LegendsofAmerica.com Back Online after Yahoo Shuts Down Business Released by: Kathy Weiser Web Site: http://www.legendsofamerica.com Move by Yahoo shows potential flaws in their enforcement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Email: kathy@legendsofamerica.com Keywords: yahoo complaint, yahoo, complaint, damage, shutdown, dmca, business, copyright, infringement Update Date: 12/13/2005 6:58:41 PM Hits: 233 Descrption:  Kathy Weiser has always loved history, especially that of the American West. So it wasn’t a surprise to friends and family when she started her own website in 2003. LegendsOfAmerica.com quickly consumed Weiser, and in 2004 she quit her paying job as a Business Consultant to dedicate herself fulltime to building the site into a viable historical, educational and travel resource. By November, 2005, LegendsOfAmerica.com gained a following of over 13,000 unique visitors a day, including numerous educational sources; as well as being recognized by such prestigious entities as the Scout Report, Worldstart, Earthlink, and was even named Yahoo’s Pick of the Day. So, it was a shock when Yahoo shut down her entire site -- over 3,000 pages, after an unsubstantiated allegation of copyright infringement was made regarding a few photographs. Backed by the rules of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Yahoo notified Weiser on December 5th of the allegation, asking her to not only to remove the pictures in question, but an entire sub-directory of photographs having nothing to do with the allegation; the removal of which would have severely impacted a large portion of the web site and her business. The notice explained how a reply could be made within 48 hours if she felt it was in error, which she immediately did. Weiser says, “The photographs in question are from the National Library of Congress and other historical archives, all of which are now in the public domain due to their age.” The accusing site, WithoutSanctuary.org features some of the same pictures in a published book. Weiser says none of her photos came from their website or book, but as a good faith gesture, removed 8 of the pictures. “I honestly thought that would be the end of it.” Instead, the entire site was disabled on December 7th, crippling her business. “I’m a firm believer in copyright protection, but for Yahoo to follow through, with no due process, and literally shut the door on my livelihood takes the act’s intent too far.” Weiser goes on to say, that even though she agreed to remove the disputed material, Yahoo’s lack of response to repeated voicemails and emails to their legal department prevented her from getting any resolution. “I couldn’t get an answer from anyone. The only ‘live’ people I could talk to were in customer service, who could do nothing more than refer me to a legal department voicemail, which to date, has returned no calls.” Continuing, she stated that the idea that someone could make an accusation based on the DMCA and shut down a business, without due process, frightens her. “I make every attempt to ensure I’m not infringing on someone else’s rights, and since this was the first complaint made to Yahoo about my site, I really expected them to support their customer by investigating before taking such a severe action and potentially ruining my business.” According to the DMCA provisions, Weiser could still take legal action against the accuser if the material was found to be misidentified. Weiser successfully moved to a new hosting service over the weekend and www.LegendsOfAmerica.com was back up on December 12th.