Trying not to panic...

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Laura B

Just got a Google Alert and found that my course has found its way onto a torrent download site. Just great. I knew it was only a matter of time.

What can I do, if anything, other than give absolutely no support no free hosting no nuthin' to anyone who didn't buy it legally?

I wouldnt panic. It happens to all of us. Find out how the site handles removal of those files then email them the proper info and you are done... unless it is on a certain forum, then it is a little harder.

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VanessaB 13 years ago

Turn it to your advantage.

How?

Can you join the torrent site under a fake name? If so, do it. If it has a place to comment on the torrent, comment about what an awesome course it is, then suggest that the support is unbelievably good and recommend that they purchase a membership for said support.

That's just one suggestion. I'll let you know if I come up with anymore.

-Dani
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Laura B

13 years ago

Thank you, Charles and Dani, for the advice. I didn't realize you could request removal. I have written the following letter:

I’m requesting immediate removal of the download links to my e-course on your site. They have been placed there illegally. Here’s the page in question:

link here

My name is Laura Burke. I wrote this course in 2009 and first made it available for sale in November of that year. It is a 270-page, 55-lesson course in affiliate marketing called the Affiliate Marketing Schoolbook. It is sold for $97 from my own site, which is (site link).

I have not placed this link on your site, nor has anyone designated by me.

Under penalty of perjury, I state that the information I’ve given in this notification is accurate and that as the writer and owner of the Affiliate Marketing Schoolbook, I have the authority to make this request.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience to tell me that these illegal links have been removed. My contact information is below. Thank you!

What do you think? I hope it works.

Dani, I have to say I'm not sure anyone downloading an illegal copy would care about support (and of course they won't get any since I verify that someone has paid for the course before giving them any of the bonuses or support) but then I haven't encountered this before, so I do appreciate your suggestion.

Thanks

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infoshot

13 years ago

How about that for making lemonade out of lemons! That is an awesome Idea.
Really

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Matt Morgan 13 years ago

Originally Posted by infoshot

How about that for making lemonade out of lemons! That is an awesome Idea.
Really

or Orange juice out of oranges.

Anyway i wouldn't worry about it, it happens all the time, and this kind of thing can only be reduced, not 100% stopped.
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pbarnhart 13 years ago

Is it a torrent site or a file hosting site?? There is a huge difference.

torrents are not hosted anywhere - there are search tools to locate torrents, and these have been successfully sued - but torrents themselves are on personal machines. Since they reside simultaneously on dozens and not hundreds of machines, they cannot be 'taken down'

There are ways to fight this - generally by creating your own torrent with the same name, and stuffing it with 10% good stuff and 90% garbage and distributing it.

Free file hosting sites, on the other hand, are traditional web sites and can be contacted. You can start by using the great free resources at:

Stock Letters | PlagiarismToday

DMCA Contacts | PlagiarismToday

PM me with the specifics and perhaps I can recommend more.
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- pbarnhart 13 years ago
  
  Anyone who creates online training may eventually see something like what appears like this on a "torrents" site:
  
  Sponsored Search Results:
  
  Secrets of a Dead Scammer [TRUSTED DOWNLOAD] 718 MB NowDownload
  Secrets of a Dead Scammer Fast Download 705 MB RapidDownload
  Secrets of a Dead Scammer [FullVersion] 1.31GB iNowDownload
  Secrets of a Dead Scammer Torrent 711MB AliveTorrents
  Secrets of a Dead Scammer Rapidshare 1.31GB AliveDownload
  
  Don't Panic! Your stuff hasn't been stolen, and its not on any torrent site. If it was, it would appear in the LOWER listings. The block of links you see at the top go to scam/phishing sites that do not have your content. :confused:
  
  All of these links will take you to a site like idownloadunlimited[DOT]com - offering to download the content if you join the site and pay for membership. Its a scam! (File Scams Exposed!).
  
  If you DO suspect that your content may have been uploaded to a file hosting site somewhere, try searching for it on FilesTube - Search for files on rapidshare and other download sites (warning -- the scam sites will also appear as sponsored results. Ignore them). If all is okay, you will see:
  
  Code:
  
  No results containing all your search terms were found. Your query - Secrets of a Dead Scammer - did not match any files. Check the spelling of your terms. You could also try using different or more general terms.
  
  Hope this helps
  
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  MemberWing 13 years ago
  
  Btw, if you used membering-x to deliver your course - you'll be able see exactly who (name + email address), when and from which IP address downloaded your course before illegally sharing it.
  MWX watermarks each digital download with an identity of a person who downloads it.
  If he posts your stuff illegally to torrent sites - you'll know exactly who did it.
  Crooks and thiefs hate memberwing-x.
  
  Gleb
  
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  | Law of Attraction Coaching | Secure Fast Hosting | Law of Attraction |
  
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Istvan Horvath

13 years ago

A fellow WF member, Susan (sbucciarel) posted a sample letter on her blog for cases like this:

Domaining Diva Blog Archive What You Can Do About “Paypal Dispute Ripoff Artists”

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MemberWing

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Laura B

Just got a Google Alert and found that my course has found its way onto a torrent download site. Just great. I knew it was only a matter of time.

What can I do, if anything, other than give absolutely no support no free hosting no nuthin' to anyone who didn't buy it legally?

I know it might sound superficial - but this actually spread the word about you as an expert in the field. So there is some positive part to it.
I am sinner too - i use torrents sometimes. And I often learn about top quality publishers and get a taste of what they have to offer.
And I do buy lots of stuff too - so I have to admit without torrents I'd never be able to get a taste and then pay for latest stuff.

Gleb

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mr2monster

13 years ago

I've thought about creating versions of my products that were only partially complete and putting them on torrent sites just to confuse/irritate potential pirates...

Like, take a 100 page ebook and leave in the first 10 pages to really hook the reader, then on the remaining 90 pages type in bold letters: "To activate the remainder of this course, please go to {Link}"

Let us know how it pans out. If they actually remove them for you or what.

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GoogleWarrior

13 years ago

You should have better protected your course if it was that important to you.

Thanks

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Saladin

13 years ago

I've known some guru that actually put himself one of his old books on torrent & pirating sites to get lots more attention and it worked !

If you've also got backend within your ebooks , It's actually going to make you money .

And don't stress it , If it was meant to happen it was meant to happen , Sometimes you can't do anything about it , Everything happens for a reason though .

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E. Brian Rose

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Laura B

Just got a Google Alert and found that my course has found its way onto a torrent download site. Just great. I knew it was only a matter of time.

What can I do, if anything, other than give absolutely no support no free hosting no nuthin' to anyone who didn't buy it legally?

Hey Laura,

It is a coincidence that I saw your post minutes after publishing an article on this very topic. I PM'd you the URL. I hope you find some value in it.

EBR

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Laura B

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

A fellow WF member, Susan (sbucciarel) posted a sample letter on her blog for cases like this:

Domaining Diva Blog Archive What You Can Do About "Paypal Dispute Ripoff Artists"

Thanks much! I've bookmarked that for future reference.

Originally Posted by MemberWing

I know it might sound superficial - but this actually spread the word about you as an expert in the field. So there is some positive part to it.
I am sinner too - i use torrents sometimes. And I often learn about top quality publishers and get a taste of what they have to offer.
And I do buy lots of stuff too - so I have to admit without torrents I'd never be able to get a taste and then pay for latest stuff.

Thanks for the silver lining. As for the "sinning" part - I would guess you're in the minority if you actually do buy eventually, but I don't think that makes it okay. But maybe I'm just touchy right now.

Originally Posted by pbarnhart

Don't Panic! Your stuff hasn't been stolen, and its not on any torrent site. If it was, it would appear in the LOWER listings. The block of links you see at the top go to scam/phishing sites that do not have your content. :confused:

If you DO suspect that your content may have been uploaded to a file hosting site somewhere, try searching for it on FilesTube - Search for files on rapidshare and other download sites (warning -- the scam sites will also appear as sponsored results. Ignore them). If all is okay, you will see:

Code:

No results containing all your search terms were found.
Your query - Secrets of a Dead Scammer - did not match any files.
Check the spelling of your terms. 
You could also try using different or more general terms.

Hope this helps

Thanks very much! I will give that a try. I appreciate your explanation.

Originally Posted by MemberWing

Btw, if you used membering-x to deliver your course - you'll be able see exactly who (name + email address), when and from which IP address downloaded your course before illegally sharing it.
MWX watermarks each digital download with an identity of a person who downloads it.
If he posts your stuff illegally to torrent sites - you'll know exactly who did it.
Crooks and thiefs hate memberwing-x.

That's pretty cool. Maybe I'll go download Memberwing-x Professional from a torrent site just to see if I like it.

Originally Posted by mr2monster

I've thought about creating versions of my products that were only partially complete and putting them on torrent sites just to confuse/irritate potential pirates...

Like, take a 100 page ebook and leave in the first 10 pages to really hook the reader, then on the remaining 90 pages type in bold letters: "To activate the remainder of this course, please go to {Link}"

That did occur to me. Thanks for the idea.

Originally Posted by GoogleWarrior

You should have better protected your course if it was that important to you.

Darn, you mean I shouldn't have been using the honor system?!?! NOW you tell me.

Originally Posted by Saladin

If you've also got backend within your ebooks , It's actually going to make you money .

Good point.

Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose

It is a coincidence that I saw your post minutes after publishing an article on this very topic. I PM'd you the URL. I hope you find some value in it.

Thanks, Brian, got it. I will definitely read it in the morning when my eyes aren't burning.

Thanks, everyone!

Thanks

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Will Edwards

13 years ago

Two thoughts:

1. As many people above have said, make it work for you.

2. Change your download links if they are static.

Cheers,

Will

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Kezz

13 years ago

The only real way to combat piracy is to fight fire with fire.

If you're selling something of even the remotest value it is inevitable that it will end up on some kind of file sharing network. It's happened to me. It happens to everyone.

There's one way to beat it.

Flood those same file sharing networks with fake versions of your own product.

When people keep trying to steal your stuff but they get nothing but say a PDF full of public domain images they'll eventually give up.

I would personally not try to find a way to monetize the stolen versions of your product. It's pretty hard to get cash out of someone who stole your stuff to begin with.

Instead just make sure there's way more fake versions than there are real versions. If people can't find your stuff they can't pinch it!

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sbucciarel

Banned 13 years ago

I've had luck getting stuff off of Megaupload and Rapidshare with DMCAs. If it's just listed on the torrent site, try to download and see where it actually goes, as torrent sites are just search engines and don't actually host the files. The DMCA route will work once you find the hosting site, unless the hosting company for the offending site is an offshore black hat host or unless the file is being shared in BHW or other Black hat sites ...

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Online Bliss

13 years ago

It's going to happen sometime.
Password Protection is a great idea
or make it viral with your links
and try to earn income that way.

The letter looks very professional
and well written.
Best of luck!

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thebitbotdotcom

13 years ago

Hmmm...this is a great idea...create a product in two sections...make the first section a teaser torrent with a link at the bottom of your torrent to your squeeze page which will require opt-in to get the remainder of the product. Name your torrent something conspicuous like "Make Money Online Course" and upload it to torrent sites. All of the sneaky free-rangers will download it...get a taste...want more and opt-in for the second half. Dang...who needs article marketing?

I am going to giver this a try. I am sure everyone else is probably doing it already. I bet if we all submitted partial products constantly, we could probably overrun the stolen files so that it wouldn't matter and get opt-ins in the process. That's fighting fire with fire.

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Victoralexon

13 years ago

I remember that Eben Pagan talked about this. He said that while you should try and take some action and what have you, the biggest mistake that most people do in this situation is to focus too much of their time and energy on this. Instead of focusing on the 99 people that do pay for their product, they spend ALL their time on "the one that got away" and therefore they lose a lot of money, time and energy.

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paul wolfe

13 years ago

You should have better protected your course if it was that important to you.

Sadly it's pretty much impossible to protect something 100% - look at the Cinema and Music industries. They spend hundreds of millions each year to try and combat piracy - without much success.

Andy Jenkins talks about piracy in Video Boss - he says do what you reasonably can to ensure that your material is not easily downloadable or shareable. After that if it gets pirated, then so be it. You can spend a lot of time trying to combat it that could perhaps more profitably be spent creating new products for your paying customers.

Having said that I really, REALLY like the idea of creating a fake torrent to muddy up the waters. Wouldn't know how to go about it thought - anyone got any ideas so that if Laura needs to do it she doesn't have to spend hours wading through crap on Google trying to work it out?

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bay37 13 years ago

I wouldn't bother going after them. I know most of you will disagree, but the Internet is sooo big - you're better of putting all that time & energy into promoting your course/guide.
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Kezz

13 years ago

Originally Posted by paul wolfe

Having said that I really, REALLY like the idea of creating a fake torrent to muddy up the waters. Wouldn't know how to go about it thought - anyone got any ideas so that if Laura needs to do it she doesn't have to spend hours wading through crap on Google trying to work it out?

One way is to get your affiliates in on helping out. Create a Word doc for them that can be converted into PDF. Put images in it to bulk up the filesize to the same as your actual product then put an affiliate link for them at the end.

Include this with your other affiliate promotion materials and explain that by distributing this file they help combat theft while also generating leads.

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Laura B

13 years ago

Originally Posted by paul wolfe

Sadly it's pretty much impossible to protect something 100% - look at the Cinema and Music industries. They spend hundreds of millions each year to try and combat piracy - without much success.

I agree. I realize you can't possibly prevent it completely. I use E-junkie to protect my download page, and if I'm not mistaken, that would be considered by most people as having taken reasonable steps to protect my product.

Originally Posted by paul wolfe

Having said that I really, REALLY like the idea of creating a fake torrent to muddy up the waters. Wouldn't know how to go about it thought - anyone got any ideas so that if Laura needs to do it she doesn't have to spend hours wading through crap on Google trying to work it out?

I'm not sure whether I'll take the time to do that or not; I guess it depends on how complicated it turns out to be.

I agree with those who have said that for the most part my time and energy are better spent building my business rather than defending it.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to give their input.

Thanks

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-Sam

13 years ago

Lately I found Caleb suffering from this issue. It is going to happen as long as you are on Internet.

Like you are saying trying not to panic. RIght thing you are doing, but, don't let it go like that. You gotta try really hard to prevent it from spreading further.

P.S Can't spill my beans more cuz, what I learned from this forum is, NOTHING COMES FREE. So, Good LucK.

Thanks

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Trying not to panic...

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