IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR ALL VOLTAGE BLOGS ON TUMBLR

soundlesswind:

nazhuka:

nazhuka:

nazhuka:

nazhuka:

Recently there are many who have received strikes from Tumblr, saying that their blog has content that infringes copyright. Unfortunately these email do not tell what posts are the ones with issues are nor do they tell you how you have breached copyright laws.

After digging around, the details I uncovered just blows my mind away. IN A VERY BAD WAY. It is very confusing and there does not seem to be any pattern whatsoever. I don’t really know what they’re getting at, but this is what I found put in the simplest way possible:

It is an employee of Voltage Inc that made the reports. This is her report:

“This content is related to The contents of the reported posts contain material that were taken without permission from paid contents in several of our apps, including but not limited to “Star Crossed Myth”, “Kissed by the Baddest Bidder” and “Metro PD: Close to you” etc. The URLs to our apps can be found below. https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Voltage%2C%20Inc.&hl=ja https://itunes.apple.com/jp/artist/voltage-inc./id393091101 Voltage holds all copyrights to all stories, characters, character designs and artwork etc in our apps. Unauthorized distribution of such material infringes on this copyright and we request that Tumblr removes aforementioned contents from your site. Please also note that the user uses copyrighted image/s from Voltage, Inc. on their template; we urge you to take actions to either have these images removed, or suspend the account all together. Voltage Inc. International Promotions”

However, @sakuyaaa did some tracking for her blog and found that the reports came from Tokyo Japan and that they were going through the archives and reporting from there. You might have gotten about one or two hits, but actually they have reported many posts and have a lot of them taken down.

However, there seems to not be any pattern for the reports. It could be screenshots, CGs and even edits. They did not target everyone but instead only some. For example, my edits were reported and taken down but I know that there are other edits which escaped being reported. Likewise for the others, so it makes me think that the reports were made randomly instead of fully cracking down each and every post.

This is extremely confusing because it contradicts what Voltage USA is telling us. I know that the rules for Japanese and English are very different but as far as I know we have been following what Voltage has been giving us the ok for the english market. We have been keeping CGs to tumblr, not post any CGs from social apps (Voltage did say that any CGs from before the ban is ok to not be deleted), and that we do not post mass screenshots of any routes. They also said that edits are fine and we have abide by the rules that were given to us. Voltage Japan, however, is extremely strict and has a strictly no cg sharing no screenshots no edits policy.

What shocks me is that this means that somehow both sides of voltage didn’t come to an agreement of what’s ok and what’s not and right now each side has their own take and Voltage Japan has decided to take action against us on their own and they are showing absolutely no mercy. Somehow, something went wrong somewhere and the fandom is the one paying for it. I don’t know how many you have received two strikes, but giving us two strikes is a very drastically harsh punishment, especially since we received no prior warnings and Voltage is yet to release any announcements regarding a change in policy. If you receive three strikes, your account is automatically terminated. You are put on an 18 month “probation” period where you absolutely cannot get ANY sort of warning AT ALL. In other words, if Voltahe ever chooses to throw a stint like this again, we’re good as gone.

Right now everything’s really messy and I am so utterly confused. Voltage really needs to give us a firm answer as to what’s allowed and what’s not. It might be wishful thinking, but I feel like us fans who fell victim to this also deserve to have an answer.

If you want your blog to be really safe, I would suggest that you delete all CGs, screenshots and edits that you have ever posted AND reblogged (yes you get hit for reblogging too). THIS INCLUDES ANY SPRITES THAT YOU HAVE POSTED OR BELOGGED TOO. The ones that so far seem safe to me are fanarts, fanfics and cosplays. Im not really sure if you will get hit for reviews and summaries.

UPDATE: Now voltage is claiming that it’s not them who reported. This is so messed up I don’t know what to believe anymore

Could it be someone who pretended to be voltage then? But then I read that the japanese side for hit too. Even so, does that mean that tumblr does not check to verify that reports are legit?

This gets more confusing by the minute. Why do I always end up with more questions than answers. ！(◎_◎;)

UPDATE: @daeva-agas has contacted voltage and they claimed that it’s not them who made the report. They said that they’re looking into this matter right now. Let us hope that they clarify this whole issue soon. I heard the japanese side got it worse, many got deactivated. Things are getting more messy the more info I get lol. In the mean time let us -especially those directly affected and received strike(s) - message voltage AND voltageparty to let them know how many are affected. If voltage confirms that it’s not them then please contest your copyright infringement accusation!!!! And if it really isn’t the staff is gonna get shit from me for just warning and deleting without verifying.

UPDATE: I’M PRETTY SURE THAT THIS IS A REPORT BY A THIRD PARTY (non-Voltage). One of @urinamoon fanart has been taken down but the rest are ok. Voltage encourages fanart so I don’t see why it should be taken down if it really is done by Voltage.

Also, after chatting with @daeva-agas we noted that it’s not the popular blogs that are targeted but rather the popular posts. These are the ones that are easiest to access upon doing search, irregardless of whether you’re finding in Japanese or English. It also matches our opinion where the person who reported is NOT voltage but someone pretending to be. Some of the more popular blogs are yet to receive any warnings, but we also have less popular ones getting them. After a while the emails stopped coming, so I’m assuming she got tired after hours and hours of reporting (she spent 3 hours on @sakuyaaa‘s archives alone!!!) and took a break or just decided to stop. Hopefully forever. Or she had stuff she had to attend to and couldn’t continue. Either way, the reporting was a very sloppy thing that wasn’t thorough and didn’t really follow any pattern.

Right now the main question is WHO is this Emi Tamaru who posed as Voltage and started going on a reporting frenzy and went on this mad rampage of getting our posts deleted AND giving us strikes from tumblr?! It caused many of us unnecessary stress and panic and it is very unreasonable and selfish to do this.

It could have been someone with a grudge against Voltage. It could have been someone who had a grudge against one of us. Or… I don’t know, there’s many possibilities. But right now we have suffered or are still suffering from her little stint.

PLEASE CONTEST YOUR ACCUSATION OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. We are getting strikes for things for nothing when we have been abiding by the rules. Some blogs are on the verge of termination over nothing. I have written to Voltage regarding the warning letters but they are yet to get back to me. But for the people whom have gotten strikes, you only have 10 days from the day you receive the email to contest it (though technically the whole process that Tumblr asks you do legally is very tedious). Try dropping them an email to see if it works.

THIS.

I’ve already been hit. UGH. Not over Voltage graphics, but my /own fanart/.