DMCA takedown–Vali Petcu aka Zoso

Once again, I find myself at the receiving end of a bogus DMCA claim (I cannot even ascertain what it is about). This time however, I intend to fight it and document every step of the way, in the hope that others might find it useful.

I will start with the emails I received and right next to them, a screen capture of the Chilling Effects “Notice Unavailable” based on Vali Petcu’s DMCA complaint.

The first notice of “Google DMCA Violation” was sent / received twice.

Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of noreply-6b094097@google.com designates 209.85.219.72 as permitted sender) client-ip=209.85.219.72;
MIME-Version: 1.0
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 14:44:06 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <CImEwrDG8r0CFcSLjAodh74AAA@google.com>
Subject: Google DMCA Violation
From: noreply-6b094097@google.com
To: ib
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=089e0139fd1c10c08404f7946618

--089e0139fd1c10c08404f7946618
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed; delsp=yes

Hello,

Google has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium  
Copyright Act (DMCA), that some of your materials allegedly infringe upon  
the copyrights of others. The details of the allegedly infringing materials  
may be found at the end of this message. The notice that we received, with  
any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a  
service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org. You can  
search for the notice associated with the removal of your content by going  
to the Chilling Effects search page at  
http://www.chillingeffects.org/search.cgi, and entering in the URL of the  
content that was removed. Please note that it may take several weeks for  
the notice to be posted on the above page.

The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for  
online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are  
in the process of removing the materials that allegedly infringe upon the  
copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim  
of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. See  
http://www.educause.edu/library/digital-millennium-copyright-act-dmca for  
more information about the DMCA, and see  
http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py?hl=en_US&contact_type=lr_dmca&product=googleplus  
for the process that Google requires in order to make a DMCA complaint.

Please note that repeated violations of our Terms of Service may result in  
further remedial action taken against your Google account or associated  
accounts, including suspension or termination.

Google can reinstate these materials upon receipt of a counter notification  
pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and (3) of the DMCA. For more information  
about the requirements of a counter notification, see  
http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py?hl=en_US&contact_type=lr_counternotice&product=googleplus.

If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your  
own legal counsel. If you have any other questions about this notification,  
please let us know.

The affected URLs are listed below:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s---ubHVsGk/TGv8S67YLLI/AAAAAAAAQnQ/nE4wvSgirLA/s288/zosovirgin8

Regards,
The Google Team

--089e0139fd1c10c08404f7946618
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Hello,

Google has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that some of your materials allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others. The details of the allegedly infringing materials may be found at the end of this message. The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects. You can search for the notice associated with the removal of your content by going to the Chilling Effects search page at here, and entering in the URL of the content that was removed. Please note that it may take several weeks for the notice to be posted on the above page.

The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are in the process of removing the materials that allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. Go here for more information about the DMCA, and see this for the process that Google requires in order to make a DMCA complaint.

Please note that repeated violations of our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Google account or associated accounts, including suspension or termination.

Google can reinstate these materials upon receipt of a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and (3) of the DMCA. For more information about the requirements of a counter notification, see here.

If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel. If you have any other questions about this notification, please let us know.

The affected URLs are listed below:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s---ubHVsGk/TGv8S67YLLI/AAAAAAAAQnQ/nE4wvSgirLA/s288/zosovirgin8

Regards,

The Google Team

Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043 USA

--089e0139fd1c10c08404f7946618--

The second email, received April 21, was a “Notice of Blogger Image Removal”.

Delivered-To: ib
Received: by 10.180.89.143 with SMTP id bo15csp52781wib;
        Mon, 21 Apr 2014 15:31:37 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 10.182.102.134 with SMTP id fo6mr33779880obb.10.1398119497045;
        Mon, 21 Apr 2014 15:31:37 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <3SJxVUwgKEHcmZhjqVgnbjjbgZ.XjhdiYZgdWgZ.WjijWjbhVdg.Xjh@cases-outbound-prod.bounces.google.com>
Received: from mail-ob0-x24b.google.com (mail-ob0-x24b.google.com [2607:f8b0:4003:c01::24b])
        by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id ij7si30009226obc.54.2014.04.21.15.31.36
        for <ib>
        (version=TLSv1 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA bits=128/128);
        Mon, 21 Apr 2014 15:31:37 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of 3SJxVUwgKEHcmZhjqVgnbjjbgZ.XjhdiYZgdWgZ.WjijWjbhVdg.Xjh@cases-outbound-prod.bounces.google.com designates 2607:f8b0:4003:c01::24b as permitted sender) client-ip=2607:f8b0:4003:c01::24b;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
       spf=pass (google.com: domain of 3SJxVUwgKEHcmZhjqVgnbjjbgZ.XjhdiYZgdWgZ.WjijWjbhVdg.Xjh@cases-outbound-prod.bounces.google.com designates 2607:f8b0:4003:c01::24b as permitted sender) smtp.mail=3SJxVUwgKEHcmZhjqVgnbjjbgZ.XjhdiYZgdWgZ.WjijWjbhVdg.Xjh@cases-outbound-prod.bounces.google.com;
       dkim=pass header.i=@google.com;
       dmarc=pass (p=REJECT dis=NONE) header.from=google.com
Received: by mail-ob0-x24b.google.com with SMTP id gq1so387488obb.4
        for <ib>; Mon, 21 Apr 2014 15:31:36 -0700 (PDT)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
        d=google.com; s=20120113;
        h=mime-version:in-reply-to:message-id:date:subject:from:to
         :content-type;
        bh=N0wcSvI663fb4LGhdprYEyA8Y3JVh+2P7asRMopdnS4=;
        b=Rq3IWRWi4tSuMvMxZsQiH0P6h42+MH3pm2ZGWHPf8KAIcp2MTDEM28Y+Dq90DqjbCE
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         qhTCvZTR8MgxTzWziC5QvB3YiGFxAwU6STj9N8TTbEbTRK1oqIh2CgK+pfI037L4FNWt
         mYSWouIKgSLlpovpgOzsSW6TWDpbwftkJgWZBOXJJPuMLx9P2RIFFVJYHpM/o7c0k3Ka
         l7rQ==
X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
        d=1e100.net; s=20130820;
        h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:in-reply-to:message-id:date:subject
         :from:to:content-type;
        bh=N0wcSvI663fb4LGhdprYEyA8Y3JVh+2P7asRMopdnS4=;
        b=cIxMuVQQNUy9NbLLrUg8Nwv45eOZNKNykurRkVSHT763yCVRgwmxfkmA05i160Yl2Z
         bkBx5avzVJug1vWTJkaE9Jg6pVNy5rfGG5XLqlYbXo1ex3cpabtq35LzjoA3E+5Lgq6t
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         2QZF+igWTEvXw6/a21SYHkGohzWP9fcWlKmLT32F+He1bsmaRxAuRLAPYRybqNVw2b+K
         zeJpV90BaoQluoFAIGgrmyEnZ4r8jC544WzGWJNLo1GYoEYs9XzMp36skPEsLY4sTA4i
         lUYw==
X-Gm-Message-State: ALoCoQmPibUPwRxdJZdOk3Vh+LuhshBFeXeLqW0dt/rHoc3fsmTFsWdd7sS1cXESGFNqVCJ1uU/gmOS4kkp/39SpTMYHVIUehtEE9wthoViykmPB9uuAWqzjhLzGDRV4XVjsPGp33gjN9H5u9umc9aKvyTqrUjRZEIYWsdfF5jGMdZp8DlPmdpUpPIVu1nnCXDf2hdH+qlX8j7l+VB7q2LOXLtkRORxJrQ==
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Received: by 10.182.227.131 with SMTP id sa3mr7946787obc.38.1398119496413;
 Mon, 21 Apr 2014 15:31:36 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <047d7b86e01c04612604f50e5554@google.com>
Message-ID: <18o3o280000000000jquss002tuakew68mjie9m74o30c1g60pj2dph@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 22:31:36 +0000
Subject: [2-9969000003171] Notice of Blogger Image Removal
From: removals@google.com
To: ib
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=001a11c2e6fcf004df04f7950fde

--001a11c2e6fcf004df04f7950fde
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed; delsp=yes

Hello,

Thanks for reaching out to us.

Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA), that some of your images allegedly infringe upon the
copyrights of others. The URLs of the allegedly infringing images may be
found at the end of this message.

The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information
removed, may be found at the following link:
http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1572457<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chillingeffects.org%2Fnotice.cgi%3FsID%3D1572457&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNECVVPSR_w4TOv_aPHfKVthC0Fm7A>

Please note that it may take several weeks for the notice to be posted on
the above page.

The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for
online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are
in the process of removing from our servers the images that allegedly
infringe upon the copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be
subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. See
http://www.educause.edu/library/digital-millennium-copyright-act-dmca for
more information about the DMCA, and see http://www.google.com/dmca.html
for the process that Blogger requires in order to make a DMCA complaint.

Blogger can allow you to reupload these images upon receipt of a counter
notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and 3) of the DMCA. For more
information about the requirements of a counter notification and a link to
a sample counter notification, see
http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=lr_counternotice&product=blogger.

Please note that repeated violations of our Terms of Service may result in
further remedial action taken against your Blogger account. If you have
legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal
counsel. If you have any other questions about this notification, please
let us know.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team


Affected URLs:
[
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TGv8S67YLLI/AAAAAAAAQnQ/HXY0GMnQXMA/s1600-h/zosovirgin8.jpg
]


Regards,
The Google Team

--001a11c2e6fcf004df04f7950fde
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Hello,
Thanks for reaching out to us.

Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that some of your images allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others. The URLs of the allegedly infringing images may be found at the end of this message.
The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information removed, may be found at the following link: http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1572457 1572457
Please note that it may take several weeks for the notice to be posted on the above page.
The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are in the process of removing from our servers the images that allegedly infringeupon the copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. See http://www.educause.edu/library/digital-millennium-copyright-act-dmca for more information about the DMCA, and see http://www.google.com/dmca.html for the process that Blogger requires in order to make a DMCA complaint.
Blogger can allow you to reupload these images upon receipt of a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and 3) of the DMCA. For more information about the requirements of a counter notification and a link to a sample counter notification, see http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=lr_counternotice&product=blogger.
Please note that repeated violations of our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel. If you have any other questions about this notification, please let us know.
Sincerely,
The Blogger Team
Affected URLs:
[http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qaEO9niMUgg/TGv8S67YLLI/AAAAAAAAQnQ/HXY0GMnQXMA/s1600-h/zosovirgin8.jpg]

Regards,
The Google Team

--001a11c2e6fcf004df04f7950fde--

As you can see in the screenshot above, it is impossible to see the content of the takedown as it is “not available yet.” Furthermore, the image has been censored and I have no way of knowing what is it about.

The best I can do is try to see who the person sending it is and what are the traces he left on the Web.

A quick search reveals that this person is blogging under the pseudonym “Zoso” (since 2006 or so), which, according to Wikipedia, has something to do with Led Zeppelin IV (and likely intellectual property via either copyright or trademark of the famous band) and little else. According to listamarci, he owns the “Zoso” trademark in Romania since March 2, 2009, under the name “Petcu Adrian Valentin” living on Str Moh*****i nr 7. The trademark is listed as “opposed” – L84. (address encrypted with his name+nick) following Blegoo’s request. (The name is important, because that's not the name the takedown was made under.)

Show encrypted text

According to himself, Zoso.ro is “one of the most visited blogs in Romania”, but it does not make the front page of Google Analytics data aggregator t5 despite disclosing his data there. According to Alexa, his blog is visited mostly by unemployed males with graduate degrees (self-reported). He’s got a few video clips on YouTube: SMSB, electronomie.

Here’s what the “about” section of his .us blog states:

I deal in web strategy, guerrilla marketing, content creation and journalism. I have a background in journalism, having worked for the most prestigious news agency in Romaniafor two years, desktop publishing (one year in an advertising agency), project management and strategy (two years the biggest online publisher in Romania), (..) Note: this is not my attempt to crack into the English blog market, but a mere try to let my non-Romanian speaking relatives, friends and acquaintances know what I am thinking.

His articles are rather boring and the titles seem designed for high-ranking. Comments on his blogs are heavily censored, resulting in numerous “haters” (some calling him ZBiM).

One of them (ac1) wrote a history of Romanian blogging; here’s the “chapter” dedicated to this brainless web contraption.

Throughout all these years, one person stayed the same in his principles and temperament. He learned too early a recipe and applied it unchanged over time. The recipe says that you need to do anything to get high traffic from which you can earn money. The universal formula to generate tons of audience, beyond sustained effort, involves tabloidization, looking for scandals and, at times, blackmail, lies and swearing.

Every forest has its dead wood, everyone makes a wrong step and every village has its idiots. They are tolerated because sometimes they stumble upon the truth and because ... God save you from their mouths. In seven years of blogging, I've never seen anyone so motivated to boycott others and so persevering in defiling all horizons, starting scandals for a missing comma and feeling an affront whenever someone around him is doing well.

The formula worked through inertia until, after having insulted everyone, as in the fable with the wolf, no one buys it anymore. Because it is a volatile abstraction created around human interactions, traffic failed to become a surrogate for common courtesy. No matter how big your audience is, people choose to bypass you when you are a jerk.
When you badmouth a PR campaign and then call the agency "to come to an understanding," people learn to do without your services.
When you desperately attack campaigns and projects where you were not invited, industry players will bypass you.
When you give lessons to everyone, but you do not know how to behave at an event or give a decent answer to a simple mail, somewhere, something is broken.

Another blogger, Penisescu (link below, in Sources), published as early as October 4, 2013 a detailed expose of just one example of Vali Petcu aka Zoso’s image theft.

After he botched a project that seemed a guaranteed success (zerostiri.ro), Zoso, blogger number one in Romania has returned to his healthy habits: tabloid writing style OTV, nicking pictures made by others etc.
From articles written on demand (see posts pro RMCG etc.) to aberrations and albums with naked women, Vali Petcu also nicks pictures that do not belong to him and publishes them on his own blog (zoso.ro) without attribution.

The case below is more than eloquent:
First you must remember that on his personal blog Zoso is screaming like a virgin slut horrified when others steal pictures with callousness or content without giving the source. (See picture below)

In an article on his own blog, Horea Mihai Bădău, a university professor and the author of the first social media manual in Romania, explains that the reasons for Zoso’s antisocial social-media behaviour have to do with his blog’s decline and the souring of his relationships with his advertising pimps.

So Zoso complains that he’s criticized. What got the biggest hater of Romania to complain that he’s ... hated? The explanation is simple: Zoso.ro is close to bankruptcy. The main banner of the blog at the top has not seen any advertising since Vodafone withdrew his banner due to the abusive language used by Zoso on his blog. Firms are reluctant to work with Zoso. It is very dangerous to associate your name with a blogger who begins an article with: "anal sex can be a beautiful thing, it depends on which side of the d**k you are." Readers may project the disgust aroused by Zoso’s articles on the banners or the products featured in advertorials. Can you buy flowers from a florist that advertises on Zoso 's blog after you've just been asked by the author of the blog "on which side of the d**k you are"? What a great mood-setting to buy flowers for your girlfriend!

Zoso is on a downward spiral, companies are starting to beware of him. And then, just when he caught a gold mine in Cluj , in a campaign funded by the Mayor Boc , with three meals a day, accommodation and transportation provided (a goldmine for perpetually starving Zoso), what happened? Just when Zoso ate heartily, which had not happened in a while? He was criticized by other bloggers! And they took his soup away from him, right after having tasted it. Unbelievable! Outrageous! Zoso is flabbergasted! How dared anyone criticize him?

:)

Dear Zoso - allow me to address you this way, because long ago you’ve been a student of mine at a private college [Hyperion?], blog readers are no longer so stupid as to believe the thief shouting “thief!” The role you’re playing now – not for you. We all know what you’re capable of, we know all your methods and language. That’s why we avoid you. And we wait for zoso.ro to close down, much like OTV closed.

In short, it appears that this individual has made a business out of accusing others of intellectual property infringement, all the while stealing himself and even bragging about having stolen food from a supermarket. He thrives on controversy and the free publicity generated by people whose work is being unfairly censored.

Adrian Niculae of Optimvs has published a record of his supermarket theft exploits and explains where to find his address for service, for all those who wish to sue him.

[2013-05] People who , over time , have been slandered disgustingly on the zoso.ro site and wanted (for reasons as grounded as possible) to sue the author of the published dirt were facing a prosaic problem: the court would only accept a claim against a person identified by full name, address, date of birth (logically, to avoid confusions).

However, for many years, the individual behind the website zoso.ro concealed his name and it was found only accidentally when the little punk threw himself head-first somewhere in Bucegi mountains and the Romanian TV reported the incident. Until then the sites that he owned were under the name Vali Petre. Only after this “accident” did his last name become public.

As for the address, called Zoso made desperate efforts to keep it secret . When another blogger published it, Zoso jumped to conclusions claiming it's a threat and so on. Even the sites that he has registered have the address of an office building where , obviously, if you send him a summons you get the classic response "addressee unknown.".

Well, all this masquerade of Zoso has now come to an end, thanks to the undersigned. All you have to do (all those who were slandered by this guy and want to sue) is to seek the Official Gazette (Monitorul Official) No. 5016 of Thursday, December 16, 2010. In Part IV, for commercial entities, on page 15, we find the 17/1.890.355 decision of 23.11.2010 AGA from S.C. Top Dres SRL (sic) and the second largest shareholder of the company, with 25 % of shares is surprisingly (or not) exactly the same person that owns the brand zoso.

Finally, here’s the record of his bragging about a supermarket theft [2013-02].

Briefly, in 2003 , back when Vali Petcu had no blog, but was administrating a torrent tracker, on the fanclub forum, a discussion entitled "thefts and nicks" took place, where several participants shared their experiences in shoplifting .

Among them was Vali Petcu, who posted the following message:

"Ok , I gave a small “loss” to metro these days

I went with my dad to buy something, I took off my jacket and I got a sleeve hanging on a stroller. I started to shove in it two CDs CDs and some food, mostly expensive chocolate, 2 rechargeable sony batteries .. trinkets. Prior to that I had taken out their tag with a knife brought from home. Tags I threw in the fruit stand. That's one.
then the sleeve of the jacket was a little lower than the security check out. I passed it fearfully, got to the car, I took my jacket off the cart and emptied it at home. a beautiful bounty. :D "

I shall now explore the possibility of legal action, time-permitting. Still, this is worthwhile only if I can sue Google along with him, since Zoso.ro may get bankrupt even before a judge finds him guilty. Google makes it far too easy for worthless individuals to censor one’s work and silence criticism, with zero repercussions. Furthermore, it seems that Zoso is perjuring himself in filing DMCA notices, as he swears his address is in Bucharest (penisescu-130825), while having been living in Brasov since 2009, as he himself wrote on his blog (zoso-brasov).

Aha! Presimt că o să îmi placă la Braşov. E un oraş mişto, liniştit, ordonat. Din păcate, locuit de braşoveni. Unii dintre ei scăpaţi de mici în cap în mod repetat.

Aha! I have a feeling that I'll like it in Brasov. It's a cool town, quiet, tidy. Unfortunately, inhabited by Brasovans. Some dropped on their head repeatedly since they were little.

LE: I was able to identify, after an intense search, which and where the image is from. It's the last linked image in the article about ZBiM and parenting in Romania - the one that reads Zoso, the 29 Year Old Virgin. The image is taken from a "photochop" contest held on the blog Trilema - you can find a link under zoso in this July poem.

Sources / More info: ChillingEffects, listamarci, t5, alexa, .us, vpyt, asz-ganduri, asz-zo-so-uccesurile, asz-nu-tu-nu, ws-vp, ac1, metro-theft, reddit (d), horeabadau, optimvs, penisescu, penisescu-130825, zoso-brasov

BlogIdol.ro, image, copyright, censorship, legal, legalities, zoso, vali petcu, blogo.ro-oaie, otv (Tags)

2 comments:

BlegooApril 25, 2014 at 1:04 PM
Poza aia era făcută de tine?
Că ăsta e subiectul, nu alte zarzavaturi.
InBonoboApril 25, 2014 at 1:21 PM
Well, at first I had no way of knowing what the photo was about. But I figured it out - see the "Later Edit" at the end.

Thank you for commenting and rest assured that any and all comments are welcome, whether positive or negative, constructive or distructive. Unfortunately, if you comment in this view I might not know about - please use the regular (Desktop) view.
I am using Disqus for commenting, but Blogger is not showing it so your comments may end up not being displayed - tell Google about it!

Blog Idol ro

Thursday, April 24, 2014

DMCA takedown–Vali Petcu aka Zoso

2 comments:

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