Site Post » PSA: Potential Story Thefts · 6:08pm Apr 14th, 2015
Hi guys. Quick announcement here that it's been discovered that an ebook website called Ebooks Tree has been caught selling peoples' fanfics without their knowledge or permission. This in the midst of a rash of other scandals involving fanfiction-stealing, which you can read more about here. Basically, the site's sent out some bots that harvested a bunch of stuff from popular Fanfiction venues, and they make money off of it via ad support and charging for access.
Which is obviously not okay.
Reddit's got a noncomprehensive pastebin up of known works that have been taken. You may want to check that, but it's not a complete list, so your stories might still have been stolen even if they aren't on there. It looks like the main victims are mostly stories posted up on the old Pony Fiction Vault site... but again, even if you didn't have stories in the Vault, you may want to do a quick check-around just to make sure. Better safe than sorry.
Easy directions for filing a DMCA complaint so that you can get your stories pulled can be found here.
Quick links to Ebooks Tree's DMCA page and Contact Page here.
So, uh, probably best to just do a quick scan for any stories you might have written that are near and dear to your heart (or checking around for your author name). If you find anything, make sure to file the proper complaints, and that'll hopefully contribute to ending this withering storm.
Have a nice day.
Another benefit to never writing anything: can't steal my stuff if I don't have anything.
2983445 that's my thoughts exactly
Considering I don't have any stories to steal from, I think I'm safe.
With that said, this ordeal still makes me angry that someone thinks they can get away with it.
I recall some guy who was selling an ebook copy of kkat's Fallout Equestria on Amazon.
I had to pose as kkat's legal agent in order to file a report they'd take action on.
I doubt any of my stories would be interesting enough for these fic stealers. You said it yourself they're going after the most popular ones.
Might wanna keep a closer eye on fics that hit the feature box though.
This again? Reminds of a thief that was trying to steal articles on a WH40K site. We ended up forgetting about it because Games Workshop jumped on the guy after awhile.
Unfortunately, their search sucks very large balls, so it's hard to find things on that site even if you know they're there. Good luck proving conclusively that your fics haven't been stolen; good luck finding peace of mind.
Fuck that site.
Even though I know I'm safe since mine suck, that's some bloody bull man.
Ebooks Tree is likely not the only one, though they might be the most blatant in charging for it. But there's at least half-a-dozen other sites out there that offer "free" downloads of fanfiction while passing it off as a pirated book. Unusual and slightly funny, if disappointing, but certainly interesting to note as well.
Getting them removed, on the other hand ... it's like trying to kill a hydra.
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The stories have been collected by bots trawling sites, so it's very possible that they aren't discriminating between stories that are popular and stories that aren't. It's probably best to do a quick check for safety's sake, even if you think your stories are low-key enough that they might've missed them.
Wow that sucks. People suck. R they just publishing them without permission or taking credit for them as well?
2983466 fu
them
2983453 I found Fo:E and Project Horizons there. Seems that none of mine got stolen, so I dodged a bullet this time
I'll get the pitchforks and torches...
Anyone got a match?
2983480 yep, but can I bring my own pitchfork?
though none of mine were taken, thankfully, still this isn't right they are breaking the law, not only once but I believe three times by doing this
Have they only grabbed finished works or just anything?
I haven't seen any of my stories on there. Even when I type in the exact titles, none pop up.
Sorry to hear that one of your own stories got snatched, Obs. I hope you're not hurting because of it.
The obvious solution is to offer up all of the content in ebook tree for free wherever it's available here. Enough entries that fimfiction will come up as a search result first.
Just have affected writers make a post explicitly saying that the ebook tree story x is freely available here, a disclaimer that it iis a fan work not produced for profit, and then the fimfiction.net link. With enough entries the crawlers will change priority on what to display first.
I doubt individuals will succeed in taking their stories down, unless they pull out the big guns and get Hasbro involved for selling unlicensed material for a profit, but that might not only take a long time, it could have negative repercussions for fimfiction.net if the lawyers get greedy.
Really... Stealing pony stories and what not?
Do they NOT have the potential to at least try a little harder?
troll.me/images/bert/really-bro-thumb.jpg
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) but it'd be a lot better for me if the copies they were distributing had reference tags leading them back to the rest of my stuff in a legit manner.
An even better solution could be to mark the ebook download from Fimfiction with an identifying tag. Nothing major, just a short paragraph at the start or end of the book with a short message from the author and from Fimfiction. It'd be fairly easy to implement (I think) and would be really nice. I've already been thinking about adding one into each of my stories themselves manually since my stuff is on about five or six pirated book sites. I honestly don't mind that they're distributing my fanfiction for free (after all it's fanfiction, I mind when they distribute my actual fiction ... which they do.
I was curious if anything was ever going to be said about this... four of my fics have gone up on sites like that and i quickly contacted them and had them taken down.
The internet can be a real dick sometimes...
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Yes, that would work nicely for any future downloads.
Oh buggering hell, while I doubt any of my stuff has been taken I'll take a look just in case. And there are some published writers on there too
... Can we sue em?
For OUR stories? No, our stories are SH*T compared to some (many) of the other stories on this site. Why would they WANT to steal ours? For stealing stories in general... maybe
When I first heard about this, I immediately went on and checked to see if my work was there. It wasn't, at least not that a search for "Chrysalis" would give me. However, looking at this list, at the titles that ARE being hosted there... goddammit, I actually like some of those stories and respect the authors who wrote them. That's actual bullshit.
And no, this is not the first time I've heard about these guys doing this shit. I caught wind of them taking published authors' works too, some time ago. I'm honestly appalled that the site's still running.
2983491 Hasbro can try and shut a fan-fiction site down, but they will fail on first amendment grounds alone, followed shortly thereafter by the parody clause in copyright law (Fanfiction is a transformative work and is covered under the parody clause). I would fathom a guess that the Ad support that Fimfiction has only goes to pay for the website's upkeep and isn't for profit, which would land the site in hot water, but since we're still up and going strong, I would guess that is the case
Huh. I really didn't expect anything of myself to find up there, but there it is.
And seeing how it's a story they could only have gotten from one place, it seems that they've been pulling the stories from the write-off group, from their own website even. If any of you have been participating in the write-offs, you should probably check for your stories.
You know, on more thought I feel it should be pointed out ...
That outrage a lot of you are expressing? That insult? That feeling of disappointment? This is what you're feeling like over being told that someone has pirated a work you put out there for free, with no intent to profit.
Now imagine how the for-profit, this-is-my-livelihood guys feel every day when they see their work up on dozens of pirate sites.
You've all just been given a light crash course of being on the sucky side of piracy.
I'd personally say the easiest way to get the site taken down is to point out all the illegal commercial books they have for download there, like these:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
Storm Front (Dresden Files)
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Dark Is Rising series
A Wrinkle In Time
Really, this site is pretty shameless.
--arcum42
2983550 The internet is full of pirates. Ebooks Tree, illegal game emulation...
2983466 whelp it's awesome that I flew under the radar but this is just pathetic, I mean seriously? Stealing fanfiction? Tsk tsk.
It's weird: Some of my stuff ended up there, but it's far from my best work. Do I feel angry about them offering my work without permission, or for only presenting my less impressive work?
The answer, of course, is "both." Complaint already sent.
2983466 how long has this been going on?
Scumbags.
Are there any legal ramifications if you don't bother looking for and taking down your stories from this place? I mean, what these folks are doing is really, really crappy, but I write my stories free and anonymously, so I don't think I care enough to go through the trouble... unless it could mean I have to deal with some copyright bullsh
later on.
Past Sins is up there too...
Apparently I got lucky, because they haven't stolen my story. I did find some other peoples' stories they've stolen while I was searching for my own, though.
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Believe me, I know. I've had people straight-up tell me they've pirated my books.
No shame whatsoever.
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This may be an unpopular opinion, but I would love it if my fanfiction got bootlegged. It gives it a bizarre kind of legitimacy, like it was good enough to throw into a database of 30,000+ other stolen works. Why should I care, exactly? It's not like these people are trying to pass off like they wrote this themselves or anything. I wasn't making any money off it; I put it up here for people to read free of charge. Nobody should be making money on it, since it's derivative of someone that doesn't belong to me, so the people who are selling it as an e-book are criminals and I am not, and in a greater karmic sense they should probably be punished for that, but... I fail to muster the hurt and outrage that are assumed to be automatic. "Someone took the couch I dumped on the curb and sold it at a flea market, what an asshole!" It's not really comparable to theft of something you were supposed to pay for in the first place; the emotions associated might be (for some, anyway) the same, but stealing something worth a tangible dollar amount != stealing something free for the taking.
You can search any story in the Vault's list and you'll probably find it there in the page.
Who would actually pay to read fanfictions? I mean, come on?
ffs, its fanfiction that's already available for free download on the site the got it from. Talk about going for the low hanging fruit...
Wow, I remember reading a lot of the stories found in that pastebin. Good times
Thank goodness the many unpublished stories I have still remained unpublished, but joking aside this is serious and this is going to bite those profiteers so hard in the ass. I hope everyone with issues for their stories can quickly get those out of the way.
2983670 Scumbags.
2983697
Speaking as myself, I'm with you. I'm not outraged about the fanfiction showing up on pirate sites. My stuff started showing up on pirate sites months ago and I stumbled across them by complete accident. I was amused and kind of dumbfounded, but not outraged. After all, it's fanfiction. I expect it to be read for free. I do get annoyed when I see my published stuff being pirated, though I know I can't stop it. But the stuff I wrote for free? Meh. Free exposure, though it's very unlikely that any of the pirate fanfic readers will ever be anything other than pirate fiction readers. It's still a nice point of amusement for myself however (to the point where I've joked about it on my twitter).
That said, that's me, and a lot of writers on fimfiction haven't ever run into this before. This is their first experience with piracy, with the idea that someone else is making money off of something they created, and a lot of them are, understandably, a little annoyed or upset, judging from the comments here. And that's what I wanted to focus on, that if that's how they feel over something that they're giving away for free, now imagine finding something of yours pirated that you're expecting to make food money on. Given how prevalent piracy is these days, several hundred or more Fimfic authors have just been given a crash-course in what it feels like to see someone else taking advantage of your hard work. which hopefully makes them think a little bit more about it.
.....
Motherf******s. That is all. 
How are they charging for access?
I have yet to see a single thing try to charge me if I click on the links in the little box below the cover:
Download ePub
Read online ePub
That gives me an ePub and doesn't ask me for money at all on Obs's story (or my own stories, for that matter).
Good thing my stories aren't popular
hehe......damn
I hope that all the theives are brought to justice, as that's just really weak on their part. If they want to sell fics, they should make their own instead of stealing. Thievery is bad kids, don't do it.