On Sunday, July 15 I received an email from 4Shared advising me that it was reported that I “offer unlicensed copies of, or have been engaged in other unauthorized activities relating to copyrighted works. The abuse report came to us from LeakID. Storing and sharing of such material violates proprietary rights of the file copyright owner as well as 4shared Terms of Use”
What was involved was my offering for download on my chess blog a 28 page pdf booklet I wrote.
I sent an e-mail back describing the material and received what appeared to be an automated reply signed by someone name “Josh”at 4Shared. Basically the e-mailed advised me it wasn’t their problem and I should please “get in touch with the reporter via email (e-mail listed for Leak) and figure this out.”
According to their website, LeakID “is the first digital agency and was founded by experts from the world of radio, television and internet. We undertake the design, management, strategy ...etc.” According to LinkedIn they are Specialists in Law Enforcement IP, content protection, anti-piracy, Anti Counterfeiting.
According to the customer service people at Sendspace, Leakid is spamming Sendspace with takedown notices: "We keep being sent takedown notices by leakid.com. You will probably wish to take this up with them." Interesting that even Sendspace, like 4Shared, doesn't seem to care that this is a problem for some of their sites users. Obviously if LeakedID is doing spamming they won't be too concerrned about complaints will they?
As expected, I never heard from LeakID. Apparently I have not been the only person to have experienced problems with this issue involving both 4Shared and LeakIt. As a result I have deleted my 4Shared account and am no longer offering my pdf booklets for download and due to the don't care attitude of 4Shared I withdraw my recommendation of the site. Don't use it!
