Re: ManHub.com - Making money on your stolen content?
Part II
ManHub has agreed to do some of these things. Others, they have not. Keep in mind that they are operating under existing law and they are under no obligation to take ANY of our suggestions except number 2, which is required for Safe Harbor under the DMCA. ManHub has exceeded our recommendation in their repeat infringer policy.
Unfortunately, they are not applying it evenly yet, but they have made significant improvements in that area. They have also agreed to number 3 and are working on the coding to install that capability. We hope they will launch this very soon and we will encourage our clients to participate in the program. Many do participate now with a similar program we inspired FilesMonster to initiate and itâs actually yielding a surprising number of conversions for most of them. FilesMonsterâs program is imperfect, but thatâs another story⦠ManHub is also looking seriously at meeting our suggestion 4, which would be extremely helpful since time is of the essence in effecting removal of infringing content. Again, except for number 2, these are all voluntary improvements.
With respect to the comment that takedown notices from us to Google arenât being posted and the suggestion that Porn Guardian isnât noticing Manhub any longer, this is just wrong. The reason the reports arenât showing up on Google, even though we do send DMCA notices to Manhub and Google, is that Manhub removes the content quite quickly during business hours. As an example, we sent 17 notices to Manhub on February 21 in a period of 15 minutes. Manhub had the content disabled within 10 minutes of our last notice and was already flushing their CDNs. So by the time Google got to our notice to them, the content was already gone - so Google tosses the notices out.
A lot of the complaints here seem to be from affiliates, and frankly, Iâm not sure what Porn Guardian can do to address their concerns. We work very hard for our content owner-clients to make sure that infringing content is removed from websites; all websites, no matter who owns or operates them, or supports them with advertising. If you donât think your sponsor is doing enough to fight piracy, donât complain here, contact your sponsor. If your sponsor is a PG client, ask if you can direct infringing content to us for removal â we love that. Or if you work for a sponsor who is a PG client, and just want to submit what you suspect is infringing content for that sponsor, weâll be happy to reach out to the sponsor, confirm that the content isnât authorized and then send out appropriate notices.
Here is the bottom line about tubes: the way the law is written now, tube sites can host user-uploaded content. Current law protects tube sites from financial responsibility if they register with the copyright office and they comply with the DMCA. Whether any of us likes it or not (and we donât like it either,) thatâs what Manhub and other tube sites do. No matter how much Porn Guardian or anyone else dislikes it, some content programs do license their material to tubes. As Dominic and I have both said, this practice muddies the water and we donât support it. But the law currently protects the site owners and it puts the responsibility of sending notices of infringement on the copyright owners. We also donât like it when some content owners or affiliate managers or networks allow people they call âSuper Affiliatesâ to post clips as long as twelve or more minutes, sometimes even including the money shot. Some are even allowed through these crazy agreements to install their own watermark over the brand weâre used to seeing.
Look, there are a lot of bad guys out there, and we work our damnedest to get unauthorized content removed from the Internet. If youâre a PG client and you think weâre not identifying content quickly enough come and talk to Dominic and/or me immediately. If you work for a PG client, talk to your sponsor about it or send me content you think is unauthorized and weâll jump on it immediately. If your sponsor is not a PG client, talk to them about how piracy is hurting you and get them to step up their enforcement of their own rights - - or stop promoting that sponsor and go to one who does enforce their rights.
Finally, itâs been suggested here that by agreeing to audit ManHub and encourage them to become better citizens, Porn Guardian has somehow allowed a new business model to emerge, where unscrupulous people can open a tube, benefit from piracy until they have a fat bankroll, then confess their sins and âgo straightâ with some sort of immunity for past acts. Frankly, thatâs insulting because it presupposes that I am either stupid or naive or both. I am neither. And neither is my business partner, or any of our 35 staff members. Itâs also been suggested here that Porn Guardian should âfire BangBros as a clientâ as some sort of demonstration of solidarity with complainers from the gay adult space. If Porn Guardian fires every client that actively supports piracy in some way, we would only represent My Friendâs Feet and Reluctant Young Men and almost immediately there will be no major force in the industry fighting piracy on a unified front for the gay side of adult. Whatever you think about some of the choices weâve made in the fight, there is no one in the industry who knows more about fighting piracy than the two of us.
