Someone (named Games Workshop) is taking shots at blogs for content, and it unclear why at this point BoLS is down, as they have received zero notice from GW or Google.
Either way, it seems the tabletop blogoshpere is scrambling. Here’s the details as summarize by Lokenbelow.
Bell of Lost Souls and Faet212 have both gone down. The question is why.
First, this blog, as well as Faeit212, both got Digital Millennium Copyright (DMCA) Act notices served to Google, the host of Blogger, the blogging software we both use. You can see Faet212’s DMCA notice here and the Apocalypse40K one, which was filed last week, here.
Now that was the second such notice I know of. Interestingly, when I went to the offending URL the article was not up, but all that happened was the offending article was reverted to draft in my control panel. I then deleted it because, though I find Games Workshop legal overbearing and meglomaniacal, if I step over the IP line, I am happy to comply. And of course, the fact is I am an attorney by training (I don’t practice) so I know when they have a case (here) and don’t (Chapterhouse mostly).
Faeit212’s site has been removed
However, Faeit212 has gotten numerous DMCA notices and according to one source, got a “long form” notice where Games Workshop basically said he was a serial offender and his site needed to be taken down. That is why Google did exactly that. I have no confirmation of this, but I am checking. But that is also why Faeit212 is listed as “Removed” whereas BoLS is simply “Not Available”.
BoLS is simply not available
I spoke to Larry Vela, the owner of Bell of Lost Souls and he said that he doesn’t have a DMCA notice and Google hasn’t told him why his site is down. He is working the problem, and needless to say, not happy. And considering how good BoLS is for Games Workshop, you would think they would be nice to him. You can still sign in to the BoLS Lounge where the discussion is on here.
Larry posted this on his forum:
Hi guys, A formal heads up. We are working with Blogger to figure out what’s up with the frontpage. The domain is fine, and the Lounge is (obviously) in fine shape. We are still proceeding under the impresison that we are dealing with an internal Google IT issue. We have received no takedown requests, or any emails from any parties regarding any IP related issues. We are treating this outage as out top priority and working on it round the clock. I can not speak to the outages of any 3rd party sites, or the timing involved with them. Thanks and feel free to visit the Lounge even more in the hours ahead.
Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog is alleged to infringe upon the copyrights of others. As a result, we have reset the post(s) to “draft” status. (If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.) This means your post – and any images, links or other content – is not gone. You may edit the post to remove the offending content and republish, at which point the post in question will be visible to your readers again. A bit of background: the DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. If you believe you have the rights to post the content at issue here, you can file a counter-claim. In order to file a counter-claim, please seehttp://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=lr_counternotice&product=blogger. The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects athttp://www.chillingeffects.org
. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). You can search for the DMCA notice associated with the removal of your content by going to the Chilling Effects search page at http://www.chillingeffects.org/search.cgi, and entering in the URL of the blog post that was removed.
If it is brought to our attention that you have republished the post without removing the content/link in question, then we will delete your post and count it as a violation on your account. Repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account including deleting your blog and/or terminating your account. DMCA notices concerning content on your blog may also result in action taken against any associated AdSense accounts. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel.
More info to follow as I try and get more info. I am in phone contact with Larry and will add anything I can. Thanks to my right hand Sam (Son of Dorn) for the heads-up. Loken (Alec)
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of LostSouls.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
