Messages

1201

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Possible reasons for class action suit against Getty in the USA

« on: August 08, 2012, 02:22:29 AM »

Scraggy,

I admire your tenacity. But assuming everything you say is correct, "someone" or "some people" has to want to pursue something like this.

So far, here in the U.S., no one is stepping forward to take on such a role.

Even if there was "someone" willing to be the 1st client, there is also the issue of having some attorney(s) with class-action experience willing to take it on contingency.

That is pretty much how I see the situation at the current time.

1202

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Another Victim

« on: August 08, 2012, 02:17:35 AM »

Thanks for the nice write-up and supporting the ELI Community.

1203

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Another Victim

« on: August 02, 2012, 02:15:12 PM »

Danaisle,

It was good speaking with you and I think your spunkiness and the fact you were willing to blog about it speaks to the fact you won't be pushed around.

I also like that you have a sense of humor about the "comments" we made about you! I respect that. AS you can see, the "abuse" was really to try to shake you up and stop you from just rolling over and giving up your money.

Stay in touch and keep us updated.

1204

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty did not pursue me.

« on: August 02, 2012, 02:11:59 PM »

Activist,

Nicely done and a very good explanation.  This is an example of why I tell people that sharing the circumstances and your story doesn't automatically incriminate you.

Taking a sanitized approach of communication is appropriate in some circumstances but simply asking for the copyright registration, whether they had standing to sue, and the other things we talk about would have worked against Activist.

Obviously Activity was smart enough to assess the circumstances of his situation and took care of it.  I am quite surprised Getty notified him that they would no longer pursue this.  Very interesting.

1205

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Copyright Extortion Worldwide

« on: July 30, 2012, 10:34:30 PM »

You read my mind. I have often thought of ELI as a "crowdsourcing" project. It is one thing to talk about it in a theoretical sense but another thing to be part of it and see it in action.

Robert was the first guy I called an "ELI freak".  I call him a freak every other day and he just shrugs it off now.  I can barely get a reaction from him anymore.  I have to find another colorful name to call him to get his attention...

Tonight, I called Greg Troy an "ELI Freak" and accused of him trying to knock Robert off as "King ELI freak". Greg just laughs it off.

I guess the biggest reason why I am still a bit surprised is because it is the cause we (the ELI Community) have taken up arms and fight "copyright extortionists". That is why I make reference to us as the "militia".  We are a rag-tag group of people (the militia) who just came together to fight against the highly-organized and well-funded "redcoats" (with apologies to the English) we call copyright extortionists.

I reference the movie in which Mel Gibson starred in "The Patriot".

1206

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Multiple Roles on ELI and the bigger copyright extortion fight

« on: July 30, 2012, 10:23:08 PM »

Lucia,

Allow me to publicly commend you for your efforts. I don't know if it is coincidence or not but there are a whole bunch of little ELI-offspring projects taking root by all of you in the community. I personally think it is awesome many of you are taking the initiative to do these things and pursuing avenues of fighting copyright extortionists that Oscar and I have never thought of.

As far as I am concerned, I believe my job is to build up and facilitate a platform for people's "mini-projects".  What that means is whatever your efforts might be, it becomes magnified and communicated large scale to hundreds and thousands of people worldwide.

These posts do get read.  Sometimes not immediately but they do get read.  The content that Oscar and I created 4 years ago still get read today.  Thanks to Google, important relevant content will continue to live on even after your work and writings are completed.  Never forget that.

Robert has been doing a good job keeping me in the loop. I do my best to directly monitor all the posts and forums but it is difficult for me nowadays with my non-ELI business responsibilities.

Things continue to change and evolve.  I have mixed feelings about going "International".  I get concerned that when you try to serve too many people, no one is well-served.

1207

Getty Images Letter Forum / Copyright Extortion Worldwide

« on: July 30, 2012, 09:39:47 PM »

I am getting vibes and hints that copyright extortion is going way beyond what was previously known.  It used to be just Getty Images but there is a new industry that is sprouting up to go after alleged copyright infringers.

Today, I received a comment how a Russian extortion letter victim couldn't reach ELI (because we block traffic from "trouble" countries with bad online reputations)

Here is a press release that was first reported on Twitter. It is a company we have briefly written about before who appears to be taken copyright extortion activities to an international level.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/6/prweb9640697.htm

Let us all keep in mind that the money has to come from somewhere and someone to support these types of operations. 

I have been very resistant to having ELI going "international" aside from our friends in Canada.  Secondarily, we support the UK and that is about as far as ELI has officially gone.

I want to ask all of you.  Should ELI stay focused on what we are good at?  (U.S. and Canadian environments)  Or should ELI go further and dilute what we have? 

As it is, I can barely keep up with the existing forums. The thought of creating more forums gives me a headache.  I almost want to "force" the new traffic into the UK forum which could be transformed into the "International Extortion Letter Forum".

Can we as Americans do a good job facilitating international extortion discussions?

Life used to be so simple when it was just Getty Images being the bad guy...  Copyright trolling and copyright extortion activities seem to be increasing and growing, not slowing down.

1208

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: AKM Images / Copryight Enforcement Group Settlement Demand Letter

« on: July 30, 2012, 09:29:23 PM »

Check out this news release.  Copyright Enforcement Group has changed their names.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/6/prweb9640697.htm

It appears copyright extortions will continue worldwide.

1209

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Multiple Roles on ELI and the bigger copyright extortion fight

« on: July 30, 2012, 02:51:54 PM »

Lucia,

If you decide to prepare a "guideline" or "outline" of instructions of how to block Picscout bots and their ilk, I will be happy to spotlight it and add it to the ELI Blog side of things where it is more prominent. You would, of course, be given public credit for it. I am happy to give credit where credit is fully due in these important topics as the core ELI team cannot be and do everything.

No one seems to have a "definitive" set of instructions or guidelines to lock out Picscout bots, etc.  It sounds just like the thing ELI Community can take on. It seems you and Robert have done a lot of work on this front. I know Robert has implemented many previously discussed techniques.

1210

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: ELI Factor: Episode 1 Premieres!

« on: July 30, 2012, 02:46:30 PM »

Thanks for the enthusiasm. AS you can see, aside from news items and new issues that we want to share with everyone, there is no prepared script.

The episodes are very much "in the moment" and will continue to evolve. We aren't afraid of mixing it up, experimenting, and maybe even get a little crazy.  The biggest constraint, as always, is people's time and scheduling.

1211

Getty Images Letter Forum / Multiple Roles on ELI and the bigger copyright extortion fight

« on: July 28, 2012, 06:22:48 PM »

I wanted to throw this out as food for thought.

We all contribute in different ways.  See if some of these titles fit you.  Perhaps you have other titles that I have not listed.

Advocate, Activist, Defender, Strategist, Figurehead, Community Leader, Community Follower, Reporter, Investigator, Broadcaster, Blogger, Advisor, Consultant, Informant, Financial Contributor.

Most of these are roles Oscar and I have assumed at one point or another during the last 4 years.  Clearly, Robert has taken on many of these roles over time in the last year. 

I will tell you I am shifting away from some of these roles but increasing other roles. The same could be said of other members within our community.

Why don't all of you think about how you fit in the big picture?  Everyone of you do fit somewhere. You also get to determine how little or how far you ultimately go.

1212

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Possible reasons for class action suit against Getty in the USA

« on: July 28, 2012, 06:12:27 PM »

Yup, that is why I give Ian a lot of latitude.  He is actually doing something about it in the region he is living in.  The rest of us, including me, can only talk about the class-action angle.  Hell, I barely even do that!

Not a single person in the U.S. (that I know of) has done anything even remotely close on the class-action front to being meaningful but lots of people (especially newbies) come passing through shouting "class action".  Great idea, never heard that before, next!

On the Linda Ellis front, we have one Australian extortion victim generate more discussion than anyone else in the U.S. besides April & UJB.  And yet, there are all these U.S victims with their traps shut tight.

It almost always comes down to those special people who step up that make a big difference.

To be fair...
Scraggy did send me some links.
"Ian Cohen" is indeed leading a class action.

S.G.

1213

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Possible reasons for class action suit against Getty in the USA

« on: July 28, 2012, 06:03:34 PM »

Quite correct.  People exaggerate and that bothers me a lot. It takes credibility away when people say things that aren't really true.

That is why I get a little freakish on these forums when people go too far in speculating and conspiracy theories.  People should NOT make statements as fact if they are actually opinion and speculation.  That happens a lot.

Or people say things with very weak or shaky evidence. Even if it comes from someone credible, I will still occasionally drill down and ask "who and where did you get that info from" and see if it is first-hand or second-hand information.

I am big believer in checks and balances because EVERYONE can make a mistake.

Iv'e heard of more than person claiming Getty is "suing me" when in fact, they only received a "demand letter"...2 very different beasts.

1214

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: ELI Factor: Episode 1 Premieres!

« on: July 28, 2012, 12:27:44 PM »

Our 2nd episode of ELI Factor has been released.

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/eli-factor-episode-2/

1215

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty Images and Complaints filed with the Washington State Attorney General

« on: July 28, 2012, 12:20:32 PM »

There will probably be a resulting thread of discussion of how and what to put into a powerful and damaging complaint letter.