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JWTalk - Jehovah's Witnesses Online Community

JWTalk

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  1. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from Cruzer in Links to more websites produced and maintained by other Jehovah’s Witnesses (Master List)   
    Links to more websites produced and maintained by other Jehovah’s Witnesses

    Please note: Before appearing below, these links were verified to be JW friendly websites. But sometimes things change. IF ANY OF THE LINKS BELOW PROVE TO BE SPIRITUALLY HAZARDOUS, PLEASE USE THE CONTACT FORM ABOVE TO REPORT IT. Thank you!



    Websites under the direction of the faithful slave class…

    JW.org – The ONLY official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide, in over 400 languages.


    Websites by other individual Jehovah’s Witnesses…

    If you would like a link to your site here, please register at JWTalk Forums, and then post a topic in the "Jehovah's Witnesses on the Web" forum. We would appreciate a link back to JWTalk as well.



    Jehovah’s Witnesses News from Around the World

    The News – News about Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as news not specifically about Jehovah’s people but may be of interest to them.



    Jehovah’s Witnesses Discussion Boards, Mailing Lists, and Forums

    MeekSpace - File distribution & social site centered around mobile devices.


    Gilead Graduates and other Missionaries

    That’s Guam Baby – Jason and Miki on assignment in Guam.

    Michael and Esther – Adventures in the Dominican Republic.

    Jehovah in Belize – Experiences from various missionaries working together.

    Steve and Avril’s Blog – Missionaries serving in Tanzania.

    Ken & Sue Ivy – Gilead graduates serving in Malaysia.

    Skyward Paths - Serving where the need is greater in Bologna, Italy.



    Personal Web Pages

    David Silver’s Web Site – Cards, music, videos, puzzles, games, convention notebooks, and more!

    Bible Songs – Biblesongs.co.uk by Brendan Vincent Owens.

    Better Days are Coming – Carolyn Butler’s collection of fun and interesting things.

    Sherran Charboneau – Coloring book printable pages and jokes.
     


    Blogs by Brothers and Sisters

    Good Companion Books - An investigative look at John 1:1, and links to other apologetic site.

    Ruminations - Robert Angle’s blog – Biblical exegesis, personal meditations, and miscellaneous stuff.

    Dave’s Secret Garden – Dave’s Gardening Blog with a bit of DIY thrown in for good measure.

    Sheep & Goats – Tom Sheepngoats blog. Personal meditations, observations, experiences, etc.
     
    OBY's Day



    Theocratic PC Software Programs for Personal or Congregational Use

    Kingdom Hall Schedules - designed specifically for Elders and Ministerial Servants responsible for scheduling Public Talks. Now handles just about all congregation assignments now.

    Multi Terr – Territory Management Software.

    NW Scheduler - Covers all scheduling and organizing tasks in the congregation: meeting assignments, public talks, duties, meetings for field service, public witnessing...

    Public Talk Software - designed to assist public talk coordinators.

    Service Record - For publishers to record field ministry activity and print time slips



    Businesses featuring ministry products…

    Madzay – All original products. In Ohio.

    MJC Products – Fields ministry products and supplies.

    Ministry Ideaz -Based in Canada

    Custom Bookbinding – For all our publications. In Wisconsin.

    Bennett Cards Ltd – Theocratic Products. In Britain.



    Businesses offering vacation services…

    Bethel Coach Tours – Worldwide Travel Destinations.

    JW Tours – For brother by brothers, in Britain.



    Businesses featuring Kingdom Hall Building and Sound Accessories

    Remote Mast – Remote controlled microphone stands.

    KHCONF – Telephone conferencing service for connecting to Kingdom Hall meetings.

    KZWeb – Connect to Kingdom Hall meetings by installing a dedicated server.



    Businesses providing other services for Witnesses

    6th Avenue Concepts - Freelance graphic designer with over 20 years experience.

    Jah-Jireh Charity Homes – Assisted living and health care for elderly and infirm brothers and sisters in England and Wales.

    New System School – Home schooling for Jehovah’s Witnesses.



     
  2. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from GerH in What is "Limited Access", and how do I become a "Full Access User"?   
    What does it mean to be a "Limited Access User"? 

    There are 2 types of membership status here at JWTalk: Full Access and Limited Access. 

    When a new member registers to be a member of our community of Jehovah's Witnesses, he is automatically placed in what we call Limited Access. Only a few of the features and privileges that Full Access Users enjoy are not available to them. Of these, the most notable one is that they are in moderation, and any comment they make is held in the queue, until a moderator has first read the post and approved it to be published to the community. Comments made by Full Access Users appear immediately on the board without moderator approval. 

    The purpose of this, of course, is to prevent unqualified individuals (i.e. non-witnesses) from registering accounts and posting their thoughtless parroted gibberish to our community. 

    A Full Access User who continually violates the terms of the  JWTalk Community Membership Policy  may be placed back in Limited Access mode by any moderator to prevent him from freely posting offensive comments to the board. 


    How can I become a Full Access User? 

    Wait patiently, and participate freely and often. The Staff will determine your eligibility after a you have been a member for a specific period of time and have made a specific number of posts to within the JWTalk community in order to establish some history with us. 
     
    If you feel that you have been overlooked, you can post a topic in the Confidential Talk with the Moderators area. This area let's you communicate issues of concern between you and the Staff only. 
     
    Remember, being a "Limited Access User" does not prohibit you from posting and replying in most areas of our community.
     

    I was bad and I am sorry. How do I get my Full Access privileges back? 

    This is determined on a case by case basis. Again, you can post a request in the Confidential Talk forum and discuss this with the Staff.
     
     

    View full article
  3. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from Landon1285 in JWTalk Community Membership Policy   
    TERMS AND CONDITIONS
     
    Welcome to the JWTalk - the pro-JW online community!
     
    Here are a few guidelines that all our registered members and visitors must agree to observe…
     
    JWTalk.net is a privately operated online community that is visible to the public, yet is intended solely for use by registered members who are active Jehovah’s Witnesses with an approved JWTalk account. The site is strictly non-commercial and all work is done by a team of dedicated Community Managers, Team Members, and Assistants. None of the content in the community is affiliated with JW.org nor is sponsored by, nor authorized by the Governing Body nor by any legal entity used by the worldwide organization known as ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’. This discussion board reflects the opinions of the general public and we assume no liability based on information contained herein. Members must agree to, and abide by, our Community Membership Policy in order to post on JWTalk. We reserve the right to edit or delete posts, at our discretion, to meet with our code of conduct rules. By registering on this site you acknowledge you have read and agree with this Membership Policy.
     
    A. Membership 
     
    Who Can Be a Registered Member at JWTalk.net?
     
    To post comments or create content on JWTalk, you must be an active publisher associated with Jehovah’s Witnesses, baptized or not. An active publisher has a share in the work of proclaiming Jehovah’s Kingdom every month and reports it, and is thus counted among us in the monthly and yearly reports. In other words, participation in this community is intended for Jehovah’s Witnesses only.
     
    If an extenuating circumstance causes you to go temporarily inactive, this does not mean you have to abstain from participating in our community. However, should you become “no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses” via disassociation or disfellowshipping, then you no longer qualify for membership and it would be appropriate for you to privately contact the Team to inform us that this is the case. Your account will be disabled, but not deleted. It can be reactivated at a later time when your circumstances have turned around and you have been reinstated. 
     
    We reserve the right of controlling membership at our discretion.
     
    B. Registration
     
    How Can I Become a Participant in the Community?
     
    Registration is required to interact with others anywhere on JWTalk. All applicants must answer fill in the registration form completely and accurately. There are questions on the registration page that under normal circumstances, only active publishers would know the answers to. A valid email address is required, as you will have to respond to an email validation link that will get sent to you. A Community Manager must also approve your application. Once these two validations take place, you are able to make comments in the community. 
     
    Please understand that when registering, there are required fields where you must provide identifying information such as your full real name, location, and congregation name, but these are only ever visible to the Team. There are other fields where you may enter less specific information relating to you that will be visible to other community members and the public. While you will be known by your choice of "display name", we are on a first name basis here.
     
    C. Publicity, Content Ownership, & Copyright
     
    All submitted posts become a permanent part of JWTalk Community. By sending posts or submitting content to the community, you, the Sender, acknowledge and agree that your contribution automatically becomes an intrinsic part of the JWTalk.net Community without any further obligation to you, and that you grant JWTalk.net the right to use, reproduce, display, perform, adapt, modify, distribute, have distributed, and promote the content in any form, anywhere and for any purpose; and warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content you submit and that the public posting and use of your content by JWTalk.net will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party. You acknowledge that your submitted content may not be removed, unpublished or changed once the content has been posted. 
     
    While most areas of JWTalk are visible to the public, we are a private membership community. Whether you are a registered member or an unregistered guest, you agree that you will not copy and paste the contents of individual posts that you yourself did not author to another internet location outside of JWTalk.net, and that doing so will result in a copyright takedown notice initiated by the original content author or us as their agent.
     
    We do NOT delete accounts. However, you may request that we "deactivate" your account. You will no longer be able to log in to view members only content nor read or reply to Private Messages. You can reactivate your account at a later time by using the Contact Us form at the bottom of every page to send a message to the Community Managers.
     
    D. Speech & Conduct
     
    What is JWTalk’s Code of Conduct?
     
    The same behavior expected of you in the congregation is expected here in our online community. Our site is operated by and for true Christians. This is a site for real Jehovah's Witnesses to engage in peaceful discussion, and not a place for argumentative debates. Therefore, your goal in contributing to a topic should be to share something of interest that will build up your brothers and sisters.
     
    We seek to maintain an upbuilding, entertaining, safe, open, and intellectually stimulating environment, where mature Christians can exercise their God-given "freeness of speech." (2 Corinthians 3:12) A few principles can help us to do that:
     
    1) Matters of Conscience: If there are no clear indications on a subject in the Bible or in the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses, then we are obligated to show respectfulness towards the conscience decisions of others, both of those that are stricter than ours and those that are less strict. (Romans 14:3) Do not make rules where none exist.
     
    2) Handling Disagreement: It can be very productive to discuss areas of disagreement, as long as this is done in a "spirit of mildness," avoiding mockery or belittlement. (Galatians 6:1) Keep in mind that this is a forum for discussion, and not a place for heated debate. Express yourself with love, and do not "pour fuel on the fire", as it were. While expressing disagreement, your goal should be to keep the conversation calm and cool, so "before the quarrel breaks out, take your leave.” (Proverbs 17:14) If you are seriously concerned about someone's motives in posting, please contact a Manager or Team Member privately, and do not assault another user publicly within the topic.
     
    3) Personal Problems: The scriptures urge us to settle personal problems in private. (Matthew 18:15) Personal or private details of ongoing situations, whether those of your own or those of others, should not be shared on the board. This is true even if the problem is with someone who is not a member of the community. When dealing with past situations, discretion and good judgment are still needed.
     
    4) Avoiding Offense: We all want to try to apply the counsel, "Do not be quick to take offense." (Ecclesiastes 7:9) However, it will be easier to do that if we watch for each other's areas of sensitivity, and avoid them. (Romans 14:15)
     
    5) Acceptable Language: Jehovah's Witnesses on the web come from diverse social, cultural, and geographic backgrounds, which means that they will have different standards of acceptable language. Please endeavor be sensitive to these differences, both in your own word choice and in how you react to others. If you are seriously concerned about language that you feel is inappropriate, please contact a Community Team Member or Manager privately. Do not engage the other user publicly within the topic.
     
    6) Freedom of Speech: The above principles definitely do not mean that matters of conscience and speculative questions cannot be discussed. The Watchtower of May 1, 2000 gives the following balanced perspective: "It is normal to discuss Bible accounts or wonder about aspects of the promised new world that have not as yet been revealed. And there is nothing wrong with exchanging ideas on personal matters, such as dress and grooming or choice of entertainment. However, if we become dogmatic about our ideas and take offense when others do no agree with us, the congregation may end up becoming divided over minor issues." (page 11, paragraph 14 - we recommend reading this whole subheading).
     
    7) Avoiding Spoilers: It's unloving to post spoilers about information that others would rather hear 'at the proper time' at their own meeting. Therefore exercise caution and use the built in "spoiler" tag/function to hide such details when appropriate. Since Regional Conventions are typically held around the world spanning several months, we have one dedicated topic for discussing each years Regional Convention. Only those who have attended their convention should view the topic, which is clearly marked that the discussion may contain spoilers for those who haven't attended yet. Do not post about a current year's Regional Convention in any other topic than this designated one. Do not read the topic if you haven't attended your convention and don't wish to have it "spoiled" for you.
     
    8 ) Cooperation with the Team: The Community Managers and Community Team Members are responsible to Jehovah and to their brothers for what occurs in the community. Please cooperate with their directions. (1 Corinthians 16:14)
     
    E. Commenting and Moderation
     
    JWTalk has a thriving user community. We are dedicated to maintaining a respectful, engaging and informative conversation. Towards that end, we have basic ground rules for commenting to maintain a civil atmosphere. These are supported by Community Team Members. If you wish to participate in the community, we ask that you follow the ground rules below and the spirit of the community they seek to create.
     
    Are Certain Things Not Permitted to be Posted on JWTalk?
     
    We will not tolerate anything against Biblical standards, including apostasy and unclean or obscene speech. (Eph 5:3,4; 2 Tim 2:16-18) Links to apostate sites (anti-witness sites) will get you banned, as will hateful speech and obscene language. The following guidelines should help demonstrate the quality of the content we expect from you, as well as the moderation efforts that take place on JWTalk.
     
    1) No Spamming. Do not excessively communicate the same phrase, similar phrases, or pure gibberish, or make non-constructive posts. If a comment is solely promotional in nature, we will remove it from the site.
     
    2) No Trolling. This would include creating threads or off-topic comments that cause unrest or disturbances among members or within discussions. This community does not tolerate direct or indirect attacks, nor does it tolerate intentional attempts to derail, hijack, troll or bait others into an emotional response. We reserve the right to remove these types of comments if warranted. Individuals who consistently or intentionally post these types of comments may lose their ability to comment permanently.
     
    3) No Misusing JW.org and its Services: The Terms of Use at JW.org makes the statement, "You may not: Misuse the website or its services, such as... accessing the website or its services using a method other than what is explicitly provided." Therefore, do not mine JW.org or it's affiliated services hunting for artwork, literature, or media that hasn't been officially released to the public yet. Spiritual food "is explicitly provided" at the proper time by the Faithful and Discreet Slave (Matthew 24:45) and not by individuals racing to be the ones to present it in place of them (Psalm 11:2).
     
    4) No Personally Identifiable Information. For the privacy and protection of all members, we insist that you do not post publicly identifiable information, such as your email address, phone number, street address, etc, on any content that is visible to the public or even the community at large. Any comments that contain this information may be deleted. Your email address is kept private and we encourage communication using the discussion board and the private messaging system only. If you give out your contact information for other services, you are doing so at your own risk.
     
    5) Limited Access and Moderation. To maintain a clean and civil community, we reserve the right to have our moderation team read comments before they are displayed on the site. Review time can vary depending on the availability of our Team Members, who are all volunteers, as well as the current queue, so please be patient. Please, do not resubmit the same comment or complain to the Team assuming it has been deleted. If we refuse to publish your comments, we will send you a private message explaining why. If we publish your comments, we reserve the right to edit them as necessary.
     
    6) An Online Spiritual Paradise. We strongly believe that JWTalk Community should be a safe space for brothers and sisters from all around the globe to express their ideas. As such, purposefully insulting and hostile language or personal threats are not welcome here. If you directly or indirectly threaten the physical or mental well-being of a member of this community, you may be removed immediately. If a credible threat is made against another member, publicly or privately, not only may it be removed but we reserve the right to report the matter to your congregation elders and/or law enforcement agencies.
     
     
    F. File Uploads
     
    1) Material for Meeting Preparation: The November 1999 Our Kingdom Ministry states "Using another person’s research for a talk or [as a substitute for] meeting preparation really defeats the purpose of personal study." Posts on spiritual matters should therefore contain the results of your own personal meditation, first-hand accounts of what you heard at meetings, and brief quotes from the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses, along with appropriate references. If you want to share a meeting part that you worked hard on, please do not post transcripts or audio recordings of your assignment prior to their being delivered in congregations all over the world.
     
    2) Audio Recordings of Talks: The Question Box in the April 2010 Our Kingdom Ministry discourages the circulation of recorded talks. Remember that JWTalk is about discussion, and is not for trading recordings of talks. With that said, we will not prohibit a user from occasionally sharing a recorded talk. However, we will not permit a user to make a habitual practice of this. Uploading a Circuit Assembly or Regional Convention program is strictly prohibited in accordance with the announcements we receive at each of these events.
     
    3) JW Literature and Media: The Branch has repeatedly stated that we may share information from the organization’s official websites by sending a link, but according to the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, we should not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites. This would include theocratic programs on jw.org or JW Stream, such as monthly broadcasts, congregation meetings, circuit assemblies, and conventions. Therefore, do not upload to our servers any literature or media that is available on JW.org and it's affiliated sites. Also, do not share links to unauthorized copies of content that has been uploaded to any file sharing, music sharing, or video sharing website.
     
    G. Unverified Experiences & Sensational Stories
     
    The October 1999 Our Kingdom Ministry says: “What if the experience you pass on is not accurate? Would this not be sharing in perpetuating an untruth?” - (Proverbs. 12:19; 21:28; 30:8; Colossians 3:9)
     
    Be mindful of sensational stories or experiences that you cannot verify. This becomes a problem from time to time. It’s a chore for the Team to read extremely long ones, and likely someone will point out what they feel is ridiculously sensational and unrealistic and publicly state why they find it too difficult to believe some facet of this incredulous story. It's important to protect the gullible for believing everything he or she reads. If the story or experience is legitimate, OR truly encouraging yet not overly far-fetched, we’ll probably let it go. Just remember that spamming us with such tall tales, email forwards, or similar content circulating social networks is not the purpose of our community.
     
     
    H: Ads and Posting Secondary Links
     
    Before linking to any page, please make sure that it does not have ads for pornography, comments by apostates or opposers, or prominent ads/links to apostate or other inappropriate sites. We would not want to be responsible for exposing our brothers to temptation or facilitate the efforts of those who want to draw our brothers away. (Matthew 18:6)
     
     
    I: Copyrighted Content
     
    1) Ownership: Caution must be taken to respect the copyrights of others. All sites, whether public, commercial, social, personal or private--contain elements that are protected under copyright laws, whether they are original works, fixed works, works made for hire, commissioned works, or works that have been assigned. We reserve the right to edit or remove any post, image or other media that, in our opinion, constitutes a violation of the copyrights of any other individual or enterprise. 
     
    2) Fair Use: You agree to become familiar with typical "Fair Use" laws and to use good judgment when submitting content to the JWTalk community. It is usually both reasonable and acceptable to include a quotation from an article or other literary work, or to reference a single image or photograph, in order to start a topic or that is pertinent or necessary to further a current discussion in the community. However, do not post entire articles or large portions of them from our publications or upload them as attachments to the discussions or to our Files Library. Likewise, do not upload content containing multiple image attachments that you do not have copyright ownership or rights to. 
     
    3) DCMA Takedown: It is our policy to respond to all notices of alleged copyright infringement. To learn more about how to bring a copyright issue to our attention, please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy.
     
     
    J. Disclaimer
     
    All comments posted to this community reflects the views and opinions expressed by the individual member and are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of JWTalk.net, our Team, nor that of the organization known as "Jehovah's Witnesses", the Governing Body, or any of its legal corporations. Your local congregation and its elders are part of Jehovah's channel for your spiritual care, not any member of JWTalk Community regardless of what their appointment may be in their own congregations. Any medical advice of any sort posted in the community by any member should be discussed with your local healthcare provider. Each member must come to their own conclusions, "carry their own load”, and "render an account for himself to God.” - Galatians 6:5, Romans 14:12
     
    K. A few more points...
     
    * Remember, while every effort is made to ensure that only active publishers associated with Jehovah's people are granted membership here at JWTalk, there is no real way to verify the identity and congregational status of each registered account. The faithful slave cautions against associating with people whom you do not know over the internet, even when they claim to be your fellow brothers and sisters. Those cautionary statements are valid and apply to this JWTalk as well. 
     
    * Do not use topics, replies, or your status updates to sound off on what you think the organization should do differently. It is discouraging, and quite frankly not up to you anyhow.
     
    * Do not bring issues to the community and post content about things that you ought to be speaking to your elders about first.
     
    * Since all members of this community are supposed to be active publishers of the good news and counted as Jehovah’s Witnesses in our monthly and annual reports, you must NOT count the time you spend participating here in your monthly field service reports, and you must NOT count links you post in this community as placements, etc. 
     
    * We understand that people are shy. If you comment here at JWTalk, please be making an honest, sincere, prayerful effort to comment at your congregation meetings as well.
     
    * We reserve the right to update these Community Membership Policies and Terms of Service at any time, and it is your responsibility to check periodically for changes. When changes are made, a post will be created in the Announcements forum.
     
    * In all instances, we retain the right to trim, edit or remove content that violate the policies above
     
    * Failure to comply with the above membership policy may cause your account to be "Banned" - at the Team’s discretion.
     
     
     
     
     
     

    View full article
  4. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from Lori in Links to more websites produced and maintained by other Jehovah’s Witnesses (Master List)   
    Links to more websites produced and maintained by other Jehovah’s Witnesses

    Please note: Before appearing below, these links were verified to be JW friendly websites. But sometimes things change. IF ANY OF THE LINKS BELOW PROVE TO BE SPIRITUALLY HAZARDOUS, PLEASE USE THE CONTACT FORM ABOVE TO REPORT IT. Thank you!



    Websites under the direction of the faithful slave class…

    JW.org – The ONLY official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide, in over 400 languages.


    Websites by other individual Jehovah’s Witnesses…

    If you would like a link to your site here, please register at JWTalk Forums, and then post a topic in the "Jehovah's Witnesses on the Web" forum. We would appreciate a link back to JWTalk as well.



    Jehovah’s Witnesses News from Around the World

    The News – News about Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as news not specifically about Jehovah’s people but may be of interest to them.



    Jehovah’s Witnesses Discussion Boards, Mailing Lists, and Forums

    MeekSpace - File distribution & social site centered around mobile devices.


    Gilead Graduates and other Missionaries

    That’s Guam Baby – Jason and Miki on assignment in Guam.

    Michael and Esther – Adventures in the Dominican Republic.

    Jehovah in Belize – Experiences from various missionaries working together.

    Steve and Avril’s Blog – Missionaries serving in Tanzania.

    Ken & Sue Ivy – Gilead graduates serving in Malaysia.

    Skyward Paths - Serving where the need is greater in Bologna, Italy.



    Personal Web Pages

    David Silver’s Web Site – Cards, music, videos, puzzles, games, convention notebooks, and more!

    Bible Songs – Biblesongs.co.uk by Brendan Vincent Owens.

    Better Days are Coming – Carolyn Butler’s collection of fun and interesting things.

    Sherran Charboneau – Coloring book printable pages and jokes.
     


    Blogs by Brothers and Sisters

    Good Companion Books - An investigative look at John 1:1, and links to other apologetic site.

    Ruminations - Robert Angle’s blog – Biblical exegesis, personal meditations, and miscellaneous stuff.

    Dave’s Secret Garden – Dave’s Gardening Blog with a bit of DIY thrown in for good measure.

    Sheep & Goats – Tom Sheepngoats blog. Personal meditations, observations, experiences, etc.
     
    OBY's Day



    Theocratic PC Software Programs for Personal or Congregational Use

    Kingdom Hall Schedules - designed specifically for Elders and Ministerial Servants responsible for scheduling Public Talks. Now handles just about all congregation assignments now.

    Multi Terr – Territory Management Software.

    NW Scheduler - Covers all scheduling and organizing tasks in the congregation: meeting assignments, public talks, duties, meetings for field service, public witnessing...

    Public Talk Software - designed to assist public talk coordinators.

    Service Record - For publishers to record field ministry activity and print time slips



    Businesses featuring ministry products…

    Madzay – All original products. In Ohio.

    MJC Products – Fields ministry products and supplies.

    Ministry Ideaz -Based in Canada

    Custom Bookbinding – For all our publications. In Wisconsin.

    Bennett Cards Ltd – Theocratic Products. In Britain.



    Businesses offering vacation services…

    Bethel Coach Tours – Worldwide Travel Destinations.

    JW Tours – For brother by brothers, in Britain.



    Businesses featuring Kingdom Hall Building and Sound Accessories

    Remote Mast – Remote controlled microphone stands.

    KHCONF – Telephone conferencing service for connecting to Kingdom Hall meetings.

    KZWeb – Connect to Kingdom Hall meetings by installing a dedicated server.



    Businesses providing other services for Witnesses

    6th Avenue Concepts - Freelance graphic designer with over 20 years experience.

    Jah-Jireh Charity Homes – Assisted living and health care for elderly and infirm brothers and sisters in England and Wales.

    New System School – Home schooling for Jehovah’s Witnesses.



     
  5. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from Twinkle in What is "Limited Access", and how do I become a "Full Access User"?   
    What does it mean to be a "Limited Access User"? 

    There are 2 types of membership status here at JWTalk: Full Access and Limited Access. 

    When a new member registers to be a member of our community of Jehovah's Witnesses, he is automatically placed in what we call Limited Access. Only a few of the features and privileges that Full Access Users enjoy are not available to them. Of these, the most notable one is that they are in moderation, and any comment they make is held in the queue, until a moderator has first read the post and approved it to be published to the community. Comments made by Full Access Users appear immediately on the board without moderator approval. 

    The purpose of this, of course, is to prevent unqualified individuals (i.e. non-witnesses) from registering accounts and posting their thoughtless parroted gibberish to our community. 

    A Full Access User who continually violates the terms of the  JWTalk Community Membership Policy  may be placed back in Limited Access mode by any moderator to prevent him from freely posting offensive comments to the board. 


    How can I become a Full Access User? 

    Wait patiently, and participate freely and often. The Staff will determine your eligibility after a you have been a member for a specific period of time and have made a specific number of posts to within the JWTalk community in order to establish some history with us. 
     
    If you feel that you have been overlooked, you can post a topic in the Confidential Talk with the Moderators area. This area let's you communicate issues of concern between you and the Staff only. 
     
    Remember, being a "Limited Access User" does not prohibit you from posting and replying in most areas of our community.
     

    I was bad and I am sorry. How do I get my Full Access privileges back? 

    This is determined on a case by case basis. Again, you can post a request in the Confidential Talk forum and discuss this with the Staff.
     
     

    View full article
  6. Thanks
    JWTalk got a reaction from Ludmila Nuta in What is "Limited Access", and how do I become a "Full Access User"?   
    What does it mean to be a "Limited Access User"? 

    There are 2 types of membership status here at JWTalk: Full Access and Limited Access. 

    When a new member registers to be a member of our community of Jehovah's Witnesses, he is automatically placed in what we call Limited Access. Only a few of the features and privileges that Full Access Users enjoy are not available to them. Of these, the most notable one is that they are in moderation, and any comment they make is held in the queue, until a moderator has first read the post and approved it to be published to the community. Comments made by Full Access Users appear immediately on the board without moderator approval. 

    The purpose of this, of course, is to prevent unqualified individuals (i.e. non-witnesses) from registering accounts and posting their thoughtless parroted gibberish to our community. 

    A Full Access User who continually violates the terms of the  JWTalk Community Membership Policy  may be placed back in Limited Access mode by any moderator to prevent him from freely posting offensive comments to the board. 


    How can I become a Full Access User? 

    Wait patiently, and participate freely and often. The Staff will determine your eligibility after a you have been a member for a specific period of time and have made a specific number of posts to within the JWTalk community in order to establish some history with us. 
     
    If you feel that you have been overlooked, you can post a topic in the Confidential Talk with the Moderators area. This area let's you communicate issues of concern between you and the Staff only. 
     
    Remember, being a "Limited Access User" does not prohibit you from posting and replying in most areas of our community.
     

    I was bad and I am sorry. How do I get my Full Access privileges back? 

    This is determined on a case by case basis. Again, you can post a request in the Confidential Talk forum and discuss this with the Staff.
     
     

    View full article
  7. Love
    JWTalk got a reaction from Christopher Baloloy in Links to more websites produced and maintained by other Jehovah’s Witnesses (Master List)   
    Links to more websites produced and maintained by other Jehovah’s Witnesses

    Please note: Before appearing below, these links were verified to be JW friendly websites. But sometimes things change. IF ANY OF THE LINKS BELOW PROVE TO BE SPIRITUALLY HAZARDOUS, PLEASE USE THE CONTACT FORM ABOVE TO REPORT IT. Thank you!



    Websites under the direction of the faithful slave class…

    JW.org – The ONLY official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide, in over 400 languages.


    Websites by other individual Jehovah’s Witnesses…

    If you would like a link to your site here, please register at JWTalk Forums, and then post a topic in the "Jehovah's Witnesses on the Web" forum. We would appreciate a link back to JWTalk as well.



    Jehovah’s Witnesses News from Around the World

    The News – News about Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as news not specifically about Jehovah’s people but may be of interest to them.



    Jehovah’s Witnesses Discussion Boards, Mailing Lists, and Forums

    MeekSpace - File distribution & social site centered around mobile devices.


    Gilead Graduates and other Missionaries

    That’s Guam Baby – Jason and Miki on assignment in Guam.

    Michael and Esther – Adventures in the Dominican Republic.

    Jehovah in Belize – Experiences from various missionaries working together.

    Steve and Avril’s Blog – Missionaries serving in Tanzania.

    Ken & Sue Ivy – Gilead graduates serving in Malaysia.

    Skyward Paths - Serving where the need is greater in Bologna, Italy.



    Personal Web Pages

    David Silver’s Web Site – Cards, music, videos, puzzles, games, convention notebooks, and more!

    Bible Songs – Biblesongs.co.uk by Brendan Vincent Owens.

    Better Days are Coming – Carolyn Butler’s collection of fun and interesting things.

    Sherran Charboneau – Coloring book printable pages and jokes.
     


    Blogs by Brothers and Sisters

    Good Companion Books - An investigative look at John 1:1, and links to other apologetic site.

    Ruminations - Robert Angle’s blog – Biblical exegesis, personal meditations, and miscellaneous stuff.

    Dave’s Secret Garden – Dave’s Gardening Blog with a bit of DIY thrown in for good measure.

    Sheep & Goats – Tom Sheepngoats blog. Personal meditations, observations, experiences, etc.
     
    OBY's Day



    Theocratic PC Software Programs for Personal or Congregational Use

    Kingdom Hall Schedules - designed specifically for Elders and Ministerial Servants responsible for scheduling Public Talks. Now handles just about all congregation assignments now.

    Multi Terr – Territory Management Software.

    NW Scheduler - Covers all scheduling and organizing tasks in the congregation: meeting assignments, public talks, duties, meetings for field service, public witnessing...

    Public Talk Software - designed to assist public talk coordinators.

    Service Record - For publishers to record field ministry activity and print time slips



    Businesses featuring ministry products…

    Madzay – All original products. In Ohio.

    MJC Products – Fields ministry products and supplies.

    Ministry Ideaz -Based in Canada

    Custom Bookbinding – For all our publications. In Wisconsin.

    Bennett Cards Ltd – Theocratic Products. In Britain.



    Businesses offering vacation services…

    Bethel Coach Tours – Worldwide Travel Destinations.

    JW Tours – For brother by brothers, in Britain.



    Businesses featuring Kingdom Hall Building and Sound Accessories

    Remote Mast – Remote controlled microphone stands.

    KHCONF – Telephone conferencing service for connecting to Kingdom Hall meetings.

    KZWeb – Connect to Kingdom Hall meetings by installing a dedicated server.



    Businesses providing other services for Witnesses

    6th Avenue Concepts - Freelance graphic designer with over 20 years experience.

    Jah-Jireh Charity Homes – Assisted living and health care for elderly and infirm brothers and sisters in England and Wales.

    New System School – Home schooling for Jehovah’s Witnesses.



     
  8. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from Kiku in Links to more websites produced and maintained by other Jehovah’s Witnesses (Master List)   
    Links to more websites produced and maintained by other Jehovah’s Witnesses

    Please note: Before appearing below, these links were verified to be JW friendly websites. But sometimes things change. IF ANY OF THE LINKS BELOW PROVE TO BE SPIRITUALLY HAZARDOUS, PLEASE USE THE CONTACT FORM ABOVE TO REPORT IT. Thank you!



    Websites under the direction of the faithful slave class…

    JW.org – The ONLY official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide, in over 400 languages.


    Websites by other individual Jehovah’s Witnesses…

    If you would like a link to your site here, please register at JWTalk Forums, and then post a topic in the "Jehovah's Witnesses on the Web" forum. We would appreciate a link back to JWTalk as well.



    Jehovah’s Witnesses News from Around the World

    The News – News about Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as news not specifically about Jehovah’s people but may be of interest to them.



    Jehovah’s Witnesses Discussion Boards, Mailing Lists, and Forums

    MeekSpace - File distribution & social site centered around mobile devices.


    Gilead Graduates and other Missionaries

    That’s Guam Baby – Jason and Miki on assignment in Guam.

    Michael and Esther – Adventures in the Dominican Republic.

    Jehovah in Belize – Experiences from various missionaries working together.

    Steve and Avril’s Blog – Missionaries serving in Tanzania.

    Ken & Sue Ivy – Gilead graduates serving in Malaysia.

    Skyward Paths - Serving where the need is greater in Bologna, Italy.



    Personal Web Pages

    David Silver’s Web Site – Cards, music, videos, puzzles, games, convention notebooks, and more!

    Bible Songs – Biblesongs.co.uk by Brendan Vincent Owens.

    Better Days are Coming – Carolyn Butler’s collection of fun and interesting things.

    Sherran Charboneau – Coloring book printable pages and jokes.
     


    Blogs by Brothers and Sisters

    Good Companion Books - An investigative look at John 1:1, and links to other apologetic site.

    Ruminations - Robert Angle’s blog – Biblical exegesis, personal meditations, and miscellaneous stuff.

    Dave’s Secret Garden – Dave’s Gardening Blog with a bit of DIY thrown in for good measure.

    Sheep & Goats – Tom Sheepngoats blog. Personal meditations, observations, experiences, etc.
     
    OBY's Day



    Theocratic PC Software Programs for Personal or Congregational Use

    Kingdom Hall Schedules - designed specifically for Elders and Ministerial Servants responsible for scheduling Public Talks. Now handles just about all congregation assignments now.

    Multi Terr – Territory Management Software.

    NW Scheduler - Covers all scheduling and organizing tasks in the congregation: meeting assignments, public talks, duties, meetings for field service, public witnessing...

    Public Talk Software - designed to assist public talk coordinators.

    Service Record - For publishers to record field ministry activity and print time slips



    Businesses featuring ministry products…

    Madzay – All original products. In Ohio.

    MJC Products – Fields ministry products and supplies.

    Ministry Ideaz -Based in Canada

    Custom Bookbinding – For all our publications. In Wisconsin.

    Bennett Cards Ltd – Theocratic Products. In Britain.



    Businesses offering vacation services…

    Bethel Coach Tours – Worldwide Travel Destinations.

    JW Tours – For brother by brothers, in Britain.



    Businesses featuring Kingdom Hall Building and Sound Accessories

    Remote Mast – Remote controlled microphone stands.

    KHCONF – Telephone conferencing service for connecting to Kingdom Hall meetings.

    KZWeb – Connect to Kingdom Hall meetings by installing a dedicated server.



    Businesses providing other services for Witnesses

    6th Avenue Concepts - Freelance graphic designer with over 20 years experience.

    Jah-Jireh Charity Homes – Assisted living and health care for elderly and infirm brothers and sisters in England and Wales.

    New System School – Home schooling for Jehovah’s Witnesses.



     
  9. Like
    JWTalk reacted to Doug in JWTalk.net <- 15 Years of Jehovah's Blessing :)   
    This thread feels like when we would sign the yearbook at the end of school  .   .      lol
     
    Going on 9 years for me.  Words fail me  .   .   I don't know how I would have managed without you brothers and sisters.  You are the BEST !
     
    a poem:    Welcome to the Forum
                     We make you feel at home
                     Don't be shy, make a splash
                     We love to watch you grow.
                     Disagree? It's alright
                     It makes us love you more.
                     Breaking news, you'll find it here
                     But not when GT will start.
                     You're in the family, we like to say
                     Enjoy us and we will enjoy you
                     And please, please stay!
     
    What have I learned?   Don't be afraid to start a new topic.  When commenting, try to be brief, relevant  and/or  funny  
     
    What goals do I have?   Learn how to attach a link.   (A video tutorial would be cool , jus sayin')
  10. Like
    JWTalk reacted to sis little in JWTalk.net <- 15 Years of Jehovah's Blessing :)   
    Yes this forum has really been a blessing for me as well, I have met the kindest brotherhood ever.  Thanks to the Moderators and all for such a wonderful platform where we can meet and chat and learn in peace.   You all have really helped me spiritually.  Agape 
     
  11. Like
    JWTalk reacted to momma in JWTalk.net <- 15 Years of Jehovah's Blessing :)   
    I share these thought ,too. I found meekspace when I needed help starting with files for my iPhone, brothers were so helpful, now I treasure all my dear brothers and sister on this wonderful site.  Love our brotherhood,
  12. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from richietj77 in Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained   
    Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained
     
    Our Community Membership Policy prohibits uploading copyrighted content to the community when you do not have a license or permission to do so. This is the member's responsibility, and senior members who have earned our trust are allowed to submit content without any oversight or approval process. Since we are on an "honor system", we generally assume that such uploaded attachment is either an original work, was taken from a site that offers the content for free, or the member has a license or permission to distribute it. However, there is one particular type of content that you might sometimes see here that obviously doesn't fit this description, and thus raises the following question:
     
    QUESTION: "We sometimes see quotations from the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, excerpts from the New World Translation, or artwork from the literature on topics/replies at JWTalk? Does the organization endorse this?"
     
    This is a very good question. We should start by saying that that the Branch doesn’t “endorse” any website or service that it does not manage or operate directly. To “endorse” means “to recommend, or to publicly express support or approval of." So the Branch is not going to endorse Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even JWTalk. However, we have responded to indirect email requests from the Branch to remove content, and we have removed features and made policy changes after having direct discussions regarding the community with a Branch-assigned Circuit Overseer. None of this constitutes an “endorsement”, but we are confident that when they are concerned about some facet of JWTalk or it’s community, they won’t hesitate to reach out to us directly.
     
    Quotations and Excerpts from Literature
     
    Some individuals have the mistaken view that you cannot quote publications or the Bible itself because it’s copyrighted. This springs from a misunderstanding of copyright laws and what they are intended to do for the copyright owner, and maybe never having heard of “fair use” laws either. We’re not going to get deep into these here, as plenty of information is available for you to research on the internet. Plus, laws may vary from country to country. So here is the simplified version:
     
    Copyright laws say it is not okay to completely copy someone’s work. These laws make it illegal for someone completely replicate someone else’s work and redistribute it. This means you cannot reproduce an entire book, chapter, or article and share it, whether you do so by means of a copy machine, by downloading and publicly redistributing an electronic version, by typing it out on a discussion board, or even by copying it all by hand. This likewise applies to copying music and video (bootleg), or even artwork (forgery).
     
    Fair Use laws says you can quote or take a small excerpt from a person’s work and comment on it. A quotation can be anywhere from a single sentence to a couple short paragraphs. Fair Use also allows someone to take a small portion of some other work and create something of your own based on that work. For example, a new song may momentarily use a sample from an older song or some movie dialogue. Or, while it is illegal to upload and redistribute someone else’s video, you can create an original video of yourself giving commentary or critique of the original video. Movie reviewers do this all the time.
     
    What about uploaded images?
     
    Images are copyrighted as well. A graphics designer could be hired to create unique logos, icons, charts and graphs just like an artist or photographer could be hired to create beautiful pictures. It would be wrong to copy these materials and redistribute them elsewhere. This is why images are included among the other products mentioned in the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, which says “You may not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites.”
     
    Because of this, we have a strict policy about not uploading any electronic publications, multimedia, or images from JW.org, JW Library, or it’s associated publications as downloadable file in our Files Library, or as an attachment to any Post or Reply within the community. We are serious about enforcing this, and if a member Reports a post to us containing such an uploaded attachment, we delete the attachment immediately and send a message to the member reminding him not to do that again.
     
    However, we will occasionally allow screencaps or images that have been written on with a digital pen or marked up with arrows or other additional markings. A member might need such visual representation to explain something he doesn’t understand about an image, chart, or graph. Likewise, another member may find it necessary to make notes over an image or graph to help make his reply clear. Uploading screencaps or images that have been marked up in this manner falls under Fair Use and so there is no need for other members to report these to us.
     
    What about embedded images?
     
    Sometimes the image you see displayed is NOT actually copied and uploaded to JWTalk’s server, but has rather been embedded. Embedding is a common practice on websites, blogs, and forums. Most community software, including the software we use, has a built-in function to automatically display media when a member pastes the link into the post. For example, a user may paste a YouTube link, and it will automatically display the video’s title screen and can be played right from the post. Likewise, a user may paste an image link, and the image will automatically be embedded into the post.
     
    Embedding images means that no copy is made on the post providing the link (the link is just HTML code pointing to the image or other material), therefore it does not give rise to liability for copyright infringement, unless your site deliberately creates the impression that you are somehow affiliated with or endorsed by the site to which you are linking. We, on the other hand, make every effort to make it clear that JWTalk.net is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor are we endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses.
     
    Our policy regarding the automatic embedding of images is that a member may embed ONE image only, and may only do so if embedding that image is absolutely necessary to the coherency of his post or reply. You can tell if an image has been automatically embedded or illegally uploaded to our server by either mousing over it on a PC, or by long-pressing on it with your mobile device. If a file location says it’s at “jwtalk.net/uploads” or “jwtalk.net/files” and it is infringing, then you should report it. If the file location says it’s at “jw.org” or “akamaihd.net/assets” (JW.org uses Akamai services for content distribution) then it’s not an illegal copy and you don’t have to report it to us.
     
    Requesting Removal of your content
     
    While the above explanation uses the example of copyrighted content from JW.org, the same principles apply to all copyrighted materials. If you are the copyright holder of content that has been submitted by a member without permission, we're pretty easygoing about addressing disputes. Please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy for information about how to prepare and submit a takedown notice.
     
     
     
     

    View full article
  13. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from Brother_Bliss in Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained   
    Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained
     
    Our Community Membership Policy prohibits uploading copyrighted content to the community when you do not have a license or permission to do so. This is the member's responsibility, and senior members who have earned our trust are allowed to submit content without any oversight or approval process. Since we are on an "honor system", we generally assume that such uploaded attachment is either an original work, was taken from a site that offers the content for free, or the member has a license or permission to distribute it. However, there is one particular type of content that you might sometimes see here that obviously doesn't fit this description, and thus raises the following question:
     
    QUESTION: "We sometimes see quotations from the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, excerpts from the New World Translation, or artwork from the literature on topics/replies at JWTalk? Does the organization endorse this?"
     
    This is a very good question. We should start by saying that that the Branch doesn’t “endorse” any website or service that it does not manage or operate directly. To “endorse” means “to recommend, or to publicly express support or approval of." So the Branch is not going to endorse Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even JWTalk. However, we have responded to indirect email requests from the Branch to remove content, and we have removed features and made policy changes after having direct discussions regarding the community with a Branch-assigned Circuit Overseer. None of this constitutes an “endorsement”, but we are confident that when they are concerned about some facet of JWTalk or it’s community, they won’t hesitate to reach out to us directly.
     
    Quotations and Excerpts from Literature
     
    Some individuals have the mistaken view that you cannot quote publications or the Bible itself because it’s copyrighted. This springs from a misunderstanding of copyright laws and what they are intended to do for the copyright owner, and maybe never having heard of “fair use” laws either. We’re not going to get deep into these here, as plenty of information is available for you to research on the internet. Plus, laws may vary from country to country. So here is the simplified version:
     
    Copyright laws say it is not okay to completely copy someone’s work. These laws make it illegal for someone completely replicate someone else’s work and redistribute it. This means you cannot reproduce an entire book, chapter, or article and share it, whether you do so by means of a copy machine, by downloading and publicly redistributing an electronic version, by typing it out on a discussion board, or even by copying it all by hand. This likewise applies to copying music and video (bootleg), or even artwork (forgery).
     
    Fair Use laws says you can quote or take a small excerpt from a person’s work and comment on it. A quotation can be anywhere from a single sentence to a couple short paragraphs. Fair Use also allows someone to take a small portion of some other work and create something of your own based on that work. For example, a new song may momentarily use a sample from an older song or some movie dialogue. Or, while it is illegal to upload and redistribute someone else’s video, you can create an original video of yourself giving commentary or critique of the original video. Movie reviewers do this all the time.
     
    What about uploaded images?
     
    Images are copyrighted as well. A graphics designer could be hired to create unique logos, icons, charts and graphs just like an artist or photographer could be hired to create beautiful pictures. It would be wrong to copy these materials and redistribute them elsewhere. This is why images are included among the other products mentioned in the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, which says “You may not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites.”
     
    Because of this, we have a strict policy about not uploading any electronic publications, multimedia, or images from JW.org, JW Library, or it’s associated publications as downloadable file in our Files Library, or as an attachment to any Post or Reply within the community. We are serious about enforcing this, and if a member Reports a post to us containing such an uploaded attachment, we delete the attachment immediately and send a message to the member reminding him not to do that again.
     
    However, we will occasionally allow screencaps or images that have been written on with a digital pen or marked up with arrows or other additional markings. A member might need such visual representation to explain something he doesn’t understand about an image, chart, or graph. Likewise, another member may find it necessary to make notes over an image or graph to help make his reply clear. Uploading screencaps or images that have been marked up in this manner falls under Fair Use and so there is no need for other members to report these to us.
     
    What about embedded images?
     
    Sometimes the image you see displayed is NOT actually copied and uploaded to JWTalk’s server, but has rather been embedded. Embedding is a common practice on websites, blogs, and forums. Most community software, including the software we use, has a built-in function to automatically display media when a member pastes the link into the post. For example, a user may paste a YouTube link, and it will automatically display the video’s title screen and can be played right from the post. Likewise, a user may paste an image link, and the image will automatically be embedded into the post.
     
    Embedding images means that no copy is made on the post providing the link (the link is just HTML code pointing to the image or other material), therefore it does not give rise to liability for copyright infringement, unless your site deliberately creates the impression that you are somehow affiliated with or endorsed by the site to which you are linking. We, on the other hand, make every effort to make it clear that JWTalk.net is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor are we endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses.
     
    Our policy regarding the automatic embedding of images is that a member may embed ONE image only, and may only do so if embedding that image is absolutely necessary to the coherency of his post or reply. You can tell if an image has been automatically embedded or illegally uploaded to our server by either mousing over it on a PC, or by long-pressing on it with your mobile device. If a file location says it’s at “jwtalk.net/uploads” or “jwtalk.net/files” and it is infringing, then you should report it. If the file location says it’s at “jw.org” or “akamaihd.net/assets” (JW.org uses Akamai services for content distribution) then it’s not an illegal copy and you don’t have to report it to us.
     
    Requesting Removal of your content
     
    While the above explanation uses the example of copyrighted content from JW.org, the same principles apply to all copyrighted materials. If you are the copyright holder of content that has been submitted by a member without permission, we're pretty easygoing about addressing disputes. Please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy for information about how to prepare and submit a takedown notice.
     
     
     
     

    View full article
  14. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from Strength of the Young in Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained   
    Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained
     
    Our Community Membership Policy prohibits uploading copyrighted content to the community when you do not have a license or permission to do so. This is the member's responsibility, and senior members who have earned our trust are allowed to submit content without any oversight or approval process. Since we are on an "honor system", we generally assume that such uploaded attachment is either an original work, was taken from a site that offers the content for free, or the member has a license or permission to distribute it. However, there is one particular type of content that you might sometimes see here that obviously doesn't fit this description, and thus raises the following question:
     
    QUESTION: "We sometimes see quotations from the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, excerpts from the New World Translation, or artwork from the literature on topics/replies at JWTalk? Does the organization endorse this?"
     
    This is a very good question. We should start by saying that that the Branch doesn’t “endorse” any website or service that it does not manage or operate directly. To “endorse” means “to recommend, or to publicly express support or approval of." So the Branch is not going to endorse Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even JWTalk. However, we have responded to indirect email requests from the Branch to remove content, and we have removed features and made policy changes after having direct discussions regarding the community with a Branch-assigned Circuit Overseer. None of this constitutes an “endorsement”, but we are confident that when they are concerned about some facet of JWTalk or it’s community, they won’t hesitate to reach out to us directly.
     
    Quotations and Excerpts from Literature
     
    Some individuals have the mistaken view that you cannot quote publications or the Bible itself because it’s copyrighted. This springs from a misunderstanding of copyright laws and what they are intended to do for the copyright owner, and maybe never having heard of “fair use” laws either. We’re not going to get deep into these here, as plenty of information is available for you to research on the internet. Plus, laws may vary from country to country. So here is the simplified version:
     
    Copyright laws say it is not okay to completely copy someone’s work. These laws make it illegal for someone completely replicate someone else’s work and redistribute it. This means you cannot reproduce an entire book, chapter, or article and share it, whether you do so by means of a copy machine, by downloading and publicly redistributing an electronic version, by typing it out on a discussion board, or even by copying it all by hand. This likewise applies to copying music and video (bootleg), or even artwork (forgery).
     
    Fair Use laws says you can quote or take a small excerpt from a person’s work and comment on it. A quotation can be anywhere from a single sentence to a couple short paragraphs. Fair Use also allows someone to take a small portion of some other work and create something of your own based on that work. For example, a new song may momentarily use a sample from an older song or some movie dialogue. Or, while it is illegal to upload and redistribute someone else’s video, you can create an original video of yourself giving commentary or critique of the original video. Movie reviewers do this all the time.
     
    What about uploaded images?
     
    Images are copyrighted as well. A graphics designer could be hired to create unique logos, icons, charts and graphs just like an artist or photographer could be hired to create beautiful pictures. It would be wrong to copy these materials and redistribute them elsewhere. This is why images are included among the other products mentioned in the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, which says “You may not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites.”
     
    Because of this, we have a strict policy about not uploading any electronic publications, multimedia, or images from JW.org, JW Library, or it’s associated publications as downloadable file in our Files Library, or as an attachment to any Post or Reply within the community. We are serious about enforcing this, and if a member Reports a post to us containing such an uploaded attachment, we delete the attachment immediately and send a message to the member reminding him not to do that again.
     
    However, we will occasionally allow screencaps or images that have been written on with a digital pen or marked up with arrows or other additional markings. A member might need such visual representation to explain something he doesn’t understand about an image, chart, or graph. Likewise, another member may find it necessary to make notes over an image or graph to help make his reply clear. Uploading screencaps or images that have been marked up in this manner falls under Fair Use and so there is no need for other members to report these to us.
     
    What about embedded images?
     
    Sometimes the image you see displayed is NOT actually copied and uploaded to JWTalk’s server, but has rather been embedded. Embedding is a common practice on websites, blogs, and forums. Most community software, including the software we use, has a built-in function to automatically display media when a member pastes the link into the post. For example, a user may paste a YouTube link, and it will automatically display the video’s title screen and can be played right from the post. Likewise, a user may paste an image link, and the image will automatically be embedded into the post.
     
    Embedding images means that no copy is made on the post providing the link (the link is just HTML code pointing to the image or other material), therefore it does not give rise to liability for copyright infringement, unless your site deliberately creates the impression that you are somehow affiliated with or endorsed by the site to which you are linking. We, on the other hand, make every effort to make it clear that JWTalk.net is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor are we endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses.
     
    Our policy regarding the automatic embedding of images is that a member may embed ONE image only, and may only do so if embedding that image is absolutely necessary to the coherency of his post or reply. You can tell if an image has been automatically embedded or illegally uploaded to our server by either mousing over it on a PC, or by long-pressing on it with your mobile device. If a file location says it’s at “jwtalk.net/uploads” or “jwtalk.net/files” and it is infringing, then you should report it. If the file location says it’s at “jw.org” or “akamaihd.net/assets” (JW.org uses Akamai services for content distribution) then it’s not an illegal copy and you don’t have to report it to us.
     
    Requesting Removal of your content
     
    While the above explanation uses the example of copyrighted content from JW.org, the same principles apply to all copyrighted materials. If you are the copyright holder of content that has been submitted by a member without permission, we're pretty easygoing about addressing disputes. Please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy for information about how to prepare and submit a takedown notice.
     
     
     
     

    View full article
  15. Thanks
    JWTalk got a reaction from carlos in Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained   
    Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained
     
    Our Community Membership Policy prohibits uploading copyrighted content to the community when you do not have a license or permission to do so. This is the member's responsibility, and senior members who have earned our trust are allowed to submit content without any oversight or approval process. Since we are on an "honor system", we generally assume that such uploaded attachment is either an original work, was taken from a site that offers the content for free, or the member has a license or permission to distribute it. However, there is one particular type of content that you might sometimes see here that obviously doesn't fit this description, and thus raises the following question:
     
    QUESTION: "We sometimes see quotations from the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, excerpts from the New World Translation, or artwork from the literature on topics/replies at JWTalk? Does the organization endorse this?"
     
    This is a very good question. We should start by saying that that the Branch doesn’t “endorse” any website or service that it does not manage or operate directly. To “endorse” means “to recommend, or to publicly express support or approval of." So the Branch is not going to endorse Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even JWTalk. However, we have responded to indirect email requests from the Branch to remove content, and we have removed features and made policy changes after having direct discussions regarding the community with a Branch-assigned Circuit Overseer. None of this constitutes an “endorsement”, but we are confident that when they are concerned about some facet of JWTalk or it’s community, they won’t hesitate to reach out to us directly.
     
    Quotations and Excerpts from Literature
     
    Some individuals have the mistaken view that you cannot quote publications or the Bible itself because it’s copyrighted. This springs from a misunderstanding of copyright laws and what they are intended to do for the copyright owner, and maybe never having heard of “fair use” laws either. We’re not going to get deep into these here, as plenty of information is available for you to research on the internet. Plus, laws may vary from country to country. So here is the simplified version:
     
    Copyright laws say it is not okay to completely copy someone’s work. These laws make it illegal for someone completely replicate someone else’s work and redistribute it. This means you cannot reproduce an entire book, chapter, or article and share it, whether you do so by means of a copy machine, by downloading and publicly redistributing an electronic version, by typing it out on a discussion board, or even by copying it all by hand. This likewise applies to copying music and video (bootleg), or even artwork (forgery).
     
    Fair Use laws says you can quote or take a small excerpt from a person’s work and comment on it. A quotation can be anywhere from a single sentence to a couple short paragraphs. Fair Use also allows someone to take a small portion of some other work and create something of your own based on that work. For example, a new song may momentarily use a sample from an older song or some movie dialogue. Or, while it is illegal to upload and redistribute someone else’s video, you can create an original video of yourself giving commentary or critique of the original video. Movie reviewers do this all the time.
     
    What about uploaded images?
     
    Images are copyrighted as well. A graphics designer could be hired to create unique logos, icons, charts and graphs just like an artist or photographer could be hired to create beautiful pictures. It would be wrong to copy these materials and redistribute them elsewhere. This is why images are included among the other products mentioned in the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, which says “You may not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites.”
     
    Because of this, we have a strict policy about not uploading any electronic publications, multimedia, or images from JW.org, JW Library, or it’s associated publications as downloadable file in our Files Library, or as an attachment to any Post or Reply within the community. We are serious about enforcing this, and if a member Reports a post to us containing such an uploaded attachment, we delete the attachment immediately and send a message to the member reminding him not to do that again.
     
    However, we will occasionally allow screencaps or images that have been written on with a digital pen or marked up with arrows or other additional markings. A member might need such visual representation to explain something he doesn’t understand about an image, chart, or graph. Likewise, another member may find it necessary to make notes over an image or graph to help make his reply clear. Uploading screencaps or images that have been marked up in this manner falls under Fair Use and so there is no need for other members to report these to us.
     
    What about embedded images?
     
    Sometimes the image you see displayed is NOT actually copied and uploaded to JWTalk’s server, but has rather been embedded. Embedding is a common practice on websites, blogs, and forums. Most community software, including the software we use, has a built-in function to automatically display media when a member pastes the link into the post. For example, a user may paste a YouTube link, and it will automatically display the video’s title screen and can be played right from the post. Likewise, a user may paste an image link, and the image will automatically be embedded into the post.
     
    Embedding images means that no copy is made on the post providing the link (the link is just HTML code pointing to the image or other material), therefore it does not give rise to liability for copyright infringement, unless your site deliberately creates the impression that you are somehow affiliated with or endorsed by the site to which you are linking. We, on the other hand, make every effort to make it clear that JWTalk.net is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor are we endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses.
     
    Our policy regarding the automatic embedding of images is that a member may embed ONE image only, and may only do so if embedding that image is absolutely necessary to the coherency of his post or reply. You can tell if an image has been automatically embedded or illegally uploaded to our server by either mousing over it on a PC, or by long-pressing on it with your mobile device. If a file location says it’s at “jwtalk.net/uploads” or “jwtalk.net/files” and it is infringing, then you should report it. If the file location says it’s at “jw.org” or “akamaihd.net/assets” (JW.org uses Akamai services for content distribution) then it’s not an illegal copy and you don’t have to report it to us.
     
    Requesting Removal of your content
     
    While the above explanation uses the example of copyrighted content from JW.org, the same principles apply to all copyrighted materials. If you are the copyright holder of content that has been submitted by a member without permission, we're pretty easygoing about addressing disputes. Please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy for information about how to prepare and submit a takedown notice.
     
     
     
     

    View full article
  16. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from ➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone in Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained   
    Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained
     
    Our Community Membership Policy prohibits uploading copyrighted content to the community when you do not have a license or permission to do so. This is the member's responsibility, and senior members who have earned our trust are allowed to submit content without any oversight or approval process. Since we are on an "honor system", we generally assume that such uploaded attachment is either an original work, was taken from a site that offers the content for free, or the member has a license or permission to distribute it. However, there is one particular type of content that you might sometimes see here that obviously doesn't fit this description, and thus raises the following question:
     
    QUESTION: "We sometimes see quotations from the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, excerpts from the New World Translation, or artwork from the literature on topics/replies at JWTalk? Does the organization endorse this?"
     
    This is a very good question. We should start by saying that that the Branch doesn’t “endorse” any website or service that it does not manage or operate directly. To “endorse” means “to recommend, or to publicly express support or approval of." So the Branch is not going to endorse Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even JWTalk. However, we have responded to indirect email requests from the Branch to remove content, and we have removed features and made policy changes after having direct discussions regarding the community with a Branch-assigned Circuit Overseer. None of this constitutes an “endorsement”, but we are confident that when they are concerned about some facet of JWTalk or it’s community, they won’t hesitate to reach out to us directly.
     
    Quotations and Excerpts from Literature
     
    Some individuals have the mistaken view that you cannot quote publications or the Bible itself because it’s copyrighted. This springs from a misunderstanding of copyright laws and what they are intended to do for the copyright owner, and maybe never having heard of “fair use” laws either. We’re not going to get deep into these here, as plenty of information is available for you to research on the internet. Plus, laws may vary from country to country. So here is the simplified version:
     
    Copyright laws say it is not okay to completely copy someone’s work. These laws make it illegal for someone completely replicate someone else’s work and redistribute it. This means you cannot reproduce an entire book, chapter, or article and share it, whether you do so by means of a copy machine, by downloading and publicly redistributing an electronic version, by typing it out on a discussion board, or even by copying it all by hand. This likewise applies to copying music and video (bootleg), or even artwork (forgery).
     
    Fair Use laws says you can quote or take a small excerpt from a person’s work and comment on it. A quotation can be anywhere from a single sentence to a couple short paragraphs. Fair Use also allows someone to take a small portion of some other work and create something of your own based on that work. For example, a new song may momentarily use a sample from an older song or some movie dialogue. Or, while it is illegal to upload and redistribute someone else’s video, you can create an original video of yourself giving commentary or critique of the original video. Movie reviewers do this all the time.
     
    What about uploaded images?
     
    Images are copyrighted as well. A graphics designer could be hired to create unique logos, icons, charts and graphs just like an artist or photographer could be hired to create beautiful pictures. It would be wrong to copy these materials and redistribute them elsewhere. This is why images are included among the other products mentioned in the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, which says “You may not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites.”
     
    Because of this, we have a strict policy about not uploading any electronic publications, multimedia, or images from JW.org, JW Library, or it’s associated publications as downloadable file in our Files Library, or as an attachment to any Post or Reply within the community. We are serious about enforcing this, and if a member Reports a post to us containing such an uploaded attachment, we delete the attachment immediately and send a message to the member reminding him not to do that again.
     
    However, we will occasionally allow screencaps or images that have been written on with a digital pen or marked up with arrows or other additional markings. A member might need such visual representation to explain something he doesn’t understand about an image, chart, or graph. Likewise, another member may find it necessary to make notes over an image or graph to help make his reply clear. Uploading screencaps or images that have been marked up in this manner falls under Fair Use and so there is no need for other members to report these to us.
     
    What about embedded images?
     
    Sometimes the image you see displayed is NOT actually copied and uploaded to JWTalk’s server, but has rather been embedded. Embedding is a common practice on websites, blogs, and forums. Most community software, including the software we use, has a built-in function to automatically display media when a member pastes the link into the post. For example, a user may paste a YouTube link, and it will automatically display the video’s title screen and can be played right from the post. Likewise, a user may paste an image link, and the image will automatically be embedded into the post.
     
    Embedding images means that no copy is made on the post providing the link (the link is just HTML code pointing to the image or other material), therefore it does not give rise to liability for copyright infringement, unless your site deliberately creates the impression that you are somehow affiliated with or endorsed by the site to which you are linking. We, on the other hand, make every effort to make it clear that JWTalk.net is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor are we endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses.
     
    Our policy regarding the automatic embedding of images is that a member may embed ONE image only, and may only do so if embedding that image is absolutely necessary to the coherency of his post or reply. You can tell if an image has been automatically embedded or illegally uploaded to our server by either mousing over it on a PC, or by long-pressing on it with your mobile device. If a file location says it’s at “jwtalk.net/uploads” or “jwtalk.net/files” and it is infringing, then you should report it. If the file location says it’s at “jw.org” or “akamaihd.net/assets” (JW.org uses Akamai services for content distribution) then it’s not an illegal copy and you don’t have to report it to us.
     
    Requesting Removal of your content
     
    While the above explanation uses the example of copyrighted content from JW.org, the same principles apply to all copyrighted materials. If you are the copyright holder of content that has been submitted by a member without permission, we're pretty easygoing about addressing disputes. Please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy for information about how to prepare and submit a takedown notice.
     
     
     
     

    View full article
  17. Thanks
    JWTalk got a reaction from New World Explorer in Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained   
    Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained
     
    Our Community Membership Policy prohibits uploading copyrighted content to the community when you do not have a license or permission to do so. This is the member's responsibility, and senior members who have earned our trust are allowed to submit content without any oversight or approval process. Since we are on an "honor system", we generally assume that such uploaded attachment is either an original work, was taken from a site that offers the content for free, or the member has a license or permission to distribute it. However, there is one particular type of content that you might sometimes see here that obviously doesn't fit this description, and thus raises the following question:
     
    QUESTION: "We sometimes see quotations from the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, excerpts from the New World Translation, or artwork from the literature on topics/replies at JWTalk? Does the organization endorse this?"
     
    This is a very good question. We should start by saying that that the Branch doesn’t “endorse” any website or service that it does not manage or operate directly. To “endorse” means “to recommend, or to publicly express support or approval of." So the Branch is not going to endorse Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even JWTalk. However, we have responded to indirect email requests from the Branch to remove content, and we have removed features and made policy changes after having direct discussions regarding the community with a Branch-assigned Circuit Overseer. None of this constitutes an “endorsement”, but we are confident that when they are concerned about some facet of JWTalk or it’s community, they won’t hesitate to reach out to us directly.
     
    Quotations and Excerpts from Literature
     
    Some individuals have the mistaken view that you cannot quote publications or the Bible itself because it’s copyrighted. This springs from a misunderstanding of copyright laws and what they are intended to do for the copyright owner, and maybe never having heard of “fair use” laws either. We’re not going to get deep into these here, as plenty of information is available for you to research on the internet. Plus, laws may vary from country to country. So here is the simplified version:
     
    Copyright laws say it is not okay to completely copy someone’s work. These laws make it illegal for someone completely replicate someone else’s work and redistribute it. This means you cannot reproduce an entire book, chapter, or article and share it, whether you do so by means of a copy machine, by downloading and publicly redistributing an electronic version, by typing it out on a discussion board, or even by copying it all by hand. This likewise applies to copying music and video (bootleg), or even artwork (forgery).
     
    Fair Use laws says you can quote or take a small excerpt from a person’s work and comment on it. A quotation can be anywhere from a single sentence to a couple short paragraphs. Fair Use also allows someone to take a small portion of some other work and create something of your own based on that work. For example, a new song may momentarily use a sample from an older song or some movie dialogue. Or, while it is illegal to upload and redistribute someone else’s video, you can create an original video of yourself giving commentary or critique of the original video. Movie reviewers do this all the time.
     
    What about uploaded images?
     
    Images are copyrighted as well. A graphics designer could be hired to create unique logos, icons, charts and graphs just like an artist or photographer could be hired to create beautiful pictures. It would be wrong to copy these materials and redistribute them elsewhere. This is why images are included among the other products mentioned in the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, which says “You may not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites.”
     
    Because of this, we have a strict policy about not uploading any electronic publications, multimedia, or images from JW.org, JW Library, or it’s associated publications as downloadable file in our Files Library, or as an attachment to any Post or Reply within the community. We are serious about enforcing this, and if a member Reports a post to us containing such an uploaded attachment, we delete the attachment immediately and send a message to the member reminding him not to do that again.
     
    However, we will occasionally allow screencaps or images that have been written on with a digital pen or marked up with arrows or other additional markings. A member might need such visual representation to explain something he doesn’t understand about an image, chart, or graph. Likewise, another member may find it necessary to make notes over an image or graph to help make his reply clear. Uploading screencaps or images that have been marked up in this manner falls under Fair Use and so there is no need for other members to report these to us.
     
    What about embedded images?
     
    Sometimes the image you see displayed is NOT actually copied and uploaded to JWTalk’s server, but has rather been embedded. Embedding is a common practice on websites, blogs, and forums. Most community software, including the software we use, has a built-in function to automatically display media when a member pastes the link into the post. For example, a user may paste a YouTube link, and it will automatically display the video’s title screen and can be played right from the post. Likewise, a user may paste an image link, and the image will automatically be embedded into the post.
     
    Embedding images means that no copy is made on the post providing the link (the link is just HTML code pointing to the image or other material), therefore it does not give rise to liability for copyright infringement, unless your site deliberately creates the impression that you are somehow affiliated with or endorsed by the site to which you are linking. We, on the other hand, make every effort to make it clear that JWTalk.net is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor are we endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses.
     
    Our policy regarding the automatic embedding of images is that a member may embed ONE image only, and may only do so if embedding that image is absolutely necessary to the coherency of his post or reply. You can tell if an image has been automatically embedded or illegally uploaded to our server by either mousing over it on a PC, or by long-pressing on it with your mobile device. If a file location says it’s at “jwtalk.net/uploads” or “jwtalk.net/files” and it is infringing, then you should report it. If the file location says it’s at “jw.org” or “akamaihd.net/assets” (JW.org uses Akamai services for content distribution) then it’s not an illegal copy and you don’t have to report it to us.
     
    Requesting Removal of your content
     
    While the above explanation uses the example of copyrighted content from JW.org, the same principles apply to all copyrighted materials. If you are the copyright holder of content that has been submitted by a member without permission, we're pretty easygoing about addressing disputes. Please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy for information about how to prepare and submit a takedown notice.
     
     
     
     

    View full article
  18. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from Beggar for the Spirit in Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained   
    Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained
     
    Our Community Membership Policy prohibits uploading copyrighted content to the community when you do not have a license or permission to do so. This is the member's responsibility, and senior members who have earned our trust are allowed to submit content without any oversight or approval process. Since we are on an "honor system", we generally assume that such uploaded attachment is either an original work, was taken from a site that offers the content for free, or the member has a license or permission to distribute it. However, there is one particular type of content that you might sometimes see here that obviously doesn't fit this description, and thus raises the following question:
     
    QUESTION: "We sometimes see quotations from the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, excerpts from the New World Translation, or artwork from the literature on topics/replies at JWTalk? Does the organization endorse this?"
     
    This is a very good question. We should start by saying that that the Branch doesn’t “endorse” any website or service that it does not manage or operate directly. To “endorse” means “to recommend, or to publicly express support or approval of." So the Branch is not going to endorse Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even JWTalk. However, we have responded to indirect email requests from the Branch to remove content, and we have removed features and made policy changes after having direct discussions regarding the community with a Branch-assigned Circuit Overseer. None of this constitutes an “endorsement”, but we are confident that when they are concerned about some facet of JWTalk or it’s community, they won’t hesitate to reach out to us directly.
     
    Quotations and Excerpts from Literature
     
    Some individuals have the mistaken view that you cannot quote publications or the Bible itself because it’s copyrighted. This springs from a misunderstanding of copyright laws and what they are intended to do for the copyright owner, and maybe never having heard of “fair use” laws either. We’re not going to get deep into these here, as plenty of information is available for you to research on the internet. Plus, laws may vary from country to country. So here is the simplified version:
     
    Copyright laws say it is not okay to completely copy someone’s work. These laws make it illegal for someone completely replicate someone else’s work and redistribute it. This means you cannot reproduce an entire book, chapter, or article and share it, whether you do so by means of a copy machine, by downloading and publicly redistributing an electronic version, by typing it out on a discussion board, or even by copying it all by hand. This likewise applies to copying music and video (bootleg), or even artwork (forgery).
     
    Fair Use laws says you can quote or take a small excerpt from a person’s work and comment on it. A quotation can be anywhere from a single sentence to a couple short paragraphs. Fair Use also allows someone to take a small portion of some other work and create something of your own based on that work. For example, a new song may momentarily use a sample from an older song or some movie dialogue. Or, while it is illegal to upload and redistribute someone else’s video, you can create an original video of yourself giving commentary or critique of the original video. Movie reviewers do this all the time.
     
    What about uploaded images?
     
    Images are copyrighted as well. A graphics designer could be hired to create unique logos, icons, charts and graphs just like an artist or photographer could be hired to create beautiful pictures. It would be wrong to copy these materials and redistribute them elsewhere. This is why images are included among the other products mentioned in the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, which says “You may not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites.”
     
    Because of this, we have a strict policy about not uploading any electronic publications, multimedia, or images from JW.org, JW Library, or it’s associated publications as downloadable file in our Files Library, or as an attachment to any Post or Reply within the community. We are serious about enforcing this, and if a member Reports a post to us containing such an uploaded attachment, we delete the attachment immediately and send a message to the member reminding him not to do that again.
     
    However, we will occasionally allow screencaps or images that have been written on with a digital pen or marked up with arrows or other additional markings. A member might need such visual representation to explain something he doesn’t understand about an image, chart, or graph. Likewise, another member may find it necessary to make notes over an image or graph to help make his reply clear. Uploading screencaps or images that have been marked up in this manner falls under Fair Use and so there is no need for other members to report these to us.
     
    What about embedded images?
     
    Sometimes the image you see displayed is NOT actually copied and uploaded to JWTalk’s server, but has rather been embedded. Embedding is a common practice on websites, blogs, and forums. Most community software, including the software we use, has a built-in function to automatically display media when a member pastes the link into the post. For example, a user may paste a YouTube link, and it will automatically display the video’s title screen and can be played right from the post. Likewise, a user may paste an image link, and the image will automatically be embedded into the post.
     
    Embedding images means that no copy is made on the post providing the link (the link is just HTML code pointing to the image or other material), therefore it does not give rise to liability for copyright infringement, unless your site deliberately creates the impression that you are somehow affiliated with or endorsed by the site to which you are linking. We, on the other hand, make every effort to make it clear that JWTalk.net is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor are we endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses.
     
    Our policy regarding the automatic embedding of images is that a member may embed ONE image only, and may only do so if embedding that image is absolutely necessary to the coherency of his post or reply. You can tell if an image has been automatically embedded or illegally uploaded to our server by either mousing over it on a PC, or by long-pressing on it with your mobile device. If a file location says it’s at “jwtalk.net/uploads” or “jwtalk.net/files” and it is infringing, then you should report it. If the file location says it’s at “jw.org” or “akamaihd.net/assets” (JW.org uses Akamai services for content distribution) then it’s not an illegal copy and you don’t have to report it to us.
     
    Requesting Removal of your content
     
    While the above explanation uses the example of copyrighted content from JW.org, the same principles apply to all copyrighted materials. If you are the copyright holder of content that has been submitted by a member without permission, we're pretty easygoing about addressing disputes. Please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy for information about how to prepare and submit a takedown notice.
     
     
     
     

    View full article
  19. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from jwhess in Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained   
    Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained
     
    Our Community Membership Policy prohibits uploading copyrighted content to the community when you do not have a license or permission to do so. This is the member's responsibility, and senior members who have earned our trust are allowed to submit content without any oversight or approval process. Since we are on an "honor system", we generally assume that such uploaded attachment is either an original work, was taken from a site that offers the content for free, or the member has a license or permission to distribute it. However, there is one particular type of content that you might sometimes see here that obviously doesn't fit this description, and thus raises the following question:
     
    QUESTION: "We sometimes see quotations from the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, excerpts from the New World Translation, or artwork from the literature on topics/replies at JWTalk? Does the organization endorse this?"
     
    This is a very good question. We should start by saying that that the Branch doesn’t “endorse” any website or service that it does not manage or operate directly. To “endorse” means “to recommend, or to publicly express support or approval of." So the Branch is not going to endorse Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even JWTalk. However, we have responded to indirect email requests from the Branch to remove content, and we have removed features and made policy changes after having direct discussions regarding the community with a Branch-assigned Circuit Overseer. None of this constitutes an “endorsement”, but we are confident that when they are concerned about some facet of JWTalk or it’s community, they won’t hesitate to reach out to us directly.
     
    Quotations and Excerpts from Literature
     
    Some individuals have the mistaken view that you cannot quote publications or the Bible itself because it’s copyrighted. This springs from a misunderstanding of copyright laws and what they are intended to do for the copyright owner, and maybe never having heard of “fair use” laws either. We’re not going to get deep into these here, as plenty of information is available for you to research on the internet. Plus, laws may vary from country to country. So here is the simplified version:
     
    Copyright laws say it is not okay to completely copy someone’s work. These laws make it illegal for someone completely replicate someone else’s work and redistribute it. This means you cannot reproduce an entire book, chapter, or article and share it, whether you do so by means of a copy machine, by downloading and publicly redistributing an electronic version, by typing it out on a discussion board, or even by copying it all by hand. This likewise applies to copying music and video (bootleg), or even artwork (forgery).
     
    Fair Use laws says you can quote or take a small excerpt from a person’s work and comment on it. A quotation can be anywhere from a single sentence to a couple short paragraphs. Fair Use also allows someone to take a small portion of some other work and create something of your own based on that work. For example, a new song may momentarily use a sample from an older song or some movie dialogue. Or, while it is illegal to upload and redistribute someone else’s video, you can create an original video of yourself giving commentary or critique of the original video. Movie reviewers do this all the time.
     
    What about uploaded images?
     
    Images are copyrighted as well. A graphics designer could be hired to create unique logos, icons, charts and graphs just like an artist or photographer could be hired to create beautiful pictures. It would be wrong to copy these materials and redistribute them elsewhere. This is why images are included among the other products mentioned in the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, which says “You may not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites.”
     
    Because of this, we have a strict policy about not uploading any electronic publications, multimedia, or images from JW.org, JW Library, or it’s associated publications as downloadable file in our Files Library, or as an attachment to any Post or Reply within the community. We are serious about enforcing this, and if a member Reports a post to us containing such an uploaded attachment, we delete the attachment immediately and send a message to the member reminding him not to do that again.
     
    However, we will occasionally allow screencaps or images that have been written on with a digital pen or marked up with arrows or other additional markings. A member might need such visual representation to explain something he doesn’t understand about an image, chart, or graph. Likewise, another member may find it necessary to make notes over an image or graph to help make his reply clear. Uploading screencaps or images that have been marked up in this manner falls under Fair Use and so there is no need for other members to report these to us.
     
    What about embedded images?
     
    Sometimes the image you see displayed is NOT actually copied and uploaded to JWTalk’s server, but has rather been embedded. Embedding is a common practice on websites, blogs, and forums. Most community software, including the software we use, has a built-in function to automatically display media when a member pastes the link into the post. For example, a user may paste a YouTube link, and it will automatically display the video’s title screen and can be played right from the post. Likewise, a user may paste an image link, and the image will automatically be embedded into the post.
     
    Embedding images means that no copy is made on the post providing the link (the link is just HTML code pointing to the image or other material), therefore it does not give rise to liability for copyright infringement, unless your site deliberately creates the impression that you are somehow affiliated with or endorsed by the site to which you are linking. We, on the other hand, make every effort to make it clear that JWTalk.net is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor are we endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses.
     
    Our policy regarding the automatic embedding of images is that a member may embed ONE image only, and may only do so if embedding that image is absolutely necessary to the coherency of his post or reply. You can tell if an image has been automatically embedded or illegally uploaded to our server by either mousing over it on a PC, or by long-pressing on it with your mobile device. If a file location says it’s at “jwtalk.net/uploads” or “jwtalk.net/files” and it is infringing, then you should report it. If the file location says it’s at “jw.org” or “akamaihd.net/assets” (JW.org uses Akamai services for content distribution) then it’s not an illegal copy and you don’t have to report it to us.
     
    Requesting Removal of your content
     
    While the above explanation uses the example of copyrighted content from JW.org, the same principles apply to all copyrighted materials. If you are the copyright holder of content that has been submitted by a member without permission, we're pretty easygoing about addressing disputes. Please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy for information about how to prepare and submit a takedown notice.
     
     
     
     

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  20. Thanks
    JWTalk got a reaction from Friends just call me Ross in Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained   
    Our Copyright and Image Policy Explained
     
    Our Community Membership Policy prohibits uploading copyrighted content to the community when you do not have a license or permission to do so. This is the member's responsibility, and senior members who have earned our trust are allowed to submit content without any oversight or approval process. Since we are on an "honor system", we generally assume that such uploaded attachment is either an original work, was taken from a site that offers the content for free, or the member has a license or permission to distribute it. However, there is one particular type of content that you might sometimes see here that obviously doesn't fit this description, and thus raises the following question:
     
    QUESTION: "We sometimes see quotations from the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, excerpts from the New World Translation, or artwork from the literature on topics/replies at JWTalk? Does the organization endorse this?"
     
    This is a very good question. We should start by saying that that the Branch doesn’t “endorse” any website or service that it does not manage or operate directly. To “endorse” means “to recommend, or to publicly express support or approval of." So the Branch is not going to endorse Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even JWTalk. However, we have responded to indirect email requests from the Branch to remove content, and we have removed features and made policy changes after having direct discussions regarding the community with a Branch-assigned Circuit Overseer. None of this constitutes an “endorsement”, but we are confident that when they are concerned about some facet of JWTalk or it’s community, they won’t hesitate to reach out to us directly.
     
    Quotations and Excerpts from Literature
     
    Some individuals have the mistaken view that you cannot quote publications or the Bible itself because it’s copyrighted. This springs from a misunderstanding of copyright laws and what they are intended to do for the copyright owner, and maybe never having heard of “fair use” laws either. We’re not going to get deep into these here, as plenty of information is available for you to research on the internet. Plus, laws may vary from country to country. So here is the simplified version:
     
    Copyright laws say it is not okay to completely copy someone’s work. These laws make it illegal for someone completely replicate someone else’s work and redistribute it. This means you cannot reproduce an entire book, chapter, or article and share it, whether you do so by means of a copy machine, by downloading and publicly redistributing an electronic version, by typing it out on a discussion board, or even by copying it all by hand. This likewise applies to copying music and video (bootleg), or even artwork (forgery).
     
    Fair Use laws says you can quote or take a small excerpt from a person’s work and comment on it. A quotation can be anywhere from a single sentence to a couple short paragraphs. Fair Use also allows someone to take a small portion of some other work and create something of your own based on that work. For example, a new song may momentarily use a sample from an older song or some movie dialogue. Or, while it is illegal to upload and redistribute someone else’s video, you can create an original video of yourself giving commentary or critique of the original video. Movie reviewers do this all the time.
     
    What about uploaded images?
     
    Images are copyrighted as well. A graphics designer could be hired to create unique logos, icons, charts and graphs just like an artist or photographer could be hired to create beautiful pictures. It would be wrong to copy these materials and redistribute them elsewhere. This is why images are included among the other products mentioned in the "Terms of Use" at JW.org and within the JW Library app, which says “You may not post on the Internet any artwork, electronic publications, trademarks, music, photos, videos, or articles from our websites.”
     
    Because of this, we have a strict policy about not uploading any electronic publications, multimedia, or images from JW.org, JW Library, or it’s associated publications as downloadable file in our Files Library, or as an attachment to any Post or Reply within the community. We are serious about enforcing this, and if a member Reports a post to us containing such an uploaded attachment, we delete the attachment immediately and send a message to the member reminding him not to do that again.
     
    However, we will occasionally allow screencaps or images that have been written on with a digital pen or marked up with arrows or other additional markings. A member might need such visual representation to explain something he doesn’t understand about an image, chart, or graph. Likewise, another member may find it necessary to make notes over an image or graph to help make his reply clear. Uploading screencaps or images that have been marked up in this manner falls under Fair Use and so there is no need for other members to report these to us.
     
    What about embedded images?
     
    Sometimes the image you see displayed is NOT actually copied and uploaded to JWTalk’s server, but has rather been embedded. Embedding is a common practice on websites, blogs, and forums. Most community software, including the software we use, has a built-in function to automatically display media when a member pastes the link into the post. For example, a user may paste a YouTube link, and it will automatically display the video’s title screen and can be played right from the post. Likewise, a user may paste an image link, and the image will automatically be embedded into the post.
     
    Embedding images means that no copy is made on the post providing the link (the link is just HTML code pointing to the image or other material), therefore it does not give rise to liability for copyright infringement, unless your site deliberately creates the impression that you are somehow affiliated with or endorsed by the site to which you are linking. We, on the other hand, make every effort to make it clear that JWTalk.net is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor are we endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses.
     
    Our policy regarding the automatic embedding of images is that a member may embed ONE image only, and may only do so if embedding that image is absolutely necessary to the coherency of his post or reply. You can tell if an image has been automatically embedded or illegally uploaded to our server by either mousing over it on a PC, or by long-pressing on it with your mobile device. If a file location says it’s at “jwtalk.net/uploads” or “jwtalk.net/files” and it is infringing, then you should report it. If the file location says it’s at “jw.org” or “akamaihd.net/assets” (JW.org uses Akamai services for content distribution) then it’s not an illegal copy and you don’t have to report it to us.
     
    Requesting Removal of your content
     
    While the above explanation uses the example of copyrighted content from JW.org, the same principles apply to all copyrighted materials. If you are the copyright holder of content that has been submitted by a member without permission, we're pretty easygoing about addressing disputes. Please read our DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy for information about how to prepare and submit a takedown notice.
     
     
     
     

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  21. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from daydream in JWTalk DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy   
    DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy
     
    JWTalk - Jehovah's Witnesses Online Community ("JWTalk") enables threaded discussions, social networking, and private messaging between registered users of the community. JWTalk is a "Service Provider" within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. § 512(k)(1) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Accordingly, it is entitled to certain protections from claims of copyright infringement under the DMCA, commonly referred to as the “safe harbor” provisions. 
     
    JWTalk respects the rights of copyright holders and abides by DMCA and similar regulations in other jurisdictions by responding to written notifications of alleged infringement by copyright holders. As part of our response, we may remove or disable access to allegedly infringing material residing in our community. This Copyright Takedown Policy supplements, and is incorporated into, JWTalk’s Terms and Conditions, also called the “Community Membership Policy”.
     
    What Is the DMCA?
     
    In order to understand the DMCA and some of the policy lines it draws, it’s helpful to learn about the reasons the act was created.
     
    Before the DMCA, an Internet-based service providers could be liable for copyright infringement in the United States just for hosting its users’ pictures, music, videos or code. This was true even if it had no actual knowledge of any infringing content. This was a problem, since even a single claim of copyright infringement can carry statutory damages of up to $150,000. With potential damages that high multiplied across millions of users, cloud-computing and user-generated content sites like YouTube, Facebook or GitHub probably never would have existed (or at least not without passing some of that cost downstream to their users).
     
    The DMCA attempted to fix this problem by creating a so-called copyright liability “safe harbor” for service providers hosting allegedly infringing user-generated content. (See U.S. Code, Title 17, Section 512.) Essentially, so long as a service provider follows the DMCA’s notice-and-takedown rules, it won’t be liable for copyright infringement based on user-generated content.
     
    Two types of DMCA Notices
     
    DMCA takedown notices are used by copyright owners to ask JWTalk to take down infringing content. If someone else is using your copyrighted content in an unauthorized manner on JWTalk, you can send us a DMCA takedown notice to request that the infringing content be changed or removed. 
     
    On the other hand, counter notices can be used to correct mistakes. Maybe the person sending the takedown notice does not hold the copyright or did not realize that you have a license or made some other mistake in their takedown notice. Since JWTalk usually cannot know if there has been a mistake, the DMCA counter notice allows you to let us know and ask that we put the content back up.
     
    A. How It Works
     
    JWTalk acts as a middleman. The copyright owner gives JWTalk a complaint about a user, and we pass that complaint along to the user and remove the offending content. If the user disputes the complaint, JWTalk passes that dispute back to the copyright owner, and may restore the disputed content. It is up to the parties (and their lawyers) to evaluate the merit of their claims, bearing in mind that notices must be made under penalty of perjury.
     
    These are the basic steps of the process:
     
    1. Copyright Owner Investigates. A copyright owner should always conduct an initial investigation to confirm both (a) that they own the copyright to an original work and (b) that the content on JWTalk is unauthorized and infringing.
     
    2. Copyright Owner Sends a Takedown Notice. After investigating, a copyright owner prepares and sends a takedown notice to JWTalk. Assuming the takedown notice is sufficiently detailed according to the statutory requirements (detailed below), we will disable the content and notify the affected user.
     
    3. Copyright Owner Revises or Retracts the Notice. After making changes, the copyright owner must review them and renew or revise their takedown notice if the changes are insufficient. If the copyright owner is satisfied with the changes, they do not have to do anything. JWTalk will interpret silence longer than two weeks as an implied retraction of the takedown notice.
     
    4. User/Member May Send a Counter Notice. We encourage users who have had content disabled to consult with a lawyer about their options. If a user believes that their content was disabled because of a mistake or misidentification, they may send us a counter notice. As with the original notice, the counter notice must be sufficiently detailed (see below). If it is, we will pass the notice back to the copyright owner. If a counter notice is submitted, the user may be able to restore or reupload the disputed content.
     
    5. Copyright Owner May File a Legal Action. If a copyright owner wishes to keep the content disabled after receiving a counter notice, they will need to initiate a legal action seeking a court order to restrain the user from engaging in infringing activity relating to the content on JWTalk. In other words, you, the member/user might get sued by the copyright owner.
     
    B. Transparency
     
    We believe that transparency is a virtue. The public should know what content is being removed from JWTalk and why. We will post redacted copies of any legal notices we receive (including original notices, counter notices or retractions) in an area that is publicly visible. We will not publicly publish your personal contact information; we will remove personal information (except for usernames in URLs to your public profile) before publishing notices.
     
    Please also note that, although we will not publicly publish unredacted notices, we may provide a complete unredacted copy of any notices we receive directly to any party whose rights would be affected by it.
     
    C. Repeated Infringement
     
    It is the policy of JWTalk, in appropriate circumstances and in its sole discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may infringe upon the copyrights of others. We may also and at our sole discretion limit and/or terminate access to the Services of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.
     
    D. Submitting a Copyright Takedown Notice
     
    Filing a DMCA complaint is the start of a pre-defined legal process. Your complaint will be reviewed for accuracy, validity, and completeness. If your complaint has satisfied these requirements, we will take action on your request - which includes forwarding a full copy of your notice (including your name, address, phone and email address) to the user(s) who posted the allegedly infringing material in question. We Will Only Act on Claims That…
     
    1. Identify the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed. The specificity of your identification will depend on the nature of the work you believe has been infringed. If you have published your work, you might be able to just link back to a web page where it lives. If it is proprietary and not published, you might describe it and explain that it is proprietary. If you have registered it with the Copyright Office, you should include the registration number. If you are alleging that the hosted content is a direct, literal copy of your work, you can also just explain that fact.
     
    2. Identify the infringing material. It is important to be as specific as possible in your identification. This identification needs to be reasonably sufficient to permit JWTalk to locate the material on our website. At a minimum, this means that you should include the URL to the material allegedly infringing your copyright.
     
    3. Provide your contact information. Include your email address, name, telephone number and physical address.
     
    4. Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, or its agent, or the law.”
     
    5. Also include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner, or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”
     
    6. Include your signature. A physical or electronic signature (typing your full name will suffice) of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf.
     
    You may send your Copyright Takedown Notice to support@jwtalk.net and we will respond promptly.
     
    E. Requesting a Retraction
     
    If you believe that the materials reported in the copyright complaints were misidentified or removed in error, you may send us a counter-notification(s). A counter-notice is a request for JWTalk to reinstate the removed material, and it has legal consequences. Alternatively, you may be able to contact the reporter directly and ask for a retraction of the copyright complaint from. The reporter can send retractions to support@jwtalk.net and should include identification of the material that was disabled, and a statement that the reporter would like to retract their DMCA notice. This is the fastest and most efficient means of resolving an unresolved copyright complaint. A retraction is at the sole discretion of the original reporter.
     
    F. Submitting a Counter-Notice
     
    You may file a counter-notice if you believe that this material was misidentified, or you have a good faith belief that the material should not have been removed.  If you’re unsure whether or not you should file a counter-notice, you may want to consult with an attorney, because a counter-notice is a request for JWTalk to reinstate the removed material, and is the start of a legal process that has legal consequences.  Submitting a counter notice indicates that you consent to the jurisdiction of a U.S. Federal court and that you consent to the disclosure of your personal information to the reporter, who may use this information to sue you for copyright infringement in a court of law.
     
    If you receive a DMCA Takedown Notice for a copyright violation, we will send you a Private Message (PM) and an email detailing how to exercise these options if you disagree with us disabling the disputed content.
     
    Upon receipt of a valid counter-notice, we will promptly forward a copy to the person who filed the original notice. This means that the contact information that is submitted in your counter-notice will be shared to the person who filed the original notice. 
     
    If the copyright owner disagrees that the content was removed in error or misidentification, they may pursue legal action against you.  If we do not receive notice within 10-14 business days that the original reporter is seeking a court order to prevent further infringement of the material at issue, we may replace or cease disabling access to the material that was removed.
     
    We cannot offer any legal advice. Should you have questions, please consult an attorney.
     
     
     

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  22. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from Good-O in JWTalk DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy   
    DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy
     
    JWTalk - Jehovah's Witnesses Online Community ("JWTalk") enables threaded discussions, social networking, and private messaging between registered users of the community. JWTalk is a "Service Provider" within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. § 512(k)(1) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Accordingly, it is entitled to certain protections from claims of copyright infringement under the DMCA, commonly referred to as the “safe harbor” provisions. 
     
    JWTalk respects the rights of copyright holders and abides by DMCA and similar regulations in other jurisdictions by responding to written notifications of alleged infringement by copyright holders. As part of our response, we may remove or disable access to allegedly infringing material residing in our community. This Copyright Takedown Policy supplements, and is incorporated into, JWTalk’s Terms and Conditions, also called the “Community Membership Policy”.
     
    What Is the DMCA?
     
    In order to understand the DMCA and some of the policy lines it draws, it’s helpful to learn about the reasons the act was created.
     
    Before the DMCA, an Internet-based service providers could be liable for copyright infringement in the United States just for hosting its users’ pictures, music, videos or code. This was true even if it had no actual knowledge of any infringing content. This was a problem, since even a single claim of copyright infringement can carry statutory damages of up to $150,000. With potential damages that high multiplied across millions of users, cloud-computing and user-generated content sites like YouTube, Facebook or GitHub probably never would have existed (or at least not without passing some of that cost downstream to their users).
     
    The DMCA attempted to fix this problem by creating a so-called copyright liability “safe harbor” for service providers hosting allegedly infringing user-generated content. (See U.S. Code, Title 17, Section 512.) Essentially, so long as a service provider follows the DMCA’s notice-and-takedown rules, it won’t be liable for copyright infringement based on user-generated content.
     
    Two types of DMCA Notices
     
    DMCA takedown notices are used by copyright owners to ask JWTalk to take down infringing content. If someone else is using your copyrighted content in an unauthorized manner on JWTalk, you can send us a DMCA takedown notice to request that the infringing content be changed or removed. 
     
    On the other hand, counter notices can be used to correct mistakes. Maybe the person sending the takedown notice does not hold the copyright or did not realize that you have a license or made some other mistake in their takedown notice. Since JWTalk usually cannot know if there has been a mistake, the DMCA counter notice allows you to let us know and ask that we put the content back up.
     
    A. How It Works
     
    JWTalk acts as a middleman. The copyright owner gives JWTalk a complaint about a user, and we pass that complaint along to the user and remove the offending content. If the user disputes the complaint, JWTalk passes that dispute back to the copyright owner, and may restore the disputed content. It is up to the parties (and their lawyers) to evaluate the merit of their claims, bearing in mind that notices must be made under penalty of perjury.
     
    These are the basic steps of the process:
     
    1. Copyright Owner Investigates. A copyright owner should always conduct an initial investigation to confirm both (a) that they own the copyright to an original work and (b) that the content on JWTalk is unauthorized and infringing.
     
    2. Copyright Owner Sends a Takedown Notice. After investigating, a copyright owner prepares and sends a takedown notice to JWTalk. Assuming the takedown notice is sufficiently detailed according to the statutory requirements (detailed below), we will disable the content and notify the affected user.
     
    3. Copyright Owner Revises or Retracts the Notice. After making changes, the copyright owner must review them and renew or revise their takedown notice if the changes are insufficient. If the copyright owner is satisfied with the changes, they do not have to do anything. JWTalk will interpret silence longer than two weeks as an implied retraction of the takedown notice.
     
    4. User/Member May Send a Counter Notice. We encourage users who have had content disabled to consult with a lawyer about their options. If a user believes that their content was disabled because of a mistake or misidentification, they may send us a counter notice. As with the original notice, the counter notice must be sufficiently detailed (see below). If it is, we will pass the notice back to the copyright owner. If a counter notice is submitted, the user may be able to restore or reupload the disputed content.
     
    5. Copyright Owner May File a Legal Action. If a copyright owner wishes to keep the content disabled after receiving a counter notice, they will need to initiate a legal action seeking a court order to restrain the user from engaging in infringing activity relating to the content on JWTalk. In other words, you, the member/user might get sued by the copyright owner.
     
    B. Transparency
     
    We believe that transparency is a virtue. The public should know what content is being removed from JWTalk and why. We will post redacted copies of any legal notices we receive (including original notices, counter notices or retractions) in an area that is publicly visible. We will not publicly publish your personal contact information; we will remove personal information (except for usernames in URLs to your public profile) before publishing notices.
     
    Please also note that, although we will not publicly publish unredacted notices, we may provide a complete unredacted copy of any notices we receive directly to any party whose rights would be affected by it.
     
    C. Repeated Infringement
     
    It is the policy of JWTalk, in appropriate circumstances and in its sole discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may infringe upon the copyrights of others. We may also and at our sole discretion limit and/or terminate access to the Services of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.
     
    D. Submitting a Copyright Takedown Notice
     
    Filing a DMCA complaint is the start of a pre-defined legal process. Your complaint will be reviewed for accuracy, validity, and completeness. If your complaint has satisfied these requirements, we will take action on your request - which includes forwarding a full copy of your notice (including your name, address, phone and email address) to the user(s) who posted the allegedly infringing material in question. We Will Only Act on Claims That…
     
    1. Identify the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed. The specificity of your identification will depend on the nature of the work you believe has been infringed. If you have published your work, you might be able to just link back to a web page where it lives. If it is proprietary and not published, you might describe it and explain that it is proprietary. If you have registered it with the Copyright Office, you should include the registration number. If you are alleging that the hosted content is a direct, literal copy of your work, you can also just explain that fact.
     
    2. Identify the infringing material. It is important to be as specific as possible in your identification. This identification needs to be reasonably sufficient to permit JWTalk to locate the material on our website. At a minimum, this means that you should include the URL to the material allegedly infringing your copyright.
     
    3. Provide your contact information. Include your email address, name, telephone number and physical address.
     
    4. Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, or its agent, or the law.”
     
    5. Also include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner, or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”
     
    6. Include your signature. A physical or electronic signature (typing your full name will suffice) of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf.
     
    You may send your Copyright Takedown Notice to support@jwtalk.net and we will respond promptly.
     
    E. Requesting a Retraction
     
    If you believe that the materials reported in the copyright complaints were misidentified or removed in error, you may send us a counter-notification(s). A counter-notice is a request for JWTalk to reinstate the removed material, and it has legal consequences. Alternatively, you may be able to contact the reporter directly and ask for a retraction of the copyright complaint from. The reporter can send retractions to support@jwtalk.net and should include identification of the material that was disabled, and a statement that the reporter would like to retract their DMCA notice. This is the fastest and most efficient means of resolving an unresolved copyright complaint. A retraction is at the sole discretion of the original reporter.
     
    F. Submitting a Counter-Notice
     
    You may file a counter-notice if you believe that this material was misidentified, or you have a good faith belief that the material should not have been removed.  If you’re unsure whether or not you should file a counter-notice, you may want to consult with an attorney, because a counter-notice is a request for JWTalk to reinstate the removed material, and is the start of a legal process that has legal consequences.  Submitting a counter notice indicates that you consent to the jurisdiction of a U.S. Federal court and that you consent to the disclosure of your personal information to the reporter, who may use this information to sue you for copyright infringement in a court of law.
     
    If you receive a DMCA Takedown Notice for a copyright violation, we will send you a Private Message (PM) and an email detailing how to exercise these options if you disagree with us disabling the disputed content.
     
    Upon receipt of a valid counter-notice, we will promptly forward a copy to the person who filed the original notice. This means that the contact information that is submitted in your counter-notice will be shared to the person who filed the original notice. 
     
    If the copyright owner disagrees that the content was removed in error or misidentification, they may pursue legal action against you.  If we do not receive notice within 10-14 business days that the original reporter is seeking a court order to prevent further infringement of the material at issue, we may replace or cease disabling access to the material that was removed.
     
    We cannot offer any legal advice. Should you have questions, please consult an attorney.
     
     
     

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  23. Like
    JWTalk got a reaction from jwhess in JWTalk DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy   
    DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy
     
    JWTalk - Jehovah's Witnesses Online Community ("JWTalk") enables threaded discussions, social networking, and private messaging between registered users of the community. JWTalk is a "Service Provider" within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. § 512(k)(1) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Accordingly, it is entitled to certain protections from claims of copyright infringement under the DMCA, commonly referred to as the “safe harbor” provisions. 
     
    JWTalk respects the rights of copyright holders and abides by DMCA and similar regulations in other jurisdictions by responding to written notifications of alleged infringement by copyright holders. As part of our response, we may remove or disable access to allegedly infringing material residing in our community. This Copyright Takedown Policy supplements, and is incorporated into, JWTalk’s Terms and Conditions, also called the “Community Membership Policy”.
     
    What Is the DMCA?
     
    In order to understand the DMCA and some of the policy lines it draws, it’s helpful to learn about the reasons the act was created.
     
    Before the DMCA, an Internet-based service providers could be liable for copyright infringement in the United States just for hosting its users’ pictures, music, videos or code. This was true even if it had no actual knowledge of any infringing content. This was a problem, since even a single claim of copyright infringement can carry statutory damages of up to $150,000. With potential damages that high multiplied across millions of users, cloud-computing and user-generated content sites like YouTube, Facebook or GitHub probably never would have existed (or at least not without passing some of that cost downstream to their users).
     
    The DMCA attempted to fix this problem by creating a so-called copyright liability “safe harbor” for service providers hosting allegedly infringing user-generated content. (See U.S. Code, Title 17, Section 512.) Essentially, so long as a service provider follows the DMCA’s notice-and-takedown rules, it won’t be liable for copyright infringement based on user-generated content.
     
    Two types of DMCA Notices
     
    DMCA takedown notices are used by copyright owners to ask JWTalk to take down infringing content. If someone else is using your copyrighted content in an unauthorized manner on JWTalk, you can send us a DMCA takedown notice to request that the infringing content be changed or removed. 
     
    On the other hand, counter notices can be used to correct mistakes. Maybe the person sending the takedown notice does not hold the copyright or did not realize that you have a license or made some other mistake in their takedown notice. Since JWTalk usually cannot know if there has been a mistake, the DMCA counter notice allows you to let us know and ask that we put the content back up.
     
    A. How It Works
     
    JWTalk acts as a middleman. The copyright owner gives JWTalk a complaint about a user, and we pass that complaint along to the user and remove the offending content. If the user disputes the complaint, JWTalk passes that dispute back to the copyright owner, and may restore the disputed content. It is up to the parties (and their lawyers) to evaluate the merit of their claims, bearing in mind that notices must be made under penalty of perjury.
     
    These are the basic steps of the process:
     
    1. Copyright Owner Investigates. A copyright owner should always conduct an initial investigation to confirm both (a) that they own the copyright to an original work and (b) that the content on JWTalk is unauthorized and infringing.
     
    2. Copyright Owner Sends a Takedown Notice. After investigating, a copyright owner prepares and sends a takedown notice to JWTalk. Assuming the takedown notice is sufficiently detailed according to the statutory requirements (detailed below), we will disable the content and notify the affected user.
     
    3. Copyright Owner Revises or Retracts the Notice. After making changes, the copyright owner must review them and renew or revise their takedown notice if the changes are insufficient. If the copyright owner is satisfied with the changes, they do not have to do anything. JWTalk will interpret silence longer than two weeks as an implied retraction of the takedown notice.
     
    4. User/Member May Send a Counter Notice. We encourage users who have had content disabled to consult with a lawyer about their options. If a user believes that their content was disabled because of a mistake or misidentification, they may send us a counter notice. As with the original notice, the counter notice must be sufficiently detailed (see below). If it is, we will pass the notice back to the copyright owner. If a counter notice is submitted, the user may be able to restore or reupload the disputed content.
     
    5. Copyright Owner May File a Legal Action. If a copyright owner wishes to keep the content disabled after receiving a counter notice, they will need to initiate a legal action seeking a court order to restrain the user from engaging in infringing activity relating to the content on JWTalk. In other words, you, the member/user might get sued by the copyright owner.
     
    B. Transparency
     
    We believe that transparency is a virtue. The public should know what content is being removed from JWTalk and why. We will post redacted copies of any legal notices we receive (including original notices, counter notices or retractions) in an area that is publicly visible. We will not publicly publish your personal contact information; we will remove personal information (except for usernames in URLs to your public profile) before publishing notices.
     
    Please also note that, although we will not publicly publish unredacted notices, we may provide a complete unredacted copy of any notices we receive directly to any party whose rights would be affected by it.
     
    C. Repeated Infringement
     
    It is the policy of JWTalk, in appropriate circumstances and in its sole discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may infringe upon the copyrights of others. We may also and at our sole discretion limit and/or terminate access to the Services of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.
     
    D. Submitting a Copyright Takedown Notice
     
    Filing a DMCA complaint is the start of a pre-defined legal process. Your complaint will be reviewed for accuracy, validity, and completeness. If your complaint has satisfied these requirements, we will take action on your request - which includes forwarding a full copy of your notice (including your name, address, phone and email address) to the user(s) who posted the allegedly infringing material in question. We Will Only Act on Claims That…
     
    1. Identify the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed. The specificity of your identification will depend on the nature of the work you believe has been infringed. If you have published your work, you might be able to just link back to a web page where it lives. If it is proprietary and not published, you might describe it and explain that it is proprietary. If you have registered it with the Copyright Office, you should include the registration number. If you are alleging that the hosted content is a direct, literal copy of your work, you can also just explain that fact.
     
    2. Identify the infringing material. It is important to be as specific as possible in your identification. This identification needs to be reasonably sufficient to permit JWTalk to locate the material on our website. At a minimum, this means that you should include the URL to the material allegedly infringing your copyright.
     
    3. Provide your contact information. Include your email address, name, telephone number and physical address.
     
    4. Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, or its agent, or the law.”
     
    5. Also include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner, or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”
     
    6. Include your signature. A physical or electronic signature (typing your full name will suffice) of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf.
     
    You may send your Copyright Takedown Notice to support@jwtalk.net and we will respond promptly.
     
    E. Requesting a Retraction
     
    If you believe that the materials reported in the copyright complaints were misidentified or removed in error, you may send us a counter-notification(s). A counter-notice is a request for JWTalk to reinstate the removed material, and it has legal consequences. Alternatively, you may be able to contact the reporter directly and ask for a retraction of the copyright complaint from. The reporter can send retractions to support@jwtalk.net and should include identification of the material that was disabled, and a statement that the reporter would like to retract their DMCA notice. This is the fastest and most efficient means of resolving an unresolved copyright complaint. A retraction is at the sole discretion of the original reporter.
     
    F. Submitting a Counter-Notice
     
    You may file a counter-notice if you believe that this material was misidentified, or you have a good faith belief that the material should not have been removed.  If you’re unsure whether or not you should file a counter-notice, you may want to consult with an attorney, because a counter-notice is a request for JWTalk to reinstate the removed material, and is the start of a legal process that has legal consequences.  Submitting a counter notice indicates that you consent to the jurisdiction of a U.S. Federal court and that you consent to the disclosure of your personal information to the reporter, who may use this information to sue you for copyright infringement in a court of law.
     
    If you receive a DMCA Takedown Notice for a copyright violation, we will send you a Private Message (PM) and an email detailing how to exercise these options if you disagree with us disabling the disputed content.
     
    Upon receipt of a valid counter-notice, we will promptly forward a copy to the person who filed the original notice. This means that the contact information that is submitted in your counter-notice will be shared to the person who filed the original notice. 
     
    If the copyright owner disagrees that the content was removed in error or misidentification, they may pursue legal action against you.  If we do not receive notice within 10-14 business days that the original reporter is seeking a court order to prevent further infringement of the material at issue, we may replace or cease disabling access to the material that was removed.
     
    We cannot offer any legal advice. Should you have questions, please consult an attorney.
     
     
     

    View full article
  24. Thanks
    JWTalk got a reaction from Friends just call me Ross in JWTalk DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy   
    DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy
     
    JWTalk - Jehovah's Witnesses Online Community ("JWTalk") enables threaded discussions, social networking, and private messaging between registered users of the community. JWTalk is a "Service Provider" within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. § 512(k)(1) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Accordingly, it is entitled to certain protections from claims of copyright infringement under the DMCA, commonly referred to as the “safe harbor” provisions. 
     
    JWTalk respects the rights of copyright holders and abides by DMCA and similar regulations in other jurisdictions by responding to written notifications of alleged infringement by copyright holders. As part of our response, we may remove or disable access to allegedly infringing material residing in our community. This Copyright Takedown Policy supplements, and is incorporated into, JWTalk’s Terms and Conditions, also called the “Community Membership Policy”.
     
    What Is the DMCA?
     
    In order to understand the DMCA and some of the policy lines it draws, it’s helpful to learn about the reasons the act was created.
     
    Before the DMCA, an Internet-based service providers could be liable for copyright infringement in the United States just for hosting its users’ pictures, music, videos or code. This was true even if it had no actual knowledge of any infringing content. This was a problem, since even a single claim of copyright infringement can carry statutory damages of up to $150,000. With potential damages that high multiplied across millions of users, cloud-computing and user-generated content sites like YouTube, Facebook or GitHub probably never would have existed (or at least not without passing some of that cost downstream to their users).
     
    The DMCA attempted to fix this problem by creating a so-called copyright liability “safe harbor” for service providers hosting allegedly infringing user-generated content. (See U.S. Code, Title 17, Section 512.) Essentially, so long as a service provider follows the DMCA’s notice-and-takedown rules, it won’t be liable for copyright infringement based on user-generated content.
     
    Two types of DMCA Notices
     
    DMCA takedown notices are used by copyright owners to ask JWTalk to take down infringing content. If someone else is using your copyrighted content in an unauthorized manner on JWTalk, you can send us a DMCA takedown notice to request that the infringing content be changed or removed. 
     
    On the other hand, counter notices can be used to correct mistakes. Maybe the person sending the takedown notice does not hold the copyright or did not realize that you have a license or made some other mistake in their takedown notice. Since JWTalk usually cannot know if there has been a mistake, the DMCA counter notice allows you to let us know and ask that we put the content back up.
     
    A. How It Works
     
    JWTalk acts as a middleman. The copyright owner gives JWTalk a complaint about a user, and we pass that complaint along to the user and remove the offending content. If the user disputes the complaint, JWTalk passes that dispute back to the copyright owner, and may restore the disputed content. It is up to the parties (and their lawyers) to evaluate the merit of their claims, bearing in mind that notices must be made under penalty of perjury.
     
    These are the basic steps of the process:
     
    1. Copyright Owner Investigates. A copyright owner should always conduct an initial investigation to confirm both (a) that they own the copyright to an original work and (b) that the content on JWTalk is unauthorized and infringing.
     
    2. Copyright Owner Sends a Takedown Notice. After investigating, a copyright owner prepares and sends a takedown notice to JWTalk. Assuming the takedown notice is sufficiently detailed according to the statutory requirements (detailed below), we will disable the content and notify the affected user.
     
    3. Copyright Owner Revises or Retracts the Notice. After making changes, the copyright owner must review them and renew or revise their takedown notice if the changes are insufficient. If the copyright owner is satisfied with the changes, they do not have to do anything. JWTalk will interpret silence longer than two weeks as an implied retraction of the takedown notice.
     
    4. User/Member May Send a Counter Notice. We encourage users who have had content disabled to consult with a lawyer about their options. If a user believes that their content was disabled because of a mistake or misidentification, they may send us a counter notice. As with the original notice, the counter notice must be sufficiently detailed (see below). If it is, we will pass the notice back to the copyright owner. If a counter notice is submitted, the user may be able to restore or reupload the disputed content.
     
    5. Copyright Owner May File a Legal Action. If a copyright owner wishes to keep the content disabled after receiving a counter notice, they will need to initiate a legal action seeking a court order to restrain the user from engaging in infringing activity relating to the content on JWTalk. In other words, you, the member/user might get sued by the copyright owner.
     
    B. Transparency
     
    We believe that transparency is a virtue. The public should know what content is being removed from JWTalk and why. We will post redacted copies of any legal notices we receive (including original notices, counter notices or retractions) in an area that is publicly visible. We will not publicly publish your personal contact information; we will remove personal information (except for usernames in URLs to your public profile) before publishing notices.
     
    Please also note that, although we will not publicly publish unredacted notices, we may provide a complete unredacted copy of any notices we receive directly to any party whose rights would be affected by it.
     
    C. Repeated Infringement
     
    It is the policy of JWTalk, in appropriate circumstances and in its sole discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may infringe upon the copyrights of others. We may also and at our sole discretion limit and/or terminate access to the Services of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.
     
    D. Submitting a Copyright Takedown Notice
     
    Filing a DMCA complaint is the start of a pre-defined legal process. Your complaint will be reviewed for accuracy, validity, and completeness. If your complaint has satisfied these requirements, we will take action on your request - which includes forwarding a full copy of your notice (including your name, address, phone and email address) to the user(s) who posted the allegedly infringing material in question. We Will Only Act on Claims That…
     
    1. Identify the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed. The specificity of your identification will depend on the nature of the work you believe has been infringed. If you have published your work, you might be able to just link back to a web page where it lives. If it is proprietary and not published, you might describe it and explain that it is proprietary. If you have registered it with the Copyright Office, you should include the registration number. If you are alleging that the hosted content is a direct, literal copy of your work, you can also just explain that fact.
     
    2. Identify the infringing material. It is important to be as specific as possible in your identification. This identification needs to be reasonably sufficient to permit JWTalk to locate the material on our website. At a minimum, this means that you should include the URL to the material allegedly infringing your copyright.
     
    3. Provide your contact information. Include your email address, name, telephone number and physical address.
     
    4. Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, or its agent, or the law.”
     
    5. Also include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner, or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”
     
    6. Include your signature. A physical or electronic signature (typing your full name will suffice) of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf.
     
    You may send your Copyright Takedown Notice to support@jwtalk.net and we will respond promptly.
     
    E. Requesting a Retraction
     
    If you believe that the materials reported in the copyright complaints were misidentified or removed in error, you may send us a counter-notification(s). A counter-notice is a request for JWTalk to reinstate the removed material, and it has legal consequences. Alternatively, you may be able to contact the reporter directly and ask for a retraction of the copyright complaint from. The reporter can send retractions to support@jwtalk.net and should include identification of the material that was disabled, and a statement that the reporter would like to retract their DMCA notice. This is the fastest and most efficient means of resolving an unresolved copyright complaint. A retraction is at the sole discretion of the original reporter.
     
    F. Submitting a Counter-Notice
     
    You may file a counter-notice if you believe that this material was misidentified, or you have a good faith belief that the material should not have been removed.  If you’re unsure whether or not you should file a counter-notice, you may want to consult with an attorney, because a counter-notice is a request for JWTalk to reinstate the removed material, and is the start of a legal process that has legal consequences.  Submitting a counter notice indicates that you consent to the jurisdiction of a U.S. Federal court and that you consent to the disclosure of your personal information to the reporter, who may use this information to sue you for copyright infringement in a court of law.
     
    If you receive a DMCA Takedown Notice for a copyright violation, we will send you a Private Message (PM) and an email detailing how to exercise these options if you disagree with us disabling the disputed content.
     
    Upon receipt of a valid counter-notice, we will promptly forward a copy to the person who filed the original notice. This means that the contact information that is submitted in your counter-notice will be shared to the person who filed the original notice. 
     
    If the copyright owner disagrees that the content was removed in error or misidentification, they may pursue legal action against you.  If we do not receive notice within 10-14 business days that the original reporter is seeking a court order to prevent further infringement of the material at issue, we may replace or cease disabling access to the material that was removed.
     
    We cannot offer any legal advice. Should you have questions, please consult an attorney.
     
     
     

    View full article
  25. Thanks
    JWTalk got a reaction from Dages in JWTalk DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy   
    DCMA Copyright Takedown Policy
     
    JWTalk - Jehovah's Witnesses Online Community ("JWTalk") enables threaded discussions, social networking, and private messaging between registered users of the community. JWTalk is a "Service Provider" within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. § 512(k)(1) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Accordingly, it is entitled to certain protections from claims of copyright infringement under the DMCA, commonly referred to as the “safe harbor” provisions. 
     
    JWTalk respects the rights of copyright holders and abides by DMCA and similar regulations in other jurisdictions by responding to written notifications of alleged infringement by copyright holders. As part of our response, we may remove or disable access to allegedly infringing material residing in our community. This Copyright Takedown Policy supplements, and is incorporated into, JWTalk’s Terms and Conditions, also called the “Community Membership Policy”.
     
    What Is the DMCA?
     
    In order to understand the DMCA and some of the policy lines it draws, it’s helpful to learn about the reasons the act was created.
     
    Before the DMCA, an Internet-based service providers could be liable for copyright infringement in the United States just for hosting its users’ pictures, music, videos or code. This was true even if it had no actual knowledge of any infringing content. This was a problem, since even a single claim of copyright infringement can carry statutory damages of up to $150,000. With potential damages that high multiplied across millions of users, cloud-computing and user-generated content sites like YouTube, Facebook or GitHub probably never would have existed (or at least not without passing some of that cost downstream to their users).
     
    The DMCA attempted to fix this problem by creating a so-called copyright liability “safe harbor” for service providers hosting allegedly infringing user-generated content. (See U.S. Code, Title 17, Section 512.) Essentially, so long as a service provider follows the DMCA’s notice-and-takedown rules, it won’t be liable for copyright infringement based on user-generated content.
     
    Two types of DMCA Notices
     
    DMCA takedown notices are used by copyright owners to ask JWTalk to take down infringing content. If someone else is using your copyrighted content in an unauthorized manner on JWTalk, you can send us a DMCA takedown notice to request that the infringing content be changed or removed. 
     
    On the other hand, counter notices can be used to correct mistakes. Maybe the person sending the takedown notice does not hold the copyright or did not realize that you have a license or made some other mistake in their takedown notice. Since JWTalk usually cannot know if there has been a mistake, the DMCA counter notice allows you to let us know and ask that we put the content back up.
     
    A. How It Works
     
    JWTalk acts as a middleman. The copyright owner gives JWTalk a complaint about a user, and we pass that complaint along to the user and remove the offending content. If the user disputes the complaint, JWTalk passes that dispute back to the copyright owner, and may restore the disputed content. It is up to the parties (and their lawyers) to evaluate the merit of their claims, bearing in mind that notices must be made under penalty of perjury.
     
    These are the basic steps of the process:
     
    1. Copyright Owner Investigates. A copyright owner should always conduct an initial investigation to confirm both (a) that they own the copyright to an original work and (b) that the content on JWTalk is unauthorized and infringing.
     
    2. Copyright Owner Sends a Takedown Notice. After investigating, a copyright owner prepares and sends a takedown notice to JWTalk. Assuming the takedown notice is sufficiently detailed according to the statutory requirements (detailed below), we will disable the content and notify the affected user.
     
    3. Copyright Owner Revises or Retracts the Notice. After making changes, the copyright owner must review them and renew or revise their takedown notice if the changes are insufficient. If the copyright owner is satisfied with the changes, they do not have to do anything. JWTalk will interpret silence longer than two weeks as an implied retraction of the takedown notice.
     
    4. User/Member May Send a Counter Notice. We encourage users who have had content disabled to consult with a lawyer about their options. If a user believes that their content was disabled because of a mistake or misidentification, they may send us a counter notice. As with the original notice, the counter notice must be sufficiently detailed (see below). If it is, we will pass the notice back to the copyright owner. If a counter notice is submitted, the user may be able to restore or reupload the disputed content.
     
    5. Copyright Owner May File a Legal Action. If a copyright owner wishes to keep the content disabled after receiving a counter notice, they will need to initiate a legal action seeking a court order to restrain the user from engaging in infringing activity relating to the content on JWTalk. In other words, you, the member/user might get sued by the copyright owner.
     
    B. Transparency
     
    We believe that transparency is a virtue. The public should know what content is being removed from JWTalk and why. We will post redacted copies of any legal notices we receive (including original notices, counter notices or retractions) in an area that is publicly visible. We will not publicly publish your personal contact information; we will remove personal information (except for usernames in URLs to your public profile) before publishing notices.
     
    Please also note that, although we will not publicly publish unredacted notices, we may provide a complete unredacted copy of any notices we receive directly to any party whose rights would be affected by it.
     
    C. Repeated Infringement
     
    It is the policy of JWTalk, in appropriate circumstances and in its sole discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may infringe upon the copyrights of others. We may also and at our sole discretion limit and/or terminate access to the Services of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.
     
    D. Submitting a Copyright Takedown Notice
     
    Filing a DMCA complaint is the start of a pre-defined legal process. Your complaint will be reviewed for accuracy, validity, and completeness. If your complaint has satisfied these requirements, we will take action on your request - which includes forwarding a full copy of your notice (including your name, address, phone and email address) to the user(s) who posted the allegedly infringing material in question. We Will Only Act on Claims That…
     
    1. Identify the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed. The specificity of your identification will depend on the nature of the work you believe has been infringed. If you have published your work, you might be able to just link back to a web page where it lives. If it is proprietary and not published, you might describe it and explain that it is proprietary. If you have registered it with the Copyright Office, you should include the registration number. If you are alleging that the hosted content is a direct, literal copy of your work, you can also just explain that fact.
     
    2. Identify the infringing material. It is important to be as specific as possible in your identification. This identification needs to be reasonably sufficient to permit JWTalk to locate the material on our website. At a minimum, this means that you should include the URL to the material allegedly infringing your copyright.
     
    3. Provide your contact information. Include your email address, name, telephone number and physical address.
     
    4. Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, or its agent, or the law.”
     
    5. Also include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner, or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”
     
    6. Include your signature. A physical or electronic signature (typing your full name will suffice) of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf.
     
    You may send your Copyright Takedown Notice to support@jwtalk.net and we will respond promptly.
     
    E. Requesting a Retraction
     
    If you believe that the materials reported in the copyright complaints were misidentified or removed in error, you may send us a counter-notification(s). A counter-notice is a request for JWTalk to reinstate the removed material, and it has legal consequences. Alternatively, you may be able to contact the reporter directly and ask for a retraction of the copyright complaint from. The reporter can send retractions to support@jwtalk.net and should include identification of the material that was disabled, and a statement that the reporter would like to retract their DMCA notice. This is the fastest and most efficient means of resolving an unresolved copyright complaint. A retraction is at the sole discretion of the original reporter.
     
    F. Submitting a Counter-Notice
     
    You may file a counter-notice if you believe that this material was misidentified, or you have a good faith belief that the material should not have been removed.  If you’re unsure whether or not you should file a counter-notice, you may want to consult with an attorney, because a counter-notice is a request for JWTalk to reinstate the removed material, and is the start of a legal process that has legal consequences.  Submitting a counter notice indicates that you consent to the jurisdiction of a U.S. Federal court and that you consent to the disclosure of your personal information to the reporter, who may use this information to sue you for copyright infringement in a court of law.
     
    If you receive a DMCA Takedown Notice for a copyright violation, we will send you a Private Message (PM) and an email detailing how to exercise these options if you disagree with us disabling the disputed content.
     
    Upon receipt of a valid counter-notice, we will promptly forward a copy to the person who filed the original notice. This means that the contact information that is submitted in your counter-notice will be shared to the person who filed the original notice. 
     
    If the copyright owner disagrees that the content was removed in error or misidentification, they may pursue legal action against you.  If we do not receive notice within 10-14 business days that the original reporter is seeking a court order to prevent further infringement of the material at issue, we may replace or cease disabling access to the material that was removed.
     
    We cannot offer any legal advice. Should you have questions, please consult an attorney.
     
     
     

    View full article

About JWTalk.net - Jehovah's Witnesses Online Community

Since 2006, JWTalk has proved to be a well-moderated online community for real Jehovah's Witnesses on the web. However, our community is not an official website of Jehovah's Witnesses. It is not endorsed, sponsored, or maintained by any legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses. We are a pro-JW community maintained by brothers and sisters around the world. We expect all community members to be active publishers in their congregations, therefore, please do not apply for membership if you are not currently one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

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