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Fake AI law firms are sending fake DMCA threats to generate fake SEO gains

arstechnica.com

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Re: Fake AI law firms are sending fake DMCA threats to generate fake SEO gains

#121

Post by rsynnott »

dudus wrote: post #82
nickff wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did you sign up for a conference if you’re so uncertain as to its credibility and content? Is this an employer-sponsored outing?

I thought it was cheap. It said last tickets. I don't know ... that was stupid. It looked interesting at first. But when I started to research more I didn't find any buzz. I reported the event to eventbrite

Huh, I had no idea that people signed up for these things on this basis. Possibly explains why there are so many weird conferences out there; if you build it, they will apparently come, without even first checking what it is.

Re: Fake AI law firms are sending fake DMCA threats to generate fake SEO gains

#122

Post by TrackerFF »

datascienced wrote: post #9
lupire wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no legal threat here. It's all fake.

You need to pay a lawyer to find that out!

Or you can just wait it out.

If they are serious, they will follow it up - and you will eventually have to show up in court.

Re: Fake AI law firms are sending fake DMCA threats to generate fake SEO gains

#123

Post by celestialcheese »

dawnerd wrote: post #76
celestialcheese wrote: post #74

This is so common, and has been for a number of years. As an owner of a website with a lot of content published over the years, a copyright claim pops up with "settlement" offers between $200-$1k to make it go away. 50% of the time it's an outright scam like this. 45% it's legit, we pay the settlement, and a writer gets a reminder about citing images and copyright. 5% is the worst, where a photographer will have a op…

As a counter point feels dirty to abuse photographers not catching NC for you to profit.

Really? So in your world, a writer's mistake is abuse, in the same way legal professionals using the copyright system to profit off of a small publishing businesses is?

It's like arguing that punitive fines for minor infractions, like jaywalking or speeding, would be justified because "you broke the law".

The outrageous maximum penalties ($100k/infringement), the nuance of fair use and copyright law, and the resulting cost of defending yourself means that the only solution if you don't have excellent in-house counsel is you have to settle for what they ask. It's legal extortion.

Re: Fake AI law firms are sending fake DMCA threats to generate fake SEO gains

#124

Post by celestialcheese »

gnopgnip wrote: post #112
celestialcheese wrote: post #74

This is so common, and has been for a number of years. As an owner of a website with a lot of content published over the years, a copyright claim pops up with "settlement" offers between $200-$1k to make it go away. 50% of the time it's an outright scam like this. 45% it's legit, we pay the settlement, and a writer gets a reminder about citing images and copyright. 5% is the worst, where a photographer will have a op…

Running an image on a website with ads doesn't necessarily make it commercial use. A good way to look at it is like a newspaper. Using an image related to the content of an article is editorial, the primary purpose is to educate, entertain or inform. This is true even if for a newspaper that charges money. But using an image in an ad, in a way that endorses a product or creates a relationship or advertises a product…

That's an argument, and maybe one that could convince a judge. But good luck getting to make that argument for less than 6 figures in legal costs.

Which is why this scam is so profitable.

Re: Fake AI law firms are sending fake DMCA threats to generate fake SEO gains

#125

Post by celestialcheese »

duskwuff wrote: post #90
celestialcheese wrote: post #74

This is so common, and has been for a number of years. As an owner of a website with a lot of content published over the years, a copyright claim pops up with "settlement" offers between $200-$1k to make it go away. 50% of the time it's an outright scam like this. 45% it's legit, we pay the settlement, and a writer gets a reminder about citing images and copyright. 5% is the worst, where a photographer will have a op…

> 5% is the worst, where a photographer will have a open license like CC BY-NC Doesn't even have to be -NC. Creative Commons licenses require reusers to provide comprehensive[1] attribution when they reuse images. Some older versions of the license, like 2.0, also terminated immediately and permanently upon any breach of the license; copyright trolls have abused this to sue reusers who forgot to include some part of…

Yup. Haven't had this specific type of complaint levied against us, not looking forward to that payout.

And we do our best to comply with the letter of all the different open licenses, but it's hard as a small pub with a writing staff.

Re: Fake AI law firms are sending fake DMCA threats to generate fake SEO gains

#126

Post by antonvs »

Capricorn2481 wrote: post #41
antonvs wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> completely inaccessible and non-existent to individuals or small companies. Even to medium companies. Only mega corps and law firms can afford to use the legal system. For individuals you have a point, but for small and medium companies this seems like an exaggeration. I've worked for several startups. The smallest was one that I co-founded with no outside funding - we maxed out at five employees, three of whom wer…

Aren't trademarks and patents exactly the type of thing that would need to be argued in court and therefore cost more money than most startups have?

Trademarks are pretty straightforward - pretty sure the majority of trademark claims don’t go to court. Even our little 5-person company dealt with both sides of them: a claim against us and claims against others. There’s typically not that much to debate in court. In the claim against us, we had to change the name of a product, there was no point in going to court.

Patents need more money, but all the externally funded startups I’ve worked at had the money for that - investors consider them important.

Re: Fake AI law firms are sending fake DMCA threats to generate fake SEO gains

#127

Post by antonvs »

tmpz22 wrote: post #36
antonvs wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> completely inaccessible and non-existent to individuals or small companies. Even to medium companies. Only mega corps and law firms can afford to use the legal system. For individuals you have a point, but for small and medium companies this seems like an exaggeration. I've worked for several startups. The smallest was one that I co-founded with no outside funding - we maxed out at five employees, three of whom wer…

> One of these bogus DMCA claims would be easily and cheaply dismissed by any competent lawyer. If you're a new small business owner how do you vet lawyers for competency? If you accidentally engage a less then competent lawyer who screws up, how does that impact the individual and company?

We originally went to a copyright lawyer who quickly turned out to be pretty bad. We dumped him and found someone else.

A lot of this stuff is routine and doesn’t need a superstar. A general counsel can typically recommend specialists if you need them.

Re: Fake AI law firms are sending fake DMCA threats to generate fake SEO gains

#128

Post by seabass-labrax »

spxneo wrote: post #57
seabass-labrax wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the relationship between A16Z (Andreessen Horowitz, presumably) and this article? Is there in fact any?

its that Andreesseen is engaging in what most would describe as security fraud with crypto and that he feels emboldened by it. lot of voices in washington to make an example out of him. not sure if he's aware

Thanks - I feel I'm still missing a link though, as Andreesseen seems to be all about blockchains and cryptocurrency, and this article is about nefarious uses of generative AI technology by SEO firms. I don't immediately see a common thread.

Re: Fake AI law firms are sending fake DMCA threats to generate fake SEO gains

#129

Post by vkou »

geraldhh wrote: post #98
vkou wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the point is that Western judicial system largely caters to capital not justice. The problem is that there is no way to make it 'fair'. All the proposed reforms are also incredibly unfair, just in a slightly different way from what we have.

money is liquid democracy - kinda sad, but here we are

No, money is the ability to marshal goods and services which in any system with legal representation will lead to better outcomes for you.

Re: Fake AI law firms are sending fake DMCA threats to generate fake SEO gains

#130

Post by dawnerd »

celestialcheese wrote: post #123
dawnerd wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a counter point feels dirty to abuse photographers not catching NC for you to profit.

Really? So in your world, a writer's mistake is abuse, in the same way legal professionals using the copyright system to profit off of a small publishing businesses is? It's like arguing that punitive fines for minor infractions, like jaywalking or speeding, would be justified because "you broke the law". The outrageous maximum penalties ($100k/infringement), the nuance of fair use and copyright law, and the resultin…

Whats abuse is taking advantage of the fact that copyright law is complex and knowing that they don't know they could go after you.

I think we're in agreement that the current copyright system is a joke. It's too complicated and there's too many loopholes that can be exploited.

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