As a content creator who discovered my content was being pirated, I began a journey to find justice. This blog aims to share my own experience as a content creator who sought to take legal action against piracy and I hope it can help some of you in the same situation, as a disclaimer, this is not legal advice but me sharing my own experience where I have ultimately seen justice done.
I initially started my journey by contacting the local police and filing a report on the fans and the sites that illegally shared my content. The police informed me that they didn’t handle cyber crimes and that they would refer me to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). Unfortunately, the FBI can be hit or miss as it can take years for a response to your situation. This is when I started researching lawyers and looking into copyrights for the piracy I was experiencing.
Finding the Right Lawyer
The first step is finding the right lawyer. Do your research before hiring anybody as the first lawyer I spoke to tried to charge me $10,000 as he didn't clearly understand my situation. Make sure your one-shot at a lawsuit doesn't get trashed!
There are a lot of internet lawyers out there who want to make a quick buck, especially with the rise of TikTok. I decided to file copyrights on my own - why on Earth would I pay somebody at least $1,000 when I can do it for free? With just a click of a few buttons?
After filing for copyrights, I reached out to one of the biggest names in anti-revenge porn: Charlotte Laws. She is the mother of one of the victims from the “IsAnyoneUp” documentary; through her endless persistence, justice was served for her daughter, and Hunter Moore was sentenced. She recommended that I check out the lawyers who joined the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. I have personally spoken with every law firm listed on that website. They are not low-bono or pro-bono; they do cost a pretty penny, but they can get the work done if you have the resources available.
If you don’t have the resources, there may be lawyers outside of this program who may be willing to work on contingency, low-, or pro-bono. Alternatively, you may be lucky enough to receive assistance from Anonymous like the Laws family was able to (or similar). Regardless of the route you choose, just know that: there are options! Hope is not lost if your private content is shared online. NEVER GIVE UP. That's what they want.
What Happened Next
I did extensive research on the models who had litigated a well-known adult content site and CloudFlare into courtrooms in 2020. Ultimately, the plaintiff Deneice Waidhoffer, along with two other surviving models, were not able to sue Cloudflare. This is because they claimed protection as only being the ISP and not being responsible for what the websites post. Consequently, the adult site was shut down and went dark for quite a while.
Since then, the website has resurfaced. I was able to get some information about what could have happened. From what I understood, they might not have had a specific person named within the suit. When you know the individual who stole and shared the content, it makes a WORLD of difference.
Alternatively, as previously mentioned, if you happen to know anybody who is computer savvy (and willing to do some public service for you) then you can totally find pirated and stolen content at any time.
If all else fails - private investigation likely will not. That is what I have learned on my own to further my litigation.
Getting Justice
Currently, I was able to have one person prosecuted and they will be doing prison time as it is a federal offense to leak copyrighted content. I also have some other ongoing cases, but cannot share any details at this time.
I ended up having to complete a lot of the paperwork and research on my own, to speed up the process; that included identifying the internet service providers they were using. VERY IMPORTANT; If the ISPs give any information about the site owner, document it and keep copies of any correspondence!
A lot of big-name leakers use proxy servers to try to make you think that they're located in places outside of the US - but a lot of them are located here. Keep in mind… we also have international conventions in countries that are mostly compliant with United States copyrights!
The Cost
There are so many benefits to filing copyrights as a content creator; the only negative is that the cost can add up over time.
Like any business, you need to have some type of insurance; think of copyright as insurance for your content! This way, you’ll be able to recover any damages. Lawyers will tell you that it’s hard to recover damages from leaked content or get compensated for it because it’s hard to prove in court; that’s why you'll need information such as copyright, the value of the content, etc.
As an example, I even copyrighted a private video I made for one person; they ended up leaking it, so it was very easy to trace it to them in the US. This way, you get back what you lost in content damages, and you can also have your lawyer’s fees along with the court fees reimbursed.
It might seem like a cost, but if you are popular on TikTok, Twitch, or the leakers just really like you - it is so worth it in the end. The lawsuits will literally pay for themselves once you do!
Who To Reach Out To?
If you are interested in more information about my journey, taking legal action yourself, or what next steps you should take, I love helping creators and getting them on the right track to finding justice. I can be direct messaged @SabrinaDraconia on IG, Twitter, and more!
The Do’s & Don’ts
DO
- Always use a VPN (whether on your sites or poking around leak sites). If I can grab their IP address easily, I'm sure they could find yours just as fast. Stay safe.
- Have a support system and take care of your mental health during this process; it can be very stressful to be questioned in court.
- File copyrights as soon as possible!
- Have a PO box and not your real address as a mailing correspondence; that will be publicly shown on your copyright filing for public correspondence.
- Try to expedite the process with the special handling fee if you can & if you are about to go to court and don't have it in time!
- File your copyrights under your stage name.
- Make a police report for every person/site involved as you need this in court.
- Try to make and keep track of lists of who buys your videos so if this happens you can pinpoint them much easier (and subpoena their information from whatever site you sold to them on).
- Send copious amounts of DMCA and copyright violation notices to those who have leaked your content. If you don't get to know peace, why should they?
- Repeatedly call the FBI and send multiple reports in, and provide any new updates to police to have on file.
DON'T
- Hire a lawyer without really researching them. What do their reviews say? Can they represent you in your state against someone in ____ state?
- Be afraid to advocate for yourself. We deserve to be here and to do our work on our terms and our consent.
- Let the FBI's lack of answering discourage you from seeking justice in any route that you have available to you.
- Post anything on your feed that you don't want to see leaked. They do not put any money into their site security.
- Give consent for your personal information to be shared with the defending party. We don't need your stalkers to know where you live.
- Offer free trials if you have an explicit feed and do not want your nudes plastered on every leak site - they will do this.
- Use nudes for your promo or SFS, especially if the person you're working with is a constant target of leakers. Your photo will get ripped off of their feed and re-uploaded. This happened to me.
