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CNN Doesn't Like Being Spoofed
scrm writes "After being online for only a week, the Fake CNN News Generator, a spoof of the CNN.com website, has been shut down after CNN sent them a threatening legal letter alleging copyright and trademark infringement. (Although the real reason is more likely to be because people were actually believing that the fake stories were true.)"
"CNN Doesn't Like Being Spo0fed", considering the domain name of the site in question?
.. if you go there. Better have a browser with brains or enjoy "Hot Adult Entertainment" ads.
How irritating.
The Olsen twins are not attending my local University?
best web host ever
I realize that this will get lots of "Use Moz!" type comments, but I'm at work right now, so it isn't a possibility. Spo0fed.com unleashed a slew of pop-ups on me, and a number of them attempted to install some sort of software. Slashdot seems to be fairly united in its hatred of pop ups, so why support them by linking to sites that use them in such an aggressive manner? I feel that its just as annoying as registration required sites, and should be avoided in the same way.
I suppose I may just be on a system thats already been hit with spyware, and if thats the case, please mod this down into oblivion.
Although the real reason is more likely to be because people were actually believing that the fake stories were true.
If that's the case, perhaps Slashdot should cast a very critical eye on the bbspot slashdot random story generator.
Slashdot is jumping the shark. I'm just driving the boat.
here
It affects your rights, you mindless troll, because everytime a website operator pulls the plug on his site due to a C & D letter from some big corporation, it makes every other guy who might have created a similar site think twice. Repeat after me the following words "Stifling effect". Say it again until you grasp it.
If privacy had a tombstone it would read "We did it for your own good" . -- John Twelve Hawks
..Bound to happen sooner or later.
I checked spo0fed.com (or whatever the URL is) yesterday and by the way the letter read (on their front page, not from CNN but from Spo0fed itself) was that they took it down because people were using it to make defamoratory 'news stories' about people.
Still, it was a dead-on generator. If it weren't for the URL, one might not've known it was fake.
I never could get to see the archives of generated stories though...
Why can't people enjoy browsers with brains AND "Hot Adult Entertainment"? I want to have my cake and eat it, too!
A fake CNN new article, generated with said news generator, featured a story claiming that Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (the infamous twins who began their carreer starring on Full House as an single, individual girl) had decided to attend Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. The story spread like wildfire on the campus, and around Springfield.
**The rumor was so widespread (thanks to the genuinity of the fake CNN news generator) that the story actually hit local news that night!**
I tried to stomp out the rumor in it's infancy explaining to everyone that sent it to me that it was fake, but to no avail.
----
"Those who quote others are more likely to one day be quoted" -Tom Planter
Oh please. The guy was using another corporations logos and trademarks without permission. Of COURSE he is going to get a C&D. This kind of thing goes on all the time. The practice predates the internet by quite some time. This is not a "stifling effect" issue.
Although the real reason is more likely to be because people were actually believing that the fake stories were true.
Oh, come on. The web site generated pages that included the CNN logo! The real reason is obviously because whomever created this little toy was using the CNN logo without permission.
This falls into exactly the same category as the Dow Chemical thing from a few weeks back. Parody is fine as long as you don't actually use somebody else's logo. That crosses the line from fair use into trademark infringement.
Comments including the phrase "chilling effect" will be summarily ignored for the senseless drivel that they are.
I write in my journal
That's all I really got to say. People just cave in way to quick under the threat of litigation.
What would have been really cool is if the generator page used your IP address to determine your location, then used a local university name in the "story". I don't know if that's how it was done, but it would be much more consistent in a given area than randomly generating a college name.
that that is is that that is not is not
...is that nobody knows that I am out of the closet? Sweet!
g
Wait till you're at school and you get a "I've got a secret website that I'm ...." at full volume.
BTW, the teacher was giving lecture so it was extra quiet.
Get your Unix fortune now!
A parody is all in good fun. If local news outlets were decieved, they should blame themselves for being morons by not even looking at the bloody URL, to say nothing of getting confirmation from other sources. Seriously. Do they just search on google and report the first interesting thing that they find if the site looks semi-official? These are the kind of morons who would parrot an Onion article as if it were real news. There's a huge difference between parody and character assasination, and using registered trademarks or copyrighted material for parody or criticism purposes is PERFECTLY LEGAL without permission, hell, even if the "owner" of the material explicitly forbids you to use it.
Bringing the legal smackdown on this site for "libel" and "copyright infringment" is not only absurd, but simply fascist. This is an affront to free speech, which includes the right to criticize and parody anything you damn well please.
Repeal the DMCA!
It's worth getting admin access if you're on Win2K or XP, to have a non-shitty browser.
sulli
RTFJ.
Is pi in roman numerals?!
::explosion::
AHHHHHHRRRRRRGHHH!!!!
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
If Spo0fed was doing things the way fakednews.com is, they only redirect images from cnn.com's actual site.
If that is the case, wouldn't the best course of action be to block spo0fed.com's ip address?
I don't think a link can be infringement, especially if it links to a public site.
If this is their way of avoiding potential liability, and I were sued, I'd make sure they were dragged in somehow, legally or otherwise.
I didn't know that site generated any popups.
:)
OTOH, popups are no longer as hateful to me, since they went away
(popup ads are quite bothersome though, when sitting at a computer without a worthy browser installed.)
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
*EEEEEOOOOEEEEOOOEEEEOOOEEEOOO* -- annoying siren
Godwin's Law is in effect. Return to your homes. Resist the urge to add further posts to the conversation. Repeat, do not continue this thread.
*EEEEOOEEEOOEEEEEEEE*
They do such a wonderful job providing comic fodder all by themselves. Proof? Click here.
CNNNN had better watch out, they'll be next. It's a spoof on ABCTV in Oz.
And there's an RIT version mentioned in the Wired write up. Complete with a link straight to the press release RIT sent out soon after.
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
Sad times are these when three letters in a row are special - "cable news network." Wow. Such a novel and interesting name, kind of like Mickey Mouse. Let us rabidly protect CNN from the very public by which CNN makes all of its money. I deprecate CNN. Incredibly poor biased incomplete conjecture laden reporting with little background information on the players in the situations or the economics of the situation, and a lame fetish for Real gold pass. The Economist, The Wall Street Journal are "real" news sources.
I don't seem how this use of parody falls under this king of scrutiny, but one of the most important things about parody is that it is done in jest, not for profit, you cant sell things under the guise of another's trademark. While I don't like shitty pop-ups (I shut the filter off to see it, what crap), I seriously doubt anyone would buy into that porn crap because they think CNN sanctions or backs it.
It all comes down to a Jeffersonian thing. Can you light another's candle without vanquishing your own? Sure. Will CNN die or lose one penny because of parody? No. In fact, they spent more on the lawyers to write that stupid letter than all the damages they could have ever accrued from this "evil parody."
Lawyers are the real bottom feeding scum. Everyone's asses hurt around them. I've personally been take for a lawyer-ride (without lubrication), shareholders get raped by lawyers, Enron still has lawyers on the payroll to date while 401ks lie empty (due to foolish investment strategies and ignoring reality, but still, its a bit unfair to think lawyers take precedent here har har). In fact the inexorably complex US tax code is created, administered and massively profited off of by lawyers. Judges are lawyers. Politicians are lawyers. Anyone who isn't a scientist, a manager, a doctor, a musician, in the military, well, there is a class of people who are really ancillary to everything around them. This class finds themselves needing work because they are inherently useless. So instead of sticking to trial law, lawyers band together to form raping bands of hyenas that rove the corporate and political landscape raping everything in sight. Why cant Ted Turner just call the webmaster and say, Hey, can you cut the shit? Mano a mano? These fucking lawyers have no face, no use and no spine. BAR. What a crock. Barrister. Some crappy construct leftover from the days of King George of England.
Legalize the constitution. Think for yourself question authority.
So this is about your rights.
You don't have the right to use trademarks without permission. Should we have this right? well, we have a forum to discuss whether or not we should.
Oh please. The guy was using another corporations logos and trademarks without permission. Of COURSE he is going to get a C&D. This kind of thing goes on all the time. The practice predates the internet by quite some time. This is not a "stifling effect" issue.
Of course it is. Satire, and parody are protected speech. This is well established and not really debatable. He has an absolute right to do so. Sadly, he probably does not have the resources to defend himself when some mega corp wields the legal sword. As a result we all suffer a little. Each time this happens it makes the next guy have to think a little harder before he creates his content. This is the very definition of a stifling effect.
If privacy had a tombstone it would read "We did it for your own good" . -- John Twelve Hawks
WTF? The courts have upheld the right to use the logos of public figures and public corporations in the use of satire and parody back to the founding days of the country.
If CNN can shut down these guys with a C&D, how would all the M$ bashers on Slashdot like it if "Evil Bill" could shut down Slashdot's use of his borg image? Oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth we'd hear then...
Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. -- Aldous Huxley
What if this template isn't used for parody? What if it is used to create a believable bogus story that get forwarded around and reprinted in a local newspaper? When people find out it is bogus, don't you think some of them will think CNN screwed up? This isn't theoretical, it happened. So doesn't this unauthorized use of the CNN trademark hurt CNN's reputation? That shouldn't be allowed. Even if CNN is only 3 letters and their reporting sucks they still deserve the same protection of the law that we all enjoy.
"Why cant Ted Turner just call the webmaster and say, Hey, can you cut the shit? Mano a mano?"
So you just hate lawyers. Okay, go ahead, but it still doesn't make sense to say it would be fine if Ted Turner wrote a letter himself instead of having someone do it for him. And at this point, all CNN has done is write a letter, despite the article's claim that CNN "shut them down."
Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
CNN has circulated horribly wrong information themselves. They come off as a final authority when they have made mistakes. They manipulate the public with dis-infotainment. It is sensationalized entertainment, not science based reporting (see: WSJ, The Economist, and a few others - you know it when you read it, it reads like news not like a Hollywood script).
CNN also reported that the Shuttle was going 18 times the speed of light.
See people talking of it here.
CNN said of the shuttle disaster: "officials were searching a 500 square mile radius"
See some Usenet-age on that here.
I nailed them two times already on one recent issue and I barely read them.
I could go on and on, especially on consistent failure to properly report historical facts.
CNN = disinfotainment
People who mislead the public are essentially committing either treason against them or are parodying the real news. Either way, I fail to see the need to protect them. CNN is a mega moneymaking media machine. They are the rainmakers. Feel not for them but for the rights of us to make fun of their complete and total shit reporting.
Legalize the constitution. Think for yourself question authority.
You're an idiot. Do you think lawyers are really going around magically making money off the backs of "the little guy" without having someone to pay for their services? Do they do it for fun? Are they all independently wealthy?
If anyone should be on the receiving end of your vitriolic rant, it's the people who hire lawyers.
Of course, maybe we'd all be better off not having anyone to protect our rights from the government.
Oh, well, because the law is overly complex and Judges that were lawyers once will invariably screw the shit out of anyone representing themselves means that lawyers are okay. Look, if you can't see that lawyers helped to ensure the growth of their industry by doing things that protect the existence of their jobs then you are blind. The problem in that enterprising lawyers creating more and more complicated laws to wade through, and the people pay the price. Now listen, I was making a fairly blanketed statement against lawyers, but I'm tired of them. Seriously. I know a few good ones, I'm sure. (I can't seem to recall anyone I'm friends with that is one however - oh wait, someone I know, Karen, she is a good lawyer, but she works for a philanthropy now in management.)
Sure I like the people working for EFF. But by the same token, lawyers will help to promulgate concepts that their own children would *never* want to live with and they do it. They do it for the money. If you don't admit that the archetype, "lawyer", is riddled with a greed stereotype for no reason, you are on crack. I have had to pay for lawyer services. Believe me I wasn't impressed. Lawyers know Judges as friends. That's most how it works. You get the wink and the nod half the time. For bigger civil and criminal stuff, the judges can't be so obvious, but im sure there is still room for greasing palms in any situation.
We have vastly departed from the original legal system envisioned by the framers of this country, assuming the US here.
An interesting take on law: George Copway (Kah-ge-ga-bowh) Ojibwa Chief 1818-1863 - "Among the Indians there have been no written laws. Customs handed down from generation to generation have been the only laws to guide them. Every one might act different from what was considered right did he choose to do so, but such acts would bring upon him the censure of the Nation.... This fear of the Nation's censure acted as a mighty band, binding all in one social, honorable compact."
Now, having said what I said, you know full well I don't hate all lawyers. It is amazing that employing melodrama and overstatement, a tactic used by every lawyer on the face of the earth, you fly out of your corner and try to maul me publicly. I hate when people get defensive.
It is the fundamental theory of all the more recent American law...that the average citizen is half-witted, and hence not to be trusted to either his own devices or his own thoughts.
H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
Lawyer: One who protects us against robbery by taking away the temptation.
H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
Judge: A law student who marks his own papers.
H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
It is inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) (being mostly lawyers, I have to agree)
If...the machine of government...is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.
Henry David Thoreau
In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.
Mahatma Gandhi (12 jurors, a lawyer and a judge have let incontrovertibly guilty members of the KKK off back in the day - its documented. Only when they guilty were tried for civil rights violations did they finally get jail time.)
Laws are like sausages. You sleep far better the less you know about how they are made.
Otto Von Bismark (new laws usually get someone a new contract, and a few lawyers some money)
The more corrupt the state, the numerous the laws.
Tacitus (and boy do we have so many, made by lawyers)
Legalize the constitution. Think for yourself question authority.
"I could go on and on, especially on consistent failure to properly report historical facts. CNN = disinfotainment"
I agree.
"People who mislead the public are essentially committing either treason against them or are parodying the real news. Either way, I fail to see the need to protect them. CNN is a mega moneymaking media machine. They are the rainmakers."
Right and wrong shouldn't depend on how much you like the people involved. This isn't about making fun of CNN, or of the "news" industry, you're still free to do both. But none of that makes it okay for anyone to use and abuse their trademark, even if they are bastards. I'm not defending CNN, I'm defending the law.
Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
The ABC (Australias Public TV Network) runs a commedy show called "CNNNN" which is a spoof of the CNN 24-hours News coverage.
A "mock" CNNNN news tickers is available from here:
http://www.cnnnn.com/
Jon