I started this thread to shine a light on the dumb, pathetic things that copyright extortionists do behind-the-scenes. They act so tough and so smart with their boilerplate letters and canned responses by taking advantage of legally-naive people by trying to extract extortionate amounts of money (hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars) over images not worth more than $50.
They like to play psychological games and invoke fear and paranoia by their carefully-worded letters. They try to invoke the lawsuit system as a matter of course but the reality is that it is rarely executed except for the most egregious/unusual situations.
I have taken some heat and grief over the years by bluntly calling out both the people and the tactics being used. I use NSFW language and dish out a bunch of insults and name-calling. Why not? Why be polite or respectful to people who are unreasonable, take advantage of your legal naivete, and take your money? I am a big believer in fighting fire with your own fire and blast back very hard.
Over the years, I have made many predictions, insights, and educated guesses that ultimately turned out to be true. Part of the reason I have been able to do that is that I don't trust what is being told to me. I am a skeptic. I verify, I do my homework, research, and due diligence. I look beyond the smoke and mirrors.
I also have a good understanding of how corporate drones and their managers work. There is a reason why Dilbert is so popular. A lot of these employees at Getty Images, Mastefile, their lawyers, etc. follow a predictable pattern because they ultimately draw and dependent on a paycheck. Most are not self-made people. With no employer, they would have zero power and zero income. I know this and they know it. We keep a list of names on these folks especially the long-timers.
They need to always "look good" and look tough. I talk shit because I work for myself and I don't have to impress any employer. I work for the masses and my mission is clear. I help people who unintentionally infringe defend and fight back against extortionate letter demands.
This thread will contain true stories of asswipery that most people don't know about. I am not going to do it in one shot because there are too many stories. But I will occasionally update this thread with true stories to show what schmucks many of the people in the copyright extortion business truly are. You can be informed and entertained that these people are not what they try to convince others they are.
My first story is about an ex-internal Getty Images lawyer that left the company. Apparently, he found his name being listed on ELI a few years ago and practically begged me via email to remove his name. He wanted to make sure I had "accurate information" that he was no longer associated with Getty Images. So what does that tell you? Crybaby ex-lawyer of Getty Images.
My second story involves the 30-something ex-Getty Images female employee (C.S.) who tried to bullshit me in 2008 and begged one of her ex-managers a few years ago to ask Oscar to ask ME to remove her name from ELI because she had left the company. I gave Oscar an unhappy reaction to that request because she was the one that pissed me off so much that I came up with the idea to launch ELI. In many ways, she was one reason why I launched ELI to punch back against her. I may never know why she stopped coming at me but I never heard from her or Getty Images again after my 2nd response letter to her. Maybe because it had something to do with my launching ELI and calling her out on her personal info that she herself published on the Internet? She was okay trying to bullshit me until I called bullshit on her. Amazing how she disappeared after that.
She was a chicken-shit for not asking me directly and so was her ex-manager (Getty Images employee) for crying to Oscar and not coming to me. Maybe because they knew I would give them a very unhappy response for trying to extort me and me turning the tables turned on them for a fucking change.
As a side note, when I published my response letters back in 2008 for others to see, I never imagined people would actually copy and clone my letter so closely because I thought the letter was unique to my situation. Apparently, I have been told more than once that the Getty Images license compliance folks dislike seeing similar copies of my letters used and sent to them repeatedly. Personally, I think that is funny. My case is long over and yet they continue to get variations of my letter year after year by various people. Gotta love it. Today, Getty Images is in so much financial trouble. They might get lucky and save themselves. But if they don't, it is going to get very educational for many people.
Topic: Copyright Extortion Crybabies (Read 4770 times)