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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
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
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
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!
Well, aparently YOU didn't visit their website. When /. was threatened by the Church of Scientology because of DMCA infringement, CmdrTaco posted a large story detailing why they didn't like the fact that they had to give in, but were doing it anyway. In this case, not only did they give in, but they consented that they deserved to be shutdown, and offered to provide whatever information they had on users who had posted false information.
That is why they are pussies; not because they realized the practical infeasibility of a court battle, but because they so completely gave up. You, on the other hand, are an Anonymous Dumbass.
*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*
CNNNN had better watch out, they'll be next. It's a spoof on ABCTV in Oz.
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.
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.