Blizzard Gets DMCA Smackdown From Sony

tdye writes: "Blizzard has apparently released an internal memo banning P2P software inside the company. They've been served by Sony with a DMCA note, based on rampant music sharing inside Blizzard. I guess what goes around, comes around! You can see it on Declan McCullagh's PoliTech website."

Comments

This isn't a good thing..

[TeraCo]

If they can do this to blizzard, they can do this to your company too..

Surely we aren't all too busy gloating over blizzard being crucified that we've forgotten this fact..

One has to wonder...

[anotherone]

Did Sony actually know that Blizzard had this sort of thing going on, or do they just send letters like this out to every High Tech company under the theory that they've all probably got something going on?

Re:What goes around comes around....

[Anonymous Coward]

Company sponsered? Not quite, but we did have an "IT department internal use only" 20 GB mp3 server and another 20BG box just for videos and south park episodes at one time. We would still have them too, but we were using SNAP servers and they just plain died after a while. Both boxes, capoot! Thank god for backups ;-)

Re:The Email Itself

[tps12]

The lawyers could argue that it is kind of an admission of guilt.

IANAL, but it seems to me that that would be circumstancial evidence at best, and not damning except as part of a bunch of other similar "evidence." Definitely not a smoking gun, IAC.

If it were an admission of guilt, there'd be a catch-22 situation, whereby a company is either guilty of tacitly condoning P2P sharing, or they are admitting guilt by explicitly banning such activity.

Mole?

[weepingwillow]

What do you want to bet that a OSS fan in side the company tiped sony off?

Bwahahaha!

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to work at Sony Pictures Entertainment as a Systems Analyst (and you're gonna have to take my word for it, I'm staying Anonymous!)

What's funny is that EVERYONE has AT LEAST one P2P application installed on their PCs... Sony Music included!!!

Let's see how long until they get seerved

I wonder

[geekoid]

what happens when all software that would allow file sharing between computer is removed.
I'm sorry boss, I can't connect to the computer to get that file.
all the ftp and telnet servers have been deleted. talk to sony.

Common from Sony

[AKAJack]

Sony has contracted with a third party to spider the web looking for Sony music on P2P networks and then a form letter is generated with the IP address and any other info they can get, and sent to the domain contact name.

I had to do a search and destroy on one of these memos a few months back. But basically what we got just said to remove the offending material, go forth, and sin no more.

Maybe this is something different, dunno.

What this means

[The Bungi]

Together with the previous story posted here about the RIAA hitting that consulting firm with a $1M settlement, I see Bad Things (TM) happening.

The first of course, is that regardless of whether or not a company has a blatant-ly piratic MP3 server the typical corporate knee-jerk reaction is going to be "no MP3's". Whatsoever. Forget about P2P, forget about actual piratical behavior (whatever that means). Nope, those MP3s on my hard disk from CD's I own that I listen to all day so as to not go mad? Can't have those, mister. Because they're MP3s. You think we're going to bother checking if you own them? Ha-ha.

And so it begins.

Re:What goes around comes around....

[cnkeller]

But really how many of us have mp3s on work computers? Quite a few I would imagine. Just think of the liabilty you are posing to your work.

Well, I have MP3's at work. They're legal too. Well, legal in the sense I've ripped them from CD's I paid for.

However, the question is this: is the burden of proof on the RIAA to prove they're illegal or me to prove they're legal? Seems like I have to prove my software is licensed when it comes to the BSA, how 'bout the RIAA?