We need your help to Keep Talk Alive. A lawsuit threatens to shut down Adult DVD Talk.

Please click for info and to support our site.

or go directly to our Fundrazr Campaign (please don't mention porn in your comments as we need to use payment services that don't feel the same way about porn as we all do.)

I want to thank Bush DVD for beginning this fight, ninja1 for coming up with the hashtag #KeepTalkAlive, Gore Gore Girl for her great help with words, reviewers, moderators, sponsors, first anal enthusiasts, and everyone who makes this community what it is. Let's not let the trolls take us down!

IAFD - what can I say? So much support, so many years.

Edited by - Janitor on Mar 25 2016

This should be posted in the Porn Pool and Star Crossed forums too. The topic might not exactly pertain to those forums but it's your site and everyone needs to see this.

Done.

(1) Is there a way we can just send you a check?

(2) Can you tell us what the eight pictures were and who the "celebrities" are?

I don't have any problem boycotting these "celebrities," from now on.
And, if able to do so without compromising your defense, letting them know why

Assholes.

Goldstein, sure thank you! I'll send you a PM. It's not the celebrities' fault. The images are owned by paparazzi, they get bought by large media groups, they retain copyright trolls to send out extortion letters. Lots of info on ExtortionLetterInfo.com.

All right, let's get this rolling! Time to hit up every social media platform we know. #KeepTalkAlive

I donated.

I'd like to get the discussion going by addressing a question that I'm sure will come up quickly: Why did the Trolls go after BushDVD?

I don't know the real reasons why, but the reason the Trolls offered in their lawsuit against BushDVD was based on the fact that BushDVD's address appeared on ADT as the location for studios to send DVD screeners for reviewers. Based on this address alone, the Trolls filed a Federal copyright infringement lawsuit against BushDVD in early October of last year. BushDVD racked up many, many thousands of dollars in legal fees defending themselves in this frivolous action against them. A couple of weeks ago the Trolls finally agreed to dismiss Bush and name ADT as Defendants. As a result, we're now forced to defend ourselves in Los Angeles, CA.

I would like to personally thank the owner of Bush DVD for standing up to these Trolls. He took on a fight that really shouldn't have been his to fight. When serious problems happen someone's true colors become readily apparent. I can say that I haven't met many people in my business career that have been as honest and ethical as Bush's owner has been during this process. Many people would argue that he had good reasons to throw ADT under the bus many times throughout the process and he chose not to do so. We can't possibly thank them enough.

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Flash wrote:
I donated.

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Thanks, Flash (I'm trying not to feel guilty 'cause you already do so much for ADT... :)

You have no reason to feel guilty. You and Drew are both some of the nicest people I know and you have built a fabulous community here. It is worth saving.

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Flash wrote:
I donated.

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Likewise. Fingers crossed.

I just donated. Thank you Steph and Drew for everything you have done for so many. #KeepTalkAlive

You have mail (and another donation)!

Jacco

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Janitor wrote:
they retain copyright trolls to send out extortion letters[/url].

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So am I to understand they do this intentionally; scanning the internet daily, hoping people will post their pictures, so they can make money by launching lawsuits or at the very least people giving into their threats?

Edited by - Canadian_Cindy on 3/23/2016 4:45:15 PM

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Canadian_Cindy wrote:
So am I to understand they do this intentionally; scanning the internet daily, hoping people will post their pictures, so they can make money by launching lawsuits or at the very least people giving into their threats?

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Yes, it works very much like that. Each Troll is a little different. Some Trolls hire search indexing firms to go and scan the internet for their images. There's a company in Israel that specializes in this service. Other Trolls will use the tactic of putting their photos onto free photo sharing/stock photography sites. We don't know how they came across the images here.

If your curious about how these Trolling companies operate I'd suggest checking out the forums at ExtortionLetterInfo.com Lots of interesting reading there.

The Trolls usually try to scare you into paying them with an extortion letter threatening a lawsuit. We never received such a letter because they went after the wrong party. We became aware of the alleged infringements when the lawsuit was filed against BushDVD.

Great writeup by GGG. Donated and waiting for my tshirt!

^ Thanks! Alas, I have to wait for payday before I donate....it's creeping up slowly but surely.

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Canadian_Cindy wrote:

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Janitor wrote:
they retain copyright trolls to send out extortion letters[/url].

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So am I to understand they do this intentionally; scanning the internet daily, hoping people will post their pictures, so they can make money by launching lawsuits or at the very least people giving into their threats?

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A friend of mine, in posting the link to the fundraiser, referred to them as the online equivalent of ambulance chasers.

Edited by - Gore Gore Girl on 3/23/2016 5:19:32 PM

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Drew Black wrote:

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Canadian_Cindy wrote:
So am I to understand they do this intentionally; scanning the internet daily, hoping people will post their pictures, so they can make money by launching lawsuits or at the very least people giving into their threats?

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Yes, it works very much like that. Each Troll is a little different. Some Trolls hire search indexing firms to go and scan the internet for their images. There's a company in Israel that specializes in this service. Other Trolls will use the tactic of putting their photos onto free photo sharing/stock photography sites. We don't know how they came across the images here.

If your curious about how these Trolling companies operate I'd suggest checking out the forums at ExtortionLetterInfo.com Lots of interesting reading there.

The Trolls usually try to scare you into paying them with an extortion letter threatening a lawsuit. We never received such a letter because they went after the wrong party. We became aware of the alleged infringements when the lawsuit was filed against BushDVD.

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What a disgrace. I did go to that website and I just learned about something new. It is without question extortion . Not only that, it is essentially setup as a trap to get uninformed people to be subject to this.

Sad thing is, with the right nasty letter, a lot of people would send off a check just to have it go away. Which, is what they are banking on all along.

I will make a donation too; this is one of the scummiest abuses of a legal system that I have seen in a while.

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Gore Gore Girl wrote:

A friend of mine, in posting the link to the fundraiser, referred to them as the online equivalent of ambulance chasers.

Edited by - Gore Gore Girl on 3/23/2016 5:19:32 PM

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They seem worse than ambulance chasers because they seem to be manipulating things to also cause the accident. (letting their photos get around in order to have someone to chase).

For $1000 there are lawyers who will send out these fishing letters for anything.

^^ You're right.

Edited by - Gore Gore Girl on 3/23/2016 5:29:11 PM

The folks at ExtortionLetterInfo.com have been very helpful in prepping us for what should expect and how to prepare a robust defense. We're working with two lawyers in this case. One of them has been up against these specific Trolls a few times. And the other was instrumental in taking down infamous Copyright Troll Prenda Law in front of the same judge in Los Angeles that our case has been assigned to. We aren't fucking around.

Steph, Drew: I tried to reply to a PM from Drew yesterday and tried to PM Steph via this thread today and got error messages both times. Can't tell if my PMs went through or not.

Error messages said "There was a non-recoverable database error storing your message."

just email us. drew@adt and steph@adt

This has been my online home now going on 15 plus years. Lots of wonderful memories during that time and I know there will continue to be ones going forward!!! You both have my best wishes and I will certainly donate to the cause.

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Drew Black wrote:
Done.

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I don't see it pinned in Star Crossed and Porn Pool anymore?

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BlackSix wrote:
For $1000 there are lawyers who will send out these fishing letters for anything.

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Yeah, I remember my office getting a couple of them like that last year saying they will sue for some big number. Some people in management freaked out worried (because the threatened lawsuit number would put us out of business) and were ready to call and settle (and send money!). I convinced management to throw them in a filing cabinet and forget about them. Nothing ever came of them since.

I don't tweet, but I'm adding the hashtag on my signature for other forums I visit.

^^

This is correct. Fewer than 5% of these delivered to private parties are ever followed through on.

Edit:
Please tell me you didn't respond, by all accounts that's the worst thing you can do.

Edited by - FlacFan on 3/23/2016 9:20:47 PM

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Canadian_Cindy wrote:

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BlackSix wrote:
For $1000 there are lawyers who will send out these fishing letters for anything.

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Yeah, I remember my office getting a couple of them like that last year saying they will sue for some big number. Some people in management freaked out worried (because the threatened lawsuit number would put us out of business) and were ready to call and settle (and send money!). I convinced management to throw them in a filing cabinet and forget about them. Nothing ever came of them since.

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Something similar happened at our work until our lawyer told everyone to chill and let them file in court, which he predicted would never be followed through on and he was right.

Doesn't apply in this case though as they already dragged BushDVD into court.

Hopefully the judge awards damages and Drew and Steph get a vacation for all this BS!

I've been on two other forums that were hit by Copyright Trolls. One was just like this, over pictures. However, it was Getty Images who employ an entire department to scour the Internet looking for their pictures, even thumbnails. In the end, they didn't get any money, but the site had to promise to delete any Getty picture within 24 hours or else they would be in violation and subject to another lawsuit.

The other was by Righthaven LLC, who was eventually destroyed and shut down due to numerous court judgments against them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righthaven

If there was never a DMCA notice given to remove the supposedly offending images, they are on very shaky legal ground. What they're trying to do is get some easy money in a quick settlement. There are organizations which provide legal assistance (at either no cost or low cost) for those being targeted by copyright and patent trolls.

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FlacFan wrote:
^^

This is correct. Fewer than 5% of these delivered to private parties are ever followed through on.

Edit:
Please tell me you didn't respond, by all accounts that's the worst thing you can do.

Edited by - FlacFan on 3/23/2016 9:20:47 PM

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Read the info, the trolls filed a suit already and did not even send an extortion letter.

Jacco

^
Indeed. Total brick on my part.

I don't see how anyone can sue like that. It's not like Bush is the only vendor ADT promotes either, and I see no way 8 pictures could be capitalized on to the extent the plaintiff seeks compensation for. That's just absurd.

I wonder what Jules Jordan would say about it. He seems supportive of this place.

It doesn't even seem like legitimate procedure. Shouldn't they ask for select images to be removed first? To jump to a lawsuit seems like scare tactics, or a shakedown.

I stand with ADT.

Donated. And tweeted. And will continue tweeting.

This whole thing just boils my blood.

It's a shame you guys never kept a record of all the times you've banned members for posting links or images of pirated material. This site is one of the most ardent defenders of intellectual property rights I've ever come across. It's a sick joke that you guys are being dragged into court for this.

Anyone else find both hilarious {Due to the hypocrisy} and disgusting {see reason #1} that ADT, a staunch anti-piracy site, is under attack, yet tube sites spring up every day and are untouched?

Edited by - FlacFan on 3/24/2016 1:05:38 AM

Donated as well. Added the ADT #KeepTalkAlive banner to the webstore.

I've just sent an e-mail to my customers requesting their support. Also, I've made a post on my webstore's FB page.

I have been given special permission by the Admin of the best Sex Novelty review board, SexToysKingdom.com, to announce the #KeepTalkAlive camapaign. Please check out their site. The link is below. Thanks.

SexToysKingdom.com!

Edited by - grover on 3/26/2016 11:13:57 AM

I'm sure I'll be saying/thinking this daily but thank you all for your support!

I added the code today to include a Star next to the user's names that have donated to the campaign. We're working on going through the current donations to tag everyone as All-Star Members.

^^ & ^ Steph & Drew: Welcome and thank you! #KeepTalkAlive

Just donated. Keep on fighting!
Opstapper from Amsterdam

edit: just read the text

Edited by - Van Hinten on 3/24/2016 5:25:19 PM

Is there anywhere we can read the lawsuit?

Just donated.

Disgusting and disheartening that this would happen to ADT.

This site has given me a voice in something that I've loved for longer than I probably should have--for years now--and it's extraordinarily sad that it would fall victim to such a predatory abuse of the legal system.

Utterly nauseating.

We're here to help you fight the good fight, Steph and Drew.

Never surrender.

Just donated.

Love you guys! It's amazing how those of you who already contribute so much to ADT (reviewers, moderators, sponsors, twitter promoters) are the ones giving more.

I was thinking it would be a good idea for forum members to engage in some coordinated action to reach out to industry insiders to support the site on twitter. Some of the forum's pornstar members have thousands upon thousands of followers, so a re-tweet from them showing their support (or a donation) could give the campaign a big boost.

So what I've done is re-tweet ADT's initial tweet for the campaign to some of the forum's prominent and active pornstar/industry members. So for example my tweet to Mick Blue looks like this:

I think if lots of forum members who are active on twitter do this it would get their attention. Of course it goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway), be respectful and nice. Here's a list of some of the active members I think should be focused on:

Sovereign Syre: @SovereignSyre

Riley Reid: @RileyReidx3

Mick Blue: @MickBluexxx

Jules Jordan: @JulesJordan

Romi Rain: @Romi_Rain

Veruca James: @VerucaJames

Karmen Karma: @KarmenKarma

Keisha Grey: @keishagreyxxx

Francesca Le: @francescalexxx

Gabi Paltrova: @GabiPaltrova

Casey Calvert: @caseycalvertxxx

Leya Falcon: @LeyaFalcon

Veronica Avluv: @VeronicaAvluvXX

Carter Cruise: @CarterCruiseXXX

Bonnie Rotten: @thebonnierotten

Veronica Vain: @TheVeronicaVain

Vicki Chase: @VickiChase

Chanel Preston: @ChanelPreston

Penny Pax: @PennyPax

Ava Addams: @AvaAddams

Jessie Andrews: @jessieslife

Skin Diamond: @Skin_Diamond

Chris Streams: @chrisstreams

HardXj: @hardxj

Edit: Just figured out you need to space the re-tweets out, otherwise twitter thinks it's automated. So do it at your leisure and not all at once.

Edit #2: If someone does re-tweet and show their support, be sure to thank them!

Edit #3: Gahhhh, I inserted the wrong link with my re-tweet to the fundraiser page. I used bit.ly to shorten the link, but pasted the wrong link by mistake. My re-tweet included ADT's original tweet with the correct link so I don't think much damage was done. Still, everyone do better than me please.

Edited by - Mister Fahrenheit on 3/25/2016 4:07:22 PM

This is so awesome. Thank you.

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