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Blackout on htmlcomics.com

Started by iggy,

131 posts in this topic

s-man

s-man

Posted
Posted
Dang, 6 issues away from finishing Y The Last Man.

 

I was just about to start this series too, damn!

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Subliminal

Subliminal

Posted
Posted
Well I think it's official. The site looks to be taken down, and hard. Who knows if what people are saying are true, but someone claimed that they spoke with the fella's wife and the FBI was involved... :makepoint:

 

I just called today (4/22) and spoke to the guy's wife. She said that he (the site owner) got in a LOT of trouble, the FBI got involved etc - and the site will not be back ever. It's completely down. *sigh* back to reading comics the old fashioned way.

 

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100420164659AANxHjJ

 

Looks like "Bleeding Cool" put them on blast, this could have easily triggered it:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/forums/showthread.php?15448-The-Library-That-Isn%5C-t-HTMLComics

 

- bounty

 

Am I the only one who finds it coincidental that the ipad comes out and suddenly htmlcomics.com gets a permanent smackdown?

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
I'm sure this guys life is going to be ruined because of the site and his insane legal reasoning that it was just a library. He should have consulted an actual copyright attorney at some point and saved himself tons of trouble.

 

Hilariously enought it looks like he did try to seek out legal advice via a website http://boards.answers.findlaw.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=fl-small_busine&tid=54640 but didn't agree with what people there were saying too.

 

 

Had he spent two minutes looking at how libraries actually handle copyrighted content--which is never to make it available online since it's too easy to copy--he would've realized that his attempt to define his site as a "library" was just an ego trip and a complete waste of time. :screwy:

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
Am I the only one who finds it coincidental that the ipad comes out and suddenly htmlcomics.com gets a permanent smackdown?

 

My guess is that it's Disney buying Marvel that made this inevitable...their lawyers are unusually bulldoggish in going after copyright infringers, including school teachers and librarians who put up pictures of Disney characters on display in schools. This guy getting zapped was a forgone conclusion...it takes a special kind of ego to keep the site up under the premise that he was doing nothing wrong when dozens, possibly even hundreds, of people warned him ahead of time. :eek:

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scottish

scottish

Posted
Posted
I'm sure this guys life is going to be ruined because of the site and his insane legal reasoning that it was just a library. He should have consulted an actual copyright attorney at some point and saved himself tons of trouble.

 

Hilariously enought it looks like he did try to seek out legal advice via a website http://boards.answers.findlaw.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=fl-small_busine&tid=54640 but didn't agree with what people there were saying too.

 

 

Had he spent two minutes looking at how libraries actually handle copyrighted content--which is never to make it available online since it's too easy to copy--he would've realized that his attempt to define his site as a "library" was just an ego trip and a complete waste of time. :screwy:

 

As I've mentioned (and blob confirmed) our local libraries DO allow online, digital checkout of books. I'm not supporting htmlcomics, but wanted to clarify that point. :)

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
As I've mentioned (and blob confirmed) our local libraries DO allow online, digital checkout of books. I'm not supporting htmlcomics, but wanted to clarify that point. :)

 

I read back through the thread and couldn't find the details on that from you or blob--was it another thread somewhere? I'm interested in what types of stuff they allow online checkout of--is it everything they can get a digital copy of, or only some content? I'm guessing not every library does it--which libraries have you guys seen that do it?

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
Well back to paying 4.99 a month to Marvel.com.

:)

 

Does anyone know when Marvel started making their vintage titles available via their monthly subscription service? If they only recently started making those available, that, too, may have gotten the wheels turning more quickly.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
As I've mentioned (and blob confirmed) our local libraries DO allow online, digital checkout of books. I'm not supporting htmlcomics, but wanted to clarify that point. :)

 

I read back through the thread and couldn't find the details on that from you or blob--was it another thread somewhere? I'm interested in what types of stuff they allow online checkout of--is it everything they can get a digital copy of, or only some content? I'm guessing not every library does it--which libraries have you guys seen that do it?

 

Found a link to yours and blob's posts, I'll read through it:

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=4&Number=3953550#Post3953550

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
As I've mentioned (and blob confirmed) our local libraries DO allow online, digital checkout of books. I'm not supporting htmlcomics, but wanted to clarify that point. :)

 

I read back through the thread and couldn't find the details on that from you or blob--was it another thread somewhere? I'm interested in what types of stuff they allow online checkout of--is it everything they can get a digital copy of, or only some content? I'm guessing not every library does it--which libraries have you guys seen that do it?

 

Found a link to yours and blob's posts, I'll read through it:

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=4&Number=3953550#Post3953550

 

Scottish -- you mentioned that your wife has checked out books from the King County library's web site and that there's some kind of time limit on it. What kind of format are the books in that would time-limit them like that? Certainly simple images wouldn't cut it, simple text documents wouldn't, I haven't heard of PDF supporting that, although perhaps newer versions of it does...any idea what technology they're using to enforce the time limit? Also, can only one person digitally check out a single book at a time, or is it unlimited checkout, any idea?

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Mr. Zipper

Mr. Zipper

Posted
Posted
As I've mentioned (and blob confirmed) our local libraries DO allow online, digital checkout of books. I'm not supporting htmlcomics, but wanted to clarify that point. :)

 

I read back through the thread and couldn't find the details on that from you or blob--was it another thread somewhere? I'm interested in what types of stuff they allow online checkout of--is it everything they can get a digital copy of, or only some content? I'm guessing not every library does it--which libraries have you guys seen that do it?

 

My library has digital checkout:

 

* eBooks in the Adobe® Digital Editions EPUB format

* eBooks in the Adobe® Digital Editions PDF format

* WMA Audiobooks in the OverDrive Media Console™ format

* MP3 Audiobooks in the OverDrive Media Console™ format

 

 

97465.jpg.085aef2a01234464f9f7ac649e001695.jpg

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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Posted

Whoa, I checked my local library and they allow it too. Note that the site design for my library and yours are exactly the same with different logos and color schemes--obviously they're both using the same provider to offer the service. My county's site explicitly says it's "powered by Overdrive."

 

Gonna have to try this...I particularly like the idea of getting audiobooks in a format you can play on iPods.

97466.jpg.db75a2c950e1e2bff504956df6360f64.jpg

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Mr. Zipper

Mr. Zipper

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My county's site explicitly says it's "powered by Overdrive."

 

Same here.

 

It appears that they have a finite number of "copies" that can be checked out at one time. I wonder if htmlcomics had some sort of "checkout" system that limited the number of users allowed to view materials at any one time, it would have made a difference.

 

(shrug)

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Norrin_Radd

Norrin_Radd

Posted
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Goodbye htmlcomics.com. We hardly knew ya! :cry:

:(

 

Should have gone offshore. I am total cheapazz and don't pay for anything on the internet, BUT I would definitely pay a monthly fee for htmlcomics.

 

They had every Batman/Detective comic. Almost every GA Captain America comic. :( Back to torrents and rapidshare...

 

BTW - HBD Ares. :hi:

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
My county's site explicitly says it's "powered by Overdrive."

 

Same here.

 

It appears that they have a finite number of "copies" that can be checked out at one time. I wonder if htmlcomics had some sort of "checkout" system that limited the number of users allowed to view materials at any one time, it would have made a difference.

 

(shrug)

 

Not when I used it. I'm also guessing the libraries are either explicitly paying for the digital downloads, or perhaps publishers have started to bundle together physical and digital copies into a single cost for both, meaning the creators are getting their royalties for these downloadable books--which certainly wasn't the case with htmlcomics.com.

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PokerKid

PokerKid

Posted
Posted
My county's site explicitly says it's "powered by Overdrive."

 

Same here.

 

It appears that they have a finite number of "copies" that can be checked out at one time. I wonder if htmlcomics had some sort of "checkout" system that limited the number of users allowed to view materials at any one time, it would have made a difference.

 

(shrug)

 

If they owned at least one copy of each book they were "checking out," it would probably go a long way toward defending their actions.

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