November 22, 2024
OceanofPDF is one of the most notorious digital ebook piracy sites. It has been active and on the Authors Guild radar for quite some time and has been taken offline on a few occasions. Despite the Authors Guild’s and publishers’ attempts to enforce copyright, including by alerting copyright enforcement authorities, the site is able to get back online by acquiring new hosts and services providers.
Some authors have responded to seeing their books on the site by sending DMCA takedown notices; however, this is not effective as the site’s operators load the books and other content themselves, with the express goal of distribute illegal content. The DMCA take down provisions apply only to internet service providers when third parties commit copyright infringement on their site without the provider’s knowledge. In addition to being ineffectual, takedown notices sent directly to pirate sites could compromise personal information by making it visible to pirate site operators.
Instead of sending a DMCA takedown notice to OceanofPDF, we suggest authors should send notices to the site’s hosting service provider and intermediary services providers.
Information about any website’s domain registrar and host can be obtained by typing the site’s URL in a “Whois” search engine, such as Godaddy’s search. Often, the hosting service provider may not appear in the Whois results due to the site’s use of blockers. In that case, sending a takedown notice to intermediary services providers, such as registrars and DNS service providers, is the only option. Some of these intermediary services providers will reveal the hosting service in response to a notice.
The contact information for OceanofPDF’s current host and intermediary services providers is below. Since the current host is known, it is most important to send a notice to it, but we still recommend sending notices to the intermediary services providers so they too are notice of providing access services to a pirate site.
VSYS (Hosting Service): A hosting service provider is a company that rents out server space and infrastructure to store a website’s files and make them accessible on the internet. They maintain the physical servers, network connections, and technical systems needed to keep the website running and available to visitors. OceanofPDF’s current host is VSYS—a Ukraine-based company with servers in the US. We have notified this company that they are providing hosting services to a pirate site in violation of U.S. copyright laws. We ask that you also send a complaint to them by emailing abuse@v-sys.org. You can use our takedown notice template to send in your complaint.
Namecheap (Domain Name Provider/Registrar): A domain name provider (or domain registrar) is a company that sells and manages domain names—the web addresses that people type into browsers to visit websites (like google.com or amazon.com). While these intermediary services don’t host the actual content, they provide access services to the site. Authors can send a takedown notice to OceanofPDF’s current domain registrar Namecheap by emailing abuse@namecheap.com.
Cloudflare (DNS Services Provider): A DNS services provider directs users to the website by translating the URL of the site to the IP address. DNS services providers can also offer anonymity by masking the location of the site and other information like its hosting provider. Authors can send a complaint to OceanofPDF’s current DNS service provider Cloudflare by using the DMCA form here: https://abuse.cloudflare.com/dmca
Combating sites like OceanofPDF requires persistent, strategic efforts from authors, publishers, and legal authorities. While their complete elimination remains challenging, consistent reporting does put pressure on intermediary services providers to take action. Moreover, these services providers may also be legally obligated to revoke access to services.
The Authors Guild is continuously working to target notorious ebook piracy sites and has been advocating for legal reforms requiring greater action from internet platforms. You can read more about our work against piracy here.
