So far, all the files for Famous For Retreating, When Five Tribes Go To War, and Green have been restored, and should now be downloadable again (touch wood - I haven't had time to test the links properly yet). I'm afraid the interface on Tindeck is very ugly and messy, but at least some access is now open again. You can access the new download pages the usual way, by going to http://dunshelmplayers.wordpress.com/.

Other old files will be restored over the next few days. There may be problems uploading some of the episode commentaries though, as I do not possess all of them, and at present, 4Shared will not allow me to access the 'quarantine' area they were moved to on their webspace for me to retrieve them. We'll see how that goes.

Work will soon resume on mixing Grey, although I am still awaiting some of the voice recordings for that.

I still plan to take legal action against LeakID - possibly also against 4Shared as they are not following the rules of their 'Safe Harbour' status - but we are now going to have to try and find another server that we can be confident won't cave in to copyright trolls.

Sadly, this looks like it could drag on for a long while.

At present, I am unaware of who has placed this request, although it looks like it is LeakID again. I am now considering whether to take full legal action against them.

Agreed. Also, watch out for snakes.

awaits a high five from Alex_Smith

Eeeeeeegah! high fives

awaits a high five from Alex_Smith

our service has been suspended with immediate effect.

As far as I know you are absolutely right that the commentary tracks are the furthest thing to a copyright breach. The former stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 set up a website a few years ago where they sell (amongst other things) comedy commentary tracks to popular movies. There's no actual material from the films included so they don't need to get permission, at least that is my understanding of it. The website is http://www.rifftrax.com - it's a commercial company. It is based in America of course, but they sell quite happily to the UK. Surely this can be cited as a precedence if you continue to have trouble with them?

DISCLAIMER: I am not an attorney, but aspire to be Alan Shore from Boston Legal a few years down the line. James Spader is the boss, yo.

Specifically, and very bizarrely, this DMCA has been placed on the Commentary Tracks recorded by Jake Collins, Rosey Collins, Andy Marshall, Ross Thompson, Ricky Temple and myself. Therefore, for the next few days it will not be possible to download any of TDP's material while I and the other members of the team decide how we should respond.

How LeakID have managed to conclude that the Commentaries have anything to do with themselves is quite beyond comprehension, as the Commentaries are in fact the material on the website that is furthest from breaching copyright; to the best of my knowledge, we have never breached copyright with any of our work, but the Commentaries don't even include sound effects or music in the mix, they're just recordings of a few KM fans talking about a TV show. LeakID is a company with a notorious history of filing triggerhappy false DMCA claims with numerous file-sharing websites.

As far as I can see, therefore, LeakID hath not a feather to fly with, and I expect to file a counter-claim with 4Shared to get the MP3's restored. However, I will not do so without firstly getting the approval of others involved, in case anyone has any objections in advance against getting dragged into any potential legal wranglings. Such concerns are entirely reasonable ones.

For now, the team must delay the launch of the next episode of The Techno-Colour Tales while we discuss our options. Any advice from others on this matter will be welcome and taken on board. We will keep the forum posted on developments.