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Harlan Ellison Can Sue AOL Under DMCA

Posted by timothy on from the one-man-not-to-have-against-you dept.

mbstone writes "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that sci-fi author Harlan Ellison can go ahead with his DMCA lawsuit against AOL. Seems somebody posted some Ellison stories to Usenet, AOL made 'em available, Ellison complained, and AOL blew him off."

5 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Compliments to whoever wrote the document! by lambent · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ah, my friend, you forget the fact that USENET is indeed made up up many different distributed peers.

    From the servers' points of view, it is P2P. That's why your experience on any one server my be drastically different than another.

    As for file sharing .... go check out the alt.* hierarchy.

  2. Obvious? by kurosawdust · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I Have No Morals Yet I Must Sue"?

  3. Re:Pray the jury is sensible. by JabberWokky · · Score: 5, Interesting
    What's the matter, Harlan? Not enough money lining your pockets from your successful writing/consulting/speaking career?

    No, it's just that Harlan is a freaking lunatic. I have been screamed at by the man not once, not twice, but three times in my life (so far). The guy goes into screaming fits regularly. I have also seen him lift a barstool to clock a guy at a bar inside a hotel lobby. He threw a fit because a group of us were making too much noise as he was giving an interview... by the hotel elevators. And then he tried to throw me out of the filk room when it was reserved, as I happened to be the first one there setting up for everybody. Again, another "interview", which was far more important than the use of the room by a dozen people who had reserved it on the schedual months ago.

    The guy is the closest match to the cartoon definition of meglomania I've ever seen. He's a parody of a egotistical jerk. If he wins this case, I would not be surprised if he then proceeded to sue every other ISP that has a usenet server... and be cocksure he should win.

    If you want a longer version of these ancedotes, I've posted about him on Slashdot before. He's an amazing guy. Good writer, but I think if I had to sit next to him in a plane, one or both of us would be stepping outside ten minutes after takeoff, likely with a firm kick to the rear.

    --
    Evan

    --
    "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
  4. Re:Compliments to whoever wrote the document! by clonebarkins · · Score: 5, Informative
    From the servers' points of view, it is P2P.

    While it is undoubtedly P2P...

    As for file sharing .... go check out the alt.* hierarchy.

    ...just because people can share files on it, it's not a "filesharing system". People can share files via the World Wide Web, but it's not considered a "filesharing system". Calling USENET a "P2P filesharing system" is limiting at best and gives a potentially pejorative connotation.

    --

    "The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it." -- Ayn Rand

  5. Re:Pray the jury is sensible. by utahjazz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Good writer

    Really? I haven't seen any of his stuff. Could you post some of it here?