Site ebooks-tree.com "Scraping" Fanfic Stories

[dawn_felagund]

Apologies for those who have seen this already, but this is important, and I want to make sure all of our members are reached, as many are affected. The website ebooks-tree.com has been "scraping" fanfics from AO3, UrBookLibrary, and Wattpad to host as mobi and PDF downloads on their site. This has been done without the authors' permission, and a lot of people are understandably upset at what amounts to the theft of their work. AO3 has stepped up and responded quickly to take measures to make it harder for this site to continue to do this on AO3, but several Tolkien fandom authors have had their work stolen. The AO3 Tumblr has information on how to send a DMCA takedown notice on your behalf to have your work removed from the site, if you find it there and wish to have it removed. AO3 notes that the ebooks-tree.com DMCA page erroneously claims that you have to have a lawyer do this for you; this is not correct.This is your work, and you can advocate on your behalf to have it removed, should you wish to do so.

Please see this post for more information:

http://silmarillionwritersguild.tumblr.com/post/116335016472/fyeahcopyright-weve-been-getting-pings-and-s

And please help spread the word to groups and fans who have not been informed of this already.

Comments

[ysilme]

This info really should make the way around. What is also super important: nobody should in any case open an free account with them to check if the stories found are really theirs, or have actual content; you would be required to put in credit card info, but this is highly suspicious. Actually, word goes round that the whole thing is one large scam phising for credit card info.

[baranduin.livejournal.com]

Agree. I followed the trail yesterday and did some snooping about the particular site that you get funneled to ... and just as you say, there are quite a few complaints about the phishing nature of this particular site.

[dawn_felagund]

It probably is. There is no reason one should have to input credit card information to download free content. (And if the stories aren't actually free? Then our ire as fanfic writers will likely be the least of their concerns!)

[parmalokwen.livejournal.com]

I am having trouble reading the SWG Tumblr posts because the sidebar is intruding on the text. Is anybody else having this problem?

[dawn_felagund]

What browser are you using? I'll look into the layout to see if I can't figure out what's causing that issue for you. (Anyone else having the problem, please let me know.)

[parmalokwen.livejournal.com]

Firefox 37.0.1

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you! I checked in out in Firefox (albeit a very old version on my work computer!) and see the problem you're having. I'll take a look at the layout and try to figure out what might not be playing nice with Firefox. Thanks for letting me know. :)

[zdenka]

I have the same issue (though it's not a problem for me as I've read the post elsewhere). Also using Firefox.

[dawn_felagund]

Thanks! I'm going to try to have a look at the stylesheet tonight. Something isn't playing well with Firefox, it seems.

[independence1776]

I have the same problem with Firefox, but it shows up fine in Safari.

[dawn_felagund]

Thanks! I'm going to try to have a look at the stylesheet tonight. Something isn't playing well with Firefox, it seems.

[parmalokwen.livejournal.com]

Yep, it's a Firefox issue. I just tested the page in Chrome and IE. But I really prefer Firefox.

[dawn_felagund]

It should definitely be functional in Firefox; it is a problem that it's not. (IE I am willing to bend on a little since IE is so historically not up to standards, but Firefox is used by a lot of people and generally adheres well to the standards.) Hopefully a quick pass through a CSS validator will turn up the problem. If not, I may need to speak with Elleth about switching to another theme.

Thanks again for the info and updates!