Originally Posted by AdultKing
(Post 19244007)
Let's be clear about this.
Many of best financial contributors to the Stop File Lockers campaign have at least guest access to our internal collaboration system. They see much of what goes on. Some of our contributors even have access to our closed portion of the collaboration system and are privy to the high level discussions, negotiations, agreements and ongoing progress on such matters.
It's worth noting that Moogie/Krylon tried to get in to this system. Firstly he asked in this thread if he could help, then he approached others in the system to ask if he could get in on the inside and help. Many hostile people are desperate for inside information on what we're doing.
Part of our success in this project can be attributed to the fact that most targets don't know they're going to be hit until they are wondering why they can't access thousands of illicitly gained dollars in various accounts. We do not share information about operational matters unless strategically advantageous to do so, the same goes for potential targets.
As for expenditure. It's a common theme amongst people commenting on media articles, pirate webmaster forums and so forth that we're getting rich from donations.
The facts are this:
Nobody gets paid for participating in the Stop File Lockers project.
The $6,057.50 raised in general donations has been helpful but is merely a fraction of what this project has cost to run. Even if you add in private donations we have fallen well short of expenditure, the rest of which has come out of my own pocket.
Below is a non exhaustive list of some of our expenditure.
1. 440 Collins Street. This is our public place of business and operation, where all inbound business communication heads, where we meet with parties associated with our efforts, where we meet with people we seek to have relationships with for our efforts, where our files and legal documentation is kept and where our secretarial support is based.
2. Accountants. Yes we have an accountant from a reputable Melbourne accountancy firm overseeing every cent that goes through Copy Control and providing advice on structure and accountancy matters for the Rights Holder Association in the process of being formed.
3. Lawyers: We have a client relationship with one of the best boutique specialist IP law firms in Australia. Legal advice and work is very expensive. Having one legal letter such as a general Cease and Desist notice (that can be relied upon in evidence) cost $400 to draft. Non disclosure agreements, of which we now have many, can cost $800 - $1000 each to draft.
4. Infrastructure. We pay for a dedicated server, VoIP services, Cloud Storage services, firewall and CDN services. All of which is required to conduct our business or to keep our services running in the face of a regular onslaught of attacks and hacking attempts.
5. Travel. In just the past two weeks I have been to meetings in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Sydney. A return flight, Melbourne to Sydney can cost $400+. Add in taxis, accommodation, meals and you start to add up the dollars.
6. Software: Every month we pay for Podio, Xero, Adobe Creative Cloud, there's $200 a month just for those three.
7. Software Development: We have also spent money on programmers. We've built our own forensic project management system which is specially built to streamline and manage our operation. Every detection, communication, infringement detected, infringement reported, payment processor history, payment processor correspondence, piracy site hosting history, piracy site ownership history, domain registrar history and so forth is recorded in this system. At a press of a button we can generate a detailed report for payment processors or law enforcement detailing everything we know about a file locker or other piracy site. This information can be relied upon because it has been recorded in a detailed and consistent manner with cross checking applied to help ensure accuracy.
Let's look at time volunteered.
I put in well over 60 - 70 hours a week on this project. All of it unpaid.
Nautilus tirelessly work to create reports, monitor repeat offenders, provides advice and assistance on future directions.
Eric from Remove Your Content provided a significant contribution for the time that he was involved.
DWB has been inside from the beginning and is a constant source of advice or opinion about future direction and progress.
There are others who aren't so visible, but still there working behind the scenes to help protect works owned by rights holders. Providing assistance where they can, providing advice or opinions and generally being supportive.
As for those faceless critics who say there's no proof we have shut down a single file locker, all I have to say is that we have been very plain that we never take credit for any closure of any site and there are reasons.
1. We don't want pirates to be sure, we want to keep them guessing about what's happened.
2. We don't want our efforts to be reverse engineered, we deliberately delay some announcements just for this reason, again we like to keep people guessing.
3. We don't want to legally jeopardise future possible prosecution or legal action that may arise from the investigations we conduct or those of third parties.
Unfortunately it's a fact of life that many of our critics are as vocal as they are stupid. They pollute this thread, comment threads on media reports, threads on piracy forums with flames, conspiracy theories, death threats, other threats, bravado, innuendo, false allegations of impropriety and so forth. We take these critics at face value for who they are and what they stand for.
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