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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."
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.
How many have work sponsered mp3 servers? TIme to reconsider that move.
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Surely we aren't all too busy gloating over blizzard being crucified that we've forgotten this fact..
Not Meta-modding due to apathy.
It seems to me that the email itself, which bans P2P networks, could be damaging. The lawyers could argue that it is kind of an admission of guilt. Ala Microsoft case.
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For attack BNetD, I think this should happen. I personally feel that the DMCA will just kill all companies eventually. Because lets face it:
If you played Pong, that means you played a game, perhaps you looked at pong when you wrote your current game. You had fun in Pong, and you have fun in your game... So who's to say you didn't reverse engineer "fun"?
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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?
Username taken, please choose another one.
I imagine Blizzard will be really pissed-off at their employees who run p2p software, because it makes Blizzard look like a bunch of hypocrites-
Blizzard: Ooooh, ohooh, naughty people are creating a server that's compatible with battle.net and allows pirate copies. Ooooh, points my finger at them I do!
Sony: Oi, Blizzard! What's all that ILLEGAL music doing in your company, eh?
Blizzard: I hit you, Mr. Sony! I hit you with Dvareks Staff of Limitless Power, damage + 99 ! (Lie down, you're dead!)
graspee
Should Sony have sent a C&D to Blizzard? Perhaps.
It is okay to share music with your friends? Sure.
Is a P2P network a group of your "friends"? Probably not.
Is bringing MP3s to work okay? Sure, why not.
Is using company time and bandwidth to download and search for MP3s on a P2P network a good idea? uhh, NO, you're at work!
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This isn't hurting the assholes/lawyers that are trying to squash bnetd though. It's hurting the programmers that wrote great games like war2 and diablo.
Double whammy for us, I would think. You people cuoldn't be more confused about what this really means. What's next, celebrating the death of one of the corporate attourneys, the only one who had the dissenting opinion to just leave bnetd alone(not that there is such a lost soul at Vivendi)?
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Heheh, I wonder if the people running the p2p inside Blizzard were sticking the nightly builds of Warcraft 3 on it ?
graspee
What do you want to bet that a OSS fan in side the company tiped sony off?
Its funny to watch these sorts of things.. They happen in my company too.. I understand what they are trying to stop, but the policy forbids samba. Its another case of making knives illegal instead of murder. The policy should state:
"DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN TRANSFERRING COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, EXCEPT MATERIAL WHICH IS OWNED BY THE COMPANY".
Dont ban the tool, ban the mis-use of the tool.
But instead the policy bans peer-to-peer file sharing unless those two guys (Mike Morhaime or Paul Sams) are specifically asked...
Check the policy:
POLICY. Peer-to-peer file-sharing programs may not be used on any computers
connected to Blizzard or Blizzard North's networks without the express
written approval of Mike Morhaime or Paul Sams.
It seems many of you think this is a good thing because of thier atacking the bnetd project. You all really couldnt be more hypocritical. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Blizzards actions may have been wrong, but so are sonys (arguably). If you are going to condem one instance of it, you should condenm every single action taken by a corporation that tries to limit the freedom of others to protect thier profits. To do otherwise makes you look very dumb.
Your enemy's enemny is not your friend if both are your enemy.
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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
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.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
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.
Once Blizzard employees stop using up all the bandwidth for P2P apps, perhaps BattleNet will get the bandwidth it needs.
Winter 2010: With Glowing Hearts
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.
I work in the IT department of a major US University and, at least on our campus, these C/D letters have been popping up quite frequently lately. It appears that Sony (and maybe other major labels) must be running some sort of harvesting software that just searches for songs to which they hold copyrights, does a quick "whois", and mails off form letter style nasty grams to the contact listed. fyi, they look something like this (identifying info is X'd out, I like my job :)
original complaint:
RE: Unauthorized Distribution of Copyrighted Work: X
Dear X University:
As you may know, the musical group X is currently subject to a recording agreement with Sony Music ("Sony") pursuant to which Sony is entitled to X's exclusive worldwide recording services and the exclusive, worldwide right to distribute all audio and audiovisual recordings recorded during the term of that agreement through any and all media, including distribution via the Internet.
We have received information that an individual located at X.X.X.X on your network has offered downloads of the above-mentioned work(s) at the noted date and time through your service. No one is authorized to perform, exhibit, reproduce, transmit, or otherwise distribute the above-mentioned work without the express written permission of Sony, which permission Sony has not granted to the user located at X.X.X.X.
The attached documentation specifies the account or username offering this infringing material, the name and size of the file being offered, the number of repeat violations recorded at this specific location, as well as any available identifying information.
We are asking for your immediate assistance in stopping this unauthorized activity. Specifically, we request that you remove the site from your system or (in the case of a peer-to-peer service) disable access to this site; or at a minimum delete the infringing files that have been downloaded.
In addition, we ask that you inform the individual(s) involved of the illegality of his or her conduct and confirm with us, in writing, that this activity has ceased.
You should understand that under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, if you ignore this notice, your company/institution may be liable for any resulting infringement.
As owner of the exclusive rights to the copyrighted material at issue in this notice, we hereby state, that we have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by Sony, its respective agents, or the law.
Also, we hereby state that we believe the information in this notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that we are is authorized to act on behalf of Sony.
The foregoing is not a full recitation of the facts and law pertaining to this matter, and all of our rights and remedies, including the right to
recover monetary damages, are expressly retained.
We appreciate your assistance and thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Please contact us at anti-piracy@sonymusic.com should you have any questions.
In your future correspondence with us, please refer to Case ID X.
Your prompt response is requested.
Sincerely,
Anti-Piracy Group
Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
550 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Infringment Detail:
Infringing Work: X
Filename: X.mp3
First Found: X/X/2002 X:X:X AM EST
Last Found: X/X/2002 X:X:X AM EST
Filesize: Xk
IP Address: X.X.X.X
Network: KaZaA
Protocol: FastTrack
Username: X@KaZaA
...for sharing files is Windows File Sharing. Just right click on a folder of mp3's and switch on sharing to let your colleagues enjoy your collection. I would just love to see it outlawed.
-- SIGFPE
The comedy of this is that Blizzard is owned by Vivendi Universal, one of the big 5 record labels, as well as a member of the MPAA.
Quit feeding the trolls. MP3 files are perfectly legal - the MP3 I rip for my personal use to avoid scratching the original disc are no more illegal than the tapes I dub so I can listen to the same songs in my car. The RIAA lawyers may play dumb, but this is clearly covered as fair use.
What's illegal, maybe, is sharing those MP3 with others in your office. Or it may be legal as well - fundamentally no different than people playing their own personal CDs in a community player. This wouldn't be legal in a "commercial establishment," but the latter refers to businesses open the public such as bars and restaurants, not offices.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
I put a new policy in place that as long as your MP3s were legit, you could have them on your work system. But *NO* P2P systems. They are too big of a security risk and they waste bandwidth.
This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later.
I just wish they'd broaden into more than just law, then I could ditch slashdot completely.
I find it hard to argue that Sony is wrong in this instance.
They own those songs. People are illegally distributing them over the internet. They shouldn't be.
This isn't an internal MP3 server at Blizzard that employees can backup/store their songs on and play. This is people in Blizzard who are publically sharing songs over the internet.
Sony is sending Blizzard a warning message IE "just in case you didn't know, people on your network (details provided) are engaged in illegal activities".
Entertainment copyrights.
Isn't an illegal act of circumvention NOT a copyright infringment, but a totally different tort/offense? That is why fair use is apparently not a defense against it (the Constitution not withstanding). Bypassing the lock and unauthorized use of the content protected by the lock are 2 different things. (17 USC 1201 violation versus violation of the copyright specific part of Title 17).
Anyone else find this strange?
Note, the complaint says circumvention .. thereby .. infringement. This means the the first implies the second. This is a much stronger statement than just that circumvention allows infringement - it states circumvention IS infringement - not even the DMCA says that.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Scotty: How long did you tell the captain the deflector work would take us?
LaForge: Two hours and we have barely more than that till the Borg cube arrives.
Scotty: And how long will it actually take us?
LaForge: Two hours-like I told him.
Scotty: Geordi, ye've got a lot to learn. You never tell captain's how long it will really take. How do you expect to earn a reputation as a miracle worker that way?
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Enter a P2P such as Grokster that lets you download from multiple users simutaneously. Now my bandwidth is only a piece of someones download speed. Still, without these fast hosts, slower users will have to become more saturated. Things will be slower overall.
I wonder if sharing a drive or directory counts? Maybe they just outlawed the Microsoft OS off their system.
Snip
POLICY. Peer-to-peer file-sharing programs may not be used on any computers connected to Blizzard or Blizzard North's networks without the express written approval of Mike Morhaime or Paul Sams. This policy shall go into effect immediately. Exceptions, if any, will be installed and tested in a controlled environment and properly configured to ensure an adequate level of security before implementation. If an adequate level of security cannot be established, such usage will not be approved, and an alternative method
will need to be found.
It sounds like MS might have a chance if Windows can be tested and approved in a controlled environment.
;-)
The truth shall set you free!
ah.
Assuming they have Samba, NFS, or AppleShare installed (covers about 95% of OS out there, I think), the OS needs to go too, as these can be used to share music and files. We all recall the hubbub that cablemodems and inadvertently open shares caused a few years ago.
The real idiot here is the Sysadmin who wasn't filtering these packets. Internal p2p programs are just a convenient way to share music.
Well, it seems that someone is datamining over at Sony. Hmmm. Maybe that could be used againt them? When someone in the intelligence field (read spys) know they are being bugged, they don't remove the bug, or let the evesdroppers know they know about the bug.
Instead, they feed information to it.
Specific informaion.
That they want the Bad Guy to know.
Doesn't mean it's true...
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Then there was the nanny-cam. Running in a minimized window. With the kid in daycare. At high quality. She must have lived real close to her uplink point because she was getting a fantastic upstream rate - at least 500kbit.
Then at another palce there was the friendly HR person. Having learned that an ally in HR is a Good Thing, and given that the IT Director didn't care because we had enough bandwidth, I helped her keep Limewire running smoothly. Sadly, Gnucleus (GPL'd) wasn't ready for an HR person back then. For that matter, even today it's still a geek's tool.
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Blizzard DMCA's bnetd.
:)
Sony DMCA's Blizzard.
I suggest the bnetd team see if they can a Sony employee using bnetd software in an unauthorized manner...
bnetd DMCA's Sony
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.