Newfoundking Posted July 11, 2015 Report Share Posted July 11, 2015 Due to many questions we've been getting about our copyright checks and reports lately, the staff has decided to release a short report, and keep it updated with any and all further reports. To encourage reports, no names are listed in these summaries, including that of the content authors. All punishments associated with the reports, if any, are also listed here. This is a means to be more transparent as well, so if you see an issue, or just have a question on these, please feel free to ask it. All these summaries are just that, short summaries saying what we did and how it was done. We do have more detailed logs we keep for reference in the future as well. **** LA Mod 3.x Violation Reports Reports of unauthorized edits and lack of credits provided for the readme. Upon contacting the member, the member confirmed his violations and agreed to remove the mod pending corrections. The member received one warning point for the offense. **** London Mod Violation Inquiry A member contacted staff inquiring about the readme and rules regarding general credits. After a quick review it was determined that the readme was in compliance with the previous rules and therefore grandfathered in. The member was advised that future releases would be expected to follow new rules. As no violations for copyright infringement were reported with this, only a readme inquiry, the issue was closed without further investigation. **** DC Mod A member reported his content being used without credit or permission. A staff member privately contacted the member for the vehicle in question, and was provided. The same staff member also contacted the mod author to receive the files in question, and was provided with the same. The staff member compared the two and noticed this similarity http://i.imgur.com/5v3rGNA.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/loN6bYs.png http://i.imgur.com/tQL5QUd.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/3ID7JTQ.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/5ytYrmu.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/K2e1WhS.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/gWQgsyu.png The evidence was enough for the staff to act. The content was removed from the mod and the member received one warning point. As this was a repeat offence and the third overall, a 15 day suspension was also issued. **** My BOSTON MOD edit A member reported this mod for lack of proper credits. After downloading the mod to investigate, a staff member determined there was NO readme in the download file, nor on the first post of the topic. The mod was immediately removed and the member was notified to replace the file with one including a readme before releasing any additional versions. The member was issued one warning point for this violation. **** L.A. County Modification Reskin A member commented about the use of other's models in this mod, which resulted in a lengthy public discussion, including fights erupting. Nothing had been released, so there was no punishment issued for that, however the resulting attitude presented on the forum and in signature including abusive language and cursing landed the member several warning points and a suspension. **** NYCERU Modifications including Manhattan and Brooklyn Borough of Fire Modifications. After receiving a notification from a member about several model violations, the member responsible for the mod was given a private message notifying him of the violations after a staff member confirmed these violations. As one of the staff members was a member who's content was reported as being used without his permission, he was asked to excuse himself from the investigation. After the member was contacted, he took the matter public, and when other members on the site noticed, they reported several other violations. Although many items were reported, only certain ones were investigated, as deemed reasonable to prove by the staff. We further investigated. Below are the results. http://i.imgur.com/gm7Wq7R.gifhttp://i.imgur.com/6E6RRB6.gifhttp://i.imgur.com/vCzfx4F.gifhttp://i.imgur.com/JSbw9e4.gifhttp://imgur.com/UDFQTFDhttp://imgur.com/0dsrfMhhttp://imgur.com/Bhhslaahttp://imgur.com/iRiMLcBhttp://imgur.com/OuIB5pEhttp://imgur.com/X30NVHd Final Comparison of all emergency units with confirmed violations in yellow http://i.imgur.com/TUYgQmO.png Due to the size of the report and the mod in question, it was attempted to be dealt with privately. All download links were removed voluntarily, and the member was informed ALL offending content would be required to be removed, and all content would require full credits further, whether it was released here or not. The member responsible for the mod noted that many of the violations were caused by content supplied by a currently inactive team member. As member responsible for the mod, he was still considered responsible for the mod's content as well. The other member in question was asked about this, and admitted to many of the violation reports with no issue. No warning points were issued as the staff took note of the profile of the mod in question, and agreed that so long as the member followed the directives, we would assume that violations were not intentional. **** New York City Mod 1.01 Courtesy Check Due to the size of this mod, the staff determined this should be subject to a courtesy check. Three staff members are content authors in this mod, so they excused themselves from this check. A fourth staff member reviewed the files and determined under the old rules this mod was compliant and all content used was credited appropriately. Note made for version 2 to obtain permission for several items including some personnel skins, as well as to update the readme for a full list as per the current TOS. No further action taken. **** Mayberry County Mod Courtesy Check Due to the popularity of this topic, the mod was subjected to a courtesy check. Upon investigation we determined that the content had come from many different places, however upon the cursory check, it appeared to be properly credited at this time. A full investigation was not done into this mod considering the size of it. Notes made are for the team to update their readme to be in compliance with new rules for all new releases, as well as to note the LA mod base for this mod. No action at this time taken **** Montana Mod Courtesy Check Due to the popularity of this mod, a cursory check was completed. Content used in this mod appeared to be fairly credited, and with absence of any reports of misuse for this mod, as well as the members responsible for it, we assume that all the content credited has been appropriately given permission for use. No further action needed at this time. **** RCMP Mod PreCheck The staff has requested a pre-release copy of the mod, including a drummed up readme, at the request of the member in charge for a precheck to ensure that they are on the right track for permission and copyright. After review, we will submit a list of permissions needed and copyright notes to allow an immediate release of that version. As this mod hasn't been released, and is a prerelease check, it will not result in any action taken towards the team in progress if they abide by our recommendations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Thank you for making these reports. They really do clear up as to why so many good mods were cancelled. One question though, if you have a private mod for yourself and give it to someone to make a video for it and upload it to Youtube, do you still have to have a readme or a something showing credits to original authors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theocd Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Fantastic guys, a nice bit of transparency that I think will be welcomed by the community - keep it up! The OC-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeastyBill88 Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Hopefully when people see this they will calm the f**k down about it. If your gonna use another persons model/script etc you need permission & to fairly credit them for using it, it's not that difficult.Thanks for the insight into the reported mods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCERT1 Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Glad to see this post, and very glad to see things getting back on track. I appreciate the work you all have done to keep the integrity of the community and the rights of it's technical artists intact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Is there any particular staff member who i should contact about copyrights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itchboy Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Is there any particular staff member who i should contact about copyrights?I believe that would be NFK, seeing as how everyone on FB and Em-Europe hates him so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Ok thanks itchboy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfoundking Posted July 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Thank you for making these reports. They really do clear up as to why so many good mods were cancelled. One question though, if you have a private mod for yourself and give it to someone to make a video for it and upload it to Youtube, do you still have to have a readme or a something showing credits to original authors?Private mods are exempted from copyright rules kinda. You don't have to provide readmes and all that, and we can't enforce youtube, but if you post here, we do expect you credit those who contributed to the showcase. Is there any particular staff member who i should contact about copyrights?I believe that would be NFK, seeing as how everyone on FB and Em-Europe hates him so much.Yes, you can contact me, however unless a staff member in particular is involved in the copyright violation, we all will be involved in the matter. If for whatever reason you don't want to contact me, feel free to click report on the offending content, or the user's profile and include any relevant information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyPI Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Is there any particular staff member who i should contact about copyrights?All the moderators can handle such issues, but as nfk said if you don't want to have to use the PM features and directly contact a staff member, you can simply use the report function on either the topic or the author's profile and include the mod, what is believed to be offending within it, and if possible who's content it is (if applicable). The more specific the reported issue, the faster/easier it will be to investigate for us, so anything that is believed noteworthy should be mentioned in that regard. Realize it does take time to look into these things unless they're obvious (like lacking credits at all) so please be patient while we look into the more complex issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Randomperson Wasent part of la mod was he. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyPI Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 No, he was not, nor was NFK far as I can recall. He only worked on NYC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamnj88 Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 I believe that would be NFK, seeing as how everyone on FB and Em-Europe hates him so much.I always thought more people hated MikeyPI lolRandomperson Wasent part of la mod was he.I do not not know any mods randomperson worked on to me he is just a randomperson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfoundking Posted July 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 No, the only staff that worked on the LA Mod was Mikey and Hoppah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeastyBill88 Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Why hate on just Mikey, NFK or Itchboy... (this is a joke so please don't be hurt by it lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamnj88 Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 Why hate on just Mikey, NFK or Itchboy... (this is a joke so please don't be hurt by it lol) Why hate on just Mikey, NFK or Itchboy... (this is a joke so please don't be hurt by it lol)In Reference to ^^^^^^^^ I hate everyone equally here. LMAO HAHA J/K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 6, 2015 Report Share Posted September 6, 2015 This was really helpful thanks and helped me understand confusions I had about things I wasn't there to witness.Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben12 Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Thank goodness for the clarification on all of this, now I know when I get my Harrisburg mod released I can make sure that I have abided by all the rules (by asking for a pre-release review). Good job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
