by Flemming Funch
As a webmaster I regularly receive requests to remove some kind of copyright-infringing material somebody has posted. I've never gotten anything for my own blog, but it has happened often for other's blogs. Usually it is an artist who objects to somebody posting one of their pictures. And typically is is stupid of them to object, as it usually is some kind of "Here's a lovely painting from ___ and here's a link to their site". Which really is excellent free promotion for the artist. But many artists seem to be not understand how the web works, so for inexplicable reasons they'd rather be unknown and in control than have lots of people freely mention their stuff. Anyway, typically they ask relatively nicely and the "offending" material gets removed quickly.
But now, I also have this Opentopia site, which has a lot of content that's copied from other places. Mainly places that have a license that allows it. Like, Wikipedia and Open Directory. And at some point I included a lot of articles from GoArticles. It is a site where people can upload articles in any of a number of categories, which are meant to be useful and informative somehow. They're posted with a license that says that anybody can repost them, as long as the footer with the author's information is included. Most of these articles aren't exactly great, but they're somewhat informative. The posters usually put them up for some self-promoting reason, to be able to mention their website, or book, or whatever.
I hadn't really thought of all the people who would contact me based on this content. I was mainly focused on getting some free content, and then thinking about ways of adding value to it, when I got around to it. But quite a few people write to get things corrected. Or, a few suddenly decide they don't like their article to be used by anyone. Usually they include some kind of onerous wording about copyright infringement, but typically they ask fairly nicely, and I just remove their stuff, a little puzzled about why they bothered to post it in the first place, if they didn't want it out there.
The latest one got my attention a little more than normally. A guy named "Kriss Hammond" sends a message with the subject line "Lawsuit against Opentopia.com", and which goes like this:Please remove all links or other refeence regarding Jetsetters Magazine back to your websites or blog. Please remove all feature stories from Jetsetters Magazine from your websites. Do not reference any of Jetsetters Magazine features within your websites.
We plan a ten million dollar lawsuit against your company unless all links to your sites are removed. Do not use Jetsetters Magazine material in your blogs or as an RSS feed. U.C.C. 1-207 We reserve all our rights without prejudice. We have legal representation to handle this matter. Thank you for removing any material from any of our sites from your sites, including www.jetsettersmagazine.com www.beachbooker.com or www.jetstreams.com or www.cabinweb.com
Ten MILLION dollars, wow, that's quite impressive. I'm really scared! Actually, I laughed out loud.
At first I thought it maybe was one of those magazines you get in planes, and somebody had copied some article without asking permission. But then I looked at the articles in question, and I looked around a little on the web, and saw that it was something quite different.
Kriss Hammond calls himself "The Travel Professor", and he runs some outfit that shows people how to get cheap travel, if they just pose as travel journalists and write articles about the sites and hotels and restaurants they go to. And each article must promote Hammond's site. And apparently they post these on any site they can think of that will take submitted articles. Which essentially that acts as his advertising.
Why he then suddenly doesn't want the articles is a bit puzzling. I looked through my article database and found that there were 162 of his articles, all following the same model, all with the same ad for Jetsetters Magazine at the bottom. So, I deleted all of them. Good riddance.
And I realized that the guy was just responding to Google listings. He sent me several identical messages, with a different Google listing in each one. He was threatening a 10 million dollar lawsuit to anybody who mentioned his own website. Strange. Usually that means one has something big to hide somewhere.
And I think I'm getting it. Among highly placed entries in Google we find blogs presenting a little bit of an exposee of Hammond's possibly questionable business operation. So I think he decided to just write and threaten anybody who says anything about him, without even noticing that some of them were his own promotional articles. Not too smart. I would never have cared the slightest bit who he was if he hadn't done it in such a ridiculous manner. I'd still be providing him with 162 promotional articles, and I wouldn't have been writing this little thing here.
Anyway, a professional travel writer named Carl Parkes had written in his blog a post originally entitled "The Jetsetters Scam". You can now find it in this version: The Jetsetters Story. Parkes changed a couple of words, because Hammond started sending his famous "10 million dollar lawsuit" thing to anybody and everybody. The company that made the blogger template he was using, to Google, and to who knows who.
Read follow-ups: here, here, here, here, and well, there's more after that. Parkes wisely shifts over into posting general good information about travel writer scams, fake publishing houses, etc.
Below you can see one of the letters Hammond sends out to people who're interested in his Travel Writers Network. And you can see his business plan at work there. You pay $300 for membership in his network, and he provides you with templates for how you can present yourself as a travel writer to hotels around the world, and, I assume, get cheap or free rooms, meals, etc. And then you promise to write those articles, mentioning Jetsetters Magazine as much as possible.
Is that a scam? Not necessarily. It sounds kind of questionable. But, yes, for it to be a scam, there'd have to be some victims somewhere. The hotels maybe?
But I'd say that nobody goes around threatening to sue everybody who talks about them unless they have something to hide. You be the judge.
Thank you for responding to the Travel Writers Network.
I am often called the Travel Professor. I am a former travel writing professor at a major U.S. university, and a former travel marketing professor at one of the world's largest travel schools. Jetsetters Magazine began many years ago, now found only online within our award winning travel portal at www.jetstreams.com and our wonderful destination site www.jetsettersmagazine.com.
We have created the Travel Writers Network for those aspiring and professional travel writers. We have many years in the writing business, and we have created a wonderful magazine that allows you to travel the world in style. We have created the Travel Writers Network, a membership network, for writers, artists, photographers, videographers and other artistic people, as an outlet for your writing endeavors. We help set up trips, tours, hotel stays, concert tickets, etc., once you are a paying member of the network.
We have several guidelines and forms that you utilize once you become a member of the Travel Writers Network. These forms help you draft travel requests other than the press trips our staff research. We open the doors for you by contacting a hotel sales or PR staff for a feature writing request. When asked what publication you write for, of course you have the editorial clout behind you with Jetsetters Magazine. Often you can write restaurant reviews, concert and event reviews also.
The Travel Writers Network does not pay for stories. Your compensation is an enhancement of your lifestyle through complimentary or reduced travel, journalistic recognition and the multi-faceted travel opportunities and benefits. We post your stories when completed. Just email them to our home office at jetsetters@hotmail.com
As a member of the Travel Writers Network you can post as many stories as you wish, but we do require at least two travel pieces annually to stay active in The Travel Writers Network. You receive a byline on all your stories. Jetsetters Magazine retains the rights to all stories to avoid the recent Supreme Court copyright decision regarding freelance features appearing online. This decision primarily impacts online magazines such as Jetsetters Magazine.
As you know, many assignments require an editorial letter; again this comes from our staff assistants and editors monitoring The Travel Writers Network. We charge an annual fee of $300 to join The Travel Writers Network for one reason only — to pay for the staff assistants that contact press bureaus, convention and visitors authorities, suppliers, wholesalers, etc. We act on your behalf. We open many travel writing doors for your.
We work for you. For a small amount of money, $300, we offer you the world. It barely covers our costs to operate the program, but we want to run your features, and we want to truly enhance your lifestyle. These assistants and editors coordinate The Travel Writers Network program for your lifestyle enhancement. Your $300 will be quickly reimbursed on usually one trip. And remember, as a freelance, independent travel writer, all expenses are tax deductible.
I know it is easy to be skeptical in paying to join an organization, but there are millions of resorts and hotels that need publicity, and are happy to comp our writers for an article in the online Jetsettters Magazine. Readers can actually book the hotels with real time availability and pricing right from your feature story. No other magazine online or off line offers this feature!
Sincerely;
Kriss Hammond - The Travel Professor
Editor
Jetsetters Magazine
P.S. My next trip is Fiji !!! --------
May 16th, 2008: There's a new chapter in the story, as Kriss Hammond sent me some new threats. See: Kriss Hammond wants to change my financial status
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