How come more isn't done to protect authors work from theft???

[Cumminginsiderher]

I have noticed over the years that people's work is being stolen from here and put on all kinds of different media, mostly to make money for the thief, but sometimes for karma points on Reddit.

Lately, I have come across a lot of stories stolen from the Loving Wives Category on here and being put on YouTube. In case people don't realize this, YouTube has really become an easy place to make money from YouTube's Advertisers. While the amount a YouTube Channel creator can make varies literally from day to day, a fair amount can be made monthly with not that many subscribers and views. The metrics are also raised by people giving thumbs up for that story as well as leaving comments or even just an emoji instead of a comment as it "reads" the same in the metrics.

Given that, there is a guy located in Ukraine who doesn't even bother taking Reddit Stories, he is just stealing them from here, mostly in the Loving Wives category, and posting them as his own personal work. He has at least 2 channels with limited subscribers but that number is growing as are his views. Just guessing but after he has only been in business for a few months, he is probably clearing at least a thousand dollars a month stealing stories from Literotica. If his channels continue to grow and if he adds several more as he has said he would, this time next year he will probably be making more than $20,000 a month stealing stories from Literotica and more than likely, eventually branching off to stealing them from other media options as well.

Sadly, unless you are the author of the story or the copyright holder, YouTube does not give people the opportunity to "Report" him for copyright violations. So far, his two channels are, Audio Story and Reddit Cheating Stories. He now claims he is getting the stories from Reddit but it is ironic that ALL of his stories are also on Literotica. I realize a lot of stories from here end up on Reddit, but NOT as many as he is putting on his YouTube Channels.

I have sent a notice to Literotica but I highly doubt that would go anywhere. It's too bad since they tell us all of the stories on here are covered by copyright laws INCLUDING International Copyright Laws, they would be in the perfect situation to report and stop this pilfering of stories from here.

I hate to see the hard work of so many authors on here get used and abused by others stealing their work. I wish Literotica would step up and protect the authors before we start losing more of them than we have in the past.

 

[Lady2020]

Interesting.

 

[GlennJenko]

I know Literotica allows all writers to maintain copyright over their works and if I'm not mistaken the site thus just "hosts" someone else's copyright. Is it possible that because of this the site itself can't get involved because the copyright isn't theirs so it's down to the authors, the copyright holder, to make the copyright claims?

 

[Cumminginsiderher]

I know Literotica allows all writers to maintain copyright over their works and if I'm not mistaken the site thus just "hosts" someone else's copyright. Is it possible that because of this the site itself can't get involved because the copyright isn't theirs so it's down to the authors, the copyright holder, to make the copyright claims?

Then I must have misread their "legal" small print on this site. It said all of the work posted here is protected by copyright laws.

 

[GlennJenko]

Then I must have misread their "legal" small print on this site. It said all of the work posted here is protected by copyright laws.

I must admit I haven't read the legal stuff in a while, but yeah, I think it's possible that means "anything here is protected by copyright, which belongs to the authors".

 

[RejectReality]

There's a huge difference in the U.S. between having copyright and the ability to legally redress it. If you haven't filed a formal copyright, you have no access to the courts, and thus nothing more than moral suasion or utilizing other means of having stolen work removed from another platform. Lit has even less power to do anything, because they're simply publishing your work with your permission. They have no copyright over the work.

Even if you have a formal copyright, the cost to seek redress is beyond the means of most people posting here. You have also set the value of your work to free, making monetary compensation of any kind an extreme uphill battle. So you essentially spend your money for a moral victory and nothing more.

As to protecting the text via technology, that's practically a pointless exercise. You could put things in place to deter casual thieves, but a few minutes on Google will allow anyone with the slightest determination to defeat pretty much all of them. If the text is being displayed, it can be stolen. Meanwhile, every technological solution creates barriers or frustration for normal visitors of the site.

Your best bet in most cases is to look for other breaches of the platform's terms of service. Anything from here posted on Youtube is likely in violation of something. You can often get stolen work on Amazon taken down by pointing out that it's available at a cheaper price ( free ) here, because that's in the terms of one of their more popular agreements.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Then I must have misread their "legal" small print on this site. It said all of the work posted here is protected by copyright laws.

https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/your-copyright

"Literotica authors own the copyright to their original works. By publishing at Lit, you are simply granting us a non-exclusive right to publish your story on Literotica.com."

That policy does go on to say that authors grant Literotica the right to enforce their copyright, but says that Literotica is not required to do so - and I'm not aware of it ever happening. I doubt it'd be practical, for the reasons @RejectReality discussed.

Your best bet in most cases is to look for other breaches of the platform's terms of service. Anything from here posted on Youtube is likely in violation of something. You can often get stolen work on Amazon taken down by pointing out that it's available at a cheaper price ( free ) here, because that's in the terms of one of their more popular agreements.

Yep. This approach is particularly useful because anybody can report. For YouTube, this might be an effective angle: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2802002?hl=en&ref_topic=9282679#

"Explicit content meant to be sexually gratifying is not allowed on YouTube. Posting pornography may result in content removal or channel termination."

The page mostly discusses visual material, but:

"This policy applies to videos, video descriptions, comments, live streams, audio, and any other YouTube product or feature."

I'm not a fan of that policy, or how YT has applied it historically. I wouldn't usually endorse reporting somebody for sexual content. But sometimes when the system is broken, you just have to find the lever that does what needs doing.

 

[HordHolm]

I have noticed over the years that people's work is being stolen from here and put on all kinds of different media, mostly to make money for the thief, but sometimes for karma points on Reddit.

Lately, I have come across a lot of stories stolen from the Loving Wives Category on here and being put on YouTube. In case people don't realize this, YouTube has really become an easy place to make money from YouTube's Advertisers. While the amount a YouTube Channel creator can make varies literally from day to day, a fair amount can be made monthly with not that many subscribers and views. The metrics are also raised by people giving thumbs up for that story as well as leaving comments or even just an emoji instead of a comment as it "reads" the same in the metrics.

Given that, there is a guy located in Ukraine who doesn't even bother taking Reddit Stories, he is just stealing them from here, mostly in the Loving Wives category, and posting them as his own personal work. He has at least 2 channels with limited subscribers but that number is growing as are his views. Just guessing but after he has only been in business for a few months, he is probably clearing at least a thousand dollars a month stealing stories from Literotica. If his channels continue to grow and if he adds several more as he has said he would, this time next year he will probably be making more than $20,000 a month stealing stories from Literotica and more than likely, eventually branching off to stealing them from other media options as well.

Sadly, unless you are the author of the story or the copyright holder, YouTube does not give people the opportunity to "Report" him for copyright violations. So far, his two channels are, Audio Story and Reddit Cheating Stories. He now claims he is getting the stories from Reddit but it is ironic that ALL of his stories are also on Literotica. I realize a lot of stories from here end up on Reddit, but NOT as many as he is putting on his YouTube Channels.

I have sent a notice to Literotica but I highly doubt that would go anywhere. It's too bad since they tell us all of the stories on here are covered by copyright laws INCLUDING International Copyright Laws, they would be in the perfect situation to report and stop this pilfering of stories from here.

I hate to see the hard work of so many authors on here get used and abused by others stealing their work. I wish Literotica would step up and protect the authors before we start losing more of them than we have in the past.

What is the name of the channel(s)?

 

[HordHolm]

Ok, I've gone to youtube and randomly sampled four of the stories on the Audio Stories channel. They aren't very good; typical LW content with the wife destroyed when her infidelity is discovered. But... whilst this stuff may or not be stolen, they aren't explicit in a way that would flag up a youtube report - there are no gratuitous descriptions of sex on the stories I listened to, and there are transcripts as well which confirm this. I'm afraid an explicit content report won't go anywhere.

 

[lovecraft68]

Ok, I've gone to youtube and randomly sampled four of the stories on the Audio Stories channel. They aren't very good; typical LW content with the wife destroyed when her infidelity is discovered. But... whilst this stuff may or not be stolen, they aren't explicit in a way that would flag up a youtube report - there are no gratuitous descriptions of sex on the stories I listened to, and there are transcripts as well which confirm this. I'm afraid an explicit content report won't go anywhere.

That's because those stories aren't about sex, but promoting the "all women are evil, let's ruin them" mantra and as sad as it is this stuff is being stolen, what people should be concerned about his how popular wanting to see women burn is.

Or it should at least be concerning to women, as always men only worry about their own asses.

 

[HordHolm]

That's because those stories aren't about sex, but promoting the "all women are evil, let's ruin them" mantra and as sad as it is this stuff is being stolen, what people should be concerned about his how popular wanting to see women burn is.

Or it should at least be concerning to women, as always men only worry about their own asses.

Agreed, but regardless of the crapness of it, the issue is what can be done to shut done the thieves monetising others' content on youtube. And from what I can see the 'report explicit content' route appears to be a non-starter, sadly.

 

[alohadave]

I know Literotica allows all writers to maintain copyright over their works and if I'm not mistaken the site thus just "hosts" someone else's copyright. Is it possible that because of this the site itself can't get involved because the copyright isn't theirs so it's down to the authors, the copyright holder, to make the copyright claims?

Only the copyright holder can pursue copyright claims against infringement of their work.

Lit cannot do anything about stories that have been lifted from the site. It's up to the person that holds the copyright on the story to resolve any infringement.

Part of it is that Lit has no involvement in where the author posts their stories besides here. A story posted here and on YouTube could be the author posting in both places. It could be infringement, it's not up to Lit to police that.

The simple fact is that anything you out out on the internet can be stolen with very little effort by anyone who has enough desire to do so. It's one of the things that you learn to deal with online.

 

[lovecraft68]

Back some years ago, lit would contact sites to remove stories from here. They'd file DMCA(I think that's what its called) to get them pulled. There was a time they got many of those pop up sketchy sites shut down.

But they don't do that anymore. Maybe because as the market expanded there's to many of these sites, not to mention the people stealing to sell on amazon and other places. Once again the fact this vast site is run by two people rears its head and they no longer have time or maybe no longer care to get involved.

In defense of them, people know how easy it is to steal stories from a site like this and should know you're risking it when you post here. If you don't want your work stolen, don't put it here is the only real way to avoid it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Ok, I've gone to youtube and randomly sampled four of the stories on the Audio Stories channel. They aren't very good; typical LW content with the wife destroyed when her infidelity is discovered. But... whilst this stuff may or not be stolen, they aren't explicit in a way that would flag up a youtube report - there are no gratuitous descriptions of sex on the stories I listened to, and there are transcripts as well which confirm this. I'm afraid an explicit content report won't go anywhere.

Ah, that's a shame. Guess that's a reason to put a sex scene in every chapter after all ;-)

 

[RejectReality]

Ok, I've gone to youtube and randomly sampled four of the stories on the Audio Stories channel. They aren't very good; typical LW content with the wife destroyed when her infidelity is discovered. But... whilst this stuff may or not be stolen, they aren't explicit in a way that would flag up a youtube report - there are no gratuitous descriptions of sex on the stories I listened to, and there are transcripts as well which confirm this. I'm afraid an explicit content report won't go anywhere.

Youtube gives people strikes and bans at the drop of a hat. There's no way you can't find something in every BTB story that would violate their amorphous community guildelines. Their policy is shitty, and decimates the very people who built their cash cow, ( independent creators ) but when there's shitty policy that can be used as a workaround to circumvent other shitty policy, you have to use their own asshattery against them.

 

[GlennJenko]

Only the copyright holder can pursue copyright claims against infringement of their work.

Lit cannot do anything about stories that have been lifted from the site. It's up to the person that holds the copyright on the story to resolve any infringement.

Part of it is that Lit has no involvement in where the author posts their stories besides here. A story posted here and on YouTube could be the author posting in both places. It could be infringement, it's not up to Lit to police that.

The simple fact is that anything you out out on the internet can be stolen with very little effort by anyone who has enough desire to do so. It's one of the things that you learn to deal with online.

Thank you for clearing that up and for the explanation.

But you're definitely right. I've been an online admin elsewhere and it's really insane just how easy it is to steal someone's work and claim it as your own.

 

[KeithD]

Story protection starts with the author. If you post a story to Literotica, a free-access site, you, legally, are valuing it at zero and offering it up to be copied and redistributed by others. For years the site admin postured as if they could and would provide some level of protection to the author--but they couldn't and didn't. And don't now, because you can't really protect what you allow to be posted for free access on the Internet, and, in the United States, unless you have applied for formal copyright, you can't control further dissemination of it anyway--because you can't take anyone to court unless you hold a formal copyright of the material.