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MPAA Forced To Take Down University Toolkit
bobbocanfly writes "Ubuntu developer Matthew Garrett has succeeded in getting the MPAA to remove their 'University Toolkit' after claims it violated the GNU GPL. After several unsuccessful attempts to contact the MPAA directly, Garrett eventually emailed the group's ISP and the violating software was taken down."
Explanation.
As TFS & TFA have little info, here's some background:
The MPA(A) released a Xubuntu derived livecd with a bunch of F/OSS tools to assist universities in monitoring their networks. *rolls*eyes*. More info about the software in this Washington Post article.
Unfortuntately the CD as shipped contained no source & no written offer for the source, so was in violation of the GPL (and hence, the MPAA are in violation of various software author's copyright).
After several attempts to reach contact the MPAA, the ubuntu developer sent a takedown notice to the hosting ISP.
I hope he now presses for copyright violation - as he so elequoently says: MPAA don't fuck with my shit.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
No, the MPAA can't necessarily just reissue the toolkit with source code and suffer no further consequences.
Once you violate the GPL, your right to distribute the licensed software is terminated. You can only start distributing it again if the copyright holder relicenses you to do so. In GPL violation disputes, the FSF have normally relicensed a distributer once they conform to the GPL's requirements - but this is not automatic, or written into the GPL.
From GPL v2:
"4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License."
There is no clause about reinstating rights under the license.
In other words - if any of the copyright holders in Xubuntu code insist, the MPAA can't ever distribute their software, even with source. IANAL, so I don't know if the courts would support this hard-line.
Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
You missed the two screen shots. Essentially the post shows a "before and after" screenshot of the MPA University Toolkit page. The before picture contains a link that the after picture doesn't: "Click Here to Download The Beta Version of the Toolkit"
There's also another link that links to a blog entry about the MPAA toolkit which, if you dive into the comments, explains the GPL violation. (Just search for GPL, it's easier than trying to find it.)
So not entirely worthless, and therefore not a new low, just meeting the same low standards.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
You do not have to distribute "changes in the form of a diff", or "distribute your code changes" in particular.
You must distribute (or offer to) the complete source code corresponding to the binaries you distribute. The whole purpose of the GPL is that someone getting a binary can get the full source for the binary.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
We're not talking about a "social-engineering" takedown, but about a takedown notice defined and authorized by federal law, and enforceable in any court in the land.
IMO, the takedown notice defined in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act is one of the few good things in that law. It says that if someone is publishing your copyrighted materials on the Internet, all you have to do is send a notice to the ISP, stating that the material is yours. The ISP is then *required* to take it down, or else be considered guilty of infringement. On the other hand, if the ISP does take it down, they are granted a "Safe Harbor" status, meaning that they're absolutely free of any liability for the infringement.
If something you've published on-line is taken down as a result of a DMCA takedown and it is not infringing, all you have to do is send the ISP a notice stating that the material is not infringing. The ISP can then put the material back on-line, without losing the "Safe Harbor" status. The system is set up so that the ISP doesn't end up trying to determine what is infringing and what is not.
Both the DMCA takedown notice and the counter-notice are sworn affidavits, meaning that when the issue goes to court any untruths in the notices can be prosecuted as perjury. So there's a strong disincentive for someone to issue a DMCA takedown frivolously, as it will cost the publisher almost nothing to get the takedown reversed, and may land the issuer in hot water. Likewise, there's a strong disincentive for a publisher of infringing materials to issue a counter-notice.
And, above all, the ISP who is caught in the middle is shielded from any potential liability, and doesn't have to make any attempt to adjudicate the ownership of the materials (which, obviously, no rational ISP would do anyway -- if in doubt they'd just take it down and leave it that way).
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