The Dan Zarrella Experience
Once again my lack of foresight when dealing with the unscrupulous has come back to haunt me.
I noticed on a random google search that my old web host, Dan Zarrella, who locked me out of my own website, T-Rage! has now removed my name from all of my material, and expunged any reference to me from the site. All of the content is mine, mind you.
And this after I had made every effort, once he lost interest in the site, to have the url transfered to me. I offered to pay for the url, in fact, when it became clear his Boston Web Properties concept was bust.
The good news—if there is any here—is that I have talked to a lawyer friend of mine who says that, having signed a contract with Dan that specifies my ownership of all material on the site, I have a basis for legal action against him.
It would be a shame to have to go there, but I will. It really is the principle of the thing more than anything.
Possibly dumb question, but what's to stop you from just going to the old site, copying the source code and then editing out the HTML? Bit of a pain, and not nearly as satisfying, but wouldn't the end result be the same?
Reply to this
Unless I'm misunderstanding the way it works, I need access to the site before I can get at the source code, and Dan long ago changed the password so that I could not get at it. If I'm wrong about this, and there is a way to do it, point me in the right direction. I'd be thrilled to know, and happy to take the time to retrieve my material, so it can at least be properly attributed to me.
It's not that we're dealing with literary masterworks here, it's just my stuff. Frankly I'm baffled as to what Dan has to gain by taking my name off of it. Or keeping the site up at all. There's no advertising on it. I don't think there's any money to be made on it at this point. ...
Reply to this
Ah! Yeah, if you want the original material exported in some way that's easy to import into another blog, then, yes, you're right.
Reply to this
If you own the copyright, why not use the DMCA?
Reply to this
Try "self centered prick" as the password and see what happens.
Reply to this
Sue him. Sue him long; sue him hard; sue him until he thinks that the Suffolk County Courthouse is his second home. Bankrupt the litte prick.
Reply to this
Mike,
You do own the content, but you gave me exclusive weblogging rights to it. So, if you want it, you can have it. And since the 30 day exclusivity clause has expired you can even republish it online; i have absolutely no problem with that.
If I removed your name, that was an inadvertant attempt to fix the template problems that arose right before you stopped writing on it, and absolutely not an attempt to expunge you from the site.
Reply to this