Jafo Jafo

Customize.Ru - time to complain/act

Customize.Ru - time to complain/act

Hosting 'our' skins without consent is a Copyright issue

http://www.customize.ru/

Skinners.....pop on over to....

http://www.best-skins.net/themes_windowblinds.html 

There you will find all manner of Windowblinds skins [just for starters - other skinnables are there, too].

It's not a 100% guarantee that ALL are there without consent...but highly likely at least MOST are.

The authors whose works are ripped [distributed without author's consent] include....[in no particular order, just going through the list] ->

Adni18

treetog

Mike Bryant

Tom and Dee

Martinsh

Daniel

Apocalypse_67

Cliff

'Unknown' <--- [yeah, good one]

Danillook  [sp] Spell checker

Mike Bryant [again]

Velvet_skin

JJ.Ying

Ian Black

Shawn Taylor

Martnish

Javier

The Skins Factory

Michael Branot [typo]

JJ.Ying [again]

.....and that's the first 4 pages....[there are 12]

To 'convince' Customize.Ru to remove any/all that have no consent to be there....or to convince the site's ISP to 'have something done about them and/or the site itself a wee bit of action/effort is needed.

Any author/skinner who has an issue with any of his/her works being on that site unlawfully needs to post here a link to each work that needs removal....

And...

To email the site ISP with a request and include the link needing to be removed.

The Email addy is.... [email protected]  [It's an US ISP]

If you post the links-of-issue here I'll also be emailing requests.

Each link will require an individual email.  I expect the resulting 'flood' will prompt some form of action....

Koop [Larry Kuperman] is Stardock's man-on-the-job in matters such as Warez/Property issues pertaining to Stardock.com, however this problem with the skins impacts directly on the skin authors themselves and hence is best handled by their direct IP owner. [Copyright holder].

Now, as with any issue pertaining to property rights management, by far the BEST course of action is to specifically be POLITE and cool-headed with any communications/requests.

So,

We ask only two things of you all here.....

1. Please don't flood this thread with comments of 'those bastards', etc., just leave it clear for the matter at hand, namely the reclaimation of OUR ownership/control of OUR property.....by the listing of names and links of people affected.

and

2.  Keep all communications civil.  {I have dealt professionally with various 'Authorities' for over 30 years.... Councils, Planners, Administrative Appeals Tribunals, all sorts of 'fun' Archie things.....and know for a fact that IRATE gets you nowhere....real fast.  [my fave letter closure is "I await your favourable reply"]....

 

This is all something the 'older' skinners will have already experienced from time to time.

Of course, if ANY of these skins are actually there WITH author's consent.....PLEASE, make note of that here too....

 

22,690 views 73 replies
Reply #26 Top

Well, I for one find this whole matter ridiculous. Why would a site such as WC, a highly respectable site, post a link to a WAREZ site for all to see so that the entire world could go and download all the illegal themes that are there? Would it not have been better to notify each individual separately and work the issue in a more 'quiet' manner? This situation should have been handled in a completely different manner, and if you had any sense you would completely removed this post before more damage is done. As for the WAREZ sites themselves, I am afraid you will never get them off-line, the copyright laws and morals in their countries are non-existent in cases like this, and they could care less about anyone's 'intellectual rights' in that regard.

As Koop stated [on IRC, earlier] ...it's of little import as the warez site is already accessible.  What THIS particular thread is about is to notify SKINNERS of their property rights abuse and through reaction/response have the situation effectively stopped, not for critical commentary as to whether it is 'ridiculous'.

As ALSO stated this site has an US ISP so is quite accessible to censure.  Unco-ordinated singular complaint may go unnoticed/unheeded...however notifying ALL whose works are pirated means a concerted response will see results...

Reply #28 Top
Is the site down for anyone else now?


  
Reply #29 Top
Is the site down for anyone else now?


It would appear that something good happened, how is that!!!!

Oh, wait a minute good things always happen on a Friday.

Good work, to whom ever wants to stand up and take credit.   
Reply #30 Top
Yes, it is down, I checked out and its not there.....
Reply #31 Top

Yep, looks like it's down.

Everyone who posted here about stolen works can take credit for its 'demise'.

I think Larry [Koop] most likely can take the lion's share....

Reply #32 Top
Well done to all that had a hand in it!
Reply #34 Top
Way to go Jafo! and everyone else who helped!
Reply #35 Top
I think Larry [Koop] most likely can take the lion's share.


Nope, it was the power of the community. Thank you all.

This is a victory and one that was accomplished with the help of many people. But be aware...it never ends. If I tell you Island_Dog, Zoomba, Yarlen and I take down between 5 to 10 links a day...5 days a week...and we still don't get them all.

RapidShare, Metafiles, even the larger torrent sites will take links down upon appropriate request. Some of them will even block content from being re-upped. But it takes time. Thats where the community comes in.

I will tell you that if just ignore it, if you shrug and say "nothing to be done" it will only worsen.

Thanks again.
Reply #36 Top
Good job SuperKoop, but like you said, it never ends. Notch one for the good guys this time.
Reply #38 Top
Thanks a lot and good job
Reply #39 Top
Hate to burst your bubble guys but its still up and running I think you may do well to delete this thread so no one else stumbles on it and downloads premium content posted here for free
Reply #40 Top
Jonep is right in that the original link is working again. However I don't agree in deleting this thread. As has been stated above this is nothing that has not happened before on the internet. The original purpose of the thread is still the key, distribution of skins without the author's or skinner's permission.

It would appear that the next level of persuasion to stop this practice needs to happen, whatever that maybe.

Good luck in getting this stopped.   
Reply #41 Top

Jonep is right in that the original link is working again.

Not quite....some of the links are dead.

It's time to deal with others...

Reply #42 Top
Thanks for correcting me Jafo, I admit that I only went to the homepage that the original link provided.

How difficult of a task is this going to be? Is it a good sign that some of the links are dead?
Reply #43 Top

How difficult of a task is this going to be? Is it a good sign that some of the links are dead?

Never easy....but no good fight ever is.

The ideal outcome is the ISP outlaws the site totally rather than altering content/whatever.

Jafo continues with emails ...

Reply #44 Top
Jafo continues with emails ...


Thanks Jafo and all SD/WC team
Reply #45 Top
I think they have been dealt with. A last good bye has been said
Reply #46 Top
Great job everyone.
Reply #47 Top

Paul,

The offending domain has been shut down.

PING customize.ru (205.234.222.108) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- customize.ru ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 2999ms

Regards,
Darrell

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: MWE-338237
Department: HostForWeb Abuse
Priority: Low
Status: Closed

Reply #48 Top
Hello everyone I just saw this thread and it looks like all has been said.
But was there anything for sale at this website?
Or was it they just give everything away free.
In the past few weeks we have been tracking some hackers from Russia.
Which have been more than just offering stolen copyrights. [those that where]
We have also found they use a lot of stuff to gain access to peoples computers.
To take control! I hope no - one has downloaded and installed any of the skins.
You may find out about it later...

SGT  
Reply #49 Top

Shelby....I don't recall anything being 'sold'....but premium skins and warez software was hosted on the site, as well as 'general' skins [freeware].

As with any warez, it's a 'safe' bet you get MORE than what you expect....in the form of trojans, etc....

Reply #50 Top
Finally!