Who runs www.ashemaletube.com

[Tara Emory]

Who are the assholes who run ashemaletube . com?

Someone who was a member to my site basically posted all my content.

When I wrote them a nasty letter (and yeah, I'm livid, because I work very hard to do what I do, not to just get ripped off) asking to have the content removed, I got pointed in the direction of a DMCA Notice & Takedown Policy and Procedures page.

A page which in itself seems designed to discourage anyone from complainig about stolen stuff on their site, and furthermore asks for sensitive legal information that is none of their damn business.

I don't have to prove that all the stuff done for my website is mine, and that it's pretty damn obviously not made for any other website.

So, anyone know who these assholes are?

Seriously, why don't you just come into my house and steal all my stuff. Or here, here's my bank account number. Go out and buy yourself something perrty.

-Tara

[Tara Emory]

what? I can't post the url of the site I'm bitching about? what the fuck?

[Nowhere]

Try putting spaces between the l e t t e r s? :/

[Tara Emory]

got it- but I wasn't able to change it on the topic title...



Just for shits and giggles, here's the letter I wrote to the person who posted all my stuff. Hey- my fans want a personal relationship with me, right? How about one where I crack their kneecaps with a sledge hammer, because that's what I want to do when people steal from me...

"Dear ***,

Would you like it if I never made another video? Or another photo shoot?

Would that please you? Becuase when you join my website and then post pretty much off of my videos onto this site, you're hurting me, and stealing potential customers from me.

And if you think that somehow I make enough to take that big of a hit- or if you think that simply I am part of that "billion dollar industry"- the adult industry, let me tell you, I could probably be making more money flipping burgers.

So if you want to see me in the drive thru saying "you want fries with that?" instead of making inspiring porn, please continue to be a douchebag.

-Tara Emory
http://www.taraemory.com

Oh, and if you think that this isn't me- just check my tweets, I just sent one out especially for you...

http://www.twitter.com/taraemory

[TSMichelleAustin]

They have it blocked here because of the site, it has stolen content and they dont want to drive people to that site. I know they have a lot of stolen stuff from other sites. I am pretty sure seanchai might have some info for you maybe on site, I dont know. I know the reason u cant post site is because they dont want to drive traffic to a site that has stolen goods. It would be best for u too, since ur stuff is on that stolen goods site, u would rather drive traffic to your site and not theirs. I hope u get those bastards! I am in same boat if someone steals my content, because i produce it all myself! So I understand ur frustration!!!

[christianxxx]

DMCA is how you get pirated material taken down. Your lawyer sends them a DMCA notice and they have to comply or their site gets shut down. Or you can threaten them with a lawsuit. Either way you need an attorney.

[Tara Emory]

yeah, it doubly sucks when the person who is posting my stuff is gushing about how great I am and how much they admire me.

Oh please oh please go out on a date with me, so I can torture you to death..

When I see a video on that site and it's only been online for a day, and it has 3000 views. and my site has like a fraction of that in members.. I just give up. And with the people to have the balls to say that about me, and think that somehow they're "spreading the good word" about me... thinking that somehow I'm getting rich off all this.

Thanks to assholes like this, I don't want to make anything new anymore. Why make movies and stuff if they're going to steal them.. Why work for a business that stabs you in the back and publishes your sensitive information on websites, etc. etc..

Tara

[NJfan]

I am sorry you are going through this. From what I've seen and read, you are awesome and you don't deserve this crap. :(

[Tara Emory]

Well, I'm so small potatoes, I don't exaclty "have an attorney".

You know, if I actually made what people think I made, I'd be able to afford one. I'm pissed and unfocussed, and really? right now? I just want to murder them, or - you'd wish that the feds would come after them of something.. Their DMCA form is an insult. They know it's stolen stuff...

Still, i guess I'm going to fill it out. I'm not giving them my personal information though, if i can help it.




tara

[Tara Emory]

no i tried that. Even with a login (I was forced to join that fucking site), it didn't work. I got "login failed' even though I was clearly logged in. not sure what that meant..

They otherwise directed you to the DMCA page where you need to write a snailmail letter to them..etc..

[Tara Emory]

and when I went to the "abuse" page, it suggested this-

"to get access to our removal tool, pls contact us at ashemaletube (at) gmail [dot] com with SUBJECT: "Access to content removal tool". Include your cashprogram name, ICQ contact, login name. "

cashprogram name? wtf?

And ICQ? What is this, 2002?

[Tara Emory]

And yes - My original question is valid.

I do want to know who runs this site, since I don't want to have anything to do with them, even in a money-making sheme.

I would like to find a VOD distributor for my videos, but I won't deal with these guys, and if it turns out that they were such and such a person who's a big player in tranny porn, then well, I'm not doing business with hiim

[NJfan]

no i tried that. Even with a login (I was forced to join that fucking site), it didn't work. I got "login failed' even though I was clearly logged in. not sure what that meant..

They otherwise directed you to the DMCA page where you need to write a snailmail letter to them..etc..

I was tempted to join so I can report it for you but I didn't want to sign up with them in fear of it going against you.

[Random532]

Well, I might be the exception not the rule, but when I see stuff I like on there, I join paid sites to get more of their stuff. So for me it does work like the shop window. I joined TSplayground, Paris P's site and Angeles Cid's and at least a half dozen others as a result of seeing their first stuff on that site, so I wouldn't say it's exclusively bad. That said, I can understand the frustration of seeing 3,000 views in one day - but I can assure you that most of those people aren't potential customers - if they hadn't bashed off to your vid it would have been someone else's (probably also pirated) content.

Also fwiw, a few people try and work cleverly with them and post vidcaps and previews rather than full vids, which I think then does actually encourage people to go join the full site.

Not trying to defend, just saying that free sites are here to stay so it's worth thinking about how you engage with them and what your best strategy is.

[GroobySteven]

Brilliance Tara, seriously, you come on here and complain about a site where you say you can see all your content for free and then try and post a direct link to it - enabling even more people to see it for free???

You act like you've never heard of DMCA or stolen content before, which I find hard to believe. Even as a one girl show, it easy to remove the content. You don't need a lawyer to do it, so I don't know where that mis-information comes from. We sent 1000's of these a day.

It's irrelevant whom the asshole is who runs that site. While it is protected under the US safe-harbour DMCA regulations, as long as he abides by the rules (by removing the content when in receipt of a valid DMCA notification) then you can't do much. Appealing to him directly will do nothing. Deal with it by doing what we do, check multiple times a day and DMCA EVERYTHING when you find it. Do some searching around and you unfortuantely cane find a lot of your content pirated elsewhere.

Email this (cut and paste it) to the email at the bottom of their page.

Replace UPPERCASE with what is asked.

__________________________________________________ _________

Subject : Copyright Infringement. DMCA Notification


DMCA Notification

This is to serve as a DMCA notification of stolen copyright material belonging to YOUR NAME

All material listed below must be removed immediately or I will instruct my legal advisors to bring legal proceedings against your company.

a) I, YOUR NAME as copyright owner am authorized to make the statements below. This serves as an electronic signature.

b) The material listed below has been posted without the permission of myself (YOUR NAME) the copyright holders and is an infringement on my rights.

c) The material is image format.

EXACT LINK TO CONTENT WHERE PAGE IS ON
EXACT LINK TO CONTENT WHERE PAGE IS ON
EXACT LINK TO CONTENT WHERE PAGE IS ON
EXACT LINK TO CONTENT WHERE PAGE IS ON
EXACT LINK TO CONTENT WHERE PAGE IS ON
(ie: http://www.stolencontentsite.com/tarainpink/, http://www.stolencontent site.com/tarainred/, etc)


You can email me 24 hrs on YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS



I, YOUR NAME, state that I am the copyright holder of the above material and I am the sole copyright holder. I neither license or sell the material.

Under penalty of perjury, I am authorized to act on behalf of all the copyright owners named above and that the information given in this statement is accurate

Signed Electronically
YOUR NAME

__________________________________________________

Send me an email stating that as the true copyright holder of the complete works of Tara-Ts.com, you authorize me as a designated DMCA agent able to report your stolen content. admin@grooby.com

If I come across stuff, I'll DMCA it but you really need to be proactive and protect your own stuff.

[GroobySteven]

Well, I might be the exception not the rule, but when I see stuff I like on there, I join paid sites to get more of their stuff. So for me it does work like the shop window. I joined TSplayground, Paris P's site and Angeles Cid's and at least a half dozen others as a result of seeing their first stuff on that site, so I wouldn't say it's exclusively bad. That said, I can understand the frustration of seeing 3,000 views in one day - but I can assure you that most of those people aren't potential customers - if they hadn't bashed off to your vid it would have been someone else's (probably also pirated) content.

Also fwiw, a few people try and work cleverly with them and post vidcaps and previews rather than full vids, which I think then does actually encourage people to go join the full site.

Not trying to defend, just saying that free sites are here to stay so it's worth thinking about how you engage with them and what your best strategy is.

It's not a free site, it's a stolen content site. Any producers working with them are engaging in helping them remain a stolen content site. The numbers of people who may join from one of these sites is so minimum it's not worth it (which is why you generally see higher ticketed banners like personals sites, viagra, electronic cigarettes etc. advertised.

[SammiValentine]

Amazing how many people think we get royalties from that place or similar sites. I have even had clients offer/give me cash when met me after realising (through conversation) that it is stolen content..

True story.:)

[SammiValentine]

Well, I might be the exception not the rule, but when I see stuff I like on there, I join paid sites to get more of their stuff. So for me it does work like the shop window. I joined TSplayground, Paris P's site and Angeles Cid's and at least a half dozen others as a result of seeing their first stuff on that site, so I wouldn't say it's exclusively bad. That said, I can understand the frustration of seeing 3,000 views in one day - but I can assure you that most of those people aren't potential customers - if they hadn't bashed off to your vid it would have been someone else's (probably also pirated) content.

Also fwiw, a few people try and work cleverly with them and post vidcaps and previews rather than full vids, which I think then does actually encourage people to go join the full site.

Not trying to defend, just saying that free sites are here to stay so it's worth thinking about how you engage with them and what your best strategy is.

Legal tubes can do the same, there are some around but they will always be 2nd fiddle when someone is running illegal tube with full scenes, siterips etc. The main point is it is run by an utter cunt who earns a living based on other peoples work with no renumeration to content provider..

[GroobySteven]

Amazing how many people think we get royalties from that place or similar sites. I have even had clients offer/give me cash when met me after realising (through conversation) that it is stolen content..

True story.:)

Give them my checking account.

[SammiValentine]

Give them my checking account.

They may want to bum you first. ??? :)

[GroobySteven]

They may want to bum you first. ??? :)

Let me check the balance and I'll get back to you.

[LibertyHarkness]

just do the dmca and sent it to them .. or find out the ISP of the Tubesite and issue a DMCA on them telling them that a website they host is stealing/distributing illegal content .. ISPS dont like this kind of thing ...

I get this alot ,, I have no attorny, i just have a DMCA template i fill in and send out to any site/company i find using my stolen content..

Just get a standard DMCA notice, get there contact email address and send it to them that way .. I genrally send a DMCA to both the website in question and the ISP that hosts the website.


Libby xxxx

[magicmost]

Hire a hacker and shut down the site.

[Richctdude]

get a lawyer and have them write a letter

[GroobySteven]

get a lawyer and have them write a letter
Are you going to pay for her lawyer?

[GroobyKrissy]

I know it can really, really suck when stuff like this happens but, I've found, it is best just to submit the DMCA notice quietly and let things take their course rather than go off and cause a rumpus. Not that I don't understand the sentiment but I think there are those out there who have the mindset of, 'Well, if you thought that was bad... I'll show you...'

It is terrible to see your life's work put up on a file-sharing site but IMO, if you handle it quietly, it'll be best in the long run.

[SammiValentine]

hi tara , there are a few companies who can help. has anyone spoke to you about pornguardian for example?? if not PM me your email address again and will send you a lil bit of info/advice. i did mail you once i know when i found your siterips but errr i lost a lot of email data not long ago. #doh

xxx

[Tara Emory]

Brilliance Tara, seriously, you come on here and complain about a site where you say you can see all your content for free and then try and post a direct link to it - enabling even more people to see it for free???

You act like you've never heard of DMCA or stolen content before, which I find hard to believe. Even as a one girl show, it easy to remove the content. You don't need a lawyer to do it, so I don't know where that mis-information comes from. We sent 1000's of these a day.

It's irrelevant whom the asshole is who runs that site. While it is protected under the US safe-harbour DMCA regulations, as long as he abides by the rules (by removing the content when in receipt of a valid DMCA notification) then you can't do much. Appealing to him directly will do nothing. Deal with it by doing what we do, check multiple times a day and DMCA EVERYTHING when you find it. Do some searching around and you unfortuantely cane find a lot of your content pirated elsewhere.


Send me an email stating that as the true copyright holder of the complete works of Tara-Ts.com, you authorize me as a designated DMCA agent able to report your stolen content. admin@grooby.com

If I come across stuff, I'll DMCA it but you really need to be proactive and protect your own stuff.

A: I'm not too worried about sending a few more hits to that website, if it means getting some advice and maybe getting somewhere in dealing with this problem

b: As to my knowledge of DMCA and all that -would you believe that I actually spend most of my time creating and just surviving that I have little time for anything else? Sorry, I can't physically be checking this stuff several times a day. And though I knew it was happening in small amount (i had seen stuff i did for other sites all over tube sites), I hadn't seen content from my own website in any large amounts - so I wasn't the legal authority on having the other stuff removed.

I will do all that- just that their DMCA page talked about sending stuff via snailmail. etc..

However, the more that I think about this, the more I am thinking of talking to a lawyer. Do you remember a court case a few years back where a woman was sued for millions by the record industry for mp3's?

When a small-time operation sees my videos that reach only hundreds of members on my site- now on a website where the I estimate the total amount of views at (hang on, let me add them up...) ...1,662,740 views. If I valued each viewing at $.50 then I'd still be looking at damages in the $800,000 range. And that's just from the ones from my site- not even counting stuff from other sites.

I'm really thinking about it...

Think about it.. When you send a DMCA notice, all you're doing is stopping the bleeding- you're not healing the wound. I'm starting to think that maybe sites like this need to be sued- not "threatend to be sued", but actually sued...

-Tara

[Tara Emory]

I do admit. I sorta flipped out and took a tantrum. But I'm far more focussed today, and really thinking of the legal options- Have any tube sites in the straight porn world ever gotten shut down? I'm starting to think we need to have a Napster moment here...

-Tara

[Tara Emory]

And I have to say, I'm sick of this attitude that "well, maybe you should work WITH them instead of against them"... and the whole business model that they have that "Well, we're doing illegal things, but it's okay if we get away with it, and you have to tell us what illegal videos up on our site are illegally up there"

gee.. ALL of them?

[TheGuard]

Unfortunately if this trend doesn't stop, profits will dry up and there will be no new content. There needs to be some serious changes made.

[GroobySteven]

A: I'm not too worried about sending a few more hits to that website, if it means getting some advice and maybe getting somewhere in dealing with this problem

b: As to my knowledge of DMCA and all that -would you believe that I actually spend most of my time creating and just surviving that I have little time for anything else? Sorry, I can't physically be checking this stuff several times a day. And though I knew it was happening in small amount (i had seen stuff i did for other sites all over tube sites), I hadn't seen content from my own website in any large amounts - so I wasn't the legal authority on having the other stuff removed.

I will do all that- just that their DMCA page talked about sending stuff via snailmail. etc..

However, the more that I think about this, the more I am thinking of talking to a lawyer. Do you remember a court case a few years back where a woman was sued for millions by the record industry for mp3's?

When a small-time operation sees my videos that reach only hundreds of members on my site- now on a website where the I estimate the total amount of views at (hang on, let me add them up...) ...1,662,740 views. If I valued each viewing at $.50 then I'd still be looking at damages in the $800,000 range. And that's just from the ones from my site- not even counting stuff from other sites.

I'm really thinking about it...

Think about it.. When you send a DMCA notice, all you're doing is stopping the bleeding- you're not healing the wound. I'm starting to think that maybe sites like this need to be sued- not "threatend to be sued", but actually sued...

-Tara

If you are not worried about sending more hits to that site, then I am - that's why it's blocked and why when you saw that, you should have respected it.

Jeez ... yes you're frustrated, we all are. We're all getting hit and I've spent $10,000's on legal action in the last couple of years and had a few good results, I'm also currently part of a large action.


Tara, I'm trying not to be patronizing here but do you think you're the first person who has thought about legal action against a site like this? They're protected under the law and they skirt around the law. We have some of the top lawyers in the industry working with us - you need to trust me on this, don't waste your time. Sign up to the Xbiz.net forum for industry and see what's going on there, you'll get far better feedback then this forum. In a nutshell, the only way you're going to currently get content removed, is by sending a DMCA notification and the only way to have any impact is to check daily. If you can't afford 5 mins in the morning and 5 mins in the evening (it would probably take less than that if you're on top of it) then you're going to continue to get ripped.
I run a company with 20+ employees and even though we have a fulltime DMCA agent, I still check in and see if anything of ours has been added to remove it immediately.

I don't believe you should work with them. I refuse to but I choose my battles and if they're unwinnable then I'll wait until they are winnable or find other battles. We've managed to stay competitive because of the actions we've taken and having fulltime anti-piracy staff (as well as continuing with a good product) but it has been difficult and very costly. If it wasn't for piracy we probably would have had more hires, more content, more products, etc.

You have my email address if you need further advice but don't waste your time or money with a lawyer. If you have a DMCA template as I've given, it's minutes.

[SammiValentine]

There are affordable ways to fight this, and save your time for what you do best. As I posted earlier. x I know it seems unfair but many businesses have to pay to protect their product, thats how I look at it.

[Tara Emory]

Yes, it's true. I do need to stay on top of this.

No, I know I'm not the first person who has thought of suing (or has). A simple search shows that it's happening all the time.

http://gigaom.com/video/porn-studio-sues-tube-site-wants-1-35m/

wow.. reading about that lawsuit (which sadly, they think is going nowhere)- they're only citing 20,000 views of one title- I've had one (albeit short) video that's gotten 745,000 views in 565 days!

You know, I can take one or two videos being posted that maybe drive some traffic to my site. But rampant theft of 65+ videos... all with people posting comments about how much they like and admire me (when I want to fucking rip their heads off!)

So these sites have the law protecting them. How?

-Tara

[LibertyHarkness]

it sucks but its how it is these days ..

also many of the bigger tube sites are not applicable to uk/usa law .. as the sites are not hosted in the usa/eu ....so there is nothing to be done .

[GroobySteven]

it sucks but its how it is these days ..

also many of the bigger tube sites are not applicable to uk/usa law .. as the sites are not hosted in the usa/eu ....so there is nothing to be done .

Not entirely correct. Firstly, almost everyone of them is hosted in the US/Europe, secondly if they're using a .com/.net or other US type domain name there can be action taken there and finally, if they're taking any type of billing it's almost always US/Euro based.
Tube sites can run with impunity until someone proves (as has been done) that they're breaking the DMCA safe harbour.

[Tara Emory]

And no, I don't think I'm the first person who has thought of suing- it's just that so many people sorta have this attitude of "meh" about it, and those people running those sites count on that to keep letting them get away with it.

I would be very interested in being a party in a group lawsuit. When one considers the amount of views my videos gets on a site like this- in proportion to what I make on my own website I think the words "damages" can be substantial- even if the prospect of making anything off a lawsuit seems like small potatoes to a big producer.

[SammiValentine]

For a fee the equivalent of an evening or two on webcam or say 2 clients can pay for pornguardian for a month.

Fight the good fight! :-)

[GroobySteven]

Yes, it's true. I do need to stay on top of this.

No, I know I'm not the first person who has thought of suing (or has). A simple search shows that it's happening all the time.

http://gigaom.com/video/porn-studio-sues-tube-site-wants-1-35m/

wow.. reading about that lawsuit (which sadly, they think is going nowhere)- they're only citing 20,000 views of one title- I've had one (albeit short) video that's gotten 745,000 views in 565 days!

You know, I can take one or two videos being posted that maybe drive some traffic to my site. But rampant theft of 65+ videos... all with people posting comments about how much they like and admire me (when I want to fucking rip their heads off!)

So these sites have the law protecting them. How?

-Tara

Tube sites notoriously lie about the amount of views a video has, this is so they can try and sell their traffic for more and so people think their site is more popular than it actually is.
Ripping ONE video is a breach of your copyright, ripping the whole site is more than malicious.
The law protecting them is the DMCA law, set up so hosts and user uploaded sites like Youtube, Facebook couldn't be sued for content that one of their users uploaded as long as they took the relevant action.

If you can find the uploader as we've managed to do (watch this space) or prove that the tube site's didn't behave correctly DMCA law, then you might have them. Currently Oron which is a filelocker is being sued by a number of companies, which we're following closely, this is actually far worse than a tube site so it's going to be great to see them burn.

[SammiValentine]

And no, I don't think I'm the first person who has thought of suing- it's just that so many people sorta have this attitude of "meh" about it, and those people running those sites count on that to keep letting them get away with it.

I would be very interested in being a party in a group lawsuit. When one considers the amount of views my videos gets on a site like this- in proportion to what I make on my own website I think the words "damages" can be substantial- even if the prospect of making anything off a lawsuit seems like small potatoes to a big producer.

A lot more of your stuff (far worse) will have been shared in various other places, such as these twats who currently have their e-pants round their ankles, lets hop they get their backdolors smashed in

http://www.xbiz.com/news/150302


The industry is fighting back , its just a very hard fight. Especially in these global economic conditions.

[SammiValentine]

Tube sites notoriously lie about the amount of views a video has, this is so they can try and sell their traffic for more and so people think their site is more popular than it actually is.
Ripping ONE video is a breach of your copyright, ripping the whole site is more than malicious.
The law protecting them is the DMCA law, set up so hosts and user uploaded sites like Youtube, Facebook couldn't be sued for content that one of their users uploaded as long as they took the relevant action.

If you can find the uploader as we've managed to do (watch this space) or prove that the tube site's didn't behave correctly DMCA law, then you might have them. Currently Oron which is a filelocker is being sued by a number of companies, which we're following closely, this is actually far worse than a tube site so it's going to be great to see them burn.

beat me to it ;-)

[GroobySteven]

And no, I don't think I'm the first person who has thought of suing- it's just that so many people sorta have this attitude of "meh" about it, and those people running those sites count on that to keep letting them get away with it.

I would be very interested in being a party in a group lawsuit. When one considers the amount of views my videos gets on a site like this- in proportion to what I make on my own website I think the words "damages" can be substantial- even if the prospect of making anything off a lawsuit seems like small potatoes to a big producer.

You're preaching to the converted. I've been trying to get people onto this for years and only a handful have came forward and offered (like Ms. Valentine, Krissy, etc.) most of the bigger companies are too lazy or just making enough money of their models sites to really bother about working with others. A group of us on an tranny adult webmaster board (see PM) have been active against pirates for a few yrs by working together, this includes Ecstatic, Krissy, LB69 group, etc. and Grooby has had a lot of success against piracy and known as a company that has quite the opposite to the "meh" attitude.
I've had to learn in the past few yrs that as passionate as I can be about this and helping people out with anti-piracy, hasn't returned the same favours from those other companies, so we've became more insular and watched out for ourselves as well as few solo girls and friends/colleagues websites.

[Wendy Summers]

You're preaching to the converted. I've been trying to get people onto this for years and only a handful have came forward and offered (like Ms. Valentine, Krissy, etc.) most of the bigger companies are too lazy or just making enough money of their models sites to really bother about working with others. A group of us on an tranny adult webmaster board (see PM) have been active against pirates for a few yrs by working together, this includes Ecstatic, Krissy, LB69 group, etc. and Grooby has had a lot of success against piracy and known as a company that has quite the opposite to the "meh" attitude.
I've had to learn in the past few yrs that as passionate as I can be about this and helping people out with anti-piracy, hasn't returned the same favours from those other companies, so we've became more insular and watched out for ourselves as well as few solo girls and friends/colleagues websites.

I was going to start a thread on this to not derail Tara's vent, but since you raised it here, I'll say I'm grateful for Grooby's work in this area both as a model and as a content owner. When I first signed up for the Grooby Network, the anti-piracy elements were touted as a key part of what they offered. At the time I dismissed it, but now that I'm knee deep in, I'm grateful for it. Grooby has been at the forefront of the fight for the TS porn Industry and has gone above and beyond in the fight for interests beyond their own. I honestly don't think you all get your fair due for the efforts you have made on behalf of everyone.

Tara, listen to Seanchai on this... he's spot on.

[GroobySteven]

Tara, listen to Seanchai on this... he's spot on.

I think this is a first for me!
Thanks Wendy!

[Wendy Summers]

I think this is a first for me!
Thanks Wendy!

Don't let it get to your head. ;)

[spko]

Sometimes prevention is better than cure and protecting your livlihood also means investing money in the things we usually don't think matter. Many adult websites have all their content deeply embedded making it difficult to be be ripped and stolen digitally. You might want to have your site redesigned this way, it wont necessarily be expensive - you just have to know what to ask for then get people to test it throughly.

If your sites security is outdated or badly designed then all it takes is one idiot to download all of your work and share it for free. The worst part is if they are a member they can keep doing it with whatever you upload.

Redesign the site, get professionals to close the loopholes and give it a fresh facelist to entice new customers and old customers back.

[GroobyKrissy]

Sometimes prevention is better than cure and protecting your livlihood also means investing money in the things we usually don't think matter. Many adult websites have all their content deeply embedded making it difficult to be be ripped and stolen digitally. You might want to have your site redesigned this way, it wont necessarily be expensive - you just have to know what to ask for then get people to test it throughly.

If your sites security is outdated or badly designed then all it takes is one idiot to download all of your work and share it for free. The worst part is if they are a member they can keep doing it with whatever you upload.

Redesign the site, get professionals to close the loopholes and give it a fresh facelist to entice new customers and old customers back.

I am in a bad mood right now so I will respond to this. Ummm... NO.

You can have all the security in the world but if someone wants to rip your site, they're going to do it. All you're basically stating is that it is up to the owners to pour resources into protecting what is rightfully theirs... which is like saying if you don't want to get your house broken into, then you need to put up fences and hire a security firm... otherwise, well, too bad for you.

How about individual responsibility and respecting the rights that people have as creators of content? Let's start the conversation there. This approach is a non-starter to me.

And you're wrong... investing in security protocols for an independent site (and I'd imagine even for a larger company) IS expensive... prohibitively so.

[TSPornFan]

The funny thing is you can't download anything from her site. I was a member there were no download options.

[GroobySteven]

Sometimes prevention is better than cure and protecting your livlihood also means investing money in the things we usually don't think matter. Many adult websites have all their content deeply embedded making it difficult to be be ripped and stolen digitally. You might want to have your site redesigned this way, it wont necessarily be expensive - you just have to know what to ask for then get people to test it throughly.

If your sites security is outdated or badly designed then all it takes is one idiot to download all of your work and share it for free. The worst part is if they are a member they can keep doing it with whatever you upload.

Redesign the site, get professionals to close the loopholes and give it a fresh facelist to entice new customers and old customers back.

Sorry mate, ABSOLUTE rubbish. I don't know a site that can't be copied no matter what they do digitally. That's a fact. We're not dealing with amateur surfers we're dealing with people who generally do this for a living (albeit illegal).
The most you'd do is have a lot of pissed off members because they'd have software issues or would want to download the content.

[Random532]

It's not a free site, it's a stolen content site. Any producers working with them are engaging in helping them remain a stolen content site. The numbers of people who may join from one of these sites is so minimum it's not worth it (which is why you generally see higher ticketed banners like personals sites, viagra, electronic cigarettes etc. advertised.

Honestly, I didn't realise/didn't really rationalise whether it was probably totally illegal until you posted this, but frankly, given I pay well over £500 a year on various sites and contribute in plenty of other ways, I'm going to manage to sleep OK and continue to use the site. If it gets shut down, honestly, that'd be a pity for me for pure variety reasons, but not exactly catastrophic to my porn experience.

[Wendy Summers]

Honestly, I didn't realise/didn't really rationalise whether it was probably totally illegal until you posted this, but frankly, given I pay well over £500 a year on various sites and contribute in plenty of other ways, I'm going to manage to sleep OK and continue to use the site. If it gets shut down, honestly, that'd be a pity for me for pure variety reasons, but not exactly catastrophic to my porn experience.

Kind of a selfish attitude given if you look at content of folks like Tara, Libby or myself there, you aren't stealing from the Industry - you're participating in stealing from us. A number of us are our own production companies - financing our porn out of our own income - so spending "£500 a year on various sites and contribute in plenty of other ways" is in no way a legitimate moral rationalization for for the theft. £500 wouldn't even cover the cost of 1 months production on my website and that's before I see any income in my own pocket.

If you like a girl; if you like content: BUY IT! Other wise we all go away and don't make any more.

[BluegrassCat]

Two charts from google analytics showing unique daily visitors for first, the site-that-shall-not-be-named.com and second, Grooby.com (the scales are very different). I wonder if SeanChai or other industry folks would comment on whether there's a relationship here or if this is even the proper comparison or if there's some other crowding-out data.

Thanks.

[Nowhere]

You know,

I may have not said this before, but this isn't ever going to end until you get sort of an "itunes" for porn. Even if the the videos are pulled or the site is shut down, another one will pop up right in it's place. You need something BETTER than it, and perceived as affordable, and people will flock to it.

What I mean by an "itunes" for porn is this:

1. Somthing private, since no one wants any bill coming back with anything related to porn that someone else can read, especially tporn
2. Something widespread and easily usable everywhere, namely at least equally easy to use as the current 'free' sites
3. Something where the quality is consistently good
4. Something that, at least, appears to always be in people's 'disposable income" budget.

That's why people left using torrents for movies on the internet via Netflix, Itunes, vuvu, etc. It was:

1. Something billing could be kept private (although not as important as porn)
2. Easily and immediately usable. Just point and click and you get it, with the bare minimum, at least being able to stream immediately, which was equal or better to illegal torrents
3. The quality was consistently good, which quality includes the download time, which made it more worthwhile than spending 6 hours waiting to get a movie that might or might not be a wobbly version of the dark knight rises filmed at a shed in China.
4. Buying a movie (or a song) was only a few to maybe 20 dollars each, which registers as "ok" for most people.

This is the same thing.

I am quite sure if there was a porn equivalent to itunes, as I just listed, all the people who use would be more than happy to pay, say, $1 per play per scene. After all, what's a dollar?

But, more importantly, they'd also likely see well more than one scene a day, which would make it be like up to $60-90 per person per month (the creep effect, like all the additional costs for ticketmaster or airlines). And, they'd especially like it if bascially none of the porn were kept on their computer (privacy), especially in the cloud. And, they can have all their stars and the scenes they're in, linked, with social interaction, like what's on that site, link it to cams, starts' sites, etc. And, just like itunes, the money can go directly to the media creator, whether it is an individual or a studio.

See how that's the only real solution?

Otherwise you're chasing a ghost forever. And, sure, there will always be some black market. And, there will always be moonshine. But, why would I get moonshine, when I can get Belvedere with the cash in my pocket anywhere and everywhere I go (and I don't have to keep on re-registering at ever single store to get it).

It's the same thing as the "Game of Thrones" cartoon explaining it:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

[Wendy Summers]

Two charts from google analytics showing unique daily visitors for first, the site-that-shall-not-be-named.com and second, Grooby.com (the scales are very different). I wonder if SeanChai or other industry folks would comment on whether there's a relationship here or if this is even the proper comparison or if there's some other crowding-out data.

Thanks.

My day job is all about analytics and your comparison here's pretty poorly framed and likely wouldn't yield any valuable or tell tale data. First, you've selected a non-content blog website for Grooby - not a fair test; Second, I'm assuming the website in question doesn't feature simply TS porn; without a way to accurately segment their traffic into TS porn there will be too much noise. Third, you'd truly need some sort of test/ control. Given Grooby's largely policed and restricted illegal content from their website they COULD serve as a control group for say an analysis on Shemale Stokers who's done largely nothing to protect their content; Fourth this only talks about traffic to the website... not sales... which really is the gold standard. To do a real survey of the impact you'd need to look both at traffic and conversion rates of the traffic.

That's off the top of my head.

[lifeisfiction]

Ohh, so you're an analyst, now that makes a lot of sense. So I guess you have charts on everyone :p

[GroobyKrissy]

You know,

I may have not said this before, but this isn't ever going to end until you get sort of an "itunes" for porn. Even if the the videos are pulled or the site is shut down, another one will pop up right in it's place. You need something BETTER than it, and perceived as affordable, and people will flock to it.

What I mean by an "itunes" for porn is this:

1. Somthing private, since no one wants any bill coming back with anything related to porn that someone else can read, especially tporn
2. Something widespread and easily usable everywhere, namely at least equally easy to use as the current 'free' sites
3. Something where the quality is consistently good
4. Something that, at least, appears to always be in people's 'disposable income" budget.

That's why people left using torrents for movies on the internet via Netflix, Itunes, vuvu, etc. It was:

1. Something billing could be kept private (although not as important as porn)
2. Easily and immediately usable. Just point and click and you get it, with the bare minimum, at least being able to stream immediately, which was equal or better to illegal torrents
3. The quality was consistently good, which quality includes the download time, which made it more worthwhile than spending 6 hours waiting to get a movie that might or might not be a wobbly version of the dark knight rises filmed at a shed in China.
4. Buying a movie (or a song) was only a few to maybe 20 dollars each, which registers as "ok" for most people.

This is the same thing.

I am quite sure if there was a porn equivalent to itunes, as I just listed, all the people who use a*shemale*tu*be would be more than happy to pay, say, $1 per play per scene. After all, what's a dollar?

But, more importantly, they'd also likely see well more than one scene a day, which would make it be like up to $60-90 per person per month (the creep effect, like all the additional costs for ticketmaster or airlines). And, they'd especially like it if bascially none of the porn were kept on their computer (privacy), especially in the cloud. And, they can have all their stars and the scenes they're in, linked, with social interaction, like what's on that site, link it to cams, starts' sites, etc. And, just like itunes, the money can go directly to the media creator, whether it is an individual or a studio.

See how that's the only real solution?

Otherwise you're chasing a ghost forever. And, sure, there will always be some black market. And, there will always be moonshine. But, why would I get moonshine, when I can get Belvedere with the cash in my pocket anywhere and everywhere I go (and I don't have to keep on re-registering at ever single store to get it).

It's the same thing as the "Game of Thrones" cartoon explaining it:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

I think this has been discussed ad nauseam before and although the reasoning sounds coherent on the surface, its premise is fatally flawed. You simply cannot compare mainstream media with porn... the two are not related (although I'll obviously concede the point that there is crossover).

Briefly, with mainstream anything, you're not dealing with laws, social behavior, 'taboos', and etc. I don't believe an iTunes model would work for the porn environment. All you'd be doing is making it less expensive and easier for those who want to rip off creative content. As I stated before, for those who want to, the price is typically not the objection. Without going into all the psychology behind it, it is the adulation and power that most content thieves want. Anyway... you just can't get over the fatal flaw at the premise of this reasoning...?

[onmyknees]

Damn...that's calis and as someone suggested.......milicious. A 2 minute tube vid is one thing...the entire site content is something far more damaging. I see no difference if someone stole a motorcyle I built from a public parking lot. Try seeking relief from the city....good luck. It reminds me of shopkeepers who have to pay protection money to thugs. They're damned if they do....really damned if they fight it. I like Tara enough to join her site...maybe I'll do that.

[BluegrassCat]

My day job is all about analytics and your comparison here's pretty poorly framed and likely wouldn't yield any valuable or tell tale data. First, you've selected a non-content blog website for Grooby - not a fair test; Second, I'm assuming the website in question doesn't feature simply TS porn; without a way to accurately segment their traffic into TS porn there will be too much noise. Third, you'd truly need some sort of test/ control. Given Grooby's largely policed and restricted illegal content from their website they COULD serve as a control group for say an analysis on Shemale Stokers who's done largely nothing to protect their content; Fourth this only talks about traffic to the website... not sales... which really is the gold standard. To do a real survey of the impact you'd need to look both at traffic and conversion rates of the traffic.

That's off the top of my head.

This is a quick and dirty comparison using what google provides. The other site is the ts-tube site that's blocked on here so it is only ts porn. So do you have any data on this?

[SammiValentine]

Your data shows a tubes growth from start date to present day and how it has gained traffic in a relatively short amount of time, and we all know how and why :) I am not quite clear on what your trying to say re the data tbh.

[Ecstatic]

You're preaching to the converted. I've been trying to get people onto this for years and only a handful have came forward and offered (like Ms. Valentine, Krissy, etc.) most of the bigger companies are too lazy or just making enough money of their models sites to really bother about working with others. A group of us on an tranny adult webmaster board (see PM) have been active against pirates for a few yrs by working together, this includes Ecstatic, Krissy, LB69 group, etc. and Grooby has had a lot of success against piracy and known as a company that has quite the opposite to the "meh" attitude.
I've had to learn in the past few yrs that as passionate as I can be about this and helping people out with anti-piracy, hasn't returned the same favours from those other companies, so we've became more insular and watched out for ourselves as well as few solo girls and friends/colleagues websites.
It's an uphill battle, no doubt, but Seanchai has been a leader--maybe the leader--in this battle and us smaller companies and individuals owe Grooby a lot of thanks for this effort. I host Krissy's site, and she and I have fought many a battle against hackers and password sharers and the like. I've implemented a range of security features on the server which help protect our content, but as Seanchai says, professionals can find their way around any such protection. I'm a good webmaster (16 years experience), and I have a tech support person who's one of the best IT gurus I've ever known, but it's still a struggle. DMCA whenever it comes up.

There's an old Taoist saying, from the Tao Te Ching, which says "he who owns much takes the lead in theft." But since we do own our intellectual property (photos, videos, etc.), then we have to do what we can to prevent and avert theft.

[Nowhere]

I think this has been discussed ad nauseam before and although the reasoning sounds coherent on the surface, its premise is fatally flawed. You simply cannot compare mainstream media with porn... the two are not related (although I'll obviously concede the point that there is crossover).

Briefly, with mainstream anything, you're not dealing with laws, social behavior, 'taboos', and etc. I don't believe an iTunes model would work for the porn environment. All you'd be doing is making it less expensive and easier for those who want to rip off creative content. As I stated before, for those who want to, the price is typically not the objection. Without going into all the psychology behind it, it is the adulation and power that most content thieves want. Anyway... you just can't get over the fatal flaw at the premise of this reasoning...?

No, there is no flaw. It's really simple.

People are lazy and if it's not really a pain, will properly pay for most things so that they'll avoid problems / annoyances (legal or just crappy media).

It's really that simple. Do you know how annoying it is to have to register for every single different website out there? If all porn sites linked to a centralized system for purchasing, and even better, one that had a good database so you can find every scene of a single star or by type of porn, or a mix of that, etc, people would be all over it, versus the chaos of the current legal and illegal alternatives.

And, you're WAY overthinking it if you think "adulation and power" is even at the level most people want. People just want EASY. That's it. Why would people rip things off when they can just pay for it, get better quality video, new stuff all the time, not have to search high and low for it, and it's just there, all for something they can afford? The fact that there's thousand and thousands of disconnected legal porn sites actually encourages people to create ones like this thread has, since it's one stop shopping (and it doesn't exist in a legal fashion). I feel the industry has been shooting itself in the foot in the current way it's been doing things, just like RIAA did before itunes and amazon music, things like that...

[Tara Emory]

The funny thing is you can't download anything from her site. I was a member there were no download options.

No download options? It's not my fault if you don't know how to right-click or (on a mac) crtl-click on the video icon and then select "save link as"

I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the capabilities of your browser.

And true, I don't do the whole zip file thing. I do infact want to make it a teensy weensy bit difficult to download everything (though some people seem to have programs that instantly know what I just put up and they do siterips).

If I had my druthers, all the photos on the site would only be viewable when you're on the site, and would be non downloadable at all.

-tara

[GroobyKrissy]

No, there is no flaw. It's really simple.

People are lazy and if it's not really a pain, will properly pay for most things so that they'll avoid problems / annoyances (legal or just crappy media).

It's really that simple. Do you know how annoying it is to have to register for every single different website out there? If all porn sites linked to a centralized system for purchasing, and even better, one that had a good database so you can find every scene of a single star or by type of porn, or a mix of that, etc, people would be all over it, versus the chaos of the current legal and illegal alternatives.

And, you're WAY overthinking it if you think "adulation and power" is even at the level most people want. People just want EASY. That's it. Why would people rip things off when they can just pay for it, get better quality video, new stuff all the time, not have to search high and low for it, and it's just there, all for something they can afford? The fact that there's thousand and thousands of disconnected legal porn sites actually encourages people to create ones like this thread has, since it's one stop shopping (and it doesn't exist in a legal fashion). I feel the industry has been shooting itself in the foot in the current way it's been doing things, just like RIAA did before itunes and amazon music, things like that...

Come now... you really cannot see the difference between selling the latest Mariah Carey song and the latest scene of some girl getting her ass double penetrated by two big dicks... and logically follow those two business models to their conclusions?

If you're saying that most people would (always) pay $1.99 for access to just one scene vs. $19.99 (sometimes) for access to an entire catalog of scenes when it comes to porn... ummm... NO. People who understand the obligation to pay for access to another person's creative work will pay for it regardless of price (within reason). People who do not, will not... regardless of price.

If you're theorizing that an aggregation of all porn into one space would kill off piracy... that is also plain wrong. Piracy is just as rampant today in the music industry as it was before the creation of aggregated catalogs like iTunes... the difference is simply the method has changed. Aggregation of one's sexuality is far different from aggregation of ones musical taste.

Think this through. There is really no reason why piracy exists (I'm talking beyond the pure $... which is obvious) apart from the fact that people want to be noticed. Money, sex, power. People are really much more simple that you think. Take money out of the equation and motivating factors usually come down to sex and power. In this case, sex is out and the only thing left is power... which translates to adulation from fellow thieves. That is a simplification of the process.

What causes people to write responses such as yours is the need to alleviate ones' guilt over stealing by making excuses. Basically, your arguments come down to excuses.

"People are lazy..." EXCUSE
"...annoying it is to have to register..." EXCUSE
"People just want it easy..." EXCUSE

As stated, those who understand (and I think this is the vast majority) that one's creative work should be respected and compensated, will find a way to pay for access to it. Those who do not, will not. The arguments that it needs to be 'easier' or 'less expensive' are just excuses for those who cannot exercise the decency and self control to regulate their own lives and modify their behavior accordingly.

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but I really have no tolerance at all for those who try to justify piracy and / or usage of sites supporting it. I firmly believe that most everyone, deep down, understands that these sites are, in fact, stealing but a few make the conscious choice to ignore it by making excuses, however illogical.

Apologies to the OP for tangents... I just hate letting people get away with lame arguments about this topic.

[NJfan]

If I had my druthers, all the photos on the site would only be viewable when you're on the site, and would be non downloadable at all.

-tara


Fetlife.com has that set up.

[Tara Emory]

Sometimes prevention is better than cure and protecting your livlihood also means investing money in the things we usually don't think matter. Many adult websites have all their content deeply embedded making it difficult to be be ripped and stolen digitally. You might want to have your site redesigned this way, it wont necessarily be expensive - you just have to know what to ask for then get people to test it throughly.

If your sites security is outdated or badly designed then all it takes is one idiot to download all of your work and share it for free. The worst part is if they are a member they can keep doing it with whatever you upload.

Redesign the site, get professionals to close the loopholes and give it a fresh facelist to entice new customers and old customers back.

Yes, yes and yes (to the three suggestions at the end of your very helpful message), that's what I think I need to do..

-Tara

[Helvis2012]

Maybe you can begin by calling one of those TV attorneys that provide a free first consultation. They'll listen to your complaint and then tell you whether or not you have a case. You obviously do have a case and if you derive income from your website, there could be serious repercussions for the thief.
Generally, take-down notices are as far it goes for amateur content, but if this is your business, it gets more complicated. Regardless, you need to talk to a lawyer to find out exactly what your rights are and then, how to proceed.
Good luck. I hope you nail the fuckers.

[GroobySteven]

Maybe you can begin by calling one of those TV attorneys that provide a free first consultation. They'll listen to your complaint and then tell you whether or not you have a case. You obviously do have a case and if you derive income from your website, there could be serious repercussions for the thief.
Generally, take-down notices are as far it goes for amateur content, but if this is your business, it gets more complicated. Regardless, you need to talk to a lawyer to find out exactly what your rights are and then, how to proceed.
Good luck. I hope you nail the fuckers.

Don't do it. They have no experience in anything like this.
Unfortuantely, as I've stated - she doesn't have a case based on the evidence she has.
I wish people would just fucking listen to me for once, I've spent a lot of time and money on piracy/anti-piracy and had some good success on it. I know more about it than most of the adult industry and the ones who know more, I work with.
I've also wasted money on a few - so I've seen both sides.

[Helvis2012]

Sounds like good advice. I'd trust someone with experience with this kind of thing.

[Tara Emory]

Well, the stuff came down after a DMCA request.. Plus I pretty much shamed the person who did all the uploading (who, like some of these uploaders, considers himself a fan though they don't know what damage it does to my career and my personal quest for success in this business...), so I guess that's a win too.

Still, I had some asshole on the forums there slamming me for defending my right to my ownership of it, and then turning around and saying I'm not as pretty as (and then he picked two girls who are friends of mine and like my work,) ** ** which i found ironic...

-tara

[Jamie French]

My site is streaming only. I just use FlowPlayer and encode everything as a high quality FLV in Adobe Media Encoder. My philosophy is to treat your pay site like a country club membership... you pay to get in and enjoy the facilities but you don't get to take the golf course home with you when you leave. Some stuff will get ripped from time to time without a doubt but it happens so infrequently that DMCA scans once a week are a breeze when I go to all the major tube 'hubs'.

In two years I've had maybe 5 complaints about being able to download stuff. I explain my 'golf course' idea and they seem to stay at bay.

The previous generation was trained to right click and save, it's up to us to train the next generation to pay up for the good stuff, watch it and realize that's the end of the transaction.

Want to sell clips that they can download? Put select clips in a clips4sale store and provide a link to said store through one of their useful widgets... that's what I do and it's worked like gangbusters,


No download options? It's not my fault if you don't know how to right-click or (on a mac) crtl-click on the video icon and then select "save link as"

I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the capabilities of your browser.

And true, I don't do the whole zip file thing. I do infact want to make it a teensy weensy bit difficult to download everything (though some people seem to have programs that instantly know what I just put up and they do siterips).

If I had my druthers, all the photos on the site would only be viewable when you're on the site, and would be non downloadable at all.

-tara

[Jamie French]

In addition to the post I just made...

Pro-Tip: Ask that particular tube site, (I know which one it is) to join your affiliate program. Once they join, drop there rev share to 1%. Upload some promo content that you deem appropriate under your own made up account so you get some traffic from them and send in a few DMCA requests for all the stuff that you didn't upload, explain to them that they are now an affiliate and they will respond much quicker and leave your promo stuff untouched... bam, instant controlled traffic at 99% rev share and perceived intensive for the tube site to keep things clean. Works for me.

[TSMichelleAustin]

Fetlife.com has that set up.

And crazy thing is FL lets people post copyrighted and pirated stuff all the time! They dont monitor that stuff. And they make you donate money to watch videos. Big companies have no clue their stuff is on there because only way you can find out is by being a member, paying and looking to see if your stuff is there. I have sent them emails over and over, about peoples pics being stolen, etc. They dont care.

[Token Williams-Black]

Ms. French, those are two excellent ideas.

[Jericho]

Fetlife.com has that set up.

It doesn't work there, either. :shrug