Slashdot Mirror
Cryptome in Hot Water Again
garg0yle writes to tell us that Cryptome appears to have stepped in it again with a recent leaked document concerning Microsoft's "Global Criminal Compliance Handbook." "Microsoft has demanded that Cryptome take down the guide — on the grounds that it constitutes a 'copyrighted [work] published by Microsoft.' Yesterday, at 5pm, Cryptome editor John Young received a notice from his site’s host, Network Solutions, bearing a stiff ultimatum: citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Network Solutions told him that unless he takes the 'copyrighted material' down, they will 'disable [his] website' on Thursday, February 25, 2010. So far, Young refuses to budge." In a gesture of goodwill, Wikileaks has offered to host Cryptome via their twitter feed.
I did read it. The document is copyrighted, the guy has no right to publish it period. His legal sounding blatherings, if you read them, do not address this simple fact.
You neckbeards can wax righteous about the evils of copyright and mod me down all you want, and I do agree Copyright law been perverted from its original purpose but in this case the guy is publishing something he has no right to publish. He's going to get squished.
You're being dumb. Yes, in the US you can't copyright facts (you can in Australia though). However, if I write a biography of Jeffrey Dahmer, composed entirely of dry dry facts, that doesn't mean you can distribute my book without my permission. The copyright applies to the arrangement of words, not to their meaning or content. So yeah, your argument is stupid.
You call someone an ass, but yet allude twice ("pretty sure"..."maybe"..) that you're unsure. You're correct in feeling unsure, because you are wrong, and have made something of an ass of yourself in the process. While there's no need to `file` for copyright, you can do this in several legal jurisdictions and it does confer certain legal advantages should you ever sue or get sued.