DMCA takedown notice falsely filed against bizhack: help wanted!

March 20, 2007
John Koetsier
news

March 22 note added:
I’ve been in touch with the owner of Motiono.com and we’ve resolved our differences amicably. The DMCA takedown notice has been removed.

Well, I’ve just been informed by my hosting provider, MediaTemple, that Sumer Kolcak, who runs the video site Motiono.com, has filed a DMCA takedown notice against me.

Started on YouTube
This started a few months ago when I received comment spam on YouTube: videos I had uploaded had comments from a “Sumer” asking me to upload my videos to Motiono instead.

I posted about that here: YouTube Spam from Motiono. Later, after Sumer had emailed me a few times about it, I searched for Motiono on Google and noticed that I was the top hit, so I posted about that.

First the good cop
Sumer emailed me and requested that I remove those blog posts – and the comments to them (many of which detailed experiences with Motiono and the person behind it … basically confirming the things that I said).

I responded as follows:

Hey man,

I have no personal bone to pick, but I have some real issues removing old posts too.

Here’s how to make my post disappear from Google’s first page of results for Motiono.com: do more cool stuff, get more positive press, and my post will just fade away.

Shoot me an email in 15 days or so as you bring out some more new features; I’ll post on that, and that’ll help. I’ll also add a header or addendum to my post to let people know the issue is resolved.

Then the bad cop
Sumer appeared to accept that … and then seemed to have a change of heart. He offered me money to take them down, and I received multiple derogatory emails from Sumer Kolcak. Here’s a sample:

i bet your mom used to fart on your bald head
you sick mentally ill twisted f-gg-t boy

… plus dozens of comment spams that were equally derogatory were posted on my blog.

Now, misuse of the DMCA
Today, I received a call from MediaTemple that he’s issued a DMCA takedown request. I haven’t received the exact details yet, but it’s got to be of those two posts.

According to what MT has told me, he’s claiming copyright of even the name Motiono, and Sumer Kolcak … in effect saying that he owns those names and no-one can even mention them without his consent.

That is the most ridiculous definition of copyright I’ve ever heard. There has always been a right to use a term when talking about it – a reporter does not have to ask Apple for permission to use the company’s name when doing a story on the iPhone.

MT is caving
MediaTemple’s policy when they receive a DMCA notice is to take down the content – without any regard to the merits of the filing. They’re telling me to take it down within 24 hours, or else they’ll do it for me.

I need help – please publicize this!

  1. MT, and other hosting companies, should not have a policy of taking down material just because someone issues a spurious complaint.
  2. Motiono, and the person behind it, should be known for who and what they are.
  3. Most importantly, free speech matters, and should not be muzzled.

Thanks!

[tags] motiono, sumer kolcak, dmca, takedown, free speech, john koetsier [/tags]
      

16 CommentsLeave a comment

  • Hmm I think you need to start a Digg about this.
    If enough people know then MT actions can be called against.
    Then Motiono can go down the drain For all I care.
    I’ll help!

  • Sounds like you need a new host. Sounds like a similar story to what GoDaddy.com did as well – you can read about that at NoDaddy.com.

    Have you tried the EFF? http://www.eff.org

    I believe, if it’s a frivolous suit, the EFF has countersued other people when they’ve abused DMCA. Best of luck!

  • sounds Iike it is just one of those poIiticaI methods being used to get things done one’;s own way, i have seen stuff Iike this happen often on c-span and other poIiticaI channeIs, perhaps someone is watching to much poIiticaI shows and getting used to the idea that they can do the same thing as poIiticians but it shouId be noted that reaI Iife is much different than the poIiticaI Iife and actions do have consiquences in most cases but i wouId be incIided to say it is aIso possibIe for mistaken issues to be re-mistaken based on comments aIone and nothing shouId be taken IiteraIIy since everything seems to be varitionaI based on one’s rationaIization

  • this is the same thing as the other post i commented on i beIieve but again i dont see a point in commenting on this one aItho there is some comments on here by others perhaps the topic is reIated or the conversation is a different one but nothing seems to make sense in terms of how it is possibIe for advertising to be cIassified in different manners

  • again it Iooks Iike this is Iinked to the prime articIe that i had previousIy commented on but it is nice to see discussions go on and one sometimes aItho they can be somewhat dragging it is stiII understanbIy reasonabIe to suggest that keeping aII comments in one section wouId be a whoIe a Iot better however to much or being neat isnt aIways good anywayI

  • Boy, what an asshole. I just received the same comment spam on my youtube profile, that’s how I found your blog. Marked it as spam, hoping it’ll be “the drop that’ll flood the bucket”.

  • Somebody pretend to be the owner of that web site, i don’t think it was Summer herself, where did you get the email from? a yahoo account?

  • Sorry, I’m french and my english is not very good.
    I moved my video’s on motiono from youtube. One month ago they crash their site and restart it new with a new system of embedding videos from youtube. I don’t know what embedding mean (can someone explain me what “embedding” mean ?”. I also received a strange philosophic mail from motiono that I want to share with you :

    Science can not define existence, because existence does not exist, this is probably non-existence we are experiencing.

    Whatever this is, it can not be something with a beginning, ( like the big bang theory ), because the moment you apply a beginning to it in order to give it a scientific meaning, you would simply be ignoring all the science laws and then compensate it by having science “thereafter”. In other words all the science that makes perfect sense by placing the big bang theory out there, makes sense in order to level out the non-sense of the big bang theory.

    ( you go to a good store to buy the best groceries, all of your enjoyment of the foods is the result of your intricate work. )

    What this means is, everything is always cancelled out into non-existence, this is the core element of non-existence.

    In a sense, death is impossible, because you can not go out of existense if this is non-existence itself we are experiencing.

    The beauty about non-existence over existence is that, only non-existence would give us free will, existence or existence with a beginning would only be giving us chain reaction. Non-existence is perfection, and your opinions do not matter, beacause this is non-existence.

    But, in our little non-existence (earth, known universe ) science works so perfectly, not because it is science or science is god, but we convert perception into science, for example, we observe that earth is going around the sun, and we decide to make it a “science fact” that earth goes around the sun every 365 days, from the perspective of non-existence, such event does not even take place, from the perspective of some other dimension, earth and sun are moving parallel to eachother in form of rays of light.

    I would like to say ” non-existence is beautiful ‘ however i don’t even exist… and such comment does not exist, never have, all this stuff you just read, never happened. Pretty cool huh.

    Despite my bliefs in everything i wrote above, i do not rule out anything, i respect science, religion, god, because non-existence is capable of everything that does not exist.

    Who is behind motiono ? That a question …