DMCA Attacks: NAI Tells Sites To Remove PGP (Updated)

daecabhir writes: "I am on Declan McCullough's excellent policy and technology mailing list, and received this article on Declan's Politech web site. Basically, Network Associates now appears to be using the DMCA to force sites that provide access to the "free" versions of PGP to cease and desist, if this is any indication. Unfortunately, I think that Network Associates may well be within their rights with regards to 'their' intellectual property, even if I disagree with the manner in which they are going about things." Update: 05/22 13:55 GMT by T : Looks like this wasn't the whole story, and in fact NAI was only objecting to a site with the commercial version of its software -- read below for more. Grant Bayley writes: "The hype being generated by the "NAI pulls out the DMCA stick" postings and the spectre of PGP being "removed from the Internet" is entirely bogus, and provably so with a little bit of fact checking.

Looking through the Google cache, it becomes very clear very quickly that crypto.radiusnet.net was hosting a copy of the commercial version of the software - not a copy of the PGPi (aka freeware) version of the PGP product. Given that this is the case, NAI is well within their rights to demand the removal of the files.

You can confirm this in the Google Cache.

Comments

Re:Encryption is for terrorists

[Anonymous Coward]

Your right. Here, let me just go ahead and publish my credit card information, social security number, address, birthday, bank account info, access to stocks portfolios and what the hell, let me throw in the same of my wifes. And gee whiz, why not just go ahead and publish my username and password list to all my online accounts. Yeah, to hell with encryption, we can all trust each other, right. We all know each other that know that no one would think of misusing that info, right?

Okay, in case you're a complete moron, that was sarcasm. You just go on believing that crap you just preached. No skin off my back when you get totally hosed...

Re:Freeware PGP versions remain available here...

[Excarnate]

"Information wants to be free."

Bullshit! Information does not want anything. That statement struck me as silly the first time I heard it and the more time goes by the more silly it seems.

You have a weak mind if you buy that quote. If you want information to free (whatever free may mean to you) it takes effort to make it so. Sit on your ass and it won't happen.