Record Label ‘Infringes’ Own Copyright, Site Pulled
Written by enigmax on October 19, 2008The website of a record label which offers completely free music downloads has been taken down by its host for copyright infringement, even though it only offers its own music. Quote Unquote Records calls itself “The First Ever Donation Based Record Label”, but is currently homeless after its host pulled the plug.
Quote Unquote Records is an Internet based record label, run by Bomb the Music Industry! and ‘The Arrogant Sons of Bitches’ frontman Jeff Rosenstock. A forward looking outfit, all artists on the label give their music away for free on the label’s website. Well, they would, if the webhost hadn’t have taken down the site for alleged copyright infringement.
In a MySpace blog entry, Jeff Rosenstock explained that the Quote Unquote Records site is non-operational, and other sites connected to the label, including the Bomb the Music Industry! and Arrogant Sons of Bitches sites, have all been taken down too. So what happened?
Around a week ago, the label was notified by its webhost that it had some copyright music files on its server, which was no surprise to them since they were tracks by Arrogant Sons of Bitches, one of the label’s bands. The tracks the webhost referred to were actually written by Jeff himself. Jeff spoke with someone at the host on the telephone, explained that they were his own tracks and was informed this wasn’t a problem.
Three days later the labels site went down completely, due to Jeff hosting his own copyright files on his own site – a claimed violation of the hosting company’s Terms of Service. In order to solve the problem, Jeff would have to send his copyright registration forms to the host by mail, to prove he held the copyright, a problem in itself, explains Jeff:
“I called the company to explain that a lot of this material was NOT in fact registered with the US copyright office, instead we did the ol’ poor man’s copyright. The music that was copyrighted was done so under a Creative Commons License, which is a digital copyright that cannot be viewed if the website where the files are posted is down.”
It seems amazing that a host should be proactive like this, especially since it has clearly made a huge mistake. However, a week later and Jeff’s site is still down and he’s quite rightly upset: “I guess the scary thing for me is that it seems that my hosting server employs a guilty before proven innocent policy, which is terrifying for anyone who does not physically mail forms for every small idea they’ve ever had in their bedroom to the US copyright office. What a great new digital age, stuck in the trappings of wasteful forms and red tape.”
If losing your site to a bogus copyright claim isn’t enough, there is a more immediate problem. Jeff is being denied access to his data by the host and he says that since he had a crash on his local hard drive, he no longer has copies of any of the content that was on the Quote Unquote Records server. “So, long story short, I’m looking for any artwork or mp3s that were put on Quote Unquote Records,” he said.
If you can find any of the material Jeff is looking for on P2P networks, please post comments on his blog.
Previously: Stanford University Embraces BitTorrent
Next: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent
104 Responses
not like this, not like this!
I would tell them to get their fooking ads off my domain post haste.
It is not cool to cause controversy and benefit of someone else’s work. Don’t click any ads on the landing page.
It’s the no such thing as bad press test again. This certainly does not bode well for the hosting company.
Here is a bunch of their live stuff. Hope it helps them a bit. We the mighty peanut gallery should help them out.
http://www.fetchmp3.com/search.php?Term=Arrogant+Sons+of+Bitches&searchbutton.x=74&searchbutton.y=36
W.T.F.
*cough* Not making any backups…priceless.
Anyways, this is a sad story, but a perfect example for the madeness we have to face nowadays.
Feels like April 1st all over again.
get a lawyer and sue the host
h33t, didn’t you hear? They don’t have a business model to afford a lawyer!
Heh, I went to the website of ix webhosting, and I was greeted by one of those talking flash faces. I had music playing, so it caused me to close the window immediately. I didn’t know you could make an opinion of a webhost in under one second!
appears to be a straightforward case of recovering damages from a host in breach of contract
a good lawyer will take the case no win no fee
but the time to strike is now, do not delay or you will prejudice your own claim for damages
Dear lord, dear lord. How could someone be so stupid (the hosting company I mean)
There is also some stuff starting to surface here http://isohunt.com/torrents/?ihq=arrogant+sons+of+bitches Here http://thepiratebay.org/search/arrogant%20sons%20of%20bitches/0/99/0
Maybe he should contact Lessig. He’s bound to have done this before. that being said I have a lot of BTMI and ASOBs stuff.
The US sucks. Period.
And I really think that they could get a lawyer. h33t suggested a course of action, but I’m sure they could get a young lawyer who wants a name for himself and could do this pro-bono (winning a good case like this, and doing it for free… quite some reputation to gain).
Anyways, I’m sorry to hear about the data. But I found this on Demonoid:
http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1293292/6352782/
I’m sure the guys at TF can download it and get you the files :D
Wish you the best guys, from one artist to another. And to TF, of course! (from one leecher to another)
@5
I am sure the EFF would represent them.This is directly up their alley
should be able to pick up much of the site content from here: http://web.archive.org/web/20080211120052/http://quoteunquoterecords.com/
Its a start.
It’s all pretty mony python
@12, naa i think it’s more Monty Pthon
I think it’s even more Monty Pythn TBO
*head asplodes*
Idiot hosts. You really need to back up. Hosts are notorious for lying and not backing up.
the usa is such a pathetic joke! really sad
Poor mans Copyright, damn straight.
Fucking Gonks.
Why is the name of the host not posted?
POST THE NAME OF THE HOST, so we can all spread bad propaganda.. thats the WHOLE POINT.
Oh and the answer to all this is quite obvious.. SWITCH HOST.. seriously the one your with is complete crap obviously.
here is a convo with there chat support team
http://i33.tinypic.com/of8vfs.png
also the blog link
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=85036965&blogID=441944198
Some content may be available from archive.org.
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.quoteunquoterecords.com/
Mailars, I always wondered if those were chat bots, and I’ve never really figured it out.
And we definitely need to find the name of the host, because if I have a site with that host, I’ll be switching it ASAP.
@24
ixwebhosting.com
ecommerce.com
> should be able to pick up much of the site content from here
Luckily the Wayback Machine supports wildcards:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://quoteunquoterecords.com/*
According to the name servers listed for quoteunquoterecords.com, their ex-hosting provider was ixwebhosting.com. Obviously, don’t go there.
hooray for btmi saw them here in toronto last year with the slackers… this is shitty news though.
Arrgh! It’s the same “chipper lady” that drives me out of Giant (grocery). She needs a good slap in the face like in the old movies.
I knew a few people there, I’ve dropped ‘em a note.
Errrr… Technically, all the web pages and art on the site are also copyright by the same reason? Surely that’s grounds for having an unfair contract of sorts…? (e.g. you can’t put anything on there because it’s technically owned by somebody)
What ever happened to the customer is always right? Rather than the customer is always trying to do mass criminal actions…
I say take em to court, or at least have a lawyer threaten such.
Now before any of you start the no money rant
http://www.starvingartistslaw.com/help/volunteer%20lawyers.htm
One other possible approach is to put them out of business, or at least to drive them nuts.
Section 512(c)(1)(A)(2) is the safe harbor provision of the much-reviled DMCA. In relevant part, it says that a provider is safe from liability if it doesn’t have actual knowledge of infringement and doesn’t have knowledge of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent.
Intelligent providers satisfy this requirement by not policing the content of their systems. If they don’t look, then don’t have actual knowledge. These guys look. That’s how they knew that Rosenstock’s material was on the site.
Someone with time on his hands and a grudge in his heart might go through the site and identify every use of copyrighted or trademarked material (DMCA isn’t trademark law, but in general trademarks are creative works that are also copyrighted) and drop an email to the owner. At the same time, send an email to IX so that they necessarily have actual knowledge and hence are at legal risk.
If you are not the copyright holder of the material about which you notify them, do NOT send them a note purporting to be a DMCA takedown notice. Do not do that. Do not. All you’re doing is giving them actual notice and thereby removing them from the DMCA safe harbor. Write something like this:
/===
Dear Sys Admin,
On of your site, you have that infringes a copyright. Although I am not the owner of the copyright, you now have actual notice as defined in 17 USC 512(c)(1)(A). I intend to send a copy of this to the actual copyright holder who may pursue legal action against you based on your actual knowledge of infringing material on your system.
I am sending this because you are harassing Jeff Rosenstock. If you return his data to him then I’ll quit. Also, if you talk with a competent attorney, he will explain the DMCA virtues of leaving everyone alone, not just Rosenstock. If you don’t police your site, you won’t get the actual knowledge that is getting you in the trouble that I am now causing for you with this email and others to follow.
\===
As Rosenstock points out, copyright need not be registered. It attaches to pretty much everything that you write, draw, etc. As a result, almost every page on their site ought to be subject to some sort of copyright. Quotes from other sources, snippets of song lyrics, references to almost any pop culture icon… all copyrighted. Most sites are smart enough to recognize fair use, but these guys have obviously gotten themselves a lawyer who has advised them to steer clear of all possible liability, so they’re not going to be well-versed in fair use.
It’s worth a shot.
The post-bot uglified the letter that I suggested in the previous post. The first line of the letter should read:
On PAGE of your site, you have SOME_MATERIAL that infringes a copyright.
Better Business Bureau has lots on info on ixwebhosting.com and ecommerce.com , which are same company. only one complaint in last 2 yrs. http://tinyurl.com/5t8ftv
Remember guys,
Don’t use USA web hosting companies at all, unless you want to have problems at some point.
There are lots of web hosting companies around the world that don’t suck balls to USA and their ridiculous laws.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080211120052/http://quoteunquoterecords.com/
Copyright probably had nothing to do with it. RIAA probably was driving force to kill the web site.
I’d be happy to host the site when it comes round to coming back online.
Isn’t there some rule that states that if you have the ability to police data, and do not do it fully, then you are liable for problems in the data. I think this was based on companies that have built in processes for email monitoring.
Well, IX has proved they have the ability to police their sites content, so if they have material the infringes other copyrights, wouldn’t they be held liable for not doing something about it. Doesn’t policing your site remove you from the save harbor provision?
http://www.whois.is/whois-ip/69.6.196.2/
for thw web host :)
Lol … Sue the webhost.
This story is an instant classic. :)
IX web hosting:
Call Us
24/7 Toll-Free
Call 1-800-385-0450 or
1-614-534-1961
outside USA
I’m calling.
This is some of the gayest shit I’ve read yet.
Apparently this web hosting company does not give two shits about it customers or they would have paid a little more attention to the situation. At the very least they could have called the owner of the domain before they pulled his site to review his options.
Lame.
I don’t understand why everyone gets all “Anti-USA” when articles like this are posted. Yeah the United States copyright laws are a joke but it’s like this all over the world. As far as I can tell their are only a few safe haven’s for downloaders such as Canada and Sweden and even they aren’t 100% exempt (i.e. Demonoid shutdown, Pirate Bay raid respectively). This country has some serious policy problems but it’s not entirely our fault nor entirely our problem.
IF possable , i would suggest trying to get the attention of somone like Trent Reznor or another well known “Power to the Artist and FK the labels” who would lend a hand on getting this ISP’s head out of it’s ass.
This is already on digg so their should be lots of people looking and i wouldn’t be suprized if someone volentiers legal help.
i’ve been running a donation only based record label for almost 2 years.. and my site is doing fine. maybe. since these guys seem to think things that are not true. their ducks werent in a row. funny nonw the less.
d’oh. ps the url is http://www.creation-centre.com
talk about a FAIL.
I don’t know who is stupider, the Hoster or the Poster. Dude, if you are too cheap to pay for a legit US copyright office certificate, then you shouldn’t be surprised when weird shit happens. “Poorman’s” (or, as they are also known, “idiot’s” copyrights are no substitute for the long arm of the law. Which would have been on your side had you but paid for the proper forms at the copyright office. Once you post anything – on line or over the radio- without it, then it becomes public domain – no longer your own.
I think some nice (not threatening ) letters to the host explaining that this a known site run by a person to be confirmed as the creative generator of the material would help
it amazing they would take it upon themselves without contactin the label (which would have been the same people)… did they not do their homework or something?
how did they decide what was copyrighted? and then how did they decide the website run by the same people was infringing?
crazy and I am glad other hosting places have not done this sort of thing.
When you allow corporate bullies (instead of law enforcement) execute the law (or, at least, their interpretation of the law) then Presumption of Guilt is not a problem.
@Daytripper69: You register copyright so that you can sue for enhanced damages. That’s it. Copyright automatically attaches to the copyrightable material that you produce. There is no “poor-man’s” and “rich-man’s” copyright. It’s all the same thing.
In this case, the poster had no intention of suing anyone, so there would be no reason for him to register the copyright to secure a claim on enhanced damages.
@49 – Once you post anything – on line or over the radio- without it, then it becomes public domain – no longer your own.
This is blatantly false, copyright is considered automatic in any country that is party to the Berne Convention – Such as the United States, which has been a party to the convention for 19 years.
LMFAO @ #3… priceless.
Well if you didn’t host with Nebraska’s Best Hosting or whatever crap service you do, it probably would have never happened or not been a big deal.
Next time choose Media Temple. Totally not a rep, but overall hosting company out there.
hi. i used to work for ix webhosting.
my name is nick lorenson, let them know what a pleasure it is that i could help their upset customers out. :)
when you call in, hit 4029 to speak with Lauren Shivers, who is the person who is responsible for suspending people’s accounts and let her know what you think. That is her private extension that we’re not supposed to give out, but fuck it. They fired me!
Enjoy, IX!
-nick
“nice letters”
jesus, what a swell idea!
their address is
ecommerce inc.
247 mitch lane
hopkinsville, ky
42240
once again, big love from nick lorenson!
lauren shivers
18003850450
ext 4029
manager, handles ticket center.
Idiots who can’t figure anything out for themselves:
Registrant:
Jeff Rosenstock
2363 Rockwood Ave.
Baldwin, NY 11510
United States
Registrar: DOTREGISTRAR
Domain Name: QUOTEUNQUOTERECORDS.COM
Created on: 16-MAY-06
Expires on: 16-MAY-11
Last Updated on: 13-MAY-08
Administrative, Technical Contact:
Rosenstock, Jeff jeff.rosenstock@gmail.com
2363 Rockwood Ave.
Baldwin, NY 11510
United States
+516.5469286
+516.5469286
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.IXWEBHOSTING.COM
NS2.IXWEBHOSTING.COM
End of Whois Information
The first thing one should do in
this case besides trying to contact the web host is to have each band
get their own “music locker” at
http://www.mp3tunes.com and have all their
material “synced” up and ready to
download again in case this ever
happened again. Even better would
be to go to http://www.box.net and sign
up for some online storage.
Problem solved either way! :)
I’ll add my offer of hosting as well. Located outside the USA, of course!
IX Web Hosting ixwebhosting.com
(614) 534-1961
1774 Dividend Dr
Columbus, OH 43228-3845
Mr. Samir Said, CFO/President
samir@ecommerce.com
Ms. Amanda Walsh, CSR
(614) 534-1961
amanda.walsh@ecommerce.com
Ms. Fatima Said – CEO
Also DBA: Ecommerce Inc
#45: We get all ‘anti-USA’ at stories like this because it’s the frickin’ USA that is trying to force the rest of the world into following your lead down this path of stupidity. By actively lobbying our governments, by enforcing trade sanctions against us, and by generally making our lives miserable in any way possible, the USA makes us resent it more and more. Every time an incident like this happens ANYWHERE, it’s directly a result of US policies. If the US would let the Berne Convention be the rule, we’d all be happy- but no, American corporate interests have to take precedence over other countries’ own laws.
So don’t be surprised when people get all ‘the US sucks goat bag’ when we hear stories like this one. If it weren’t for your government letting the entertainment industry run roughshod over your rights and common law, none of us would be in this ridiculous situation.
@#49: You’re retarded. I know it’s been explained to you before, but seriously- you’re retarded. There’s a world of difference between owning copyright and how you license a work.
Can we get a list of all the sites IX an eCommerce hosts?
I’d like to tell IX that each one has copyright material on it and see them shit themselves.
RIAA probably reported ‘em.
Taking out the competition
Send a DMCA counter notice.
FUCK COPYRIGHTS
FUCK WEBHOSTS
FUCK YOU
Ironic. ix webhosting pulls the site for ‘copyright infringement’ because they haven’t got a clue, then the record company appeals to the public for downloaded images and sounds to help it recover itself after not backing up. (which would be ironic if the music wasn’t free I s’pose). BUT this is good advertising for a music company I have never heard of.
They violated creative commons.
Sue them for the data and the hosting fee.
Also to mention, Host Excellence is also owned by ecommerce.com
Found that out years ago after I switched from HE to IX and wanted to transfer my domains from being handled by HE to IX… despite it being owned by the same company, it was a task too much for them. Ended up having to transfer domain away to Go Daddy (where it will stay) and once again, switching hosts, now to Dreamhost. This is only all the more reason to switch away from IX Webhosting.
Alsee is RIGHT!
Send a official DMCA counter-notice. Act as if they did a DMCA takedown (what’s the difference, except this DMCA was internally generated?) Start the legal clock clicking on back on them!
[512(g)] If a subscriber provides a proper “counter-notice” claiming that the material does not infringe copyrights, the service provider must then promptly notify the claiming party of the individual’s objection. [512(g)(2)] If the copyright owner does not bring a lawsuit in district court within 14 days, the service provider is then required to restore the material to its location on its network. [512(g)(2)(C)]
A proper counter-notice must contain the following information:
The subscriber’s name, address, phone number and physical or electronic signature [512(g)(3)(A)]
Identification of the material and its location before removal [512(g)(3)(B)]
A statement under penalty of perjury that the material was removed by mistake or misidentification [512(g)(3)(C)]
Subscriber consent to local federal court jurisdiction, or if overseas, to an appropriate judicial body. [512(g)(3)(D)]
here is a form that creates a counter notice for you, just fill in the blanks
http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca/counter512.pdf
How about NAMING the ISP?
ecommerce corp are crooks, in response to the person who asked about the domains:
ecommerce.com
ixwebhosting.com
webhost.biz
hostexcellence.com
ihostbig.com
They’re all about volume, 10/10 the music was deleted because there wasn’t enough space on the server HD. So they pick on anyone hosting over 50GB To make space. The system administrators are composed of a bunch of pricks who have god complexes. btw the name of the prick who took his music down is named Johann Hohenn
A little fun you say? how about their MySpaces.. yah!!
The Guilty Sys Admin:
-Johann Hohenn-
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=97851784
johann@ecommerce.com
Head of Sys Admin:
-Tibberu Ungeuru-
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=119154684
tibbi@ecommerce.com
Manager of Ecommerce:
-Sammie Taunton-
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=18699452
sammie@ecommerce.com
Please do share…enjoy =)
nearlyfreespeach.net
You obviously chose the wrong provider. NSF will pull nothing without a court order. NOt even one of those crappy dmca notices. I call dumbass.
“i am sorry sir, you can not change the system by offering your music on a donation bases.”
“but it’s my music”
“yes sir, but it’s our system. don’t you understand the consequence!!”
The webhost is showing advertising on his site!
I suggest they look into going to NearlyFreeSpeech.Net for hosting. They are simply the most sensible web host I have ever encountered.
(Not a paid shill, nor an employee. Just a happy customer.)
hehe just sent an angry mail to the support xD
Dear God!
This is atrocious. The best way would be to sue their asses. Maybe the guys from eff.org can help.
They have one of those BBB buttons on their page. What better place to complain to than that!
Scary that such poor hosts exist. I would recommend getting a VPS at RapidXen; they are very understanding and accomodating. You may want to upload the free music to bittorrent as well, to save on bandwidth and increase reliability.
It’s getting them some great publicity at least.
These guys need to get a copy of SpinRite, restore the files from their dead hard disk and find a new web host. Oh, and get a back up drive so this won’t happen again.
So iX webhosting is the one to avoid in future. Thanks for the info.
Easy solution.
File a class action against them for theft of IP (seeign as they are holding onto the files).
DOtn go through with it of course: but it should give them a good kick up the bum :) and release the files.
Ha they seem to have some pretty shitty reviews here’s a link to the hosting reviews
http://www.webhostingreviews.com/ix-web-hosting-reviews.htm
I’ve had HORRIBLE experiences with IX Web Hosting /(aka eCommerce).
Run away!
According to THE INQUIRER via Jeff’s Myspace page Jeff DID have four copyrighted songs that were not his own works on his site but he removed them. So as far as the story from TorrentFreak they seemed to have left out a pretty important detail there.
Anyways the hosting company is over reacting IMO but still TF could at least not omit important details and information, even if it is a blog. Bloggers have the same responsibility as the mass media SHOULD have (the MM obviously doesn’t). Or as we call them here in the USA “The Ministry Of Propaganda”.
Alright that’s my holier than thou speech for the year.
website looks up to me.
Looks like it’s back up now
this isn’ the first time this has happened. HAllo Excentrico! run into simular problems and has since moved all free music to Archive.org
Jeff Rosenstock = Jew
Super Jews
http://judicial-inc.biz/10_12_vanity_fair_jewish.htm
I called IX web hosting, and the tech support guy, even after I said I’m not even a customer, alleged that someone had stored mp3s of Arrogant Sons of Bitches and another band that are not on Quote Unquote’s label. If given permission to do so, that is Quote Unquote’s right, obviously. But, the hosting company may not have been aware, if that was even the arrangement, and the guy said they HAD to take down the site upon receiving the DMCA notice. The guy on the phone said he explained the same things to Quote Unquote. Even after I said I was not a customer, he kept explaining it to me. I said I was probably one interested party of what would become some bad public relations for his company.
What a mess. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone, like the RIAA, snooped around hoping to find exactly that kind of technicality with which to nail them.
he should honestly sue them….
Pixelated,
Can you not read?
From TorrentFreak:
“The tracks the webhost referred to were actually written by Jeff himself.”
From Rosenstock’s blog:
“A little over a week ago, I was notified by my web hosting company that I had some files of copyrighted music on my website. The files were songs by ASOB that had been up there for about five years which I had forgotten about. These were songs that I had written. I spoke to a person on the phone who said “well, OK, if those are your songs then never mind.”
Also, files from ASOB are on his label, so it would not seem to be a valid point regardless.
IXWebhosting.com sucks ass anyways
I’m not looking through all of this to see if this point has been brought up, but anybody else think that this is a publicity stunt? This record company sure is getting a lot of attention=publicity=$$=Cha Ching.
V
I recommend using Lunarpages.com as the new host. The company simply rocks and they give free hosting to schools.
record label site is back up :D http://www.quoteunquoterecords.com/
This is ludicrous!
This is the type pf total stupidity that comes from the extremes against the digital age. Obviously, this is the sort of thing that happens when ISPs are forced to act without the intervention of the courts on a case by case basis. Just a bunch of stupid, backward looking, idiots.
Bill Wilkins, CEO
Melted Metal Web Radio
http://www.meltedmetal.com/
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