Anyone who’s clicked on the link in my signature, or listened to one of my irritating “hey, click on my link” posts knows I run an online comic. About six months ago, I submitted a couple of pieces of art to a site so they would put up a page on me and send people to my site.
They went into my site and took a couple of comics I didn’t authorize them to use. When I complained, they sent me a snotty e-mail about how the pieces I’d provided them “didn’t provide continuity.” I figured I’d just leave it.
A few days ago, I was cleaning up my links page and realized that I’m still associated with these bastards. I’ve removed all links to them from my site and sent them an e-mail asking them to please delete their page of information on me and my comics. They haven’t e-mailed me back. What do I do to get their attention?
They haven’t written me back yet. I just sent them this:
Now I need advice on bullying the ISP.
How do I find out who their ISP is? What do I say to their ISP? Remember, I don’t have the original e-mails and can’t prove that they broke copyright law.
The site owner is a complete and utter cockmonger. How can I protect myself against any sort of internet revenge he might attempt to take on me?
Depends how much he knows about you. Are you using your ISP email to contact him? Or are you writing him from a hotmail or other web based email account? Is your comic under a domain registered to you (with your address or phone number)?
I’d say there isn’t much he can do, except maybe send you an email virus, which should be pretty easy to spot. (Don’t open any attachments you might receive from him)
I always use my mail.com account to contact unknown people or to sign up for anything online. Almost nobody has my real email address at my ISP. This way if things get hairy I can just get rid of the mail.com account and create another one. I’d recommend the same to everyone else.
I own a domain that’s hosted by this company. The address it’s registered with goes to my parents’ house, since I got the domain while I was still living at home. I have no idea what their security’s like. I always use my hotmail account - the free accounts I got with the domain can only receive mail.
This might be a situation where the dreaded DMCA is your best bet. ISPs are required to block access to any site containing copyright-infringed materials, immediately upon receipt of a complaint from the legitimate copyright holder. They have to shut it down immediately, and the infringer has to prove he has legit rights to present the work. Even if you did not copyright your work explicitly, you are the copyright holder. Contact the ISP, say the magic words “Digital Millenium Copyright Act” and watch how fast they cave in. It’s kinda bastardly to use the DMCA, but it does have its uses.
If I were you, I’d do it before determining that they “never” wrote you back. I’ve already got too many things that I need to do when the end of time comes to want to add emailing some ISP to the list.
The hosting company may also be http://www.dbwired.com, as they are providing the DNS support for the domain. I would go with exodus as they are who the IP addy is registerd to.
Got a link to a copy of the DMCA?