The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

DMCA Information for Models 

This page offers information to models about using DMCA Notices to have their content removed from third-party websites.

About DMCA

DMCA is short for Digital Millennium Copyright Act and one part of that law allows copyright holders to send DMCA Takedown Notices to parties that are using copyrighted content illegally to notify them that they must take it down.

What Is DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a US Federal Law that protects digital content owners and creators. The law was passed in 1998. The best thing about DMCA is that you don’t need a patent, trademark or copyright. If you are the one who created the content, you own the rights to it.

DMCA Gets Stolen Content Removed – DMCA is the most common law leveraged when getting stolen content removed from the internet. The act of requesting the content get removed is called a “DMCA Takedown Notice” or “DMCA Takedown Request”. The DMCA notices can be sent to a number of parties; the infringing website, the web hosting company, the domain registrar, search engines and other entities.

Where To Submit DMCA Notices – The DMCA takedown notices can also be sent out by a number of parties. Independent performers can send out their own requests, although this is not advised. The requests require contact information to be included. This leads to some major privacy concerns and performers have been doxed by doing this.

Who Can Submit DMCA Notices – It’s recommended that either your camming or clip site does this on your behalf, assuming that they’re offering DMCA services. It’s also possible to hire a DMCA agency, which costs some money but gets tremendous results. Going either of these routes, it’ll be their names and contact information rather than yours. This greatly helps protect you and your privacy.

Content Ownership

In general, models broadcasting on CameraLux are the owner of their content and copyright. As part of the Model Agreement, models grant MFC a non-exclusive license to use this content on our website. However, as owners of the content and copyright, only models themselves have a right to submit a DMCA notice.

Sending DMCA Notices

You are entitled to send a DMCA notice to any website that is illegally posting your content to try to have it removed. There are a number of companies that can send a DMCA notice on your behalf and they usually charge a small fee for each DMCA notice or a flat monthly fee.

Sending Notices Yourself

You may also send your own DMCA notices without the aid of anyone else. If you Google "sending a dmca takedown notice" or "sample dmca notice" you will find easy-to-use instructions and templates.

Keep in mind that the DMCA notices you send are often made public record on sites such as https://www.chillingeffects.org/.

Therefore, to protect your privacy, we encourage you to not use your birth name, physical address, or your primary e-mail address, when sending a DMCA notice. You should instead use a legal alias and a new e-mail you create for this purpose.

Submitting DMCA Notices Yourself

It is possible to submit DMCA takedown notices yourself. This is risky business, as contact information is required on the notices. Models have gotten doxed or blackmailed going this route! If you do decide this is a course of action you want to pursue, here’s some general information and tips.

If You Do Submit Your Own Request - Use Fake Email and Name!

Performers have had success in using their performer name, a PO Box that wasn’t their own, and out of city, and a secondary phone number with an area code different from their area. This can greatly protect the performer from the chance of being doxed in the process of getting pirated content removed. Some networks redact specific information during the DMCA process. If you’re filing the requests yourself, it’s worth asking what information can be redacted and what information is made public.

Google Doesn't Really Verify DMCA Complaints

Google doesn’t really seem to verify the identity of those submitting the DMCA complaints. In-fact, there’s been multiple reports of webmasters reporting other affiliates to Google, pretending to be a representative from a big-box site. That shows you how much verification they do. Therefore, submitting DMCA complaints to Google using fictitious information is much easier than doing it other places.

But be careful! All Google takedowns are listed in the Lumen Database. That means that the information you provide will be listed in there, as well as the description of the content being taken down. Another major reason why you never want to use your real name and contact info!

Make Sure To Follow Directions As Best As Possible

Different parties have different instructions for submitting DMCA notices. Make sure to follow them as best as possible. Keep in mind, some information you might not be able to provide. For example; web hosting companies generally request the contact information for the infringing party. Pirates don’t exactly hand that to you on a silver platter. Even if you can’t provide everything, do the best you can.

Some entities will redact some of the contact information of the party submitting the takedown notification. If that’s the case, it’s worth asking what information gets redacted. Make sure to get it in writing or email form. That way if they don’t redact the information, you can raise hell!

Submitting DMCA Notices To Google / Search Engines 

Search engines are one of the largest traffic sources out there. That means they’re also one of the top traffic sources for pirates as well. Luckily, they’re all based inside the United States. Therefore, they all have to honor Western intellectual property laws. This means they’re highly receptive to DMCA complaints. 

Pirate Websites

Cameralux does not own or operate any other websites that post models' content. Therefore you may assume that any content posted was not authorized by us and you may send a DMCA Notice to have it taken down.