(Crypto) Punk's Not Dead Legal F.A.Q. & Updates

Quick Update (April, 29th 2023) - Thanks to Github Support (and the Trust & Security Team) for accepting (and publishing) the dmca counter notice and for restoring the 10 taken-down repos.

Quick Update (May, 9th 2023) - Thanks again to Github Support (and the Trust & Security Team) for reenabling the .github repo for deletion (that included a single profile/README.md page) to (re)start from scratch at a later time.

Note: No news on reddit - nada, zero, zilch - I have to assume that the reddit forum is lost forever (because of "More Punks" claiming harassment on my reporting caused by the "More Punks" dmca take downs). I try to update the timeline here over the next weeks...

One lesson from the call for help & support... nobody cares anyway and - what surprise - I am on my own. Anyways, I keep talking to myself over here...

UNDER ATTACK

[GitHub] Repository unavailable due to DMCA takedown.

This repository is currently disabled due to a DMCA takedown notice. We have disabled public access to the repository. The notice has been publicly posted.

o o o

This [GitHub] repository has been disabled.

Access to this repository has been disabled by GitHub Staff due to a violation of GitHub's terms of service. Contact Support for more information or to request a review of this decision.

o o o

This [Reddit] community has been banned.

This subreddit was banned due to a violation of Reddit's content policy against harassing content.

Note: As far as I can tell this absurdity is all caused (and driven) by "More Punks". Thus, the big question Who's the "More Punks" Crypto Bro?.

[Editor's Note: Github Support requested the removal of the "Who's the "More Punks" Crypto Bro?" page saying "it violates our Doxxing and Invasion of Privacy policy" - the page only highlighted public information about the "More Punks" online presence (OpenSea, etc.) - to stop the absurdity I deleted the page - no questions asked].

Since Febuary 14th, 2023 the (crypto) punk's not dead org (& repos) are under attack.

I (Gerald Bauer) am the founder / admin / maintainer of the org and try to document the abuse and absurdity.

Note: I counter-filed to the dcma take-down on February 24th, 2023, see 2023-02-24-morepunks-dmca-counter-notice.md

Note: I documentend and posted the call to help first to r/CryptoPunksDev (where I am the founder / mod of the subreddit) and the subreddit got banned (closed-down without notice) on February 28th, 2023 - I assume for a post where I ask for help, that is, "Please, Help - Who Is The Crypto Bro (Or Who Are The Buy-Out Investor(s)) Behind the Anonymous (1000) More Punks Operation - Any Tips & (Inside) Information Welcome" Believe it or not - the anoynmous crypto bro(s) behind "More Punks" claim a violation of Reddit's content policy against harassing content and delete a forum with hundreds of posts and a 3-year-history without any notice. Absurd?

Note: I sent a ban appeal to r/reddit.com on Feburary 28th, 2023 (and ten days later still waiting... for any sign of help on what's going on).

I document and posted the call for help here on the org readme via /.github and - believe it or not - the crypto bro(s) attacker(s) filed a term-of-service violation to follow-up on the take down and now the readme page is "disabled" - see /.github. Absurd?

I opened a ticket for a review of the term-of-service violation on github on February 23rd, 2023.

So far zero response via the official support channels from github and reddit and no emails (or postal mail) from the lawyer(s) from the crypto bro(s) attacking or the crypto bro(s) themselves even github policy states that the first step (even before filing a dmca take down or term-of-service violation) is asking my humble self first. I am "doxxed" and easy to contact.

Timeline

February 14th, 2023 - DMCA Notice Filing

See 2023-02-14-morepunks-dmca.md

February 14th, 2023 - GitHub Support DMCA Take Down Emails

I (Gerald Bauer) get first noticed by email about the dmca take down abuse by (automated) github support emails.

See 2023-02-14-emails-github-support-dmca-takedown.md

February 22nd, 2023 - cryptopunksnotdead/.github Term-Of-Service Violation (And Repo Disabled)

see 2023-02-22-emails-github-support-dmca-takedown.md

February 23rd, 2023 - Opened Term-Of-Service Review Ticket / Issue on GitHub Support

see 2023-02-23-github-support-ticket-tos-review.md

February 24th, 2023 - DMCA Counter-Notice Filing

see 2023-02-24-morepunks-dmca-counter-notice.md

Full Text (Inline)

I (Gerald Bauer) filed / submitted an (online) counter notice today (Fri, Feb 24th, 2023) via the GitHub Counter Notice form (service). For the record the filing reads:

Q: Please describe the nature of your content ownership or authorization to act on the owner's behalf.

I (Gerald Bauer) am the founder / maintainer / "owner" of the cryptopunksnotdead (Punk's Not Dead) github org and I am a 50-year old open source code & data programmer from Austria (near Vienna). I committed (via git) all content to the punk's not dead repos (as recorded on github / git in the history / log).

Q: What files were taken down? Please provide URLs for each file, or if the entire repository, the repository’s URL.

Ten (10) repositories from the cryptopunksnotdead org have been taken down, that is,

1. https://github.com/cryptopunksnotdead/punks.design
2. https://github.com/cryptopunksnotdead/punks.blocks
3. https://github.com/cryptopunksnotdead/punks.spritesheet
4. https://github.com/cryptopunksnotdead/cryptopunks
5. https://github.com/cryptopunksnotdead/awesome-cryptopunks-bubble
6. https://github.com/cryptopunksnotdead/awesome-24px
7. https://github.com/cryptopunksnotdead/programming-cryptopunks
8. https://github.com/cryptopunksnotdead/lets-go-programming-cryptopunks
9. https://github.com/cryptopunksnotdead/punks.black
10. https://github.com/cryptopunksnotdead/punks.attributes

see https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2023/02/2023-02-14-morepunks.md for the take down file for the complete list (incl. forks).

Q: Do you want to make changes to your repository or do you want to dispute the notice?

Dispute the notice.

Q: Is there anything else you think we should know about why you believe the material was removed as a result of a mistake?

First there's no copy - the images are all original, that is, they are all new computer-generated (pixel art) images in the tiny 24 by 24 pixel (24x24px) format by myself (that is, nothing has been copied from opensea.io/collection/morepunks - for example, an official more punks "original" punk image is 1200x1200px with gray-ish background).

One way to see if there's a duplicate (of the images referenced via "1000 More Punks" crypto (non-fungible) tokens) is to generate a hash digest / fingerprint (md5, sha256) from the "official" images files and than proof that there are no duplicates / no matching digests / fingerprints.

Most repos in the take down request / file are awesome readmes, that is, history notes / documentation with images (falling under fair use¹) or programming step-by-step tutorials / guides for learning & education (falling under fair use¹).

¹: even if the asserted / false claim of copyright would be taken into consideration.

A note about the 24 by 24 pixel (24x24px) size. If you take a low-resolution of 300 dpi (dot - that is, pixel - per inch) you get a square size of for 24x24px of 0.8 inch by 0.8 inch (or 0.2cm x 0.2cm).

For a high-resolution of 600 dpi you get a square size of 0.4 inch by 0.4 inch (or 0.1cm x 0.1cm).

Claiming the copyright to such tiny computer-genrated images might actually be a fraud (if you consider that 1000 More Punks is selling token claiming "ownership" to the images or such).

To add to the absurdity the "1000 More Punks" take down filer hasn't invented the 24x24px pixel head style and most images such as pixel zombies or pixel alien or pixel humans (male / female) are copies of other (pixel art) collections and if the claim holds for "1000 More Punks" to "own" 24x24 pixel orcs or demons than in the same way you can claim that someone "owns" the copyright to a pixel zombie or alien in 24x24px - and, thus, the (1000) More Punks collection needs to get taken down.

To conclude: In the current legal public research / discussion it is up for debate if you can claim or protect 24x24 (8-bit) pixel art (computer-generated) images and claiming all rights to all pixel demons, vampires or orcs in 24x24px for all-time by simply - as in this case - uploading an image as an anonymous (More Punks) user. It is questionable and for the court (legal copyright scholars) to decide and even a fraud (like uploading / minting a solid color (block) to the blockchain and than claiming to "own" the (sole / exclusive) copyright to the color for all sizes and images etc.).

Let me quote / hightlight two public legal opinions on 24x24 pixel art in the "punk" portrait head style:

Intellectual property attorneys from Los Angeles:

In creating the [Matt & John's®] punks, Larva Labs' [Matt Hall & John Watkinson] established 98 individual graphic elements in 8-bit-style pixel art [in a 24x24 canvas]. Then they ran a software program to randomly generate the images that would become the individual [Matt & John's®] punks. Each punk is just a machine-generated amalgamation of certain individual elements. Few, if any, of the individual pixel art elements contain sufficient creative expression to qualify as being copyrightable. Randomly mixing uncopyrightable elements does not necessarily create copyrightable expression, particularly without human involvement.

[..]

Are Matt & John's® punks copyrighted [or in the public domain]? It's an open question - one that probably would require a court to decide. [...] Larva/Yuga Labs probably don't want a court making that determination for them.

Or the the research paper titled Are Cryptopunks [that is, Computer-Generated Pixel Art Heads in 24x24px] Copyrightable? [Hint: No] (PDF Download ~7.5MB), by Brian L. Frye ( University of Kentucky - College of Law), 21-pages (via SSRN) see https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4029323

February 28th, 2023 - r/CryptoPunksDev Banned

February 28th, 2023 - Sent Ban Appeal (r/CryptoPunksDev) to r/Reddit.com

See 2023-02-28-reddit-ban-appeal.md

Full Text (Inline)

I am new to report abuse by anonymous crypto bros followed by a complete ban (without any notice) on r/CryptoPunksDev

Today I "filed" a Subreddit Ban Appeal - that is, sending a direct message to r/reddit.com (that is what the mods on r/modsupport are telling me is the proper channel / way). The text reads:

Hello,

I found out today (February, 28th 2023) by surprise without any notice that r/CryptoPunksDev is blocked / shutdown with "This community has been banned" saying:

This subreddit was banned due to a violation of Reddit's content policy against harassing content.

Banned 3 hours ago.

I (Gerald Bauer, from Austria with a nine-year club and verified-email user reddit account) am the founder / mod of this r/CryptoPunksDev forum/subreddit on reddit with a 3 year or more history and hundreds of posts.

Note: The r/CryptoPunksDev is an education initiative to help with warning about crypto fraud / scams (and, thus, some might be unhappy like the anonymous crypto brother filing the harassment report abuse).

I got hit on the big or little sister site on github (https://github.com/cryptopunksnotdead) with a take down filed by "More Punks" about a week ago (and I posted on this reddit for updates) and I counter filed on github on Friday, February 24th last-week with a copy posted on this reddit again for updates).

Anyways, please help how I can proceed to get the forum unbanned or what steps I can do next or if you need more info. If you think a post is in appropriate, please delete the post (or tell me to delete the post if that is possible).

Thanks you for your understanding and any help. Looking forward to your response.

Gerald Bauer

PS: The verified email is gerald.bauer @ gmail.com

---

So far I got - Your message has been delivered.

What's News? Any Updates?

April 2023

No news on reddit I sent two more "modmails" asking for help to unban or any comment or such. Nil. Nada. See reddit.md.

On github: I got a response to confirm if I want to get the counter notice processing get started. I confirmed, please do. Now I am waiting and waiting... and if I ask or send new info ... I get we are reviewing your notice ...

Mirrors / Backups

Note: A backup mirror of the taken down (crypto) punk's not dead repos is now live @ gitlab.com/cryptopunksnotdead.

Legal & Financial (Con-Art) Fraud F.A.Q.

...

Questions? Comments?

Post them over at the Help & Support page. Thanks.