I'm just getting so sick of this. I am spending way too much time every day tracking down thieves/bandits/criminals. I found someone today stealing my HTML as well as tutorial product. I did a whois on quadsoft.org and am not able to come up with a functional email or working telephone number. All I got was Mike Sears in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada.

So I did a tracert and see that this person is hosted by www.vianet.ca . So I called them on the phone. After providing them with direct links showing them stolen product, they kept waffling on the issue. Several phone calls later, I got the distinct impression they were not prepared to do anything about it. They even stated that they do not have any TOS regarding copyright infringement. That boggles my mind.

As I type this, I just got a call from the owner of vianet.ca. Obviously a small time ISP. He tells me he tried calling Mike and got no answer. He said "Well, I know Mike personally. He's not a bad kid. I'll try to see if I can convince him to stop it. If not, I guess you can always try to file a law suit."

WHAT???

http://www.quadsoft.org/demo/hostingtutorials.html

http://www.quadsoft.org/demo/moo.html

http://www.quadsoft.org/demo/tutorials/tutorial.php?tut=cpanel_xskin_pop.htm (not fully functional yet, but getting ready)

So where do I go from here?

I AM JUST SO SICK OF CHASING DOWN CRIMINALS

Vito

whois the domain and call the owner.

if it's not the owner, email the registrar because that's fraud.

Vito,

I think you'll have to wait for the .org registry to get their act together and get all of their records in order. The silly people still don't have all of the information in the whois database for any .org address.

lol I just dont get people these days while they steal it and still have demodemo.com on they header image

Well, like I said, the whois gives me nothing to work with and the ISP seems like they are the Beverly Hillbillies of the Internet with their casual attitude about piracy/theft/copyright infringement. It almost seems like I need to hire a full time employee just to track down these lowlifes. God knows I could find much more productive things to do with my time every day.

Anyone interested??

Vito

do a ping on the domain

go to arin.net and type in that IP...

find the owner of the IP, it would be the *real* ISP... the one who gets the IPs from arin, THEY would have something in their TOS about copyright infringment.

Call them.

In fact, I'll do it for you.....

Okay, unforntunately, Vianet is the top ISP for that IP.... I guess you already did that. If they seriously don't have anything against copyright infringment... I seriously suggest getting in contact with a lawyer and sueing both Vianet for housing the stuff on their servers (maybe that will make them develop a real TOS) and sueing the owner of quadsoft.org for doing the actually infringment.

Just my thoughts..

you might star by sending a cease and desist order. You might even be able to find a generic copy online. That would give you time to contact a lawyer.

It seems like that's my only recourse, Lirath. Vianet's owner tried to fluff me off on the phone. He basically said that if Mike is not prepared to cease and desist, vianet will do nothing.

Off to my lawyer, I guess...

Anyone up for the job of being the official police officer for DemoDemo? I'm serious about the offer...

Vito

Anytime I see a thread by a guy called Vito talking about tracking someone down I'm immediately conjuring up images of the Godfather in my head.

Would this job offer include wackings and sending various rippers to sleep with the fishes? If we catch someone, can we put a horses head in their bed?

You should point out to these guys that failure to remove copyrighted content is as much of a liablity to a host if informed and no action is taken as it is for the offending party.

Heck, I'd almost do this job for free just as a stress reliever every day.

I did a quick public search and did not find a Mike Sears or a Sears listing for Huntsville. Altough there are a few Sears in Ontario.

Sound like he may be a minor. maybe request Vianet let you contact the parents?

I might be wrong I did find this info:
http://www.deskmod.com/?show=profile&pshow=general&user=matrix
Apparently he is 24 and a site administrator. Maybe the site owner could provide some info?

Rox Off, a cease and desist order would not work. Who would I send it to? There is no working email for the domain.

I found a "Sears" name through the phone company in Huntsville. It likely belongs to Mikes's parents, as vianet's owner seemed to suggest Mile was a pretty young guy. I keep trying to call the number, but it's constantly busy. That tells me Mike is on a dialup connection and is busy stealing my product. If this in fact is the right number, I will get through. I don't care if it takes until 3 in the morning, I will get through.

Horse's head? Sounds good. Want the job?

Vianet will not release the phone number to me. It seems they have a company policy about customer privacy, but none about copyright infringement. Go figure...

Just saw your last post. Nice work, Rox Off. Don't know how you came up with that, but I will follow up on it. Thanks much.

Vito

Send the C&D to Vianet owner/admin. If you have a name inlcuded with the paperwork. I have found that once you start mentioning someones name being invloved in legal paperwork, they start to pay attention.

I'm in the process of penning that now.

Vito

It seems it takes an email from a lawyer to get some ISPs to respond. The offending site appears to have been taken offline.

The site owner has been instructed that he must contact me to resolve the issue before the site is put back online.

Mission accomplished. Thank you everyone for your assistance.

What a waste of half a day... :mad:

Vito

try skipease.com... or you really have a hard time with people who steal stuff from you or owe you money you could get an account flatrateinfo.com. I think they're about 1500 a month or something like that though. We used it at the place I used to work out.. found anyone and everyone.

This is just too bizarre.

Honest to God, sometimes I think someone up above is just playing tricks on me for a good laugh.

After doing a whole bunch of searches in online White Page directories, I came up with a cell phone number of a Mike Sears. So I called the number. I asked if he was the owner of quadsoft.org. He said yes.

Bingo ... not!

Last week I advertised on several sites for someone to produce a PHP script that would prevent anyone from being able to hotlink directly to my tutorials or directly steal my product.

It appears that this Mike Sears decided to respond to the request. However, rather than contacting me first, he opted to try to develop the script first. So in working on the project, he spent the day downloading my product pages in order to work on the script. From where I stood, I saw someone taking my code, my product. Clearly, someone was using the code on my site without authorization. So I did whatever I had to do in order to stop it.

Ironically, he was a guy who was trying to solve the very problem that caused me to shut down his site today. He simply did not have the presence of mind to let me know beforehand. He realizes now that was an error in judgement. So I emailed/called his ISP to put his site back online so he can continue to work on the script.

I need a drink...

[*looks for the bottle of Smirnoffs*]

Vito

Go with the guinness, not smirnoffs. According to Ozzy hospitals used to give it to be people back in the day. What am I talking about...?

Guiness and Bass....
or Killians... :D

Forget the Guinness. I found a bottle of Fuoco (means fire in Italian). It's 160 proof (80% alcohol). I figure a couple or twelve shots ought to do the trick. See you on Thurday when I come to...

Vito

80% alcohol... yeah i'll cya next month. :wavey:

Ehh.. Wussy...
Get a bottle of sprite and a bottle of Everclear (190 proof, pure grain acohol)

3 shot glasses next to each other. 1 Sprite. 1 Everclear. 1 Sprite.
Take Sprite (don't swallow all the way, leave a little in the mouth)
Take the Everclear as quick as possible
Take the 2nd Sprite quickly...

Yell at the burning senesation and imagine how bad it would be w/out the Sprite.

Sounds like a good contest to have on a Saturday night. See how many shots someone can stand before they;
A: Either pass out
B: They wuss out from the burning sensation.

Everclear.... A good heavy drinker (something to be proud of for us college age WHT'rs :D) can usually take about 2-4 depending on body weight before really feeling the effects.

Any more than that.... I'd stay away from them for the next 40 minutes or so cause they gonna blow :D

Well, I've had 4 shots (1 1/2 oz) of Fuoco. I'm just starting to feel a bit of a buzz.



Tutorials 1/2 price tonight.


No wait a minute, that's the fire talkin'. I think I'd better stop posting tonight before I give the farm away...

:nuts: :nuts: :nuts:

Vito

I'm sorry but, LMAO.

Vito I am going to guess you are Italian.

Sambvca pisano

Take a couple shots

Originally posted by vito
What a waste of half a day... :mad:
Hang in there Vito. :)

BTW, does this mean I have to stop hotlinking to those demos now too?? :nuts:

I thought they was free...:eek: :o :blush:

6 degrees of separation comes true again.

blood hounds y0

Hey Vito....

It's been several hours since your last reply. How much of that bottle is left? You takin' a day off today I presume? :stickout:

Hang in there bud. You've got a helluva product.... don't let these bastards discourage you.

Cheers :)

..... I mean..... have a drink of water :D

Rob.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh my aching head.
Why is so bright in the room? And why does that mouseclick have to be so loud? :smash:

Drinking's not all it's cracked up to be... :crap: :puke:

And please keep it down, people are trying to sleep...

Vito