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News.com Links to DeCSS Program

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the whats-the-dilly-yo dept.

zorglubxx writes "In less than a week News.com has published 2 articles ([Oct 3] and [Oct 7]) talking about copyright law and the DMCA where they LINK to DeCSS. Not source but compiled Windows version called DeCSS.exe. News.com know that 2600 lost their fight for linking to DeCSS so I wonder why they are doing this. Trying to make a point? Civil disobedience? An honest mistake?" Update: 10/08 02:51 GMT by T : An anonymous reader writes "In the time between when I read the first and second referenced articles, the links were updated to point the DeCSS gallery rather than DeCSS.exe"

20 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm by LPetrazickis · · Score: 5, Funny

    MPAA is probably tired of suing people by now.

    I wish.:(

    --
    Is this a sigs-optional kind of place? 'Cause I am totally down with that if you know what I mean.
  2. In related news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot links to News.com article that links to DeCSS.

    1. Re:In related news... by freuddot · · Score: 5, Funny

      Slashdot also links to the DeCSS executable DeCSS.exe

    2. Re:In related news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      And in other related news, Slashdot links to a Slashdot article that links to a News.com article that **head explodes**...

    3. Re:In related news... by sg_oneill · · Score: 5, Funny

      Congratulations Freuddot! You have been selected to come to SUNNY USA (USA #1! USA #1!) to begin your new career as a "security consultant". The FBI will be waiting at the airport to escort you to the interview.

      I promise! ;)

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
  3. Linking? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    What about knowingly linking to a site that links to DeCSS? Is /. trying to make a point?

  4. Re:Exploiting Different Standards? by TRACK-YOUR-POSITION · · Score: 5, Funny

    yes but news.com.com.com is well-funded by all the extra .com's! I think it's an even fight.

  5. Numbers. by DarkHelmet · · Score: 5, Funny
    Binaries are no fun.

    I won't be happy until they air commercials on the TV of Illegal Prime Numbers

    I hear if you use a lossy compression algorithm the number shrinks down to 42.

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    /^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
  6. In related news... by Sn4xx0r · · Score: 2, Funny
    Anonymous Coward links to Slashdot.org article that links to News.com article that links to DeCSS.

    Sorry... couldn't resist :p

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    Got brain?
  7. Totally Irresponsible by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Funny
    This is totally irresponsible of a major news site to link to the DeCSS code. After years of hard work, the content producers had almost finished the task of putting that genie back in its bottle.

    Its simple: if there are no links to DeCSS, then there is no way to reach it. DeCSS would effectively cease to exist in this universe. (It might still technically exist, like a physical object that falls within the event horizon of a black hole, but that distinction is only of interest to philosophers). Some would argue that you could reach DeCSS via non-hyperlink text URLs. Give me a break - that's comparing apples and oranges. It doesn't count as a valid way to pierce the event horizon.

    Now, by placing this valid hyperlink, they've created a huge leak in the carefully constructed containment barrier. We might be back almost to square one.

  8. In other news... by sklib · · Score: 2, Funny

    news.com gets sued for deep-linking straight to DeCSS.exe.

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    -S
  9. Obvious Ploy by MisterSquid · · Score: 2, Funny

    Civil Disobedience? As stated above it's not illegal to link to DeCSS for anyone but 2600 (by way of court injunction.

    Freedom fighter? Maybe, but links to DeCSS are all over the place as more than one informative /.'er as noted above.

    How about:

    1. Post link to DeCSS.

    2. Wait for /. to notice.

    3. Smile gleefully during /. effect.

    4. Profit!!!! (from advertising revenue)

    You think?

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    blog
  10. In MORE related news... by erpbridge · · Score: 5, Funny
    Google News links to Slashdot article that links to News.com article that links to DeCSS.

    And how many degrees of separation is this from Kevin Bacon?

    1. Re:In MORE related news... by ChrisNowinski · · Score: 2, Funny

      The
      0. Oracle of Bacon at Virginia links to the
      1. CS Department Search Page which can
      2. search for "DECSS news.com" (google) which links to
      3. Slashdot, which links to
      4. News.com which links to
      5. DeCSS.

    2. Re:In MORE related news... by guttentag · · Score: 4, Funny

      When this case goes to trial, will the judge's decision link to a site that links to DeCSS?

    3. Re:In MORE related news... by c13v3rm0nk3y · · Score: 2, Funny

      Mmmmm. Bacon.

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      -- clvrmnky
  11. Not to nitpick, by Treeluvinhippy · · Score: 5, Funny
    I really believe that if the Most Important Person in the World(tm) himself, ie: the head of the RIAA

    If Hillary Rosen ever reads this, she's gonna be pissed.

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    >
    1. Re:Not to nitpick, by benwb · · Score: 5, Funny

      With apologies to Mike Meyers:

      Basher: I'm sorry, I thought she was a man.

      Sycophant: Damn it, man! You're talking about the head of the RIAA!

      Basher: You must admit, she is rather mannish. No offense, but if that's
      a woman, it looks like she's been beaten with an ugly stick. Look at her hands, baby! Those are carpenter's hands. I think if everyone were honest, they'd confess that the lady looks exactly like a man in drag.

  12. Re:Can you say test case? by br0ck · · Score: 2, Funny
    by declana on 10-07-02 10:41 AM
    Declan McCullagh, is that you? If so, good luck!
  13. Re:DeCSS is Just a Symbol by Cplus · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh, and now you told them, damn it.

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