My war against Rapidshare (Thieves)
Op/Ed by Vicky Vette
I am taking out my baton and gonna start using it. This blog is lengthy but bear with me… blondes putting sentences together allegedly are a rarity.
I am not often upset. I like to enjoy life, make a few bucks doing what I do, and share it with people. I run my own site. The way I stay in business is pretty simple. I film myself in various states of undress having sex and sell website memberships to people that want to see my movies and me live. Luckily, things have been going great and I have never had so many folks willing to spend about $25 a month to get all my stuff and me providing live entertainment. I think $25 a month is pretty reasonable – less than a Family Fitness gym membership, about the cost of two tickets to a bad Hollywood movie, or the cost of some big macs for a family of four at McDonalds (with fries and diet cokes all around).
Pretty simple business plan, film sex and sell it, a plan that is being threatened by file sharing – the practice of uploading movies for downloading by others free. Now perhaps I should be flattered that stuff I sell is being ’shared’ but I have recently started a full frontal campaign against one of these file sharing mongers – Rapidshare. For those of you not familiar with Rapidshare you can download whatever you want for free – supposedly from users just like you who have uploaded their movies to share. Why am I upset with Rapidshare and others like them? Rapidshare are thieves. They make money by selling memberships, advertising and other scams. Yes… when something is up on their server you can in theory download it for free, but they do cute things like ‘for $9.95 you can get this file quicker and easier’. There are also all kinds of links to Adultfriendfinder where you can supposedly date ME if you have a membership. Do I get a piece of the action if they sell memberships, advertising or otherwise when a user is so inclined to spend a few bucks? Not a penny. Do they seem to care if someone puts up my movies for sharing by millions of people free? Apparently not. Rapidshare is doing to movies what Napster did to music… destroying the industries it is cheating.
You would think that it would be easy to get Rapidshare NOT to put up my adult videos and share them with the world if I asked them right? NOT so. One of my more popular website flicks is Lavatory Occupied – a series of videos shot in zany lavatories all over the world (including on a 747). Not exactly high art but I own them and Rapidshare cannot legally host or give it away. I wrote to them after I found Lavatory Occupied and other links and they immediately took down/disabled the links. Problem solved right? Errr no. A couple days later more links reappeared. So I wrote again and threatened them. Problem solved right? Errr, no. The links were taken down but a couple of days later more videos were put up in their place. I just got done writing them yet again today. A revolving door of stolen movies.
Rapidshare and other file sharing places are huge issues to the adult world. I don’t have the space in this blog to write why BUT in layman’s terms…. if you created the Mona Lisa, you would not want the entire world saying ‘Gee that is hot, I want to use it for free and not give you anything in return’. Even the Louvre charges admission to see the Mona Lisa.
I am writing this blog to do my small part in the way of a public service announcement. If you are using the services of Rapidshare or others like it, remember that the performers are getting ZERO. If you became a member at Rapidshare so that you could get a quick download, remember that no one is making a dime but the scumbags running these services. If you sign up to a dating site because you are surfing rapidshare, were turned on by the porn you see, and feel like hooking up on one of the dating sites advertised remember most of the profiles you are salivating over were simply made up by a bunch of guys thinking of ways to get you to spend your money. No, the big breasted blonde named ‘Inga’ does not live down the street from you.
You would think a massive country like the good old United States of America would do something legally to protect ALL copyright owners. After all Rapishare and companies like them steal not only porn but also from major hollywood movies etc. Now I would love to think that Eric Holder from the Department of Justice was thinking about porn when he made an announcement on February 10, 2010 that a ‘task force’ was being set up to confront intellectual property crimes but I kind of doubt it. GET THAT LINK HERE. I also think it is an empty promise. I am however happy to see that the police on February 12 in Poland of all places arrested 3 people running a File Sharing Forum for Rapidshare Uploads. The masterminds behind this Forum with 30,000… yes 30,000 users? Aged 21, 16 and 15 with 6 computers between them. The people who responded to this ‘news’ (which did not exactly make CNN) made comments showing the mindset of our society…
“It wont be long until our Generation of File Sharers rise to power and become politicians , Police, Lawyers and judges themselves and will make sure file sharers are not treated like real criminals”
“Jesus… just go after those who commit REAL crimes like killing and raping.”
You do the math on 30,000 users sharing stuff illegally and that is the tip of the iceberg. Unless people start realizing that the culture of ‘why pay for it because it is free’ is flat out wrong, not much is going to change. Have you wondered why there are fewer and fewer bonafide recording stars? The music industry has been crippled by people sharing new tunes.
I kind of expect some harsh responses to this blog. Vicky… you are a pornstar, don’t sweat the small stuff, you have to be rich! Vicky.. think of it as free advertising for your site! Vicky… I put stuff up myself (I own it and I want to share it!). Vicky who cares… it is only porn?! Vicky.. move to Poland if you are so concerned! In case you have not noticed, adult companies and performers are hurting. Your DVD’s? Less common. Like any movie, producing ‘art’… in this case people having sex on camera.. costs money. Costs include the ‘actors’, a camera dude or two, a photographer etc. When a company puts out ‘Vicky Vette Has Sex With a Me and All my Myspace Friends 83′ and rather than BUY it, you run to Rapidshare and get it because someone uploaded it and Rapidshare allows it…. who wins? Rapidshare. The folks making the adult stuff you want to ‘enjoy’ are not making enough for their own mansions anymore and going out of business. If you steal Part 83 there is no reason to make Part 84 of ‘Vicky Vette Has Sex with Me and all my Myspace Friends’.
Should we care about the porn producers who make adult movies? Just a bunch of scumbags right? That is sure the perception, but think about the performers too – whose numbers are dwindling. Have you guys wondered where the next Jenna Jameson is? It has been a while since someone like that has appeared in adult for a reason. It is becoming increasingly difficult for adult stars to make money to do such a profession. Why bare all for the camera if the results are stolen? The Jenna Jameson’s of the world are staying in school, staying as strippers and doing anything BUT getting into adult. A good thing? Maybe, but if you are a fan of hot girls in adult… not. Companies don’t have the money to promote ’stars’ anymore and there is no point becoming an adult star if you still are living in a one bedroom apartment in Reseda wondering when you are going to become famous like Jenna. To be blunt, if you can make more money dancing at the ‘Foxy Lady’ than appearing in a skin flick… why bare all for a dwindling chance at fame?
Why bother with this blog? I am doing my small part. Educating my small slice of the world that you should think twice about using Rapidshare and companies like it. If something is FREE…. someone is getting ripped off. If you are uploading your movies to Rapidshare and places like it…… you are helping Rapidshare make money and the owners who run it.
I am going to keep sending my letters to Rapidshare and keep fighting the fight. Will it help? Probably not… I fear that the biggest culprit in all of this are likely adult movie companies themselves who are likely behind lots of these places. It seems our own community is giving away free stolen content to make money from advertisers/dating sites etc. It would not surprise me that some adult movie producers are deliberately putting up free stuff so that other adult movie producers go out of business – dog eat dog.
Do me a favor… if you see my stolen content such as Lavatory Occupied or Vickyathome material on the net anywhere other than at my website email me the links to vicky@vickyathome.com. I am going after Rapidshare and the torrent sites and you would be chipping in with my efforts.
Beam me up Scotty… the people down here give away my movies! Can you send me to Poland though to thank the police?
“Why bare all for the camera if the results are stolen? The Jenna Jameson’s of the world are staying in school, staying as strippers and doing anything BUT getting into adult.”
This the real truth, among there tons of girls that now wants to work in porn, the low costs and the piracy made that only the top porn stars like Tori Black, Eva Angelina, Alexis Texas etc etc can work normally, the rest that wants to come into the porn business have great difficulties for doing a scene at week. An example I have a very good friend working now in porn valley, he left Spain 2 months ago, she is hot as hell…she is working in Biglovetalent.com agency, her name Jenet Arquez she only has done two scenes!! Two scenes in two months, she has to dance in night clubs for living, she came to USA with the idea to be the new Jenna Jameson now she is sad and disenchanted.
“I fear that the biggest culprit in all of this are likely adult movie companies themselves who are likely behind lots of these places. It seems our own community is giving away free stolen content to make money from advertisers/dating sites etc. It would not surprise me that some adult movie producers are deliberately putting up free stuff so that other adult movie producers go out of business – dog eat dog.”
I think the same Vicky, dog is eating dog…Producers are seeing how much their contents are in internet for free so they have taken the decision of putting themselves their contents and sharing the benefit with the advertisers in places like Rapidshare, everybody thought in the past the danger was in emule…big mistake the peer to peer between people is not the danger, danger is in Rapishare or the companies and websites who works with torrents and have advertisement and membership….but companies are behind this too…so they make money for themselves and with the help of the scumbags from Rapidshare and more like them.
Great post Vicky,
I think Steve Hircsh is maybe right.(Vivid’s Steve Hirsch: “Maybe the best way to deal with Free is to be free”)
You will make your money by offering all your stuff for free and to be ad supported.
When you think of it,that’s how the tube’s site make their money…no?
“The Jenna Jameson’s of the world are staying in school”
Indeed a tragedy for the whole country.
“Companies don’t have the money to promote ’stars’ anymore”
Sasha Grey is arguably bigger “star” than Jenna Jameson ever was.
“An example I have a very good friend working now in porn valley, he left Spain 2 months ago, she is hot as hell…she is working in Biglovetalent.com agency, her name Jenet Arquez she only has done two scenes!! Two scenes in two months, she has to dance in night clubs for living, she came to USA with the idea to be the new Jenna Jameson now she is sad and disenchanted.”
I think she would have been much more successful if she had refrained from mutilating her body with those hideous tattoos. Also, what’s wrong with stripping?
Nah, Jenna Jameson is a household name, even for the non-porn community. She’s like Ron Jeremy, where her name is the name brand for porn.
All the “cool” people know about Sasha Grey, she isn’t “E True Hollywood Story” famous.
Jenna Jameson is famous enough to be a punchline in TV sitcoms and a cultural reference point.
Vicky: I understand your frustration, but I want to make clear that there are opposing POVs that aren’t as simplistic as some of the stuff you’ve listed.
First off, I want to address this statement: “If something is FREE…. someone is getting ripped off.”
As a web developer, you know from your own experience that this isn’t true. Most of the web is powered by Free Software, after all. Linux, Apache, MySql, memcached, WordPress, Firefox, and so on are foundational elements of what we do online, and exist for two primary reasons:
(1) Because people who really want to do something (as opposed to doing it out of desperation or begrudgingly for cash) will always find a way to do it.
(2) Because when information (which includes software, art, and ideas in general) is allowed to move freely, we benefit as a culture, and individuals benefit by providing services related to all that information.
And I think all of this applies to porn as well as it does software. I mean, let’s ask a simple question: “Do we need what we commonly think of as ‘porn stars’, ‘porn producers’, etc.?”
The answer seems pretty obvious: of course not. The world is full of people who want to fuck in front of other people, after all. They may only do it once on a lark, or only sporadically as the spirit moves them, but they’ll do it whether they’re paid or not. If the porn industry disappeared tomorrow, the world would still be filled with opportunities for masturbation. In the big picture, nothing is lost.
If anything, the current porn world’s biggest problem is the fixation on cash. It is wide-open to complaints about coercion and exploitation of girls because of the relentless profit motive of producers, and the perception that the majority of performers actually dislike what they do, simply enduring it for a paycheck they’re ill-prepared to manage. If fewer people were involved in making porn, but those few were all more passionate about what they were doing, a lot of the social push-back would go away.
Which brings me to another simple question: “Is the existing porn industry the only kind that can be?”
I’d answer “no” to that as well. I wouldn’t pay $25/month to any woman just to watch her backlog of fuck-flicks. Porn is inherently disposable… watch it, whack it, wastebin it.
But y’know what might be worth $25/month to me? To have a relationship with someone. Talk to her, get to know one another… to have a footprint (even in a very small way) on her life. Intimacy is worth more than all the cumshots in the world.
And y’know what? In a world of instantaneous, approaching-zero-cost redistribution of data, intimacy is something that can’t be passed around on a file-sharing site. You can’t steal it. And even better for the performers in porn, intimacy is something that each person completely and utterly controls for herself.
No one can force you to pay $25/month for an access to Vicky Vette’s stuff. But you should respect that the content on the sites is hers and she doesn’t want to give it to you for free. If you don’t want to pay for it, then you can’t watch it. Don’t download stolen copies from rapidshare, because if you do, you are a thief. Stealing Vicky’s content is not only disrespectful to her, but is also costing her money as it provides an initiative for rapidshare to continue sheltering theft of her videos.
Also, I feel sorry for your girl if your relationship is worth $25/month to you.
Not only that, but rapidshare even sells memberships. It’s only $9 per month, (so you can download more and quicker) but why should they be allowed to sell memberships based on content that they have not produced? It is mine and many other girls’.
Rapidshare charges for the service of hosting–not for the content being hosted.
If someone stored bootleg copies of your content in their public storage unit, should you be pissed at the public storage company?
I’ve heard rumors that Rapidshare has numerous hosting locations in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. I know you travel Vicky, maybe you could pay one of their offices a ‘visit’, apply some direct authority, and get them to stop stealing your content.
newklear: “If you don’t want to pay for it, then you can’t watch it.”
(NOTE: I’ve never actually seen any of Vicky’s work, via Rapidshare or otherwise, so I’m really speaking in generalities here.)
In legal terms, you’re absolutely right. Then again, in legal terms, Rapidshare is *also* absolutely right… as long as they don’t index the content they host (in contrast to Napster), and assuming they continue to promptly respond to DMCA takedown notices, then they’re operating a perfectly legitimate business in the eyes of the law.
In practical terms, you’re clearly wrong. If I want to watch it, I *don’t* have to pay for it. It’s out there, hosted on servers in 100 different jurisdictions. Even DRM isn’t going to stop me, if I’m determined. It’s a cliche at this point, but still essentially true: information wants to be free. You can’t unring a bell, and once you distribute data, it is impossible to stop (or even effectively deter) it being *re*distributed.
(3) In ethical terms, well… that’s a bit murky, isn’t it? And that’s what I’m trying to get at here. Even if you maintain that respect for copyright law and ethical behavior are synonyms, Vicky is still stuck with the legal and practical realities. She’s still stuck with a frustrating situation… and the only solution to her problem is to fundamentally change that situation.
newklear: “…because if you do, you are a thief.”
How so, exactly? If I were to download something from Rapidshare than was created by Vicky, what have I taken from her? What does she no longer have that she once had?
Near as I can tell, the only thing she’s lost is a potential sale. (If that.) And no one has a right to a potential sale… if they did, we wouldn’t accept things like competition, marketing, or negative reviews, all of which are designed to manipulate sales potential.
Vicky: “…why should they be allowed to sell memberships based on content that they have not produced? It is mine and many other girls’.”
Why should ISPs be allowed to sell access to content they have not produced? It’s worth noting that you’re using a variation of the same logic that was used by the MPAA in the Betamax case… why should Sony be allowed to sell a product that is used to pirate our content? I honestly (and contrary to newklear’s intimation, most respectfully) feel that sort of thinking is only going to give you heartburn over the long run, and virtually no satisfaction.
Some years ago,the big thing to get access to free porn was…password stealing.There was tons of websites dedicated to that kind of activity.Today,seems they are flying low.It’s easier for peoples to download the stuff from the tube’s site or Rapidshare and alike.Wouldn’t be surprise that those that post big times on Rapidshare actually get their stuff for free in the first place by cracking their password from a site like Vicki’s.So,you remove Rapidshare and the tube’s site,password stealing will come back in force.
Also,I think saying that if you prevent them to get it for free,then they will buy it from the legitimate owner is doubtful,at least for many.It’s a little bit like for Howard Stern.When he was free on the air,there was tons of peoples listening to him.When peoples had to start to pay to listen to him,he lost many takers.
There will always be amateurs porn(seems in Europe they love to fuck on camera for free)online so if big name traditional porn isn’t free anymore,many will turn to that stuff.
good article.
one of the points that wasn’t mentioned that is a HUGE one is the fact that payments are made through Paypal which has closed down 6 of my accounts due to my sales being adult-related. Once ebay took over paypal they forbid any adult related sales, even for signed photos if they include nudity.
I had an account closed because they connected a previously closed account to me even though I had not used the new account for anything other than ebay.
Yes rapidshare has a free pass. I have emailed paypal and never gotten a single reply, yet I get replies to every single mundane email I send them.
If 1000 people emailed paypal I think the ball would roll a little. They don’t accept credit cards so eliminating paypal would be an enormous blow to them.
whatya say Vicki? Wanna join forces on this? I go through the same things with them and Megaupload but they won’t even reply to me.