Some popular artists also faced copyright problems last month, such as an Indian artist who only uploads covers of various hit songs and recently received a copyright strike/request for the use of copyrighted material. He then began receiving messages on his Telegram account, a WhatsApp number belonging to his manager, and demands for the payment of ransom in Bitcoin.
Another recent case involved an Arab travel and food blogger who was threatened over the violation of travel brands’ copyrights about the views of such brands contained in his videos. The hacker reportedly employed the use of AI to make over twenty false reports claiming that twenty different videos contained a brand logo or a reference to it.
A legal team wrote to Meta but it took three days to regain the personal account, and the hacker/s had already attacked other social media accounts of the person and that account holder by a total loss of nearly a million followers.
“Hackers are always in touch for inventing extortion methods whether it is by ransomware AI or deep fake cloning they have enhanced themselves in the last four years and are now embracing AI and deep fake cloning to infringe on copyright materials and targeting social media influencers and celebrities,” Ayub a Dubai based cybersecurity expert and managing director at Rayad group stated to the press.
“Using copyright takedown of corporations, influencers, and celebrities in the Middle East by hackers is not new,” noted Ayub, adding: “This trend began in 2020 but now, the hackers have resorted to professionally developed tools such as artificial intelligence to spot their prey.”
For instance, the reason given was that the Indian artist did not own the copyright of the song which was allegedly violated by the music channel Hence, performers including the Indian artist do not have the rights to the lyrics, the music, or both for a certain song at one point are allowed to perform, but they cannot record, and upload on the Social Media platforms, said Ayub.
“The hackers allegedly employed a strong A I propelled system which gives a heads up on the slightest infringement and they leveraged this to demand for a ransom decide the timing of the strike was very strategic as the said artist recently performed at a wedding in Mumbai,” Ayub added.
Report violation immediately
Now, coming to the more recent regular Pakistani musical composer, singer, and lyricist Mustafa Zahid, who claims to have five million followers on Spotify, his piece of advice to his fellow musicians as well as media persons was to make sure that they get their copyright registered and get help from companies that register the copyrights. He also said that knowing from his own experience, any infringement has to be reported on the spot.
Ayub said: “We should realize that hackers are searching for loopholes in your posts. With deepfake/cloning posts, hackers make seemingly legitimate claims of copyright infringement in your social media profiles. So, it is very crucial to be ready for any cyber assault. Hard prevention and adherence of copyright – with self-policing of your posts – is most important in safeguarding from hackers.”
Get legal advice
An Emirati lawyer Khalifa Abdulla Bin Huwaidan Al Ketbi stated: “Companies, content creators, and influencers should make sure that they talk to lawyers and protect their rights and register for the copyrights of their product as soon as possible.”
He also advised victims or anybody to desist from engaging in any unlawful process in UAE which includes, paying the cyber ransom in cash or in bitcoins to the hackers.
“It would also be helpful to partner with copyright protection allies to monitor and enforce the copyright,” added Ayub, noting: “ seriousness of legitimate agencies which have technical and legal knowledge of monitoring and protection of the works all across the world and they are in the process of revolutionizing the content protection.”
Ayub continued: “An experienced intellectual property lawyer can best advise the next step to be taken legally wise, they can make sure you are protected, evaluate the level of the infringement, and guide you through the process.”
The other option is to seek the services of a genuine copyright infringement detection firm that deals with the monitoring of the online platforms for any violation of copyright select images has to offer, there are online image monitoring tools that the said firms can help in the detection of the cases of infringement as well as help in the process of notifying the violators, they are with the help of the copyright infringement notification process.
Another method of safeguarding the copyright
Ayub said it is right for content creators or companies to employ measures such as placing watermarks on images or videos; embedding metadata on the data, and passing on information to the customers/followers on copyright and licensing agreements to avoid the vice.
“This can be as simple as stating ‘Copyright Notice: This profile and everything posted in this profile is a copyright of its holder. Any use of our content for reproduction, distribution, or any other use, without express permission is strictly prohibited,” he said.
“The knowledge enlightens creators on how to protect their work, the usage of ‘Fair Use’ and valid registration of images/videos/content for legal acknowledgment,” Ayub said.
He said another good practice is that if one has created material that has been violated, one can give a DMCA, a takedown notice, especially to online platforms hosting the violated content. This legal letter alerts the platform of copyright infringement and demands the latter to take down the unlawful contents.
Ayub reiterated that copyright protection is a very important primary need and necessity for any influencer, company, or brand that wants to succeed on the digital platform.
“With the growing vigorous online environment of untraceability and uniqueness enhanced by stringent adherence to the principles of honesty and respect for other people’s property coupled with the new concept of ownership lines becoming fused particularly with the ease with which information can be relayed, it is important to embrace and understand the principles of copyright,” he said.
Dubai prosecutor calls for special court for cybercrime amidst concerns of rise in online scams
Meanwhile, any copyright violation can be reported to Meta and YouTube by sending an email to: ; (Facebook) [support@fb.com; (Instagram) support
