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LendInk EBook Lending Service Returns, Receives Fishy DMCA Notice
Ian Lamont writes "Remember LendInk, the legitimate ebook lending community that got knocked offline at the beginning of August by a mob of misguided authors? The site's owner, Dale Porter, received a lot of support after the story went viral and last week was able to reactivate the site and his affiliate accounts with Amazon and Barnes & Noble."
The owner reportedly received a DMCA notice immediately, but a few folks dug and it appears that the "lawyer" who issued it is no lawyer at all, and probably an Internet troll (evidence includes not being listed as a lawyer in PA, using a home address, and sending the takedown from gmail). Or just a really bad lawyer.
Come on, don't be another network-relinking farm.
probably an Internet troll (evidence includes not being listed as a lawyer in PA, using a home address, and sending the takedown from gmail)
I guess it's possible that this is the lawyer we're talking about who has changed his name to something more official sounding like "Hank St. James" or uses that version in litigation to avoid repercussions. It's also possible that Hank James is just a really common name but Wilkes Barre and Pottsville are pretty close to each other.
Anyway, I dug up a few other things. Here's an article sort of heralding his efforts as a "piracy exterminator for hire." Here he is leaving comments on a complaint board against infiniread.
I'm pretty sure this is his MO to generate revenue: 1) find registered copyrighted books on small websites. 2) make sure the site's owners don't have any money. 3) send take down notice. 4) upon failure to remove material, THEN contact the copyright holder and offer them your services for a price. 5) pretend nothing happened if site did, indeed, have the rights to host or sell copyrighted material.
Isn't that all indicated by his phrase "I have a good faith belief that..."?
My work here is dung.
This is 2012, learn to adblock for god's sake!
On the facebook page there's a link to this:
http://ereads.com/2010/03/book-ripped-off-who-you-gonna-call-pirate-sinker.html
So it appears the guy is likely not a kid trolling and is presenting himself as an attorney. Whether or not he's licensed to practice as one is another question.
You can check attorney's registered to practice in PA on the state Supreme Court's website:
http://www.padisciplinaryboard.org/pa_attorney_search.php
It's possible that he's admitted to the bar somewhere else though. Of course the guy who owns the site could email and ask for details of his bar admission(s).
1) Briefly what Amazon's terms are and why his site is ok
2) The Email address to send DCMA takedowns to.
3) That he will formally complain to the state bar of any attorney who sends a takedown disregarding #1 above.
So is there any consequence for falsification of a DCMA notice? Like 5 years in Federal Hotel...
We should've known. The first one didn't come by gmail but did have an auto-inserted corporate disclaimer:
This email should considered the employee's personal opinion and should not be construed as the opinion of McDonald's corporation or its subsidiaries or affiliates.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
It must be Saul Goodman XD
LendInk's most valuable contribution to society may be the outing of a bunch of authors as at best woefully confused fools vainly fighting the march of technology. I find it hard to believe in the perceptiveness, insight, and progressiveness of these authors-- traits we find make for the best story telling-- when they make a blunder like this. Did they ever admit they got it very wrong, and apologize? I don't know but I guess some slunk away silently in embarrassment, and the rest are still on the warpath, still convinced of the moral inferiority of the balance of society. By their lights we are all cheap, greedy jerks who will read without paying if we can. Perhaps so, but that is an unnecessarily negative way of viewing the situation, as it is based on wrong thinking. Those authors who feel this way are not worth reading. What this really says, again, to anyone who will listen, is that the copyright system is broken. Piracy should not be vilified. Copies of data are simply not a scarce resource, and no amount of legislation can reverse this fact of nature. Most of all, we shouldn't fight copying, we should embrace it as the huge public good it is. We are all more knowledgeable for copying being easy.
Interesting that the latest salvo from the copyright extremists against LendInk is from a doubtful lawyer with a dubious and unsavory reputation. Once again we're looking at an age old question: does the end justify the means? Is it okay to get in bed with the slimiest lawyers on the planet to save copyright? Shouldn't our wiser folks, including authors, already know the answer to such questions? If this DMCA takedown is an unsanctioned, independent act, not done at the behest of the authors, they ought to be quick to say so, and quick to publicly support LendInk.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
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Or better yet, stop posting as AC and get enough karma on slashdot to turn off ads.
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