Messages

421

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Received extortion letter requesting $570 for erroneously posted private image

« on: March 21, 2017, 04:49:55 PM »

I am not a big fan of phone communications in these matters as I think written communications offer a more controlled response and you are less likely to say things you shouldn't.

Also, a lawsuit is generally inconvenient for most people. However, there are a few situations where a lawsuit is nearly meaningless especially when it is filed for the sole purpose of motivating a settlement. A counter-suit is only applicable if a lawsuit were to occur.

Some people have taken to getting a declaratory judgment ahead of any possible lawsuit but that is mostly people who have some money to spend on lawyers.

I tried calling them and asked for Samantha Clemens, the person whose name was on the threatening letters. They would not put me through to her without my "Case/Reference number" which I refused to give until I spoke to Samantha Clemens. When I said "I am recording this conversation" the curt answer was "We decline authorization to be recorded" - End of conversation. In the meantime, I had a friend contact Minden pictures directly to ask about the cost of licensing the image in question - answer $50 (yes Fifty) for 1 year and $200 for up to 5 years.
I simply ignored LCS threatening emails and letter and have not heard back from them. (it's been a couple of months now).
I earn a living from copyrighted material and totally understand the need to protect it. But LCS is into extortion not protection. They need to be fought. Is there no way to counter sue them for extortion?
Again, thank you Mathew for keeping us informed.

422

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Received extortion letter requesting $570 for erroneously posted private image

« on: March 21, 2017, 04:44:01 PM »

You are generally correct. However, because we have all kinds of novice readers here, we err on the conservative side by just saying use the letter date. There can be no dispute on the date using that and it is easy for most novices to refer back to vs. trying to back calculate the likely discovery date.

If it was me, I would not go for the date they send letter, but from the last date they must have had the information.

423

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Linda Ellis back to Her Old Tricks Again?

« on: March 08, 2017, 05:01:57 AM »

Amanda,

I made a comment on your blog post. Thanks for your support and sharing your refreshing perspective.  I really enjoyed the Bad Behavior Author tie-in. I never knew there was such a thing. It was very insightful to see how people react and behave.  Some people really go off the rails.

I think it is very interesting to see your and other "outsiders" perspective on the Linda Ellis and VOJF controversy.

It is like a car accident and there are a number of rubber-neckers who can't resist looking on. Most are shaking their heads at Linda and Joel in amazement.

Hi all,

Been keeping up with the Joel Albrizio craze. Nuts. Anyway, I wrote my own commentary about it as a business owner, an author, and a reviewer. I've also wrote about Linda Ellis since she is rearing her ugly head again.

http://www.backwoodsauthor.com/2017/03/06/badly-behaving-entrepreneurs-put-badly-behaving-authors-shame/

424

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Linda Ellis back to Her Old Tricks Again?

« on: March 05, 2017, 10:00:04 PM »

Yes, if I were taking lessons from Joelsica or Joelrissa at VOJF, he would tell me I should have tagged every one of her family members, insult and smear them, published their full names, and CONTINUALLY make mention of their family members at least 48 times.

I am an amateur compared to the example set by VOJF. Instead of one post on a small niche forum, Joelsica and Joelrissa would have recommended launching Voices of Marietta.  And then he would recommend for her to launch "Voices of Columbus GA" for me, "Voices of Seattle" for April, "Voices of Mineola" for Oscar, "Voices of Ohio" for Greg, etc.

425

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: "Voices of Jupiter Florida" Discussion Thread

« on: March 05, 2017, 09:44:37 PM »

Yep, he has been pounding on Trish, Bryce, and the others for no good reason and recklessly, disgustingly, irresponsible, and unethically smearing their names.

And yup, VOJF will come back to life if you post anything on CRT. He has said as much. So don't post, or Joel will give you a spanky-spanky by hitting you with dash poetic words from a reality distortion field.

What is that list VOJF loves to repeatedly recite? Jupiter scandal, Jupiter crisis, Jolin dickhead meme, CG porn, Green Linda meme, Sit on toilet meme, crunt video, "Delete Joel, Linda & John" demands, hand-slap for using expletives/naughty words, smear realtor/volleyball coach, 1982, smear wife, smear college kid, Jupiter volleyball is terrible, Volleyball photo by Getty, web design biz at home, get daughter thrown off volleyball team, poke/email/shmooze/insult/threaten ELI members, "I am not your blogger", Jessica Langston, Marissa Davenport, fake FB account, Rhode Island Verizon IP Address, proxy server, Squarespace footer links.

Did I miss anything?

I tend to agree with Matthew here..I also think Joel and Linda have spoken, and Linda did comment on VOJF using her own name, but I think thats the extent of it. I think Joel decided to "use" Linda for his own selfish purposes, thus dragging her further into it. Greg brings up good points, the only time VOJF posts is when something is said about Adlife, Joel Albrizio, or Brandon Albrizio. I'de be willing to bet if I started posted using Jordan Albrizios name, or perhaps Ashley Albrizios name, we'd see some sort of twisted, bogus made up BS on VOJF.

426

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Linda Ellis back to Her Old Tricks Again?

« on: March 05, 2017, 06:59:47 PM »

A few things I forgot and will add to the list as I remember them.

Who filed a bogus DMCA complaint in 2012 against April Brown in an effort to censor her and consequently took down 200+ videos as "collateral damage" until we at ELI helped April through the process of restoring said 200+ videos?

Who filed a bogus DMCA complaint against the ELI Scribd account to censor and take down a legally-obtained copy of one of the Linda Lyrics letters?

Who is the person that has lawyers afraid of representing her because they don't want the blowback of being a lawyer that supports sending outrageous $7,500 extortion letters for a fan sharing a viral poem?

I really didn't want to get into dredging up past issues and grievances but...

Who is the person who felt the need to restart things up by inserting herself into VOJF (and communicate with the "anonymous" blogger) to REPEATEDLY AND INTENTIONALLY hit, smear, and fully name innocents I personally know? Especially a smart, industrious young man starting college? But that same person freaked out simply because her adult, college graduate daughter with gainful employment was mentioned vaguely just once?

Who goes out of their way to produce and post inaccurate, propaganda videos and use ELI group photos to this very day?

These are things that make us go "Hmm...."

427

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: "Voices of Jupiter Florida" Discussion Thread

« on: March 05, 2017, 06:01:53 PM »

None of us are going to know definitively the connection between Joel and Linda. I do believe there have been communication between the two of them. I also think Joel might have "used" Linda in the sense of trying to make a "thing" of the out of context snippets of the old episodes of ELI Factor. I might have to go back to the video and grab a snippet of the disclaimer at the beginning and end of that episode so some people don't go running around purportedly "threatened for their safety" or because they don't like hearing or reading expletives.

Another interesting thing I am beginning to notice there are more individuals who use aliases, conceal their identity, and write in the third-person.  People don't sign their own names. They write about "others" when there are not like any "others" involved.

As an example, unrelated to Joel & Linda, is a Las Vegas "20+ year photographer" running around online trying to hide his name and send out these unsigned multi-thousand dollar "invoices". This photographer can't get his lies straight and confuses his "references" to a purported "Michael" who conveniently engages in unpleasant, negative DMCA takedown notices and copyright enforcement letters. But when he wants to speak as a noted, experienced photographer, he uses his own name, otherwise people talk to "Michael". That is the hypocrisy and deception he lives online. Talk to my guy "Michael" about it. It is about as effective and believable as Clark Kent using pair of dumb glasses to hide his alter ego. We have more people trying to create this "alter ego" and VOJF and Jessica Langston is one fine example of this terribly failed attempt. VOJF/Jessica Langston are the equivalent sham of a disguise as Clark Kent's glasses.

Back to the photographer, he is so paranoid about his real name being publicly discussed in the context of DMCA takedowns and copyright enforcement letters due to the "negativity". In fact, I have a quote where he practically admits to this because he doesn't want to engage in some "negativity".  I don't think he realized I caught wind of his public remarks on a photographer forum until it was too late. 

But the rest of this stuff where these aliases/alter egos purportedly speaking for "their employers", "their communities", and other thinly-veiled entities? GMAFB.  They have little or no support because very few will take their position and they won't own up to the slippery, snakey, deceptive behavior they engage in.

People want to make cracks and accusations about us associated with ELI.  Well, the easy answer is NONE of us running around making and extracting money and constantly make legal threats against others. We don't go around making more people hate us each and every day as part of them generating income. Most of us actually have to make customers or clients happy to earn money, not lie and legally threaten people month after month.

They are well hated and despised as is evidenced by the thousands of emails, posts, and comments made here through ELI and the rest of the Internet. Some have gotten smarter over time, others have not.

They can live with that legacy. That is THEIR "dash" on THEIR tombstone.

428

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: "Voices of Jupiter Florida" Discussion Thread

« on: March 04, 2017, 12:14:55 AM »

It seems quite clear Joel's current family of Squarespace websites are JoelAlbrizio.com, VOJF, and GrowingtheGrocer.com.  My guess is that Squarespace was trying to be helpful in cross-promoting the other websites that an account holder has! Like I said, I naively thought the links were a reluctant admission of VOJF by Joel. But that does not appear the case given the swift removal of the footer links.

Joel is the online OJ Simpson. "If I Wrote It"  "IF I Posted It" are titles that come to mind. Everyone "knows" he did it. He leaves cookie crumbs everywhere for people to find.  I almost wonder if he subconsciously wants to come out. After all, I must confess he is a pretty good self-promoter and self-marketer in some respects. Although VOJF is disgusting and a disaster of epic proportions.

We don't want him working for the CIA on behalf of the USA that is for sure! LOL.

I'm checking in on this saga after a long hiatus. Wow-- I can't believe how sloppy Joel is at covering his tracks. I wonder what he hopes to accomplish now that it's obvious, for all practical purposes, that he's the one behind this.

I also see that his new GrowTheGrocer.com website is a Squarespace site, like VOJF. Another little coincidence.

429

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Linda Ellis back to Her Old Tricks Again?

« on: March 03, 2017, 11:32:22 PM »

The old LE/LL/DP forum has been frozen as to not encourage discussions about her and her antics. But her out of context digs at April, me, and Robert are getting tiresome.  How many propaganda videos has Linda produced now?

She has resorted to the "Blurred Lines" strategy.  Meaning, if one person who has an independent thought that decides to criticize or rebut her, then EVERYONE ELSE is "guilty" of the deed.

So, since YOU, Greg, wrote your commentary, you do understand that the REST OF US are "guilty" by association. Whatever YOU said suddenly becomes THEY said and wrote it. And if April writes something, the rest of us wrote it too. And because I wrote this post, the others are responsible for what I wrote. See that wonderful logic? Very convenient.

Robert posted his memes and suddenly WE are responsible.

In 2013, April makes her own post about with a title about "wanting to come after her" because she found about a $100K letter sent to an author she supports but "I am" / "WE are" supposedly responsible and a "danger" to her and "threatening her and her family's personal safety"

April shares a popular Youtube video of "The Hearse Song" and suddenly WE are / I am making "death threats" against her. Does Linda Ellis need to be reminded that The Dash Poem (to quote a GA Supreme Court Justice who said it in open court), the "DASH POEM is ALL ABOUT DEATH and a TOMBSTONE!" Linda can write about life, death, and a tombstone but if someone else makes a reference to "death" and a "tombstone" or being "put into the ground", SHE is suddenly screaming and crying that she is receiving a "death threat."

Linda and her lawyer tries to convince a lower court judge that ELI is trying to terrorize copyright extortionists. Who is "terrorizing" who? It seems to me, there is long list of photographers/agencies/firms, and a poet issuing MANY letters every year to legally-ignorant people threatening to sue them for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars under the argument of "I am just protecting my copyright" which is a line of horseshit if I ever heard one.

At first, I was supposedly "stalking" Linda. Then, it became "WE" were cyberstalking her after I unanimously won in GA Supreme Court. Now, Linda is crying "WE" are CYBERBULLYING her since the cyberstalking shtick didn't hold water. This crying about her being a cyberbullying victim is an insult to true victims of cyberbullying.  Let's ask April Brown to go look into her email files and dig out what she has received from upset, distressed people. WHO is "cyberbullying" who? Who is incessantly sending emails to people to cough up $7,500?

Yes, WE are the cyberstalkers and cyberbullies because WE are the people sending out $2,500, $5,000, $7,500, and $100,000 extortion letters over the sharing of a $10 poem, right? And WE are the cyberstalkers and cyberbullies for daring to speak out, criticize, and insult, right?

Yes, WE are the ones who crop, alter, and blur court exhibits to a lower court judge (unfamiliar with 1st Amendment and Section 230 CDA laws) to twist and exaggerate the truth so that he cannot see not one ENTIRE DISCUSSION in context, right?

Yes, WE are the ones who made her lawyer look like shit in the highest court of Georgia, right? So much so, that the lawyer probably wants little or nothing to do with her client anymore. It couldn't be that she was unprepared, foolish, and the case should have been dismissed to begin with and the complaints didn't hold water. Successfully fooling and exaggerating to a lower court judge with bogus, altered exhibits does NOT count as true and complete evidence. Playing a selective 90-seconds from a 30-minute Internet show episode with FULL DISCLAIMERS does not count as true, complete evidence either.

Yes, WE are the ones who went out of her way to harass April's husband, taking out a Google Adword campaign against her, and have an email war with her and then calls April "obsessed". Who was obsessed in 2011, nagging, threatening, insulting someone via an email war to get thousands of dollars in the middle of the night? Who is OBSESSED with threatening their fans and trying to force them to pay thousands of dollars because they were enthralled with a viral poem?

Yes, WE are forcing people to visit and cry to April Brown.  It can't be that upset people who receive $7,500 extortion letters run to the first person they find in Google who stood up and fought back the Linda Lyric's demand letters, right?

Yes, April was such a timid mouse before she met me and the rest of "us", right?  Of course, WE made April "obsessive". It couldn't because April is sick and tired of people crying to her out of the blue uninvited about the same shit, year after year.  It couldn't because she has become impatient and tired of all the complaints about getting threatening letters for sharing the Dash Poem, right?  Because WE are responsible for that, right?

GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK! (Oh, no! Because of that GMAFB statement, someone is now going to get a screenshot and crop out all the other words/phrases and cry to another judge that this is a sexual threat and the safety of her bones is in question. A supposedly world-famous poet of a viral poem who "forgets" the concept of SNARK, SATIRE, FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS, EPITHETS, and RHETORICAL HYPERBOLE, right?)

If Linda wants April to stop being so "obsessive", maybe Linda needs to issue a full, heartfelt apology to April for the aggravation she has caused and inflicted upon April. Come to think of it, maybe Linda needs to start issuing apologies to a LOT of people. Crazy idea, I know.

430

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: "Voices of Jupiter Florida" Discussion Thread

« on: March 03, 2017, 06:19:30 PM »

Yeah, April doesn't like to be lied to, lied about, be conned, or treated like an idiot. She is real sensitive that way. That email that April shared shows Joel trying to shmooze her.

And if there was ever a Voices of Seattle website ever launched against her, I think April would then crank out more posts and videos than the rest of us combined! Joel thought she was helping Linda by advocating for her and Linda thought it was smart to be part of VOJF. I would say, it was not a bright move.

April has a lot of energy, more than most of us combined. I think Linda knows that but Joel might not.

Looks like April Brown had some pent up energy to release..

https://www.aprilbrown.com/copyright-infringement-the-das/joelalbrizioepicfail

431

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Even More Proof Joel Albrizio Is Involved With VOJF

« on: March 03, 2017, 06:11:41 PM »

I must confess that I was honestly dumbfounded and confounded when I saw the GrowingtheGrocer website have "Joel Albrizio" & "Voices of Jupiter Florida" URL/website links right there so prominently under his own "About" page in the Footer section. Those screenshots (which I also grabbed for myself) are just real stunners.

I guess I am naive. I thought perhaps that was a reluctant admission of him owning up to VOJF.  But then as soon as Greg's post goes up, the links to "Joel Albrizio" and VOJF suddenly disappeared.

But MAYBE it was one of his employees or contractors that did that by mistake. And perhaps someone has gotten a verbal-spanky-spanky for that online faux pas.  He is just having a very tough time staying hidden. I would say to him, just come out of the closet and own up to VOJF. It is the worst kept secret and worst "anonymous" online presence we have ever seen.

Forget about taking down VOJF for now, I call for Joel to just CONFESS to being behind VOJF!  The back-stretching, neck-tightening, leg-pulling, arm-cramping statement "I am not your blogger" just can't fly! I suppose he has a right plead the Fifth, the right to not self-incriminate himself.

At this rate, we now have a Gallery of all this VOJF evidence piling up! LOL.

We have now had two new pieces of information linking Joel Albrizio and AdLife Marketing to the VOJF blog in a weeks time. The first was when a screenshot of Robert Krausankas'Facebook page appeared on the VOJF blog. The image was only up for a few hours before it was taken down, edited and reposted but while it was up we were able to get screen captures of it showing that Joel Albrizio was the person logged in to the Facebook account at the time the original screen capture was taken.

If that wasn't enough we now have what I consider to be the biggest piece of evidence linking Joel Albrizio/AdLife Marketing to the VOJF blog to date. A new website created by AdLife Marketing with a permanent link on each page to the VOJF blog.

You can read all the background and see the screen captures in this article at Copyright Anti-Bullying Act.

http://copyrightantibullyingact.org/site/can-joel-albrizio-continue-to-deny-his-involvement-with-voices-of-jupiter-florida/

432

Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Nick Youngson's Creative Commons images websites: The fine print

« on: March 02, 2017, 12:23:43 PM »

Most of the copyright collections lawyers who do what Higbee does are in it for the commission (around 30-35%) of whatever amount they can intimidate out of some person.

There is an incentive for them to get higher settlements so they can line their pockets. They generally won't settle for a smaller amount because they want to make sure they get their take.

433

Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Nick Youngson's Creative Commons images websites: The fine print

« on: March 01, 2017, 11:19:52 PM »

It would be unfair to accuse Higbee & Associates of the Creative Commons honeypot situation. There is no evidence they have done this. However, they are a clear beneficiary of victims of the honeypot situation Youngson set up.

It is hard to say if Youngson intended for a honeypot effect but I am very suspicious.  But it doesn't seem he has much motivation to changes his ways as he will make far more money nailing people through Higbee than if everyone actually used his image and gave attribution.

If Higbee and Youngson ever file suit, the first thing that a defendant needs to do is probably bring up this honeypot situation.  It leads to unclean hands if Youngson is trying to lure people then entrap them into using his image based on some obscure fine print.

Personally, I think any judge that looks at this closely will also be suspicious of whether Youngson's websites and his Creative Commons image-sharing program is actually done in good faith.

434

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: SOL Passed on Getty Letter

« on: March 01, 2017, 11:12:48 PM »

Thank you for reporting in and letting others know of your success. Glad to hear your good news.  Make sure you stay vigilant and don't get another extortion letter. Not everyone is quite as lenient as Getty Images.

435

Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Nick Youngson's Creative Commons images websites: The fine print

« on: February 28, 2017, 05:06:20 PM »

Thanks to nycopyrightabuse, and his uncovering of new Nick Youngson domains and websites, I have taken a closer look at how Nick Youngson and Higbee & Associates seem to be generating a disproportionate number of infringements and complaints. They are not Getty Images, Masterfile, or some of the larger agencies we are accustomed to following.

So far, I have come up with a list that appear to be "anonymous" Creative Commons websites that promote Nick Youngson's images but takes a "secretive", third-party, long-arm approach to doing so. There may be of more these "anonymous" Creative Commons images websites out there I have not yet come across.

Picserver.org
Creative-commons-images.com
NYPhotographic.com (disclosed home website for Youngson)
TheBlueDiamonGallery.com
JPhotostyle.com (points to creative-commons-images.com)


If you look carefully at these domains, you will see that these websites seem to take a long-arm approach to promoting the images as if Nick Youngson was a 3rd party. Also, you will see a prominent "Advert" box implying that someone has bought advertising on the website. But if you click on that box, it goes to NYPhotographic.com.

The Terms & Conditions and especially the Privacy Policy seems to me full of shit and trying to convey something the website really isn't.

Creative Commons Images privacy policy.

This privacy policy is for this website Creative Commons Images and governs the privacy of its users who choose to use it.

The policy sets out the different areas where user privacy is concerned and outlines the obligations & requirements of the users, the website and website owners. Furthermore the way this website processes, stores and protects user data and information will also be detailed within this policy.

The Website

This website and its owners take a proactive approach to user privacy and ensure the necessary steps are taken to protect the privacy of its users throughout their visiting experience.

Users contacting this website and/or its owners do so at their own discretion and provide any such personal details requested at their own risk. Your personal information is kept private and stored securely until a time it is no longer required or has no use. Every effort has been made to ensure a safe and secure form to email submission process but advise users using such form to email processes that they do so at their own risk.

This website and its owners use any information submitted to provide you with further information about the products and services they offer or to assist you in answering any questions or queries you may have submitted. This includes using your details to subscribe you to any email newsletter program the website operates but only if this was made clear to you and your express permission was granted when submitting any form to email process. Your details are not passed on to any third parties.

Adverts and Sponsored Links

This website may contain sponsored links and adverts. These will typically be served through our advertising partners, to whom may have detailed privacy policies relating directly to the adverts they serve.

Clicking on any such adverts will send you to the advertisers website through a referral program which may use cookies and will track the number of referrals sent from this website. This may include the use of cookies which may in turn be saved on your computers hard drive. Users should therefore note they click on sponsored external links at their own risk and this website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.

I now have deep suspicions that Nick Youngson owns each of those websites with very generic website names. He sets up "advertisement" boxes to his own websites with his "privacy policy" that supposedly informs users of purported sponsored links, affiliates, and advertising partners. Why would there need to be an "advertising box" if you own the website and point to another website your own, operate, or associated with?  That is misleading and deceptive.

None of these websites (except NYPhotographic.com) indicate WHO owns or operates these websites. They leave the distinct impression that it is someone else NOT Nick Youngson. But as I said, I have a strong suspicion that Nick Youngson operates the above listed websites and cross-promoting and marketing in a dishonest way.

And people are falling for it. Higbee & Associates appear to be making out like bandits from Youngson's anonymous Creative Commons honeypot websites.