From the hoster - about copyrights, links and abuses

    Comment of a Russian provider on topics about copyright, a new wave of which began a post about the claims of the Russian Shield on the link . Information - not only from our own experience in receiving complaints, most providers follow similar rules.

    The topic does not contain links to external resources and GMOs.

    It’s not a secret to anyone that sites that somehow violate or whose rights or legislation abound countries. Providers are not able to control all the resources hosted on their servers, this would require a huge staff of not only technical specialists, but also lawyers, software licensing specialists, and even cultural / art experts (to distinguish porn from nude artwork). Moreover, all these specialists are required not only in order to discover the content, but also to represent the provider in court if necessary - because the Client may not agree with the hoster's decision and go to court. Fortunately byeFrom the provider, the laws of the Russian Federation do not require checking the content. Yes, if you find obvious violations or complaints, which will be discussed below, the provider will take preventive measures - but at the same time forced to act with caution.

    Letters from the Russian Shield


    In the specific situation presented here - email letters - just email letters from anonymous. The host will definitely check the source and validity of the claims. Those. asks for confirmation of registered rights to an author's work, contract or agreement, on the basis of which the applicant acts. And not by email - but official certified copies.
    These actions filter out imitation of abuses from competitors and all kinds of trolls. Only if the lawyer gives an assessment that the claims are substantiated and the violation is allegedlytakes place - the Client will receive a notification that there is a complaint about his resource and the site may be blocked (namely the domain, not the account completely). Please note that even when confirming the validity of the claims, the provider has the right to transfer the personal data of the site owner only to authorized government agencies at an official request.
    It is difficult to judge the eligibility of claims by the above correspondence, these are just words. But, if the organization really represents the interests of the copyright holder, a violation occurs - regardless of the fact that only the link is provided and direct benefits are not derived (for example, the site earns on advertising or even non-profit). In the interests of the owner of the site - remove the link, because prosecution is quite possible, not so much for the sake of protecting rights, but for the purposes of "demonstrative flogging." A detailed discussion of the legal aspects was in the original topic and they are not mentioned in the article.

    The situation is related to the imperfection of Russian (and not only) legislation - instead of fighting the direct placement of illegal content, there is a struggle with links, which in essence is an imitation of violent activity. The actions are pointless from the point of view of making a profit: after all, the owner of the site simply removed the article with the book’s advertisement, and those who want to download for free also have access and can find what is required on many resources - Google can help them. But a well-thought-out critical article on a popular blog - selling books can do significant harm. It would be better if we thought about the official distribution of electronic copies via the Internet and efforts were directed in this direction. And the obvious discrepancy between the current state of affairs on the Internet with copyrights and the legal basis is obvious.

    A similar situation may arise not only among Russian hosting providers, in most countries the hoster will heed the complaint, abroad the “defenders” are active. So if the site’s content is “potentially vulnerable” - a direct path to a bulletproof hosting, the benefit of the proposal is not difficult to find. Of course, this will not give absolute guarantees; it’s enough to recall the history of 3fn.net , by the way, in general, which was not a specialized bulletproof hosting. But the sites of “Peter the Pig” are not an example more difficult to block and more difficult to find their owners - for the Russian law enforcement agencies, of course.

    The actions of the owner of the site were correct, in this situation it makes no sense to resist the requirements. Although it is extremely doubtful that, without receiving an answer, the Russian Shield began to bring the matter to court.

    Is the hoster the axis of world evil?



    It is believed that the provider will immediately block the domain at any cost and provide all the information about the Client. This is neither true nor Russian law (see “The Law on Communications”, “Rules for the provision of telematic communication services” and other regulations).
    Now providers have to retain lawyers (or contact them, as necessary). Such letters with complaints, claims and overt threats are not uncommon, the main topics are:
    • copyright violations: software, films, books, music, and pre-copy articles;
    • fraud on sites: fakes (fake sites) to collect passwords and other information, schemes of fraud and hacking, etc .;
    • Content that violates the laws of the Russian Federation: porn, pharmacy, other violations;
    • the spread of viruses, spam, spurious traffic (attacks) and other network violations;
    • dishonesty of sites: did not deliver the goods, do not comply with the conditions, deceived, etc.

    The provider is forced to understand the essence of the complaint and its source and will try to resolve the situation peacefully. For example, with a complaint “the site stole my article: block and provide the owner’s data”, the only thing the hoster can do (according to current legislation) is to transfer the complaint to the Client, as the applicant most often cannot provide evidence of his rights.

    An example of blocking is a “pron” complaint - the site owner is notified of the need to eliminate the subject of claims (within the agreed time), and if it is not fulfilled, the site is blocked. The measure is extremely unpopular, because closing the resource (albeit legally) immediately brings a wave of letters, threatening calls and related reviews on forums, etc. The specific situation: closing the visited gay portal in the very first days of test access (on the complaint: not for “orientation”, but for porn materials) cost the company a pretty penny, not only due to the working time of the employees who responded to complaints, requirements and requests “To watch the Friends series on this wonderful site”, but also to pay for the hotline (which corresponded to its name by temperature these days), free of charge for Customers, but not for the company. Now the site is on Ukrainian hosting.

    I will give the opposite example. Immediately after the transfer of a certain service to the hosting - dozens of letters and calls were received within a few days with complaints about the service and threats. General meaning: this service deceived me a week / month ago, return the money to me, block it, tell the name and address of the owner. The lawyer did not find any violations of the law on the service and the requirements were not satisfied. Notification of complaints was sent to the account owner (no response was received), and only a few months after this “flash mob with abuses” the owner himself moved the site. The service still works with the American provider. Judging by the lack of appeal by law enforcement agencies, there were no official statements by the victims.

    When is the site blocked?


    According to an anonymous statement - only in case of obvious violations of the laws of the Russian Federation and / or the rules for the provision of services: fakes of well-known services, porn, warez - and not “Vasya Pupkin’s super program with krack”, but products whose distribution conditions are known: MS, Adobe, Corel and etc. - will not study software licenses on the Albanian hoster. Also, a site made on a “treated” version of a commercial CMS will be blocked if there is a confirmed complaint from the developer.
    Blocking spam, the spread of malware, the creation of spurious traffic, etc. Technical data center services and hosting providers interact in these matters and take measures to counter it. There is a fly in the ointment in this unofficial cooperation: not all DCs (including Russian ones) respond to abuses, and some do not take any action, getting off with unsubscribes.
    Is it bad? For Customers whose sites do not violate the law - such a position of the provider is beneficial, to some extent guarantees the stability of the services, the "love" of search engines and mail servers.

    Upon official written request from authorized government agencies, the domain is blocked immediately and / or all information about the owner is provided: name, payment information (for example, WMID), access logs, site and database contents, email addresses, access to email accounts, backups - those. everything except passwords.
    And here is to remove the link / article and generally make kl. Changes yourself the hoster is not allowed.

    It can also be noted that the “savvy” complainants send abuses not only to the direct host, but also to the data center, domain registrar, cctld.ru Coordination Center, perhaps even someone writes to ICANN. And, to complete the picture, they go with statements to law enforcement agencies. Not always this leads to blocking.

    If you are about to complain, evaluate your chances and start with the site owner. In some cases, you will have to contact the law enforcement authorities. A hoster is not a court, but an e-mail, even with a signature, is just an anonymous letter. Calling complaints is pointless. It is dangerous to threaten to damage reputation, DDOS attacks, and even more so physical harm. You can earn a counterclaim. You can write, say and do something “in the heat of the day”, but this is not always safe from the point of view of the same legislation of the Russian Federation, even if you are right around.

    If you are complaining about you (or you are the hoster), and there are doubts about the eligibility of the claims, contact a qualified lawyer who can give an assessment of the situation and recommendations. There is a big difference between “I think so”, “everyone does it”, precedents and current legislation. If the claims are justified, protecting your opinion can be very disadvantageous.

    PS: Especially for the relevant authorities and copyright advocates: the article does not contain tips on how to violate laws, rights and copyrights - this is a statement of the current situation.
    PPS: We sincerely apologize to all platypus lovers! Our team respects the noble duckbills, we did not want to belittle anyone. Thanks again! film Dogma (Dogma).

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