Hey, Earl…

Takedown and abuse

Draft — not yet reviewed by a lawyer. This page is a working draft. The addresses on it are where reports go, and our designated agent below is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office (DMCA-1084237). The wording may still change before Earl takes its first paying customer.

Earl builds and hosts websites for small businesses. If a site on Earl is being used for something it should not be, tell us and we will look at it.

Report abuse

Write to abuse@hey-earl.com about any site on Earl (an address ending in hey-earl.site or sites.hey-earl.com, or a business's own domain that Earl hosts) that is:

  • phishing, or pretending to be another business, person or organization;
  • a scam, a fake shop, or fraud;
  • sexually explicit, or anything that sexualizes minors;
  • spreading malware, or attacking other systems;
  • harassing or threatening people, or otherwise illegal.

Please include the full address of the page, what is wrong with it, and how we can reach you. A screenshot helps. You do not need an account with Earl.

What we do. A person at Earl reads every report, usually within one business day. If a site has content the Terms of Service prohibit (section 6), we may take the change off the site, take the site offline, or close the account straight away, and we tell the site's owner why unless the law or someone's safety stops us. For content that is legal but we would rather not host, the owner gets 30 days' notice. We report child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as the law requires. We will tell you what we did if you ask, as far as we can.

If you think someone's account on Earl was taken over, say so in your report; we can put a site back the way it was and lock the account.

If you believe content on a site Earl hosts infringes a copyright you own or are authorized to act for, you can send a notice to our designated agent under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512).

Designated agent

  • David Hudlow
  • Hey Earl LLC, 4070 N Beltline Rd, Ste 152 PMB 1032, Irving, TX 75038
  • Email: dmca@hey-earl.com
  • Phone: (972) 679-5439
  • Copyright Office designation: DMCA-1084237

Your notice must include:

  1. Your physical or electronic signature, as the owner of the copyright or someone authorized to act for them.
  2. A description of the copyrighted work you believe is infringed.
  3. The address (URL) of each page with the material you want removed, and enough detail for us to find it.
  4. Your name, mailing address, telephone number and email address.
  5. A statement that you have a good faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
  6. A statement that the information in your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on their behalf.

When we receive a complete notice, we remove or disable the material promptly, tell the site's owner, and send them a copy of the notice.

Counter-notice. If your content was removed and you believe it was a mistake or misidentification, you can send our designated agent a counter-notice including: your physical or electronic signature; the material that was removed and where it appeared; a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief it was removed by mistake or misidentification; and your name, address and telephone number, with a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for your address (or, if you are outside the United States, any judicial district in which Earl may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the original notice. Unless that person tells us within 10 business days that they have gone to court, we put the material back between 10 and 14 business days after we receive your counter-notice.

Be accurate. Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), anyone who knowingly misrepresents that material is infringing, or that it was removed by mistake, can be liable for damages. If you are not sure, ask a lawyer first.

Repeat infringers. We close the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe others' copyrights.

Everything else

Trademark complaints, privacy requests and other legal matters: legal@hey-earl.com. About your own information: see our Privacy Policy.