On Wed, Aug 30, 2000 at 04:33:04PM -0400, David Honig wrote:
>
> At 04:09 PM 8/30/00 -0400, Greg Newby wrote:
> >I was forced to remove my copy of the DeCSS code this spring by UNC as
> >a result of a complaint by the MPAA.
> >
> >Now, the MPAA is trying to force me to remove a LINK to the code from
> >my class page. This is enough to make me want to throw up.
>
> First, You have the right to contest any copyright infringement they
> allege to your ISP (UNC in this case). Second, linking isn't copyright
> infringement.
Rights, shmrights. The deal I got from UNC last time was to take down
the code, or they would take it down or block network access to the
machine. (It was on a departmental server.)
No negotiation ("read my lips.")
(Tangent: In February/March I sent inquiries to several well-known
ISPs and dedicated hosting services, including co-location services.
None answered my question as to whether they would host my class
pages, given the MPAA's complaint. So much for the free market.)
> Post/Link to files named DeCSS but not containing the code they're
> concerned with.
Doesn't matter if the real link is in there....I could lie, but the
MPAA seems to have lots of time/money to devote to reading people's
links.
> or confuse them:
>
> Post DeCSS under a different file name, possibly changing the .zip
> to avoid recognition by filesize. Include enough text on your page
> to help the search engines. (will the next MPAA target be search
> engines, which will be prohibited from indexing DeCSS?)
What I'll be doing is posting the code via dox or another similar
tool that renders it into winnow+chaff or plain speech.
> Of course your UNC sysops will not be amused, unless they are
> sympathetic, and you may need to terminate your UNC-based crusade
> to keep from annoying them excessively, or spending too much of your time
> explaining the law (and its abusers) to the university legal staff. There
> are plenty of other hosting sites, and universities are soft targets.
The thing is, universities *should* be hard targets. Under the 11th,
suing a state (UNC, remember?) can be hard... and the state has
conceivably as much money as the MPAA (i.e., an infinite amount).
Plus, universities should be standing up for this type of thing.
But UNC will probably roll over, again, on top of me (no vaseline,
sorry).
-- Greg
