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Bluesky Post (this was also posted on twitter)
I was hoping to find a statement from the aggressor, but it seems to be too early.
I mean, it sounds like a lawsuit to me.
A takedown request was issued on false grounds.
This takedown was then actioned without any due process.
The issue has caused tangible, and measurable, loss (calculable from prior sales records).
Honestly, there needs to be a fixed penalty fine for bad takedowns...
Fixed penalties just become the cost of doing business. Like actors, we need to start asking for percentage of gross.
Imo we need to start attaching criminal penalties to the people behind businesses that knowingly abuse their power and position like this. Corporate bullying isn't a financial position, it's a failing of ethics.
Takedown requests being spammed everywhere is sort of standard, what's crazy is that their domain holder immediately honored the request, completely ignoring how massive itch io is with millions of users...
Honestly, there needs to be a fixed penalty fine for bad takedowns...
Absolutely not, fixed fines become expected costs, and immensely favor monied actors. Make it percentage based so it hurts equally, and rich people actually have to pay a measurable amount.
Itch.io dev about this situation on Hacker News.
Leafo
I'm the one running itch.io, so here's some more context for you:
From what can tell, some person made a fan page for an existing Funko Pop video game (Funko Fusion), with links to the official site and Screenshots of the game. The BrandShield software is probably instructed to eradicate all "unauthorized" use of their trademark, so they sent reports independently to our host and registrar claiming there was "fraud and phishing" going on, likely to cause escalation instead of doing the expected DMCA/cease-and-desist. Because of this, I honestly think they're the malicious actor in all of this. Their website, if you care: https://www.brandshield.com/
About 5 or 6 days ago, received these reports on our host (Linode) and from our registrar (iwantmyname). I expressed my disappointment in my responses to both of them but told them had removed the page and disabled the account. Linode confirmed and closed the case. iwantmyname never responded. This evening, got a downtime alert, and while debugging, I noticed that the domain status had been set to "serverHold" on iwantmyname's domain panel. We have no other abuse reports from iwantmyname other than this one. I'm assuming no one on their end "closed" the ticket, so it went into an automatic system to disable the domain after some number of days.
I've been trying to get in touch with them via their abuse and support emails, but no response likely due to the time of day, so decided to "escalate" the issue myself on social media.
(OCR)
What the absolute fuck? itch.io is fucking massive, how did the registar just treat them like this? goddamn!
There's been an aggressive push against gaming recently. Check all the recent Steam news.
I haven't seen anything like that. What steam news specifically are you referring to?
They are probably referring to this: https://www.adl.org/resources/press-release/millions-examples-extremist-and-antisemitic-content-found-steam-new and this: https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/steam-is-an-unsafe-place-for-teens-and-young-adults-us-senator-warns-gabe-newell-of-more-intense-scrutiny-from-the-government-if-valve-doesnt-take-action-against-extremist-content/
Funko? That irrelevant, ugly, shitty, cheap, tacky, terrible brand from the 2010's that lacks any relevance in 2024?
Yeah, I know 'em.
I like how people collected them as if they'd be valuable. I survived the beanie baby craze, fool me once and all that.
I see their junk at every thrift store and flea market in Ohio.
I legitimately thought they went out of business.
I've always hated funkopops, they're ugly and the very epitome of the enshitification and commercialisation of geek culture. This does nothing to change my mind
Yes and they’re yet another collectible product that exploits the psychology of a subset of people who compulsively collect things. I put them in the same category as gambling and note that there’s a lot of crossover with these things (loot boxes and CCG booster packs being prime examples of a gambling and collectible combo).
If lawmakers would simply make the entity responsible for the operation of these AI powered tools be fully liable for every decision that it makes, right or wrong, this kind of nonsense would vanish overnight.
I hope the people running itch.io have great lawyers, because I would be trying to take Funko to court for punitive damages over something like this.
Also, while we're at it, reform the DMCA to disallow automated copyright related takedown requests without some sort of human reviewing it at the other end. It's been abused to hell and back by big business.
Also, while we're at it, reform the DMCA to disallow automated copyright related takedown requests without some sort of human reviewing it at the other end. It's been abused to hell and back by big business.
Itch.io shared on hackernews that they apparently sent a report for fraud and phishing, not copyright infringement. So sounds like funko was abusing the system even if automated copyright claims weren't a thing.
Fucko pop should be forced to pay damages. It's too easy for shitty companies to send out takedown notices and too difficult for those takedown notices to be contested by comparison.
the "oh our automated system did it oopsies please forgive us" excuse doesn't make it any better either
Back when I opened my comic and game shop (I no longer do comics, just games) I tried to get an account with Funko directly. They did not believe me that New Mexico is in the United States. The response was along the lines of, "if you feel that you are in the United States, we can pursue this further. But I suggest you opening an account with one of our Latin American distributors."
I could understand that if they were an overseas company, but they are from the US. That had to be one of the most incompetent customers service reps ever.
It is not uncommon, I was almost arrested when I moved to PA because I did not have a passport, or visa, or green card to go with my NM ID that clearly says USA on it for this very reason. Our license plates also say USA on them.
Maryland also refused me a license twice saying that I needed proof I am a citizen, despite having my NM birth certificate.
I also had two other distributors tell me they do not sell to Mexico.
The president elect also has made the mistake. He said we need a border wall between Mexico and Colorado.
I always knew Americans in general were bad with global geography… but to not even know their own states? That sounds insane.
Heck, in our Dutch schools, we actually learn all the states in the United States. I definitely know New Mexico is a state. Same as Alaska and Hawaii (but not Puerto Rico, which is a territory but not a state)
How am I better at this than actual Americans? That should not be a thing.
Yeah, New Mexico IDs and license plates both say “New Mexico, USA” for exactly this reason. So many people have almost been illegally arrested and turned over to ICE by incompetent cops during traffic stops. Cops will pull New Mexico plates over, see the New Mexico ID, and demand to see visa paperwork because they think the person is from Mexico.
This reminds of the story of some company not shipping to the Rhode Island because it's an island not a state. Maybe someone here remembers more details
~~AI will take our jobs~~
AI will create more jobs because there will be dedicated staff who needs to handle the fallout when it does stupid shit
Turns out we can solve the unemployment crisis by just creating problems for ourselves! Let's start throwing eggs at windows to get window cleaners more business.
I'd bet these fan projects lead to more sales of their garbage products, but these corporations don't see that because they want that licensing money now. Or they're just spiteful and vindictive like Nintendo.
This is crazy. How can they just take down your domain without at least discussing the issue.
Every single DMCA request should have to be filled out by hand and signed by the infringed party, not on their behalf by a third parry, under penalty of perjury. This is absolute bullshit.
It's back up now!
At first I was like "WTF does an indie games site have to do with Funko?" then I Googled it...
Looks like they hosted a BUNCH of infringing games, so Funko, instead of doing the righteous thing and sending them a takedown request, just nuked the whole domain...
Sounds about right for funko lol.
( though tbh, listing all games that taken the funko brand would be a massive task lol ).
Still, this one hell of a messy shit i wouldnt want to touch legally haha
Huh, so I've always disliked funkopoops but just because I didn't like the mass production design and they were made in China with no evidence trying not to be made with slave labor.
Now I have a new reason
Welcome to Web 3 I guess. Automated systems ignoring real actors
Might be a good time to change domain while you're at it, if .io is about to be retired.
It probably won't be.
Not only is the agreement between the UK and Mauritius on the brink of collapsing (bizarrely, the UK is trying to get rid of territory and Mauritius doesn't particularly want it very much), but there's so much reliance on the .io domain that it's unlikely to be removed.
Especially because tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Apple make use of it.
"We did not commit crime, we commited it with alforithm". Cory Doctorow had talk about it long before AI was mainstream.
Not only is this absolutely inexcusable, also, Funko Pops are ugly and creepy-looking and I don't understand why people spend so much money on them just because they look vaguely like the characters or people they're supposed to represent.
God I hate our whole system.
Looks like they switched to 1api.net
Good. If a registrar causes issues because of their own non-response during their own investigation then it's useless.
Man GNUnet cannot come soon enough Or they'll have to switch registrars
