Dr. Wolf's account terminated? SPREAD THE WORD!

[Virgil 685]

 

 

  On 2014-05-07 at 3:50 AM, ChikoritaBrony said:

Actually I don't think this is Hasbro's fault, I think it's either due to YouTube's broken system or a false flagging troll.

Yeah I checked the Doc's Patreon account and he left a message saying what had happened, and it does sound like his account got hacked or something along those lines. He got a message from google saying there was suspicious activity on his account and he was in the process of resolving the situation ( my account almost got hacked once and the Doc's story sounds really similar ), but then just got the message his account was taken down. So it doesn't sound like Hasbro is behind this otherwise it would have just been, vid or account taken down period.

[DryGuy84 (Inactive) 927]

  On 2014-05-07 at 4:13 AM, Virgil_Harris said:

Yeah I checked the Doc's Patreon account and he left a message saying what had happened, and it does sound like his account got hacked or something along those lines. He got a message from google saying there was suspicious activity on his account and he was in the process of resolving the situation ( my account almost got hacked once and the Doc's story sounds really similar ), but then just got the message his account was taken down. So it doesn't sound like Hasbro is behind this otherwise it would have just been, vid or account taken down period.

 

Yea I agree, but it doesn't help that Mr. Enter and Gibbontake jumped to that conclusion in their vids, despite the evidence presented otherwise. Hopefully the Doc gets everything sorted out, because I enjoyed his content.

[Dark Qiviut 22,491]

I think I'm starting to figure out why Wolf's account got terminated.

 

On his Google+ page, he posted this:

 

  Quote

 

I received a very distressing message this morning...My email account had suddenly been logged off, and when I attempted to log back in, I was shown a message from Google saying "We have detected suspicious activity on this Account".  They asked me to submit a Phone # so they could text me a code to get in.  After entering that code, I saw one message in my inbox.  "Your YouTube Account has been Terminated".  No warnings, no copyright strikes, no taking down certain videos.  The entire account is now gone.

I have submitted a plea to YouTube, but I have no idea how long it will take for them to get back to me.  I intend to find answers any way I can.  I sincerely hope that I'll be able to reinstate my channel, but I have no idea how difficult that may be.

I will let you know as soon as I hear anything.  For now, I am trying to spread the word as best I can.  If anyone can help with this in any way, I am in desperate need of answers.

Please let me know.

DRWolf

 

I just saw a video posted by a EQD commenter informing people of a phishing scam that's been spreading throughout Google and YouTube. Here's the video:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJiQqphICfQ

 

There are some similarities, one of them asking your phone number.

 

Something tells me Dr. Wolf was the victim of a phish.

Edited May 7, 2014 by Dark Qiviut

[Graveyard Duck 150]

Youtube is really screwy with that kind of thing. I wouldn't be surprised if his account is back up in a few weeks. (At least, I hope so...)

[Koori 156]

This is the first time YouTube has done something like this as far as I know. Shutting down an account without any warning whatsoever, no chance to redeem or explain. Just shutting down the account just like that... because apparently they can and we were left in the dark. 

 

Either YouTube has made a huge mistake here by skipping its own rules or Dr. Wolf's account got hacked or flagged for no real reason at all.

[nami438 90]

I've never heard of going from clean as a whistle straight to banned on Youtube just from copyright violations. Then again maybe I'm just an old timer, haven't been deep in the YT scene since 2009.

 

As of now I'm more inclined to believe that Dr. Wolf got hacked, and maybe the hacker uploaded some explicit or offending video(s).

 

::edit:: Seems that this has nothing to do with Hasbro or copyright after all... I would relax, but now that means that there's no closure on what in Equestria did happen...

Edited May 7, 2014 by nami438

[Carbon Maestro 1,003]

Never heard or seen his videos, so I can't really tell if he's running in copyright hot water or not.

 

This isn't the first time that Youtube simply close accounts without warning though. Usually that happens, then you get this message via email:

 

Regarding your account: XXXXXX
The following video(s) from your account have been disabled for violation of the YouTube Community Guidelines:

• XXXX XXXX XX XXXX XXX - (XxxxxXxxxXxxx)

Your account has received one Community Guidelines warning strike, which will expire in six months. Additional violations may result in the temporary disabling of your ability to post content to YouTube and/or the termination of your account.
Sincerely,

The YouTube Team

 

Youtube always sends 3 strikes before closing an account. Reviews that may be legal are often flagged by Youtube's algorithms (Visual or Audio) and usually have something that says that the user must acknowledge 3rd party content. Even with that, there are people from Youtube that determine if an account should be suspended or not, and once it reaches this stage, they can send a strike or a takedown.

 

I personally don't know the whole story until the dust settles. This is still ongoing.

[wowowowo 132]

  On 2014-05-07 at 4:52 AM, Koori said:

This is the first time YouTube has done something like this as far as I know. Shutting down an account without any warning whatsoever, no chance to redeem or explain. Just shutting down the account just like that... because apparently they can and we were left in the dark. 

 

Either YouTube has made a huge mistake here by skipping its own rules or Dr. Wolf's account got hacked or flagged for no real reason at all.

I surprised this is first time you've seen this happen 5 of my favourite YouTube users got random videos taken down just cause google sucks

[yeet 2,027]

I never really watched those review videos, but before I looked at this I was thinking about starting to watch some of them.

 

This is most likely that phishing thing that dark qiviut posted. I don't think hasbro played a role in this, but they might have. We will find out when we are told by someone I guess, but we shouldn't go making assumptions that it was hasbro at this stage, when all we know is he was banned through a possibly dodgy email after typing in his phone number.

[Steel Accord 6,660]

"Litmus Journal

May 7th, 2014:

 

Burnt pelt over pit fills clearing with scent of dog spray and glasses polish.

 

This company is afraid of us, it's seen our true soul. The youtube accounts are extensions of our thoughts, and these thoughts don't fit with the image of society.

 

Soon, the feeds will overflow with love for these ponies, and all the bronies will rise. All the haters and beauracrats will look up and shout,

 

"Save us!"

 

And I'll whisper,

 

"Nnnope."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"I'd heard he'd been working with bronies, helping their psychological problems. Maybe it was a demoralizing action."

 

"Maybe . . . or maybe some phish is killin' off big name bronies."

Edited May 7, 2014 by Steel Accord

[NavelColt 22,883]

  On 2014-05-07 at 12:33 AM, the_smiling_horse said:

I've honestly never seen someone ay hasbro was evil in this fandom. I mean granted I've only been a brony for about 5 weeks and on this forum for 4 days.

 

Yeah, you haven't been around long enough, might not be looking in the right places at the right times either x) Fighting is Magic, JanAnimations, every time Hasbro C&D's something, there's a ripple effect outcry from much of the fandom, that dies down after a few months, until they do it again.

[SasQ 1,379]

  On 2014-05-07 at 12:19 AM, cuteycindyhoney said:

Excuse me, but did you actually read your sentence? How can it be unfair to issue a C&D when Hasbro owns the rights to the characters someone else decided to just take and use WITHOUT PERMISSION?

 

Excuse me, but the fact that someone invented/created something doesn't mean yet that no one else on this damned planet can use it. Even copyrights don't grant the original author an absolute power yet (thanks goddess!). There are some exceptions where one CAN use someone else's work, and all of that WITHOUT ASKING FOR PERMISSION. (Yes, you heard it right.) These are: fair use, critique, quoting, and several other I don't mention since I'm not an expert of U.S. copyright. And these "loopholes" in copyright are there ON PURPOSE: because otherwise we were doomed, since ANY use of someone else's creative work, or even an idea, would be a crime. And this would be ridiculous, since ideas are immaterial, and one cannot OWN them. Copyright is NOT absolute ownership, just a right to use some certain monopolies with regard to one's work, especially for commercial purposes. Many people seem to be so much brainwashed to not understand this simple fact, that copyrights are not something innate, but just a temporarily given monopoly for certain areas of use.

 

Dr.Wolf used someone else's creative work, true. But he used it in a way permitted by copyright law: He used it just as a "quoted" content (selected fragments, static images); he used it for critique; and he used it on fair-use manner, not meaning to "steal money from Hasbro" or something like that. And this is whole another animal than publishing whole episodes and making money on it.

 

  On 2014-05-07 at 12:19 AM, cuteycindyhoney said:

I'm sorry, but this rapidly spreading attitude of "I like the fan animation, that means Hasbro is evil to try protecting their legal rights." is foolish.

I think more foolish is to believe in a system which allows corporations such as Hasbro to claim right to YOUR creative work which you made using YOUR OWN resources just because there's a bit of their work in it. They haven't spent a penny for Dr.Wolf's work, they haven't participated in his creative work in any way, but still they think they can decide what he can do with the fruits of his own work. Let me quote Stephan Kinsella on that:

 

Copyrights pertain to "original works", such as books, articles, movies, and computer programs. A copyright is a grant by the state that permits the copyright holder to prevent others from using their own property — e.g., ink and paper — in certain ways.

 

In both cases, the state is assigning to A a right to control B's property — A can tell B not to do certain things with B's property. Since ownership is the right to control, IP grants to A co-ownership of B's property. This clearly cannot be justified under libertarian principles. B already owns his property. With respect to him, A is a latecomer. B is the one who appropriated the property, not A. It is too late for A to homestead B's property — B already did that. The resource is no longer unowned.

 

Granting A ownership rights in B's property is quite obviously incompatible with basic libertarian principles. It is nothing more than redistribution of wealth. IP is thus unlibertarian and unjustified. (See Against Intellectual Property, pp. 43–45, 55–56.)

And for me this is HORRIBLE that copyright law is exploited for such abominations and to just "shut people's mouths". But well, that's what copyright law was invented for (if you know the history and Statute of Anne). It was originally just a form of censorship, and it seems to be used for the same today, but on a more immense scale.

 

Worth reading:

• "Free Culture - How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity" by Lawrence Lessig (you can read the whole book online, for free)
• "Against Intellectual Property" by Stephan Kinsella (free PDF)
• "Do Patents and Copyrights Undermine Private Property?" by Stephan Kinsella (online reprint)

Edited May 7, 2014 by SasQ

[wowowowo 132]

We should all send messages to YouTube until they put his account back up it's obviously thier stupid flagging system

[Argumedies 1,748]

I'll say this here as well, it was quite possibly just some asshat going and hitting the report on all his videos over and over.

 

As bad as YT is they useually give plenty of warning and ways to argue your case.... I've never seen strait up termination of an account.

 

If this were the case. Half of YT would have been wiped out overnight

Edited May 7, 2014 by Argumedies

[Serbon div 386]

I BLAME THE CAPITALIST PIG!

[Guest]

Ok, so I never have watched his videos, but in my opinion it could be the Youtube's faulty flagging system thing. I think it's weird if his channel was just shut down, without any warnings. They should give you warnings before actually deleting your channel. 

[SasQ 1,379]

Sure, they should, but make them YouTube is their property and honestly they can do whatever they want with it, including shutting down all accounts one single day. Be prepared to see this scenario one day. Yeah, that sucks but such is life. That's what happens when people give control over their content to someone else.

[Sir Wulfington 276]

  On 2014-05-07 at 12:27 AM, cuteycindyhoney said:

Suspicious activity doesn't mean copyright infringement. It could mean anything, up to and including someone hacking the account. The whole "Hasbro is evil for not letting bronies do whatever they want with Hasbro's copyrighted work" thing is getting old. I hate to say it, but they'd actually be well within their legal rights to shut this forum down.

 

Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's moral.

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

I do think it's rather strange that Dr.Wolf's channel was instantly deleted.

 

No strikes......no warning....nothing just a instant termination.

 

I've seen people in similar situations but as worst they got a strike so this situation is entirely something new as a whole and to the fandom as well. I don't know what's going on with Youtube but it's quite obvious the copyright id tracker thing is hurting a lot more than it's helping.

[the_smiling_horse 19]

  On 2014-05-07 at 6:54 AM, ~Chaotic Discord~ said:

Yeah, you haven't been around long enough, might not be looking in the right places at the right times either x) Fighting is Magic, JanAnimations, every time Hasbro C&D's something, there's a ripple effect outcry from much of the fandom, that dies down after a few months, until they do it again.

DAAAAANG! Dude! That profile picture is BEAST!

[Forlong 1,726]

 

Really, YouTube?  Get your ass sorted from your elbow and fix your broken bots.  How could this ever happen?  It's disgraceful.  I'd advice him to make his own website and gradually abandon YouTube.  They don't deserve the traffic he puts on their website, if they treat him like this.

[Flash Fire 386]

  On 2014-05-07 at 4:44 PM, Forlong said:

 

 

Really, YouTube?  Get your ass sorted from your elbow and fix your broken bots.  How could this ever happen?  It's disgraceful.  I'd advice him to make his own website and gradually abandon YouTube.  They don't deserve the traffic he puts on their website, if they treat him like this.

Other reviewers have tried that, but there just isn't the traffic elswhere the is at youtube, so they lost a lot of veiws and evenutually came back to youtube. For that to work, everyone of them would have to get up and go, and the site would have to be at the same par. What I don't think may be actually legal, I don't know though, is a good lot of them getting patreon accounts so they are getting paid to use copyrighted images. 

[nami438 90]

http://www.youtube.com/user/DRWolf001

 

When I go to his page, I see that his account has been brought down for multiple copyright infringements. Weird, since YT just closed his account in one fell swoop. Maybe he got a bunch of flags all of a sudden at once?

 

Did he only have MLP Friendship is Magic content on his channel?

Edited May 7, 2014 by nami438

[Flash Fire 386]

  On 2014-05-07 at 6:17 PM, nami438 said:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DRWolf001

 

When I go to his page, I see that his account has been brought down for multiple copyright infringements. Weird, since YT just closed his account in one fell swoop. Maybe he got a bunch of flags all of a sudden at once?

 

Did he only have MLP Friendship is Magic content on his channel?

In addition to his reviews of the show and fan works and talks about the world in equestria, he provided "therapy sessions" to other reviewers, with their OC's. 

Edited May 7, 2014 by Flash Fire

[nami438 90]

  On 2014-05-07 at 6:40 PM, Flash Fire said:

In addition to his reviews and talks about the world in equestria, he provided "therapy sessions" to other reviewers, with their OC's. 

Hm, okay. I was wondering if he had any other content that might get some other company mad over copyright.

 

It's unfortunate that this happened, especially with no warning. This is a first for Google. They've let the power get to their heads now that Youtube is a functioning monopoly in the web video market. If only they actually followed US law (they don't, they've created some crazy arena where Google is executive, legislative and judiciary at the same time and us little guys always lose, and still have the gall to claim that they are only following the law).

Edited May 7, 2014 by nami438