If you use MEGA.NZ for your mugen works, STOP NOW. SOMEONE IS FILING A DMCA ON AUTHORS WHO USE IT.

[･yoonybin･]

I usually don't make announcements like this but this HAS to be said because this is a big deal.

If you guys weren't in the loop, there was a recent situation in which an amazing author named: SL Zero had his works taken down via DMCA by some unknown user.

 

• His works never has broken any law as he is not selling anything nor was his content of 18+ or really anything that has broken the laws provided by mega.nz. doing this to someone's work is not only a asshole-ish move but really can cause issues within the community for we already have enough content missing.,
•  

• Luckily, you can still get his works here: https://www.andersonkenya1.net/files/file/49181-sl-zeros-creations/ | and, he has created a torrent for it as well. https://www.mediafire.com/file/jd0ksjp3eu7swqv/UnDMCAableHosting.7z/file,
•  

• Proof/screenshot of the email they received in regards of the DMCA: 

 

 

More information on the situation is here: https://youtu.be/2kPQV8L1FMo If you guys have any idea on who did this that would be great, other than that. I recommend everyone back up their works, whether it be on a drive or a different storage program. for now we are in a time where people are maliciously attacking user's works and getting them taken down. I want better for this community. More information is also on his website as well: https://slzeromugen.neocities.org/

 

 

Another author by the name of Kuro Aonix also has their MEGA taken down as well. I beg of you all, to spread this around as much as you can. also, if you have your works in mega.nz MOVE THEM elsewhere.

mediafire, torrenting, google drive, internet archive etc.. it doesn't matter please move them elsewhere. mega isn't worth it anymore (and quite frankly it never was, considering it's cons either way where you have to upgrade to pro due to download limit. so that should also be enough to convince some of y'all at least.) 

 

The DMCA system is extremely flawed; you WILL lose your works if you do not move them. 

 

Kuro's post: https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxDC-iMhTFAxairWvi8nY3EZgwQOWV5o3P

[Dissidia]

This has happened with Mediafire as well years back. I personally wouldn't rely on public file sharing sites anymore unless you have no other choice if you don't want to throw cash in for your own file host. Since slzero is using Neocities, paying $5 a month really wouldn't hurt, and their file hosting is actually pretty good.

[KF2416]

"You either die a good public sharing site, or you live long enough to see yourself become MEGA.NZ."

[Need4Power]

I think there needs to be a change of mindset. The old internet as we know it simply does not exist anymore; it became a very restricted, sanitized, corporate place. 

 

It is not a specific attack on the MUGEN community or even an issue of Mega.NZ in particular. It is all across the internet.

 

I remind you that once upon a time you could upload almost anything to YouTube, now you get automatic copyright strike for even faintly played copyright music in the background of your videos. People used to make creative stuff like AMVs or build upon each other's work to make wonderful things, nowadays content creators are very afraid to insert anything that may slightly upset YouTube.

 

Some people here may not want to hear it since I assume MUGEN character creation is an adjacent interest, but the modding community as well used to be more about free sharing and love for video games, nowadays a lot of people refuse to work together since there's money involved (personally I blame Bethesda for being the first to introduce greed to what was once a pure and passionate community), they put in DRM in their mods and rush to copyright strike everyone who creates a customized version of their work since they can now monetize it and they don't want to miss on their potential small cash cow.

 

Not even speaking of the internet slowly getting more and more censored and supervised, things getting removed, patched out or altered, etc. Big sites trying to become more advertiser friendly or maximize profits so they take certain actions which result in content removal, and more.

 

To put it shortly, rest down the expectation of uploading something to the internet, and it staying there. Preservation is 100x more difficult. Surely not a good idea anymore to use big file hosting sites as your only source.

 

The internet is no longer the free wild west of creativity. Beware, because content removal processes are becoming more and more automated. 

 

You did an excellent write-up by the way. I think that torrent is great for sharing. But always, everyone, keep a backup on cold storage. Never delete anything . You never know when it will be taken away from you and become a lost media.

[TurboBorot12]

7 hours ago, Need4Power said:

I think there needs to be a change of mindset. The old internet as we know it simply does not exist anymore; it became a very restricted, sanitized, corporate place. 

 

It is not a specific attack on the MUGEN community or even an issue of Mega.NZ in particular. It is all across the internet.

 

I remind you that once upon a time you could upload almost anything to YouTube, now you get automatic copyright strike for even faintly played copyright music in the background of your videos. People used to make creative stuff like AMVs or build upon each other's work to make wonderful things, nowadays content creators are very afraid to insert anything that may slightly upset YouTube.

 

Some people here may not want to hear it since I assume MUGEN character creation is an adjacent interest, but the modding community as well used to be more about free sharing and love for video games, nowadays a lot of people refuse to work together since there's money involved (personally I blame Bethesda for being the first to introduce greed to what was once a pure and passionate community), they put in DRM in their mods and rush to copyright strike everyone who creates a customized version of their work since they can now monetize it and they don't want to miss on their potential small cash cow.

 

Not even speaking of the internet slowly getting more and more censored and supervised, things getting removed, patched out or altered, etc. Big sites trying to become more advertiser friendly or maximize profits so they take certain actions which result in content removal, and more.

 

To put it shortly, rest down the expectation of uploading something to the internet, and it staying there. Preservation is 100x more difficult. Surely not a good idea anymore to use big file hosting sites as your only source.

 

The internet is no longer the free wild west of creativity. Beware, because content removal processes are becoming more and more automated. 

 

You did an excellent write-up by the way. I think that torrent is great for sharing. But always, everyone, keep a backup on cold storage. Never delete anything . You never know when it will be taken away from you and become a lost media.

We don't just need a change of mindset; we need to take REAL action. Shit like this is why the efforts of the United States Internet Preservation Society matter so dearly.

 

I mean, if Ross Scott managed to send a message through his Stop Killing Games consumer movement, that means that we have a fighting chance for a better internet.

 

 

[Need4Power]

1 hour ago, TurboBorot12 said:

We don't just need a change of mindset; we need to take REAL action. A REAL consumer movement advocating for REAL free speech on the internet and the repeal of the DMCA needs to be set in place:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Killing_Games

 

I appreciate the Stop Killing Games movement. But call me pessimistic; I've never seen any of that stuff work to a large degree.

Big corporations simply does not care about us, they take our messages and throw them to the trash can. Pushing for a legal change that will also be enforced can be very far off on the horizon. I can only see action working as building our own infrastructure that is independent and untouchable.

 

You know who did the best media preservation work over the years, for decades of content?

 

It was pirates.

(i.e., the people.)

 

No one else stepped up.

 

Every media that is not lost is immediately downloadable, no censorship, no region lock, no removal because some music license in said media suddenly expired or anything silly like that, accessible offline, full ownership and you can share with friends, no one can suddenly patch out things out of your media or snatch it away from you, and unfortunately the list is L O N G.

 

It's not even about the money, it is simply a good service, like it should be. Can you see something like this ever happening as a result of a movement, especially considering how far down the bottom our consumer rights fell to?

 

For me it's hard to believe 

 

I think we need to build our own stuff to rely on. If MUGEN creations are being taken down, we need some smart people to make a service that would be, at least somewhat, immune to DMCA. And move on from services that are susceptible to it. Wait a bit longer, and a lot more stuff will be lost.

 

For now, torrent is the only system I know. Maybe normalizing uploading stuff to multiple, lesser known file hosting services would help. Surely there are more methods...

 

 

 

[TurboBorot12]

2 hours ago, Need4Power said:

I appreciate the Stop Killing Games movement. But call me pessimistic; I've never seen any of that stuff work to a large degree.

Big corporations simply does not care about us, they take our messages and throw them to the trash can. Pushing for a legal change that will also be enforced can be very far off on the horizon. I can only see action working as building our own infrastructure that is independent and untouchable.

 

You know who did the best media preservation work over the years, for decades of content?

 

It was pirates.

(i.e., the people.)

 

No one else stepped up.

 

Every media that is not lost is immediately downloadable, no censorship, no region lock, no removal because some music license in said media suddenly expired or anything silly like that, accessible offline, full ownership and you can share with friends, no one can suddenly patch out things out of your media or snatch it away from you, and unfortunately the list is L O N G.

 

It's not even about the money, it is simply a good service, like it should be. Can you see something like this ever happening as a result of a movement, especially considering how far down the bottom our consumer rights fell to?

 

For me it's hard to believe 

 

I think we need to build our own stuff to rely on. If MUGEN creations are being taken down, we need some smart people to make a service that would be, at least somewhat, immune to DMCA. And move on from services that are susceptible to it. Wait a bit longer, and a lot more stuff will be lost.

 

For now, torrent is the only system I know. Maybe normalizing uploading stuff to multiple, lesser known file hosting services would help. Surely there are more methods...

 

 

 

You have a point, but that doesn't mean that we should just give up fighting for our consumer rights.

[Need4Power]

47 minutes ago, TurboBorot12 said:

You have a point, but that doesn't mean that we should just give up fighting for our consumer rights.

Yes I agree.