what Craig Grant had done, except that his post was a link to a YouTube video, and the affiliate link was both in the video and also in text form in the video's Description.
I felt slighted, but now I better understand how it works. And, there's opportunity for it to improve!
I actually didn't even know it converted those tags into links, very useful, thanks! :)
Oh wow, really? That's pretty bad... Hopefully they have managed to iron out some of the problems! If that's still the case, that's quite a problem :/
So let me get this right, cheetah flagged you because of an affiliate link that was in your post? Or so you think? I never knew that about the bot.
Yeah, there's always room to improve and learn! And if it becomes better, it could be a truly helpful tool for Steemit!
Yeah the cheetah bot is cleverly named, as it goes after people who plagiarize, in other words, "cheaters". :)
Some of my first few posts were "getting my feet wet" and I reposted some news I think, and got to know cheetah's function.
And, I believe I mis-spoke above -- it was someone else, not cheetah, who flagged the affiliate link. Cheetah doesn't do that, I don't think anyway -- I think cheetah only makes a comment. Anyway, take care! :)
interesting article, so what you are basicly suggesting is that on all occations when a picture/video is used here. there should be a "source credit" right?
Unless ofcourse you yourself has made the photo/video.
This could help out sorting original from reposts surely, I have seen a couple who only posts photos like they actually took that photo which they didnt. Perhabs it depends on how it is used?
Or maybe there should be a small box under the box you write in where you can type in all the image/video sources youve used so it will be lined at the bottom of the post made.
like
and now at the bottom of my post is the source íve used for this picture.
But this can raise another "piracy issue" What if the website you took it from, took it from someone else?
you cant really know that unless there actually is a copyright on the picture itself, and you support the pirate by linking to his/crime.
I think you are on to something, but it is also very very questionable how it can be correcly linked to the original creator.
imgsource: piratetimes.net
Yeah, that's exactly what I would like to see (for images anyway). As you can see in this post, underneath each image I put a link to the source I found it at (just Google Images mind you, but the original image can be viewed from there).
However yes, you do have a point. How can we know where the image actually comes from. I guess the only way to make it work is to have everybody be honest and link back to the original source.. Then there would be no confusion. But that's a bit too much positive thinking I feel...
But yeah, unless the image or media is yours, I think you should always state where you found it. After all, it essentially is stealing.
Definitely more to think about, that's for sure....
Thanks for such a great and in-depth comment. I appreciate it! And thanks for reading :)
Well this subject interests me :)
and I think I from now on will list the sources I use for pictures to be a good example.
But surely, just link to where you found it would be a good start, then your own back is safe.
my idea would be something like this:
and all sources and credits will be listed at the bottom in grey so they arent "disturbing"
a new box under the blog/reply box instead of under every picture used. then you can have a full list of credits and not annoyingly listed throughout the post.
oh and also, you do know you are allowed to use 5 tages on your post right?
in this case you probably should as it is a subject that needs more attention I would say :)
Me too! For sure.
As a photographer, I thank you for that, I've had my pictures used before without my permission and it really sucks... Sometimes you can act about it and do something, but half the time it's just not even worth it. It would just be nice if it never happened in the first place.
Yeah, while we don't have power over other people providing sources for their media, at least we can ourselves! And hopefully we can lead by example and people will follow.
Hmm, that's actually a really cool idea, I like it a lot! It would keep the post clean, but have all the relevant information!
Oh, I thought I had 5 tags already! I will change it... But I'm really not sure what to tag it as!
Yea I can imagine that must suck a little...
Dont know about the tag.
My upvote isnt worth much so hope this helps :)
Thank you very much! I appreciate it a lot :)
I'm going to keep thinking about it and see what I can come up with! I hope we can bring more attention to this problem.