Tuesday, May 31, 2011

I'm Confused

Followers of my little blog here might notice that a recent post and any associated DL links regarding a WAD file of new alternate music for the classic Doom games is now missing. That's because I was issued a DMCA takedown.

Apparently, when you have a web-page with a bunch of music that can be downloaded for free and call it royalty-free music, what this means is that it's not free and nobody else can use it.

Here's the gist of it:

Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog is alleged to infringe upon the copyrights of others. As a result, we have reset the post(s) to "draft" status. (If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.) This means your post - and any images, links or other content - is not gone. You may edit the post to remove the offending content and republish, at which point the post in question will be visible to your readers again.

A bit of background: the DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. If you believe you have the rights to post the content at issue here, you can file a counter-claim. For more information on our DMCA policy, including how to file a counter-claim, please see
 http://www.google.com/dmca.html.

The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). You can search for the DMCA notice associated with the removal of your content by going to the Chilling Effects search page at http://www.chillingeffects.org/search.cgi, and entering in the URL of the blog post that was removed. If it is brought to our attention that you have republished the post without removing the content/link in question, then we will delete your post and count it as a violation on your account. Repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account including deleting your blog and/or terminating your account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel.

Sincerely,

The Blogger Team

Affected URLs:

(redacted)


Now, while this e-mail says I'm supposed to be able to search for the actual complaint that was made against my little blog here by going to the linked site and entering the URL of my offending blog post in a search, I was unable to locate said complaint after attempting to do so several times in several different ways.

Anyway...

I publicly apologize to whomever I've offended for whatever it is I did wrong even though it makes absolutely no sense to me and I promise not to post said offending materials again. Thank you.

5 comments:

  1. WTF?

    So its only free music and legal to aquire if its hosted on the original site, but no longer so if it is rehosted by someone else? Even if the owner of the music says, in writing, that you can?

    That would indicate that the original owner doesn't actually own his/her own music.

    "Madness reigns..."

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm guessing (no, really guessing since I can't find any trace of this complaint using the methods described in that e-mail) that what has happened is that when I foolishly uploaded that music file to DoomWorld foolishly thinking that it was perfectly okay, the folks over there (despite anything I included in the file's credits and permissions documentation) totally freaked out and started sending e-mails to whatever powers-that-be. (I'm making this guess based upon the fact that the latest version of the monster mod that I sent them is available for download and yet the music file which I uploaded that same day is nowhere to be found.) It's quite likely that the creator of that music is not the one who complained and is totally oblivious of the complaint or my use of the music to begin with. But as I've said, I really can't find proof one way or the other.

    Either way, I really can't argue with the folks who own the page I'm typing on, can I?

    ReplyDelete
  3. My main issue with the DMCA and common interpretation of copyright law in general anymore is that it's become total cowardice. Complainers don't even have to provide proof that they own said copyright, most of the time. Someone breathes the acronym "DMCA" and the hosting entity has a knee-jerk reaction and pulls it all; under fear of lawsuit. Then, you get to prove it really is legal to post/re-post, or it stays down.

    I hate to dissuade you from doing what you love, Kiddo, but the more I watch your adventures in DOOMing, the more I think DOOMworld is nothing but a collection of whiny little bundles of sticks who don't do anything but rate down and report everything not made by someone they worship.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yeah, I'm kinda 50/50 where DoomWorld is concerned; I can take it or leave it these days. One might ask: "But Herculine... isn't that where all the Doom maps come from?" Well, not entirely. They have a huge archive, 'tis true, but there's one in Berlin that's almost identical so it's not like we really need theirs.

    Besides, at the rate I'm going I'm practically starting my own website here anyway. Even got my first takedown notice!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So, you are equating the takedown notice with authenticity? You wouldn't be the first to do so ;)

    ReplyDelete