Content Piracy Sucks
With all the coverage in print, online and in seminars and roundtables that is the understatement of the year. Are you tired of Having Your Content Stolen? There's a new sheriff on the ‘Net and the time has come to start cleaning up stolen content. Whether your adult business is a giant or a single free site, adult entertainment is losing billions to content thieves. The whole industry is actively searching for ways to make tube sites work to their advantage or for innovative ways to fight online piracy. The problem has always been around but it has been getting worse and right now it's totally out of control.
The Global Anti-Piracy Agency puts it this way: “The adult production industry is facing a crisis. Millions of illegal downloads from file sharing networks, pirate servers, websites and hacked computers, as well as illegally duplicated DVDs sold through auction and other websites, cost adult industry producers, distributors, retailers, cable operators, and VOD and mobile providers an estimated $2 billion a year in revenue.”
And even though some content pirates are big sophisticated organizations that would put Tony Soprano to shame, Internet users no longer have to be tech-savvy to steal your content. As the producers of Remove Your Content (RYC) point out: “A few clicks of the mouse and your entire DVD production or website members’ area can be shared with millions of people for free.
If you produce, procure or distribute adult content, the bottom line is simply that your work is at risk every minute of every day. Content theft is no joke, and it's not only a growing problem, but one that is recognized by the law and enforced upon conviction with stiff penalties. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Industry Reaction
Building on a meeting last year at which a large gathering of content producers and others met to discuss ways to protect their content from thieves - the core members of the group have formed a piracy enforcement company called PAK Group, Inc., a Washington for-profit corporation. A website for the company has been launched by the principals at: www.pak-inc.com.
“This is a group that has come together to coordinate and direct its efforts on thwarting piracy,” FalconFoto's Jason Tucker (one of the speakers at the Roundtable) said. “If you are a content producer, then you know that your hard work is being raped by people who don’t have a right to display it. Remember, you can be part of this effort even if you are not a content producer. As a member of the community, you can help take a stand against those who cost all of us money.”
Remove Your Content
You definitely need a solution which provides results that will work for you. Another recent solution that is achieving concrete results is Remove Your Content. RYC was the brainchild of Eric Green, owner of Destined Enterprises. Destined Enterprises has been operating a network of adult free sites, TGPs and Blogs since early 2004. RYC was established to help fight the growing problem of online adult piracy.
As Green pointed out to us, "The adult industry is finally taking notice of the enormous problem of content piracy. Our movement is not the only one out there, and I believe that combined with the efforts of PAK Group, Inc. (www.xbiz.com/news/89273), we can be a formidable force in dealing with this issue."
But it's not easy—content piracy is a big problem and it's a big complex job. Green went on to say, "This is going to take some time and patience. We are still killing movie links from 2005 in some cases, and there's a lot of catching up to do. These uploaders are vigilante, constantly switching blog hosts, uploading to mirrors, using link protection… The good news is that we are equally vigilante and make adaptations constantly."
Some high profile RYC clients have already discovered the cost-effectiveness of the program, including MelissaMoney, PerfectGonzo, BangBrosOnline, TushyCash, TNACash and many others. They didn't become so successful by throwing their money around or wasting it, you know?
Part of the Solution
According to the RYC website, “We fight illegal piracy at the source, the host, and rigorously pursue all hosted pirated media content. What is removed? We remove illegal copies of member videos, zip sets, archived picture sets, site zips and DVD rips. Content is removed through active forum searches and vigilante search engine sweeps.”
Coverage includes file-sharing forums, search engines, blogs, image hosts, newsgroup services and tube sites. Always being tweaked, Remove Your Content has recently added Google search term infringement and removal as well as automated harvesting bots.
But don't take our word for it. A recent post by webmistress HotMelissa of MelissaMidwest.com on GoFuckYourself.com (www.gfy.com/showthread.php?t=797545) states, “I have had my content stolen and put up on sites so many times I can't keep up! I used to try to get it down myself, and then I hired an attorney. That got really expensive and didn't always work. Now I found a company that actually works!”
“Eric from RemoveYourContent.com has been able to get things down that I have been working on for months. The prices are really cheap and they are good, so if you have this problem give them a chance. It's time to shut down these assholes that make money off of our hard work.”
She goes on to list just some of the potentially costly little problems that RYC can take care of for you:
- Rapid removal (usually 24-48 hours) of content from nearly all free file hosts such as Rapidshare, Megaupload, Megarotic, Filefactory, etc., and most others.
- Ability to defeat most URL stealth and masking services.
- Secure online reports detailing statistics for your campaign.Draw them in with a killer headline.
- Tube sites, newsgroup-to-Web and video blog removals. Use engaging subheads.
- Adhoc URL removal requests, forum support, secondary sweep campaigns and host reconciliation (ensures deletion on hosts).
- Over 400k file-sharing links removed since December, 2007.
- Active Yahoo/Google sweeps for illegally uploaded content.
- Top adult filesharing forum sweeps and thread monitoring by custom automated bots and human interface. Additional forums upon request and more added frequently.
And Melissa isn't the only fan. Content Producer Paul Markham commented at AskDamageX.com: "I signed up with Eric and within hours he had send out a lot of DMCAs and got a lot of my content removed from Rapidshare. You only win a war by fighting. Eric is an excellent soldier."
It appears to be well worth it, and Creator Eric Green points to results: "We are having an impact. RYC members are seeing a dramatic reduction in the availability of their member content online for free. Additionally, the frequency of "re-ups" and new uploads is down drastically because these guys know we will kill it within 24 hours. I don't care how fast a pirate's upload bit rate is, truth be known my mouse is faster...always."
Terms of Availability
RYC is offered for about the same monthly expense as securing someone to submit your galleries. The pricing is quite reasonable, but on a sliding scale based on site portfolio and overall traffic reach: “Due to the complexity of the work involved, membership fees are determined based on the number of sites you operate. Obviously the more sites in your portfolio or higher traffic reach you have, the more time it will take to research and remove stolen content.”
“The standard membership, for most operations is $200. per month and includes up to five sites. Additional costs will be determined based on your overall program portfolio. Smaller programs with less than five sites may contact me for a custom quote designed to fit their budget. Preferred payment method is via epassporte or paypal. A secure tracking form with username and password is provided for each member account.”
Don't just sit there and take it—do something about it! For further information on Remove Your Content or to sign up, contact Eric Green at webmaster@removeyourcontent.com or removeyourcontent@spamarrest.com, or ICQ 322650118. Or go visit the RYC website.
And come and let us know your experience and results at XBiz Forums.
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