Web Sheriff

Last updated

Web Sheriff
Formation19 October 2000;22 years ago (2000-10-19) [1]
FounderJohn Giacobbi
Registration no.04093131 [1]
Purpose Intellectual property rights
HeadquartersPewsey,Wiltshire,UK [1]
Location
Area served
International
ServicesCopyright enforcement, digital rights management, website building, hosting and management, video editing
OwnerWeb Sheriff Limited
Director
John Edouard Giacobbi [1]
Secretary
Robert Arthur Davage
Employees
20
Website websheriff.com

Web Sheriff is an anti-piracy company based in the United Kingdom that provides intellectual property, copyright and privacy rights protection services. The company monitors various websites that host links to downloads of music and film. Web Sheriff has been in operation since 2000, with two offices in the UK.

Contents

The company was founded by intellectual property lawyer John Giacobbi, [2] who acts as its managing director. Web Sheriff sends legal take-down notices to BitTorrent and other file sharing sites. [3] [4] According to the Los Angeles Times , Web Sheriff is a "leading advocate of the soft sell" in the anti-piracy industry. [2]

Description

Web Sheriff performs various copy protection services. [5] These include protection from copyright infringement, [6] libel, [7] cyber-bullying, [8] [9] identity theft privacy issues of social media, policing of trading sites [10] and recovery of fraudulently registered domain names. [11] It also furnishes online security for concert tours. [12]

Operating methods

Web Sheriff uses proprietary software and web crawler programs to search the Internet, using human auditing to determine the type of site that is posting its clients' copyrighted material. [13] It relies heavily on phone calls and relationship building [14] and when locating unauthorized links it targets the persons running the sites. [15] The supposed offending party is sent a take-down notice before further action is taken. [14] Some Torrent sites and file-sharing sites such as Mediafire and Rapidshare provide access to the company to remove infringing content itself. [16]

The Los Angeles Times described the company's approach as representing "a sharp turn in the recording industry's life-and-death struggle with piracy, one driven largely by performers and their managers rather than the record companies." [2] When it contracts to protect new music releases, the company encourages the artists it represents to give fans several tracks ahead of the release. [17]

History

Web Sheriff was founded in 2000 by former music attorney and industry consultant [4] John Giacobbi. [4] [18] [19]

Web Sheriff was hired by Prince in September 2007 to help him "disappear entirely from the internet." [5] The star's spokesman related that "Prince believes strongly that as an artist the music rights must remain with the artist and thus copyrights should be protected across the board." "Very few artists have ever taken this kind of action over their rights." Web Sheriff announced it would launch lawsuits against YouTube, eBay, and The Pirate Bay on behalf of Prince if they refused compliance in removing links to his unauthorized photos, videos, and music. [3] [20] [21] Peter Sunde, co-founder of The Pirate Bay, dismissed the threats, stating that American law was not applicable in Sweden. [22] YouTube complied by removing over 2,000 videos from their site and eBay removed more than 300 auctions. [23] [24] [25] In November 2007, three fan sites were given the notice to remove all images of the singer, his lyrics, and "anything linked to Prince's likeness". [26] Some of the Prince fans fought back, formed their own organization called "Prince Fans United" and hired an attorney. [5] [27] [28] Multiple unauthorized overseas online sites selling merchandise featuring Prince were shut down. [29]

In 2008 the company was hired by Bryan Adams to take down fan sites and tribute bands as well as the owner of the domain name pointlookout.com that had nothing to do with the artist. [30] [31] [32] [33] [34]

The company was hired by Axl Rose to remove an unflattering picture by claiming the copyright belonged to Axl Rose and not the photographer. [35] [36] [37]

Reception

Music fans and bloggers often initially respond angrily when first approached by Web Sheriff on its clients' official and unofficial forums. According to the Evening Standard , "Music blogging sites are littered with comments with the Sheriff's contact details at the top, thanking bloggers for obeying the rules." Fans sometimes interpret this as Web Sheriff saying, "I've got my eye on you." [6] The company reports that eventually most of the fans tend to respect the wishes of their favored artists by cooperating. [14] As related by The Guardian , The Prodigy fans on the brainkiller forum engaged with Web Sheriff on a thread that lasted through 18 pages. Some of the fans who had been hostile at the beginning, then asked what they could do to help the band. [38] [39]

Web Sheriff's method of using a "velvet glove approach" to appeal to fans has been said by Randy Lewis with the Los Angeles Times to have notable successes, including Lady Gaga's Born This Way and Adele's 21 . [2] This journalist also notes that despite these examples of the success of the "diplomatic strategy", the company's gentle approach still has skeptics, with some critics calling it naïve: Brad Buckles, an executive in copyright enforcement with RIAA, was quoted as saying: "It's certainly well-intended and may work in some cases. The problem is in many, many cases, you're dealing with people who have no respect whatsoever for the intellectual property of record labels or the artists themselves." [2] A Billboard journalist concludes that to appeal to sites that post links to unauthorized music and engaging with fans and redirecting them to authorized content by the artist is a "strategy with a future if implemented properly." [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Federation of the Phonographic Industry</span> Organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 1933 by Francesco Braga. It operates a secretariat based in London, with regional offices in Brussels, Hong Kong, Miami, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Nairobi.

Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, describes measures to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media.

Piratbyrån was a Swedish think tank established to support the free sharing of information, culture, and intellectual property. Piratbyrån provided a counterpoint to lobby groups such as the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau.

MediaDefender, Inc. was a company that fought copyright infringement that offered services designed to prevent alleged copyright infringement using peer-to-peer distribution. They used unusual tactics such as flooding peer-to-peer networks with decoy files that tie up users' computers and bandwidth. MediaDefender was based in Los Angeles, California in the United States. As of March 2007, the company had approximately 60 employees and used 2,000 servers hosted in California with contracts for 9 Gbit/s of bandwidth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Pirate Bay</span> Website providing torrent files and magnet links

The Pirate Bay is an online index of digital content of entertainment media and software. Founded in 2003 by Swedish think tank Piratbyrån, The Pirate Bay allows visitors to search, download, and contribute magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer, file sharing among users of the BitTorrent protocol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gottfrid Svartholm</span> Swedish computer specialist

Per Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, alias anakata, is a Swedish computer specialist, known as the former co-owner of the web hosting company PRQ and co-founder of the BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay together with Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde.

File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia, program files, documents or electronic books/magazines. It involves various legal aspects as it is often used to exchange data that is copyrighted or licensed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legal issues with BitTorrent</span>

The use of the BitTorrent protocol for the unauthorized sharing of copyrighted content generated a variety of novel legal issues. While the technology and related platforms are legal in many jurisdictions, law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies are attempting to address this avenue of copyright infringement. Notably, the use of BitTorrent in connection with copyrighted material may make the issuers of the BitTorrent file, link or metadata liable as an infringing party under some copyright laws. Similarly, the use of BitTorrent to procure illegal materials could potentially create liability for end users as an accomplice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TorrentFreak</span> Blog on file sharing, copyright infringement, and digital rights

TorrentFreak (TF) is a blog dedicated to reporting the latest news and trends on the BitTorrent protocol and file sharing, as well as on copyright infringement and digital rights.

Today music copyright is enforced in China. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry 97% Chinese consumers were listening to licensed music in 2021. In 2018 the rate was 96% of Chinese, which was a much higher amount than the global average of 62%.

Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) like access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM technologies govern the use, modification and distribution of copyrighted works and of systems that enforce these policies within devices. DRM technologies include licensing agreements and encryption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copyright infringement</span> Usage of a copyrighted work without the authors permission

Copyright infringement is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make derivative works. The copyright holder is typically the work's creator, or a publisher or other business to whom copyright has been assigned. Copyright holders routinely invoke legal and technological measures to prevent and penalize copyright infringement.

File sharing in the United Kingdom relates to the distribution of digital media in that country. In 2010, there were over 18.3 million households connected to the Internet in the United Kingdom, with 63% of these having a broadband connection. There are also many public Internet access points such as public libraries and Internet cafes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Payback</span> Series of cyberattacks conducted by Anonymous

Operation Payback was a coordinated, decentralized group of attacks on high-profile opponents of Internet piracy by Internet activists using the "Anonymous" moniker. Operation Payback started as retaliation to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on torrent sites; piracy proponents then decided to launch DDoS attacks on piracy opponents. The initial reaction snowballed into a wave of attacks on major pro-copyright and anti-piracy organizations, law firms, and individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music piracy</span> Copying and distribution of music without the consent of creators or copyright holders

Music piracy is the copying and distributing of recordings of a piece of music for which the rights owners did not give consent. In the contemporary legal environment, it is a form of copyright infringement, which may be either a civil wrong or a crime depending on jurisdiction. The late 20th and early 21st centuries saw much controversy over the ethics of redistributing media content, how much production and distribution companies in the media were losing, and the very scope of what ought to be considered piracy – and cases involving the piracy of music were among the most frequently discussed in the debate.

Copyright Alert System (CAS) was a voluntary industry effort to educate and penalize internet users who engage in the unauthorized and unlawful distribution of copyrighted works via peer-to-peer file sharing services. The program was operated by the Center for Copyright Information, a consortium consisting of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and the internet service providers AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stop Online Piracy Act</span> Failed United States bill

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a proposed United States congressional bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Introduced on October 26, 2011, by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), provisions included the requesting of court orders to bar advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with infringing websites, and search engines from linking to the websites, and court orders requiring Internet service providers to block access to the websites. The proposed law would have expanded existing criminal laws to include unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content, imposing a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act</span> Unpassed United States bill

The Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act is a bill introduced in the United States Congress proposed as an alternative to the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act, by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, and Representative Darrell Issa of California, a Republican. The text of the bill is available for public comment at keepthewebopen.com.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Countries blocking access to The Pirate Bay</span>

This is a list on countries where at least one internet service provider (ISP) formerly or currently censors the popular file sharing website The Pirate Bay (TPB).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audible Magic</span>

Audible Magic Corporation is a Los Gatos, California-based company that provides content identification services to social networks, record labels, music publishers, television studios, and movie studios. The company also provides digital platform music management services for Internet radio, subscription music services, on-demand streaming, and fitness and gaming applications. The services help companies identify and protect copyrighted content, manage rights and monetize media.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "WEB SHERIFF LIMITED". Companies House UK. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Lewis, Randy (9 June 2011). "Piracy watchdog's mild bite". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 "New Sheriff in Town" (PDF). Billboard Upfront. 1 July 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 Daniels, Andrew (12 April 2011). "The Most Hated Man on the Internet". Men's Health . Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 Rolling Stone , "Battle Over Online Piracy Gets a Sheriff", Andy Greene, RS 1077, April 2009
  6. 1 2 "Off the Record: Web Sheriff is watching you". Evening Standard . 4 March 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  7. ↑ Weiss, Dan (10 December 2008). "Meet the Web Sheriff". The Village Voice . Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  8. ↑ "Noel Edmonds confronts Facebook troll". telegraph.co.uk . 1 April 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  9. ↑ Reeves, Philip (15 April 2012). "British Attempt to Squash Online Bullying". London: NPR . Retrieved 25 April 2012.
  10. ↑ Esquire Magazine , UK edition, "Meet the Web Sheriff", August 2009
  11. ↑ "Web Sheriff Goes To The Mats Against Russian Clone". Encore. 4 July 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  12. ↑ Reinartz, Joe (10 March 2011). "Meet the Online Police". Pollstar . Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  13. ↑ Cooper, Duncan (25 April 2011). "Respect Yourself: Interview with the Web Sheriff". The Fader . Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  14. 1 2 3 Sandoval, Greg (25 September 2007). "Web Sheriff Doing it different than Media Defender". CNET . Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  15. ↑ "Facing the Music: There's a New Anti-File-Sharing Sheriff in Town, and He's Getting Results". The Spokesman-Review . 18 February 2008.
  16. ↑ Youngs, Ian (16 August 2011). "Stars step up wars on music leaks". BBC . Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  17. ↑ Lindvall, Helienne (20 August 2009). "Behind the music: How can artists prevent their work from being leaked?". The Guardian . Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  18. ↑ Stevens, Serita. "The Web Sheriff: A New Kind of Enforcement". lasplash.com. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  19. ↑ Gardner, Eriq (1 February 2012). "Hollywood Piracy Watch: Magnolia Pictures Sends the Most Takedown Notices to Twitter". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  20. ↑ "Prince get tough on web pirates". BBC News . 13 September 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
  21. ↑ "Prince gets tough online". BBC Radio 6. 13 September 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
  22. ↑ Söderling, Fredrik (15 February 2008). "Prince stämmer Pirate Bay". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
  23. ↑ "Prince to sue YouTube, eBay over unauthorized content". Billboard . Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  24. ↑ Kiss, Jemima (13 September 2007). "Prince seeks to 'Reclaim the net'". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  25. ↑ Byrne, Ciar (14 September 2007). "Prince sues internet sites for breaching his copyright". The Independent . Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  26. ↑ Casiato, Paul (7 November 2007). "Prince moves to sue fan web sites". London. Reuters . Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  27. ↑ "Prince sites face legal threats". BBC. 7 July 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  28. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (9 November 2007). "Prince Releases Diss Track As Battle With Fans Gets Funky". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  29. ↑ Frehsee, Nicole (14 September 2007). "Prince's Message to Everyone: Stop Bootlegging My Stuff". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  30. ↑ Fiveash, Kelly (27 October 2008). "Bryan Adams pulls a Prince on fan sites". The Register.
  31. ↑ Sandoval, Greg (27 October 2008). "Bryan Adams follows Prince in challenging fan sites". CNET.
  32. ↑ Allemann, Andrew (11 July 2017). "Berkens' company sues musician Bryan Adams over bizarre trademark claims". Domain Name Wire. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  33. ↑ "Worldwide Media, Inc.vs Bryan Adams and Adams Communications Inc" (PDF).
  34. ↑ "Exhibit A" (PDF).
  35. ↑ "Appetite for destruction: Axl Rose demands Google remove 'fat' photos". The Guardian.
  36. ↑ "Axl Rose Wants His "Fat" Photos Removed From the Internet". Yahoo. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  37. ↑ "Axl Rose demands Google take down "Fat Axl Rose" photo". CBS News. 8 June 2016.
  38. ↑ Lindvall, Helienne (12 October 2009). "Web Sheriff is Watching You". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  39. ↑ Lau, Kathleen (4 May 2011). "Web Sheriff fights music piracy". itworldcanada.com. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.