{"id":9480,"date":"2011-10-07T05:12:52","date_gmt":"2011-10-06T20:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=9480"},"modified":"2011-10-09T01:24:44","modified_gmt":"2011-10-08T16:24:44","slug":"blog-biz-welcome-to-the-future-of-blog-wars-tepido-lance-braman-temporarily-takes-down-debito-org-by-filing-dcma-against-this-sites-critique-of-his-j-times-letters-to-the-editor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=9480","title":{"rendered":"BLOG BIZ: Welcome to the future of blog wars: Debito.org temporarily felled by DMCA notice against this site’s critique of Lance Braman’s Japan Times Letters to the Editor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"IN<\/a>
New novel IN APPROPRIATE by ARUDOU Debito<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Handbook<\/a>\"\\"<\/a>\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\"<\/a>\"JAPANESE<\/a>\"sourstrawberriesavatar\"<\/a>\"debitopodcastthumb\"<\/a>
\nUPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito
\nDEBITO.ORG PODCASTS on iTunes, subscribe free<\/p>\n

Hi Blog. \u00a0Sorry Debito.org was offline for about a day and a half. \u00a0Welcome to the future of cyberwarfare, not through spam guns or DNS attacks, but now through a pseudo-legal apparatus.<\/p>\n

On October 5, Lance Braman (see below), one the small but very vocal members of Tepido, a cyberstalking blog<\/a>\u00a0that obsesses over Debito.org, according to my ISP (i.e., server) filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act<\/a> (DMCA) infringement claim against this blog (see email from ISP below).<\/p>\n

This was regarding two of Braman’s short Letters to the Editor published at the Japan Times all the way back in 2008. \u00a0I cited them in full on Debito.org for critique (as they mentioned me and my actions specifically by name). \u00a0You can see how those allegedly problematic Debito.org sites looked via the Wayback Machine, click here<\/a><\/strong> and here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

SUMMARY<\/strong>: WHAT THIS MEANS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The issue here is that procedures against making frivolous and nuisance DMCA claims about online materials will have to be tightened up, or else DMCA will be utilized for blog wars and cyber attacks. \u00a0People who are not necessarily the actual copyright holder of cited works (masquerading as the copyright holder and filing the DMCA claim on their behalf) are claiming violations that aren’t there (because under the Fair Use Doctrine<\/a>, things may be in fact cited, excerpted, and quoted without permission in many circumstances for the purposes of review, critique, etc.<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

ISPs, however, often get spooked by a simple email DMCA notice and, without further investigation of the veracity of the claims, unilaterally take the material offline. \u00a0Although a quick-fix measure for the ISPs, this is in fact counterproductive, because it will encourage more frivolous DMCA claims and ultimately make the ISPs work harder (or just encourage further cybercensorship). \u00a0All evidence for these claims follow below.<\/p>\n

Ironic, that. \u00a0Cyberstalking site Tepido’s main minions (there are but a dozen or so) complain the most about allegations of “censorship” at Debito.org, i.e., that they can’t be heard on Debito.org because I delete their comments (now you can see why; they’re fundamentally unscrupulous people, and they have an odd and unhealthy fixation about this small, insignificant blog). \u00a0So, in retaliation, the Tepidos themselves hypocritically try to censor — by deleting primary source materials on Debito.org, or by just trying to interfere with the operations of or take down the site altogether. \u00a0Unvetted DMCA claims just further encourage and enable those people. \u00a0It’s not going to stop here, so let’s get thinking about how this Act is being abused and plug the loopholes.<\/p>\n

EVIDENCE<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Here is the redacted complaint I received from my server yesterday:<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ EMAIL BEGINS \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

From: <\/strong> XXXXX Customer Support Team (support@XXXXXXXX)<\/p>\n

Subject: <\/strong> [XXXXXXXXXXXX] URGENT: Copyright Concerns…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Date: <\/strong> October 5, 2011<\/p>\n

To: <\/strong>debito@debito.org<\/p>\n

Hello,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We have received another formal DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)<\/em><\/strong>
\nnotice regarding allegedly infringing content hosted on your site. The<\/em><\/strong>
\nspecific content in question is as follows:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=1814<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=2083<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The party making the complaint (Lance Braman (hljlance@yahoo.com<\/a>)),<\/em><\/strong>
\nclaims under penalty of perjury to be or represent the copyright owner of<\/em><\/strong>
\nthis content. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. \u00a7 512(c), we have removed access to<\/em><\/strong>
\nthe content in question.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/copyright\/title17\/92chap5.html#512<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you believe that these works belong to you and that the copyright<\/em><\/strong>
\nownership claims of this party are false, you may file a DMCA<\/em><\/strong>
\ncounter-notification in the form described by the DMCA, asking that the<\/em><\/strong>
\ncontent in question be reinstated. Unless we receive notice from the<\/em><\/strong>
\ncomplaining party that a lawsuit has been filed to restrain you from<\/em><\/strong>
\nposting the content, we will reinstate the content in question within<\/em><\/strong>
\n10-14 days after receiving your counter-notification (which will also be<\/em><\/strong>
\nforwarded on to the party making the complaint).\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the meantime, we ask that you do not replace the content in question,<\/em><\/strong>
\nor in any other way distribute it in conjunction with our services.<\/em><\/strong>
\nPlease also be advised that copyright violation is strictly against our<\/em><\/strong>
\nTerms and Conditions, and such offenses risk resulting in immediate<\/em><\/strong>
\ndisablement of your account should you not cooperate (not to mention the<\/em><\/strong>
\nlegal risk to you if they are true).\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.xxxxx.com\/tos.html\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We also ask that if you are indeed infringing upon the copyright<\/em><\/strong>
\nassociated with these works that you delete them from your account<\/em><\/strong>
\nimmediately, and let us know once this has been done. We also ask that<\/em><\/strong>
\nyou delete any other infringing works not listed in this takedown<\/em><\/strong>
\nnotification, if they exist.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ EMAIL ENDS \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

This is odd, because under the Fair Use Doctrine<\/a>:<\/p>\n

17 U.S.C. \u00a7 107 […]the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction\u00a0in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section,\u00a0for\u00a0purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including\u00a0multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an\u00a0infringement of copyright.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But this was not taken into consideration. \u00a0Spooked by the DMCA, my server just took these blog entries down pending my answer. \u00a0Unfortunately, this meant that my entire site went down without a grace period to investigate (I couldn’t even access the blog entries in question), and took a good 24 hours to get reasonably straight.<\/p>\n

This was on the heels of another, I’m sure not unrelated, DMCA attack, regarding my site parodying the republication of the Japanese version of Little Black Sambo back in 2005 (a later version of this site is visible on the Wayback Machine here<\/a><\/strong>):<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ EMAIL BEGINS \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

From: XXXXX\u00a0<\/strong>Security Team <support@XXXXXXXXXX><\/p>\n

Subject: <\/strong> [XXXXXXXX] URGENT: DMCA Takedown Notification…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Date: <\/strong> October 4, 2011<\/p>\n

To: <\/strong>debito@debito.org<\/p>\n

Hello,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We have received a formal DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice<\/em><\/strong>
\nregarding allegedly infringing content hosted on your site. The specific<\/em><\/strong>
\ncontent in question is as follows:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/chibikurosanbo.html<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/ckscover.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks1.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks2.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks3.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks4.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks5.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks6.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks7.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks8.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks9.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks10.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks11.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks12.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks13.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks14.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.debito.org\/cks15.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The party making the complaint (Tomimasa Inoue , e-mail:<\/em><\/strong>
\nzuiunsya@inbox.com<\/a>), claims under penalty of perjury to be or represent<\/em><\/strong>
\nthe copyright owner of this content. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. \u00a7 512(c), we<\/em><\/strong>
\nhave removed access to the content in question.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/copyright\/title17\/92chap5.html#512<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

NOTE: I have moved the files offline to the base of your ‘debito’ FTP<\/em><\/strong>
\nuser.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you believe that these works belong to you and that the copyright<\/em><\/strong>
\nownership claims of this party are false, you may file a DMCA<\/em><\/strong>
\ncounter-notification in the form described by the DMCA, asking that the<\/em><\/strong>
\ncontent in question be reinstated. Unless we receive notice from the<\/em><\/strong>
\ncomplaining party that a lawsuit has been filed to restrain you from<\/em><\/strong>
\nposting the content, we will reinstate the content in question within<\/em><\/strong>
\n10-14 days after receiving your counter-notification (which will also be<\/em><\/strong>
\nforwarded on to the party making the complaint).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the meantime, we ask that you do not replace the content in question,<\/em><\/strong>
\nor in any other way distribute it in conjunction with our services.<\/em><\/strong>
\nPlease also be advised that copyright violation is strictly against our<\/em><\/strong>
\nTerms and Conditions, and such offenses risk resulting in immediate<\/em><\/strong>
\ndisablement of your account should you not cooperate (not to mention the<\/em><\/strong>
\nlegal risk to you if they are true).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.xxxxxxx.com\/tos.html<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We also ask that if you are indeed infringing upon the copyright<\/em><\/strong>
\nassociated with these works that you delete them from your account<\/em><\/strong>
\nimmediately, and let us know once this has been done. We also ask that<\/em><\/strong>
\nyou delete any other infringing works not listed in this take down<\/em><\/strong>
\nnotification, if they exist.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ EMAIL ENDS \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Aside from the allowances for critique and parody granted under the Fair Use Doctrine<\/a>, this DMCA notice against the Chibi Kuro Sanbo parody site is even more suspicious. \u00a0The president of Zuiunsha Inc. is not “Tomimasa Inoue”, but rather “Tomio Inoue” according to the media (the sender(s) even got the claimaint’s name wrong!) \u00a0Moreover, since all that information in the notice was easily obtainable from the website in question (if they bothered to cite it right), anyone could pose as the copyright holder and send a DMCA nuisance notice, regardless of any alleged safeguards against perjury (which are of questionable effectiveness anyway, given that Zuiunsha is in Japan, the server is in the USA). \u00a0There are also issues of the age of the work (illustrations are appropriated from very old illustrations copyright somebody else, if not too old to be copyrighted anymore); it also nukes the entire site hosting my parodies, which are NOT copyright Zuiunsha Inc.<\/p>\n

To confirm the actual identity of the sender, I asked my ISP to investigate the IP address of the email. \u00a0Their response was that “an individual’s IP address is not tied to their identity”. \u00a0Great. \u00a0So let’s update that old saying about cyberspace, without the dog: \u00a0“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re not the copyright holder<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

I advised my ISP to adopt these countermeasures against frivolous DMCA:<\/p>\n

=======================================
\n1) After receipt of a DMCA, notify the webmaster without taking down the site, and give webmasters 24 hours to take measures to either redact\/delete the text or justify their citation under a pertinent section of law (e.g., Fair Use Doctrine, etc.). \u00a0It those measures are unsatisfactory, then take down the site in question after 24 hours (which will certainly fall under the legal requirement of “expeditiously”).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

2) Verify that the claimant under the DMCA is actually the copyright holder, using the IP address of the email. \u00a0If they are not the copyright holder, then they cannot obviously file the DMCA. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

=======================================<\/p>\n

I hope this advice is taken.<\/p>\n

Anyway, if Debito.org does go down again, please understand it is probably due to another DMCA attack, probably connected to those cyberstalking fanatics at Tepido. \u00a0Be patient. \u00a0It’ll take some time, but I’ll get the site back up again, of course. \u00a0Arudou Debito<\/p>\n

Final note<\/strong>: \u00a0Tepido’s modus operandi is unrepentant exposure, so in that vein:<\/p>\n

Since Braman has deleted his LinkedIn Profile from LinkedIn.com<\/a> and apparently from the Wayback Machine too<\/a>, here’s GM Lance Braman’s position of department head at a hobby products distributor (courtesy public documents at\u00a0www.hlj.com<\/a>, so\u00a0belay any claims of cyberstalking):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(Wonder if this will also result in a frivolous DMCA. \u00a0If so, here’s the primary source: \u00a0http:\/\/www.hlj.com\/documents\/hljwholesale.pdf<\/a>)<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sorry Debito.org was offline for about a day and a half. Welcome to the future of cyberwarfare, not through spam guns or DNS attacks, but now through a pseudo-legal apparatus.<\/p>\n

On October 5, Lance Braman (see below), one the small but very vocal members of Tepido, a cyberstalking blog that obsesses over Debito.org, according to my ISP (i.e., server) filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) infringement claim against this blog (see email from ISP below).<\/p>\n

This was regarding two of Braman’s short Letters to the Editor published at the Japan Times all the way back in 2008. I cited them in full on Debito.org for critique (as they mentioned me and my actions specifically by name). You can see how those allegedly problematic Debito.org sites looked via the Wayback Machine, click here and here.<\/p>\n

SUMMARY: WHAT THIS MEANS<\/p>\n

The issue here is that procedures against making frivolous and nuisance DMCA claims about online materials will have to be tightened up, or else DMCA will be utilized for blog wars and cyber attacks. People who are not necessarily the actual copyright holder of cited works (masquerading as the copyright holder and filing the DMCA claim on their behalf) are claiming violations that aren’t there (because under the Fair Use Doctrine, things may be in fact cited, excerpted, and quoted without permission in many circumstances for the purposes of review, critique, etc.).<\/p>\n

ISPs, however, often get spooked by a simple email DMCA notice and, without further investigation of the veracity of the claims, unilaterally take the material offline. Although a quick-fix measure for the ISPs, this is in fact counterproductive, because it will encourage more frivolous DMCA claims and ultimately make the ISPs work harder (or just encourage further cybercensorship). All evidence for these claims follow below.<\/p>\n

Ironic, that. Cyberstalking site Tepido’s main minions (there are but a dozen or so) complain the most about allegations of “censorship” at Debito.org, i.e., that they can’t be heard on Debito.org because I delete their comments (now you can see why; they’re fundamentally unscrupulous people, and they have an odd and unhealthy fixation about this small, insignificant blog). So, in retaliation, the Tepidos themselves hypocritically try to censor — by deleting primary source materials on Debito.org, or by just trying to interfere with the operations of or take down the site altogether. Unvetted DMCA claims just further encourage and enable those people. It’s not going to stop here, so let’s get thinking about how this Act is being abused and plug the loopholes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,24,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-business-practices","category-debitoorg-website-updates","category-ironies-hypocrisies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9480\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}