Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Who is LeakID? Herve Lemaire?


 Sept 6th Update...well those DMCA takedowns have resulted in MF suspending my account.  bummer....

and I am not alone apparently
http://drugpunk.blogspot.com/2012/09/mediafire-can-fucking-suck-it.html 
http://contagiodump.blogspot.com/2012/09/contagio-file-downloads-are-not.html 


March 2015
some links for educational purposes...
 http://www.whoishostingthis.com/resources/student-dmca/
http://www.whoishostingthis.com/resources/student-copyright/

Sept 2013
http://microsoft-news.com/microsoft-ends-relationship-with-leakid-due-to-embarrassing-list-of-dmca-takedowns-sent-to-google/
______________________________________________________________

Sept 5th
WTF….
Mediafire has deleted ALOT of files by a complaint by this person…who I’m pretty sure does not own rights to all these albums by all these different bands.


At least one was a free bandcamp download...

(Sept 6th Update: I have since contacted that band and they have confirmed that LeakID/Herve Lemaire has does not have any copyrights on any of their material nor does LeakID/Herve Lemaire have any association with the band....oh ya, and they also thanked me for sharing their music)

(Sept 11th Update: another band who had two of their releases flagged and removed, sent me an email confirming that they also have no affiliation with LeakID/Herve Lemaire and asked me to continue to host/share their music.  They also thanked me for sharing their music).

 and one was CDR demo never commercially released.

Anyone who needs something uploaded again, please let me know. 

I see drugpunk had a similar thing...
http://drugpunk.blogspot.com/2012/08/in-interest-of-starting-dialogue-on.html 
and zenarcade
http://inthezenarcade.blogspot.com/2012/07/damned-music-industry-cartel-assholes.html 

If any band/artist/individual would like the link removed, please just email me.

Dear MediaFire User:
MediaFire has received notification under the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") that your usage of a file is allegedly infringing on the file creator's copyright protection. The file named XXXXXXX is identified by the key (wyk0q729rp4p9t1). As a result of this notice, pursuant to Section 512(c)(1)(C) of the DMCA, we have suspended access to the file. 

The reason for suspension was:
BDM user "lachandra" says: Hello, My Name is Hervé Lemaire , CEO of LeakID, I am legal representative of lemaire which does business under the name Metropolitan, Authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. You are hereby given notice valid under the DMCA copyright infringement notification requirements, 17 U.S.C.512. I am the designated agent of the owner of the copyrights of the images and audio/visual works listed below. I believe that the images and audio/visual works listed at the times cited below are being copied and distributed in a manner that has been not authorized by the owner of the copyrights, its agent or the law. All link below containing pirated versions of lemaire copyrighted works. The information in the notice is accurate, under penalty of perjury. Please remove all linksAs soon as possible, we will check them everyday. Thanks to inform us about y our actions. We appreciate your efforts toward this common goal. Very truly yours, Hervé Lemaire Leakid 15 bis rue de chateaudun 92250 La garenne colombes France 0033698211000 Contact lemaire La dame en noir - 

http://www.leakid.com/
https://twitter.com/leakid 





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55 comments:

  1. BruceXSeptember 5, 2012 at 5:30 PM

    hey man,i got the same warning,do not know who this guy is but i removed the problem,didn't know that fast diy hardcore bands are under some strange copyright protection :((((

    ReplyDelete
  2. ZenSeptember 5, 2012 at 11:18 PM

    This shit is so frustrating, I'm sorry to see it's happened to you as well. The Man is a real thing, and he's an asshole.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BruceXSeptember 6, 2012 at 5:29 AM

    a know a lot of blogs that went down because mediafire suspended their complete mediafire acc without an explanation,so this is maybe a progression but still it sucks,would love to see what bands think about it

    ReplyDelete
  4. heshterSeptember 6, 2012 at 7:44 AM

    Here's the bastard:
    http://fr.linkedin.com/in/hervelemaire

    ReplyDelete
  5. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 6, 2012 at 7:56 AM

    i'd understand if MF closed my account, but to see these takedown requests from a man/company who I'm sure has no copyrights on these bands. some are canadian, some american, some aussie. one was a free bandcamp download & another was a CDR demo. fuck him.

    ReplyDelete
  6. heshterSeptember 6, 2012 at 8:16 AM

    Judging by his resume, this prick is exactly the kind of corporate bean-counter that has been leeching off the artist and consumer for decades, thus driving the industry into the sorry state it's in now.
    Whereas superb blogs like yours here have been helping the artist and consumer no end, as we would've never heard of these bands otherwise.
    If you're reading this Lemaire: You should be ashamed of yourself and the damage you've contributed to "the industry", now piss off and get a proper job doing something creative.

    ReplyDelete
  7. BruceXSeptember 6, 2012 at 9:11 AM

    would love to talk in person with Herve,just to explain a couple of things

    ReplyDelete
  8. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 6, 2012 at 9:48 AM

    to him we are just stealing pirates. i've emailed a couple of these bands. just curious to hear their thoughts.

    ya his resume is pretty repulsive.

    ReplyDelete
  9. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 6, 2012 at 9:51 AM

    i know some people would roll their eyes...but i truly believe sharing music is loving music.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TerriSeptember 6, 2012 at 10:02 AM

      That Linked In profile seems like such a made up bunch of baloney meant to use scare tactics to make ppl stop sharing music. That photo of this dude even looks staged/fake. And from the utter randomness of the 'claims' made to the music we all have shared, it seems like whoever is behind this is not even owner of any of the copyrights. The file of mine recently complained about, much of it was songs not even on any album, and I also see here they are even laying claim to FREE songs from Band Camp. I think it's all fake & random & meant to scare us, but since the file sharing sites are taking this fool seriously, we are getting f*cked.

      Delete
  10. Henk MadrotterSeptember 6, 2012 at 9:52 AM

    i had a link removed today. a very obscure album that's decades old of a band from a label that are both defunkt for decades in a country where at the time artists didn't get royalties but got paid by the album, this french fascist internet-taliban piss-ant is laying claim to the most absurd stuff like adobe premier, best thing to do i think is everybody writing mediafire about this FRAUD imbecile, this guy is seriously on my shit-list now, looking at what ever options to expose this wart...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TerriSeptember 6, 2012 at 10:06 AM

      That is a great idea, we should start writing back to MF and complaining about this clown, it's not fair for MF to automatically suspend files that are not copyrighted, given away by the bands for free, or obviously NOT theirs to complain about. MF does not even ASK us if the facts are correct, they just suspend blindly.

      Delete
  11. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 6, 2012 at 10:35 AM

    well, Soupcans gave me their blessing to keep hosting the free bandcamp download. they have no association with this Lemaire fool nor does he own any rights to their songs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TerriSeptember 6, 2012 at 10:53 AM

      I definitely think the person's name, the LEAKID name, the twitter & lined in account, are all bogus & this is all someone/some people somewhere out there on a big trouble-making, spamming project. Quick & apropos read:
      http://allfreematerial.blogspot.com/2012/07/withdraw-of-4shared-recommendation.html

      Delete
    2. TerriSeptember 6, 2012 at 10:55 AM

      oops, LINKED IN ACCOUNT, not lined in account.

      Delete
  12. WizagoSeptember 6, 2012 at 12:17 PM

    As far as I can tell, Lemaire is a dummy front for some sort of "anti-piracy" pirates.

    While we have to start fighting back against these shitbirds, going to Mediafire doesn't seem to work. I filed a counterclaim with them when they torpedoed the Weird TV demo back in early August, and never heard back.

    Until we think of some way to fuck Lemaire as much as he/they/whatever is fucking us, I recommend using Zippyshare for future uploads. I haven't any problems, yet.

    ReplyDelete
  13. WizagoSeptember 6, 2012 at 12:21 PM

    While i'm on a roll, what really freaks me out about this is that the process is so much like an inquisition in the medieval sense of the term: a judicial process in which one can make an anonymous denunciation, and the accused never meets their accuser and instead has to answer charges without any idea of who lodged the complaint or why.

    In the same "WTF" bin, someone claiming to be 20th-century Fox lodged a complaint with Mediafire that resulted in them taking down the Yanka Dyagileva album I posted on Drug Punk. Dyagileva died in 1991 in Russian Siberia and the relevant album was never commercially released. Someone, somewhere, has figured out how to make a killing on takedowns.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TerriSeptember 6, 2012 at 12:46 PM

      Yeah it's really getting out of hand with the nonsense claims. If you've got nothing back from the sharing site, then I won't bother trying to log any complaints, pointless I guess. The sites may be so scared that they don't bother with verifying claims, they are covering their asses. Inquisition indeed.

      Delete
  14. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 6, 2012 at 12:37 PM

    It's so fucking frustrating. It's not like we are trying to rip off the artists...we are trying to help get these bands get exposure & a maybe a few more people at their shows & a few more people buying merch. I know some people don't see it that way.

    I'm all for fighting back.

    ReplyDelete
  15. El SekSeptember 6, 2012 at 1:19 PM

    I wanna hear the new Fag Cop LP :(

    ReplyDelete
  16. clazySeptember 6, 2012 at 3:15 PM

    From the LinkedIn page, it looks like Lemaire has some sort of search engine for identifying unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials. He seems to provide this service to the big media conglomerates, although it's odd that he has only one linked recommendation, but a bunch of unlinked praise. Is it real? Who knows. I don't know how he'd benefit from harassing uploaders unless he had clients.

    I don't know anything about search engine technology, so I can't say how feasible the concept is. But given the complaints here and elsewhere, his technology, which he calls Linksearch, is obviously not perfect. Worse still, Lemaire does not seem to put much, if any, effort into confirming the results generated by it. That isn't surprising. He pays no penalty for being wrong; why raise costs by to ensure he's right? He expects his victims to do that work, and if they don't have the resources to do it, then they don't have the resources to go after him, either.

    His behavior is immoral, but he can tell himself that he only registered a complaint. If anyone is wrongly banned, it's the file server who is at fault. He doesn't care about your wasted time and effort.

    This is a great business for Lemaire. Since he spends no effort confirming hits, his staff can be very small. His LinkedIn page puts his business into the category of 11-50 employees, but I wouldn't be surprised if the correct number is 2 or 3.

    Lemaire is selling his clients the idea that their losses are being reduced: "In most cases, this link is duplicated on a number of sites: 5 to 10 for a ‘local’ product, and 10 to 30 for an international product. The number of downloads is then proportionate to the amount of traffic. ... Therefore, whenever you close down a link, it is automatically deactivated on several sites at once."

    Every takedown Lemaire reports means more money in the bank for his clients, and they are willing to give him a cut. False hits that drive up his numbers are therefore in his interest as long as his clients don't know or don't believe the number of false hits is significant.

    So one thing you can do about this guy is inform his clients. First you'd have to contact him to ensure he actually is wrong, or at least make an effort to do so. If enough people complain, his clients might wonder whether they're being ripped off or having their name sullied. It probably wouldn't be too effective, but who knows. It only has to eat enough into his business that it becomes worthwhile to improve the quality of his product, i.e., harass fewer innocents.

    IANAL, but it's probably better simply to respond to MediaFire with a counterclaim. I'd copy it to Lemaire and insist that if he cannot provide specifics, then MediaFire have no reason act on his complaint -- for all they know, he's a fraud. I'd note that Lemaire made no attempt to contact me, and now that I've copied him, he has no excuse; and that there's no reason for him to put MediaFire's reputation in jeopardy when he need only show me that I've violated copyright, and if I agree, I'll happily take the file down myself.

    ReplyDelete
  17. BruceXSeptember 6, 2012 at 3:30 PM

    well i filled a counter claim and all i can do is wait,but if you guys have any suggestions about some other sites similar to mediafire just let me know?? what about rapidshare?4shared??

    ReplyDelete
  18. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 6, 2012 at 3:41 PM

    not music blog related but another victim as of today...
    http://contagiodump.blogspot.com/2012/09/contagio-file-downloads-are-not.html

    ReplyDelete
  19. clazySeptember 6, 2012 at 3:46 PM

    LeakID
    13, rue Greneta
    75003 PARIS
    Tel: +33950084207
    Mobile: +33620867619
    Mail: contact@leakid.com

    ReplyDelete
  20. WizagoSeptember 6, 2012 at 4:06 PM

    Zippyshare is what I'm using now, although I'm sure LeakID will be going after them soon.

    ReplyDelete
  21. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 6, 2012 at 4:40 PM

    contagiodump.blogspot.com posted a very interesting doc from a court case of warner vs hotfile. LeakID is identified in it as "one of Warner’s vendors, a French company
    called LeakID,..."

    http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/florida/flsdce/1:2011cv20427/373206/308/1.pdf?ts=1330606916

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TerriSeptember 6, 2012 at 6:37 PM

      I'm fairly sure docs that LOOK legal can be faked & posted as scare tactics, as is all this crap, pure scare tactics and the file sharing sites are running scared, SUCH A BUNCH OF CRAP SCARE TACTICS.

      Delete
  22. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 6, 2012 at 7:21 PM

    appears legit per some other news articles & at least hotfile appeared to fight the DMCA takedowns unlike mediafire/sendspace/4shared.

    http://torrentfreak.com/hotfile-sues-warner-bros-for-copyright-fraud-and-abuse-110913/

    http://torrentfreak.com/warner-bros-admits-sending-hotfile-false-takedown-requests-111109/

    ReplyDelete
  23. BruceXSeptember 7, 2012 at 8:05 AM

    okay this is fucking sad,they even block the download link of my band that has nothing to do with copyright stuff,what the fuck is going on and how can i explain that it's an selfrelease homemade cd?? if this is somekind of a malware or something it's doing a great job...one file was block yesterday,but today almost 20 filles,so tomorrow i'll probably get complete mediafire suspension,moving to hotfile now.If this continues i'm gonna put a note on my blog if someone wants something to download i'll send it but on e mail,the only thing they can do then is to erase complete blog or throw me in jail.

    ReplyDelete
  24. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 7, 2012 at 8:18 AM

    ya buddy. i'm sure your account will be locked/suspended today or tomorrow. it's a shame.

    i sent mediafire demanding they unlock my account so i can file counter claims but i doubt this is going anywhere.

    here's a good article (in french though) explaining how LeakID & their software works. Some screenshots of their scanning program are in there also.

    http://korben.info/leakid-la-solution-anti-direct-download.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TerriSeptember 7, 2012 at 8:39 AM

      Does anyone here use Dropbox to share stuff? My friend turned me on to it, but he is the only person I know who uses it & sends me stuff there. I think the sharers both have to have a Dropbox account but there also is a way to post a link for anyone to download, I THINK....I am not yet very familiar with Dropbox, but I do have & I believe they are not involved in any of this crap the cloud sharing sites are involved in.

      Delete
    2. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 7, 2012 at 9:21 AM

      haven't used dropbox. i'll look into it.

      Delete
  25. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 7, 2012 at 9:26 AM

    I’m thinking we need a very formal & very lawyer-y template for our counter claims on the DMCA takedown requests.
    Something similar to what this person had wrote…

    http://davishypnosis.com/Ascension_Hypnosis_Blog/first-dmca-counter-notice/

    ReplyDelete
  26. The PostmanSeptember 7, 2012 at 9:37 AM

    Thank God My Mediafire is untouched at the moment. My gut tells me that this will quickly blow over once these websites realize that Linkid is bullshit. I've always respected websites such as mediafire and I couldn't see them continuing to harass their users unlawfully like this. If I had to guess these websites might respond to complaints automatically and were not prepared for something such as linkid. Hopefully they will do the right thing!

    ReplyDelete
  27. clazySeptember 7, 2012 at 11:20 PM

    Be sure to submit your counterclaim. After they receive it, Lemaire has ten days to defend his own claim. If he does not, mediafire is free to unlock your files.

    ReplyDelete
  28. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 9, 2012 at 4:06 PM

    nice article by torrentfreak.com on the topic inspired by contagiodump.blogspot.co.uk's troubles.

    http://torrentfreak.com/should-bogus-copyright-takedown-senders-be-punished-120909/

    ReplyDelete
  29. VULTURESeptember 11, 2012 at 2:45 AM

    My media fire account has just been suspended because of a copyright complain by the same EMI leakid bastard. The album in question is my own god damn band. I don't deal in copyrights, how the fuck can my very own music be a copyright violation? I suspect his actions are very random.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 11, 2012 at 8:48 AM

      what the hell.. this has to stop.
      unreal. so sorry man.

      i believe this a program/bot that does this automatically based on keywords or other factors & then just fires out automatic takedown notices.

      Delete
  30. HammerSeptember 12, 2012 at 11:11 AM

    All you have to do is whittle down the main source by sending a complaint filed directly to MediaFire LLC. And, when you do that, do not contain any specific music album or a certain, sorted-out take-down: speak in general for the rest of the blogger.com community, and give examples from those fellow blogsters who had to bite the virtual bullet here with some (if not all), of their albums getting the lock down on them.

    This is just a tizzy after all: Collaborate, don't hate babes. The Blogosphere is being a bitch and that's understandable—the whole site is getting less hits per day and they're making less dosh than ever before.

    Best luck.

    H.H.

    ReplyDelete
  31. WizagoSeptember 12, 2012 at 3:57 PM

    Given how many typos, misspellings, and simple grammatical mistakes (leaving out definite and indefinite articles) in the initial copyright violation claim that Mediafire forwarded to me from Lemaire, and also that car commercials were attached to the takedown email, I'm pretty sure this is a bot. In any case, if Lemaire is legit, his/their proficiency in written English is so bad that the corporations employing him/them are dragging their own name through the mud (for those of us who still care about grammer, anyway).

    I'm also guessing that Mediafire, even if it does rescind its account suspensions, probably won't restore access to individual files.

    Zippyshare is the current go-to, it seems, but DropBox is worth checking out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TerriSeptember 13, 2012 at 8:45 AM

      Yeah I have a Dropbox account but am still not all that familiar with it....I know users share from box to box, but I am hoping there is also a way to provide a NON-account holder with a usable link. I still have not brushed up on this! If anyone here does, let me know!

      Delete
    2. TerriSeptember 13, 2012 at 3:35 PM

      YES you CAN share Dropbox links with those who are not Dropbox users :-D
      https://www.dropbox.com/help/20/en

      Delete
  32. iamtheleastmachiavellianSeptember 21, 2012 at 8:43 AM

    http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/reporters/830/

    ReplyDelete
  33. iamtheleastmachiavellianOctober 2, 2012 at 6:04 PM

    Oct 2nd update.

    Mediafire actually/finally responded to a complaint I made on Sept 6th citing the fraudulent claims.

    nice touch with the automated response. I can see they care.
    ___________

    Hello,

    Thank you for contacting MediaFire.

    The account is permanently suspended due to a Terms of Service violation.

    We appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

    Sincerely,

    Charlie

    ReplyDelete
  34. RamesesIIOctober 8, 2012 at 2:00 PM

    He's just attacked my blog at

    axisjimi.blogspot.com

    Had around 80 links removed since yesterday. I've filed an immediate counter claim through Hotfile. Their policy is to re-instate the links if no legal action is taken against me within 15 days and he has to produce proof to them that he has done so. I've put my neck on the block although I agree that he's a fraud.

    If anyone was upset by my blog which has no official releases on it then it would be the Hendrix Estate and he most certainly does not represent them.

    He's gone for the wrong blog this time - I've spent years working in various legal offices and I know my way around the court system. If he's stupid enough to file an action against me he'll find he has a fight on his hands.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. iamtheleastmachiavellianOctober 8, 2012 at 2:24 PM

      totally sucks, dude.
      let me know how this goes. good luck.
      keep up the good fight.

      Delete
    2. RamesesIIOctober 9, 2012 at 7:07 AM

      Just received this reply from Hotfile replying to my email to them about Monsieur Lemaire

      Thank you for contacting us. Our system is automatic and since you've filled the counter notice form, your counter notices are already sent.

      Yes, if there is no response within 15 days, your files will be reinstated automatically.

      Regards,
      Hotfile Abuse Department

      Looks hopeful. I'll wait and see if any court proceedings are issued. I somehow doubt it.

      No more files deleted today. In the interim I'm uploading the files for the dead links to Rapid Share. No problems so far with them.

      Delete
  35. iamtheleastmachiavellianOctober 9, 2012 at 8:28 AM

    Nice to know that hotfile actually seems to care about its users unlike mediafire. Mediafire closed my account so quickly I couldn’t even file counter-claim & then refused to re-open so that I could file counter-claims.

    ReplyDelete
  36. RamesesIIOctober 9, 2012 at 10:53 AM

    I'll need to wait 15 days to see if this guy does try anything. If he doesn't - and if he has no grounds and no authority he can't - what he doesn't realise is that I lived in France for many years and still have a house there. I will be going over in a few weeks and will collect all the info on him that I can find. I'll pop into the local Gendarmerie and make a complaint against him for fraud. Let's see how he likes it.

    Should all this run smoothly over the next couple of weeks I'll contact all the file downloading sites - including Mediafire - and send them an update. Should help anyone who wants their account reinstated.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Henk MadrotterOctober 20, 2012 at 10:53 AM

    That's great Ramesesll, I hope you can trash this fraud, I had another link removed today because of this A-hole, a cassette that so obscure it's just ridiculous....

    ReplyDelete
  38. RamesesIIOctober 31, 2012 at 8:31 AM

    Just got back from France. This guy is definitely a fraud. As he did not try to get any money unfortunately there isn't a lot I can do in France which is a real shame although I did make a complaint about him. Anyway my Hotfile links are all restored since I made the counterclaim.

    I will send a message to Mediafire and hope that helps. In the meantime this is how you can protect your links. He has a robot which can only access them if there is no captcha - then he sends the DMCA complaint about them. I don't think he even knows what the links are for - he seems to send a complaint for all links he finds.

    You will need to use lix in which is free. Go to

    lix.in

    In the box copy in the URL for your file - take off the s at the end of https if there is an s. Then click Captcha Off under the box and make sure it reads Captcha On. Click Protect Link and you will get a lix in protection link for your file.

    Don't forget to tell everyone in your posts to click on continue not on download once they have clicked on the link. When they click through if they can't read the captcha - it's sometimes difficult - they will need to keep clicking on continue until they can read the three large dark letters clearly.

    I will now contact Mediafire and tell them he is a complete fraud and they should restore links and all accounts they have suspended. I was lucky that Hotfile are good and don't have a three complaints policy.

    To protect another file click lix.in under the box on the left and you can start again.

    For the captcha once you've downloaded once it seems to knock off the others during that sesssion which is OK as the robot won't try be able to see even one. So if you want to make sure that your captchas work don't only click through to lix in not right through to the files using the captcha. Hope this all makes sense.

    ReplyDelete
  39. iamtheleastmachiavellianNovember 1, 2012 at 8:14 AM

    thank you so much for the update.
    very impressed that hotfile restored all your links. nice to know that they actually care.

    fuck mediafire.

    i will certainly look at employing link protection.

    thanks again. very cool!

    ReplyDelete
  40. iamtheleastmachiavellianNovember 6, 2012 at 3:30 PM

    great article on leakid from techdirt.

    http://www.techdirt.com/blog/?company=leakid

    ReplyDelete
  41. FuseRedDecember 2, 2012 at 10:28 PM

    he also got mediafire to take down a bootleg of a BBC session by Dillinger 4 - although clearly acting for no-one involved

    ironically looking up this human turd has meant I have found your blog though ;)

    opening a new door on new music for me, cheers

    FuseRed
    - http://subcultatlas.blogspot.com
    - http://radiosessions.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  42. iamtheleastmachiavellianDecember 3, 2012 at 12:56 PM

    awesome. welcome!

    ReplyDelete

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