Mark, the issue really has nothing to do with this Forum, other than the individual who issued the DMCA Takedown Notice may have seen this thread, and followed the links to the website.
Too bad they didn't give spareparts the courtesy of contacting him directly first, which would have been easy to do.
First off, I would like to thank both the part15.org and ALPB admin team in allowing the thread(s) to continue. Hopefully others can make use of the information.
On that, I have been pondering the whole situation and came to the following conclusions:
- Part 15 broadcasting needs a description of what we do that can be placed under GPL or one of the other share-alike licenses. If it's GPL or S/A, we can avoid the issue that I tripped over
- The same information can be linked from Wikipedia.
- With the recent push in the media to conflate part 15 broadcasters and Pirates, a proactive approach is in our best interests.
What's the groups take on how to best market Part 15 broadcasting?
SP
I think the trick is to keep things simple and straightforward.
I had a standard spoken blurb at the top of every hour, which basically stated that my radio station operated under regulations for unlicensed broadcasting from Industry Canada and the CRTC (the two regulatory bodies here in Canada, you can substitute the FCC for the U.S.). I then gave out contact information for those that had questions and comments. I put those simple statements on my website (when I had one) as well.
No one can possibly make a copyright complaint about that, at least without making fools of themselves. It gives all the information that a casual listener or passer by would want. If desired, you could also add a link to the FCC Part 15 rules for those who want further information (perhaps on a Links page). You could also add a link to Part15.org if you wanted (hint hint).
Sometimes I think a lot of the time we (in this hobby) get caught up in the technical details (including sound quality), and forget that radio is all about listening to great programming (which is what the potential listeners want).
I have the same disclaimer saying this station follows all BETS-1 and CRTC rules for unlicensed broadcasting using an approved transmitter. Any comments can be emailed to.............. and I did it in speech to text with an official sounding voice and made 60 or so copies so it comes up at random in the mix, along with the other ID's and jingles.
I like the idea of giving reference to this forum.
Going back to the original theme of this thread I use the call letters WMRK(sounded good) and checked and there is no station in Canada with those letters and in all the USA there's one, a small station in Alabama but I didn't think that would matter to me here.
Regarding explaining license free broadcasting to the public, Jon Paul Janze authored and I edited a short blurb about this. Click on "About Us" at the top of this page and scroll down to view this. We tried to avoid specific details about rules and technology with the thought that the explanation might encourage someone with no knowledge of the subject to learn more here rather than scare them away by making license free broadcasting look too difficult.
Maybe this could be improved and used to promote the activity on other venues. (I suppose Jon Paul would need to give permission for this.)
Neil
Two and a half years ago when the FCC announced stepped up pirate enforcement I created two items that I posted to my website, and also a form letter, and all these items were sent to FCC offices, real estate offices, politicians offices, etc from myself on behalf of legal Part 15 Radio. This was in March of 2016.
I have a pdf of one of those items still posted at:
http://www.ironrangecountry.com/15vspirate.pdf
And if anyone would like to link to it, copy and paste it, print and mail it, or whatever you'd like to do with it, feel free to do so. It is dated by over 2 years now, and doesn't reference Canada at all, but it worked for me.
I have several other working versions of it from back then, and also have my own "Part 15 vs Pirate Radio" flyer that I typed up, apparently at the same time the other Part 15 webmaster was creating his. So much so that I was accused of copying his even though mine was completed before he posted his. They are not copies of each other. Mine was also mailed to those listed above. I spent about $50 in postage back then sending my packets to those I felt would have the most impact. Whether or not it helped, I don't know.
TIB
Tim's treatise keeps things nice and simple as well. I like the single sentence approach, but to each their own.
The problem with fact sheets comparing Part 15 operation with Pirate Operation that can be found elsewhere is that the 'fact' sheets are usually over-generalizations that are often wrong.
For example, picking several at random, one 'fact' sheet states that pirate broadcasts often contain offensive language. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Often you can find that same offensive language on licensed stations, never mind Part 15 ones. Language, particularly today, is not a pirate indicator.
And another 'fact' states that pirate broadcasts often contain poor, over-processed audio. Again, that really has nothing to do with pirates, per say. I can tune across the radio dial and find many licensed stations with really, really bad audio, particular on AM. Many Part 15 broadcasters have poor audio, sometimes because of program material, sometimes because of poor funding. So again, audio is not a pirate indicator.
The ONLY, and I repeat, only, criteria for determining whether an unlicensed broadcaster is legal or not is adherence to the FCC Part 15 rules (in the U.S.) or BETS/RSS210 (Canada). Any other claim is just posturing.
Reality is Out There Waiting To Be Found
It is ugly and disturbing that someone like the "hobby master" claims to own the rights to public information, but, as Artisan points out, the DMCA makes it easy to do that.
At KDX I have long taken the approach that so long as what I transmit sounds like a "normal" radio station, the public doesn't have any tendency to wonder what it is or where it's coming from. Radio comes as aural information and most people are not very aural in their sensibility.
Websites are bigger targets because they appear as visual stimulus toward which people are more "awake" and responsive.
Negative destructive type persons do more to drive the web than anyone else, which puts decent people on their guard.
This posting will be simulcast on The Blare Blog.
Linking to a file claimed under a DMCA is supposedly equally as bad.
Example would be putting the content on a server in a county that does not follow the local equivalent of the DMCA, and linking to it from your US website
And, yes, We are looking into changing ISP's
How to tell the difference:
The Federal Communications commission has an on-line database at https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/am-query for AM stations, and https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/fm-query for FM stations. If the station is listed there, they are legitimate
Stations legally operating under Part 15 rules have a very limited range due to antenna and power restrictions. The odds if they are not using a verified call sign and /or you can hear the station at a substantial distance from where they claim to be, it's a pirate or unlicensed broadcaster.
Partially sourced from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_radio_in_North_America#Land-based_unlicensed_broadcasts
Licensing for wikimedia content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights
Original Content : https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
No one actually owns the rights to public information. However, they can own the rights to how they choose to interpret, and relate that information.
As I said, reading the original article as posted at the top of this thread, it read like I was reading the page HB had on their website. Now, it was posted as being a "copy paste" does this mean that you literally copied and pasted it from the HB site? if so, that actually is a pretty clear copyright violation. And he was within his rights to do something about it. Even if it was only mostly a copy and you changed a word or two, he still had a legitimate beef. I don't believe he went about tending to that complaint in a very nice manner, but he was entitled to. Few things pain me more than defending the webmaster at HB, but he's right. He didn't have to be a dick about it, but that's his way and he's entitled to be that way if he chooses as well.
Anyone is welcome to explain the differences between a pirate and part 15 in their own words.
Also, note that an ISP and a server or website provider are two different things. An ISP provides you a connection to the internet, and may also provide you web hosting space. But you can choose from thousands of web hosting providers while keeping the same ISP. Most of the larger outfits deal with a copyright notice violation in a rather swift way, and most will not notify you ahead of time. It's more like Wham, you're gone, and then here's your notice why. They don't want the risk of being sued for letting you violate copyright.
A year or so ago I created a graphic promoting radio in general:
It circulated through several radio forum groups, Facebook groups, etc. It's certainly not Part 15 specific and we used it mostly to promote my employers stations. However HB's webmaster picked it up and posted it in his forum. When I pointed out it was my creation he removed it mighty fast. Not because I asked him to, because I didn't, but because he'd probably cut off his legs before acknowledging that I did something he was in favor of.
BTW, feel free to use and circulate the above. Just don't try to claim credit for it, LOL.
TIB
Outgrowth
Growing out of this discussion about ownership of information I happened to refer to Part15.org as the "Low Power Forum of Record", which instantly became "intellectual property". The time was 9:44 AM CDT Sunday, September 23, 2018,; the place was The Blare Blog.
At this time and upon this occasion I hereby transfer ownership of the expression "Low Power Forum of Record" to Part15.org, its owner and members, to use or not use for a period of two-thousand years.
Use of "Low Power Forum of Record" by outside parties is forbidden and can result in a DMCA take down notice.
As you were.
Carl, you are a generous scholar and philanthropist. We accept your kind offer and from this point henceforth part15.org site shall be referred to as the "Low Power Forum of Record", and to the gallows will all who deny this edict.
In typical Radio Sheriff fashion, Bill DeFelice attempts to explain why he did what he did in a recent post over at Hobbybroadcaster. I guess he does care what is said about him on other Forums :-). He's insulting (throwing around the word 'illiterate', both against CDL and members here), aggressive, and plain wrong in spots.
Bill claims that he attempted to contact the owners of the website, and that there is no contact info on that website. Wrong. There's a clearly marked Facebook link at the bottom of the page, through which you can send a message to the CDL. He obviously didn't try very hard.
Bill claims that the page was flagged by a plagiarism service. The fact that he employs such a service for a mere hobbyist website is staggering in and of itself, and demonstrates the pedestal upon which he places himself and his opinions.
He claims that the page was, word for word, a copy of his pirate vs part 15 fact sheet. Whether that is true or not we can't tell, as it is no longer up, but I don't believe that that was the case.
One of the problems with these plagiarism services is that they can't distinguish between strict copies (which violate copyright) and fair use. They identify similarities, and they are quite often incorrect. Copying bits and pieces of a web page could be seen as copyright violation - it could also be seen as fair use.
CDL is also a member over at Hobbybroadcaster (although inactive). They are obviously not in 'competition' with Bill or his website, but just attempting to put up a Part 15 operation. There's no reason to just blindly assume that they deliberately ripped Bill and Hobbybroadcaster off, and if Bill had made even a fraction of the effort that it took to create the DMCA takedown to contact them (I found the contact info in seconds), this all could have been resolved relatively cleanly and peacefully.
It couldn't be that spareparts is now posting here and the ALPB that governed Bill's decision to aggressively go after them, could it?
Based on my analysis of Bill's page, I believe that CDL is fortunate not to use any part of it, even if they did make an unintentional mistake and break copyright. As I indicated in a previous post, the comparison in that page between part 15 and pirate broadcasting is littered with generalities which may or may not be true, and the same criticisms applied to pirate operations can often be applied to licensed stations. The page shows a blind hatred of pirates, nothing more.
I agree with others in this thread that we need a generic, copyright free, license free (etc. etc.) blurb that Part 15 broadcasters can use.
Bill is so deathly afraid of others stealing 'his' ideas (as if we'd want to) that it's clouding his judgement and this paranoia is negatively affecting both his website and the hobby in general.
When all is said and done, we should be helping, not hurting, each other.
(Again, I find myself defending HB.)
I do not consider a link to a Facebook page as a good way to contact someone. A LOT of people are not Facebook members, and I know a lot of people who HATE Facebook and will not participate in it.
Forcing someone to join Facebook in order to make contact is not what I consider an easy, or feasible way to provide contact information. An option, yes, the definitive way to contact, no. You could go the complicated way and install a contact form on the website as HB does - an excellent way to keep your actual contact information private, or provide an email address. Even if you make up one specifically for web contacts and have it then forward to your regular email.
For the record store we provide a Facebook page, e-mail address and a phone number. For the Part 15 station we provide e-mail and phone.
You guys really need to stop putting me in the position to defend HB. LOL.
TIB