A couple of weeks ago Dream17 made the move to a brand new server. There were some kinks - there's an upper file limit of 50 MB per file so the larger files such as the Worms3D/Worms4 patches had to be split into multiple files then rejoined on the server. On the whole the move went rather well, and SupSuper used the moved as an opportunity to launch the new design we've been working on since the start of the new year.

The site kept going offline because of high bandwidth use in a short space of time - the 3D Worms games' patches. We made those patches unavailable from the site and everything seemed to be fine.

But then our hosts, Heart Internet, contacted Adam, the reseller who sold us the website and, as it happens, a good friend of mine. Apparently we've broken some copyright law by putting Team 17's Amiga back-catalogue up on the internet, so they have disabled the site until I get on the FTP and remove every single file that offends them. As we are clearly in breach of Copyright law, we have no choice but to comply.

http://www.benpaddon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/objection.gif

EVen before Dream17 first launched, I contacted Martyn Brown about the idea of us hosting the old Amiga games in ADF format and he didn't have any objections. I had to contact him again later on when we were in talks with the CAPS Project (now SPS) regarding hosting the IPF versions of the disk images. They wanted his blessing for that, and again Martyn gave us the green light. So we've had authorisation to host the files not once, but twice.

Naturally, I'm not going to take the files down.

But! Even in the face of the undeniable evidence they still say that we misled them into thinking that we had made the games and that also they are Freeware, which they're not. So we have to take them down. I have not once, either in correspondence or on the website, claimed that Team 17's games have become freeware or abandonware. We're just in a lucky enough position - as Back to the Roots was a few years ago, to have obtained permission to host the files.

But Heart doesn't care. They want the files gone or they're not reactivating the website.

I'm going to continue to fight this. Adam - the aforementioned reseller and friend - is also going to continue to fight this. The demand they are making is entirely... well, it's b*ll*cks. And to demand we take the files down anyway because we didn't make them is pretty golly gosh darned stupid of them. I'm not resting until this is resolved, which means sadly Dream17 is offline indefinitely.

I'll keep you lot updated as and when.

What do you suppose would happen if Team17 sent Heart an email explaining things?

I have passed on Martyn's email address to them in the hopes it will clear things up. I've been conversing with Martyn via email over the past couple o days about something unrelated, but I mentioned it in the last email I sent him a moment ago. We'll see what happens, I guess.

Conversation between Adam and I just a moment ago:

Adam says:
i've asked him what he would consider acceptable evidence that the files were authorised
Adam says:
reply: 'i once again request that the files be removed'
Ben / S2K says:
ON what grounds? He has no legal basis for this!
Adam says:
exactly
Ben / S2K says:
Ah, and now they've taken my blog down, too.
Adam says:
why?

Edit: My blog is working again.

* Adam emailed the company to say, in brief, “You’ve got no legal grounds to demand Ben removes the files, so put the site back up or we’ll take the legal action.”
* “Robert” at Heart says, “Remove the files.”
* Adam informs him that we can offer conclusive evidence that we have authorisation to host such files.
* “Robert” at Heart says, “Remove the files.”
* Adam says, “You didn’t answer my question.”
* “Robert” at Heart says it’s irrelevant as such files are against the Terms & Conditions of hosting.
* I ask “Why?”. Robert can’t actually hear me, and Adam says Heart refuses to speak to me because I am “just” the end-user. What a lovely company.
* Adam asks "Robert" to say what terms and conditions specifically have we broken.
* "Robert" at Heart refuses to say what they are. Possibly he has made up some new terms and conditions just to bugger us about a bit more.

Edit: My Dad has offered some good advice: "You should send letters to every gaming and PC magazine, every website that reviews games and your local TV and radio news and newspapers. I guarantee that if you get then story out there, someone will offer to host Dream 17 and you'll get tons of publicity."

So, if you read a gaming magazine that has a "Mailbox" or "Readers' Letters" page, find out the email address and pass it on to me. You can reach me by typing ben.paddon, followed by the curly "at" symbol, then typing gmail.com at the end.

Write to internet magazines as well. Can't hurt, and they'd be interested to know which web-hosts hate their customers for no given reason.

Why, the "user" column in my blog's PHP database has MYSTERIOUSLY VANISHED, thus preventing me from posting further details of the dispute with Heart, my faithful webhosts!

Do you have Retro Gamer?

Anyway, nice way of dodging spambots!

First you type retrogamer then the curly at sign, then imagine-publishing.co.uk



I also have the Nintendo magazine, but I doubt that they'd put anything non-Nintendo-related on. Even so, it's worth a try. Type onm then the at sign then futurenet.co.uk

Wait a second, Dream17 isn't offline :confused:

Yeah, it's back up.

ISOs and Patches taken down
Posted in Dream17 by Squirminator2k at 20/02/07 5:08pm GMT

The website was taken down by our new hosts. At first they told us that the ISOs and Worms patches were, in fact, illegal. Once we told them we had authorisation they then changed their tune and said that they contravene the Terms & Conditions of hosting. Which they do, if only because of the high demand for the files. Eep. Sadly we've had to take the ISOs and the Worms 3D/Worms 4 patches down.

So now we're going to start looking for (yet another) new host. We've had a couple of offers already, both are very good and we may well take them up. Apologies for the downtime and for the files we've had to remove, we'll try to get alternatives sorted out soonish.