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GameSpy Sends DMCA-Based C&D To Security Researcher
chowbok writes "Luigi Auriemma has found several security holes GameSpy software over the past few months. He has reported them all to GameSpy but never got a response... until today, when he got a threatening letter from their lawyers. It says he's violating the DMCA, he needs to cease-and-desist, yadda yadda yadda." Update: 11/12 21:09 GMT by S : GameSpy has now posted an official response from the company's founder, Mark Surfas.
Don't forget he also has attained citizenship in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Time to update my Smoked Company Instant Poll:
Who smoked the most crack in 2003?
(_) SCO
(_) Belkin
(_) Verisign
(_) *A (MPAA, RIAA, ARIA)
(_) GameSpy
(_) All of the above
Ceci n'est pas une signature
The sort of street cred you get for having javascript errors on your site? I hear that's how these young punks rebel against their elders these days. It's the programmer's equivalent to wearing pants around your knees.
It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
Thanks for the link! Here's what I sent them:
I read with great interest a news article about Gamespy siccing its lawyer brigade on an Italian security researcher who, after making good-faith efforts to make Gamespy aware of its security shortcomings and receiving no response, went public with the exploits he found.
It's a pity you're so short-sighted. Now, instead of working with a co-operative third party researcher willing to perform QA on your product for free, you instead face the prospect of having much more of this kind of attention being focused on your organization by some very, very clever individuals. Further, from now on, nobody's going to be stupid enough to tell you when they find an exploit. Instead, all of their findings will be released into the cracker underground, as anonymously as possible. In the future, when exploits are found for Gamespy's servers, Gamespy won't know until they've already been pwned.
gg.
Hear that? It's the sound of me uninstalling your software, calling all my friends and advising them to do the same, telling our ad-blocker software not to display your ads anymore, and then all of us getting out our credit cards so we can reward the fine people who created the All-Seeing Eye.
Hope you enjoyed it, you had a pretty good run while it lasted.
Even Jesus hates listening to Creed.
Yesterday,
Algorithms programmed in any way
Now it looks as though there's liabilit-ay
And, it's 'cause of the D-M-C-A
Suddenly,
I'm not allowed to speak in C
There's a shadow hanging over me
Oh how D-M-C-A makes silence be
How some bits do flow, you can't know,
We couldn't say
I said something wrong
now I'm among, law D-M-C-A-ay-ay-ay
Yesterday,
"code" was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
And, it's 'cause of the D-M-C-A
Young man, you've been writing some code, I said,
Young man, think it ought to be showed, I said,
Young man, but what you shoulda knowed, is some
Things... must... be... left... un-said
Young man, there's a law that's been passed, I said,
Young man, we hoped it wouldn't last, but now,
Young man, if you break it, your ass will be
Hauled... a-way... to... Club Fed
We cannot stay with the DMCA
Get hauled away with the DMCA
You cannot circumvent
Any music or book
Can't even let your kid take a look
That's why we're flamin' the DMCA
Our guy was framed on the DMCA
The Man gives us rules
That we've got to obey
But encryption just gets in the waaaaaay...
Young man, there's no need to feel down, I said,
Young man, hide yourself underground, I said,
Young man, 'cause the Feds are in town, you know,
There's no place you can hide,
Young man, there's no place you can go, I said,
Young man, when they don't like your code, if you
Stay here, I am sure you will find
That you haven't got no more time.
(chorus)
You sir, I hope you understand, we're im-
Pa-tient, hope the Feds free our man, but no-
Bo-dy... can resist our demand, we'll shout
Til... they... free... D-mi-try
Dima's... fate lies in our own hands, so please
Help us... make them meet our demands, so call
D.C., make them send this young man, back to
His... own... home... and... fam'ly
(chorus)