On 12/12/08, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Is piracy so rampant and so frequent now on the internet that it makes > small cottage designers and publishers as well as commercial designers and > publishers (JSC, Halinski, Betexa et al) helpless to stop financial losses > and theft of their property? i raise this question, because there is a > Ru(ssian) web site that offers many well known (and expensive) commercial > kits as free downloads through depositfiles > > If you go to the homepage, > there is a disclaimer there that the site is not commercial and therefore > bears no responsiblity for the use of the information (model kits) they > provide to let others know (survey) what is out there. > > I have written to some of the well known (FG, Thaipaperworks, Digital Navy, > Gremir et al) designers and publishers, but this pirate site grows in volume > from week to week with little evidence that any files are ever deleted due > complaints by the copyright owner. The added insult is the over stamping of > each displayed file with the pirate's URL, as though he/she/they were the > designer. If you are a novice and you do not recognize the kit before you > download it - you realize too late that you are a thief yourself. > > People who just get into this hobby may confuse this Ru(ssian) site with > (www.3dpapermodel.com.tw) and other actual author sites that offer free > downloads of their own designs or authorized links to the free offer. What > sort of concerted effort does it take from individual designers and > commercial publishers to react quickly enough to get sites like this > Ru(ssian) pirate shut down or at least have the stolen files deleted from > the site? > > The added crime to the use of depositfiles is that the pirate has derived > benefit each time someone downloads the kit. It could even be the > designer/copyright holder just checking to be sure that is his/her design, > but by that activity alone they add to the number of hits on that file being > downloaded. > > The files get distributed practically at the speed of light on the > Internet, and the only recourse for the designer/copyright owner is to > respond with the speed of a single oarsman in a rowboat trying to make their > case that their design work has been stolen. > > I used to make plastic kits like many of you, but I switched to paper > because it is cheaper and it is far easier to correct your mistakes. I don't > design kits. I just fumble along hoping to improve with each kit I try to > assemble. This pirate site has no conscience and should be treated as such. > Does anyone out there know how to begin or complete the "downsizing" of > this Ru(ssian) site? It bears a striking resemblance to the offers made by a > forum in Ar(gentina)that once had Thaipaperworks C-130 available for a free > download through rapidfiles not too long ago. > > Sorry for the length of the note. With the closing of many vendor shops > (Lighthousemodelart, PMI, SPI shop etc) it should start us thinking that > when you finally have eaten your last chicken -there are no more eggs to be > had.
It's not the only such site, either, but rapidly becoming one of the largest. The first thing *we* can do is to *not* post links to such sites, but continue to alert the designers, publisher, and legitimate resellers privately. Some will take no visible action, but I am aware of several who do stay on top of what is being pirated and get their own properties taken down as quickly as possible. Of course, the pirates just repost the things. :-/ There is an entire culture now whose members believe that anything they can find instantly belongs to them. This belief in their entitlement is very hard to overcome and needs to be attacked in early childhood, but many parents of those children who would most benefit from this education are already a part of the culture. The argument that most infuriates me is "I can't afford to buy it, so I'll just download it." -- Mike Hungerford http://users.sdccu.net/chthulhu2/models.html Kore de ii no da. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Papermodels II" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Papermodels?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
