Dropbox Attempts To Kill Open Source Project

Meskarune writes "Dropbox is trying to kill the Dropship project, a useful program that allows users to import files into their accounts using hashes and bypassing the need to make files public. Dropbox sent out fake DMCA requests to all parties involved, and is banning and censoring the program."

Comments

Is that fraud?

[Sprouticus]

Wouldn't an attempt to intentionally mislead someone with regard to DMCA be regarded as fraud?

Re:Is that fraud?

[mcmonkey]

None of which makes me feel any better.

The statement that no threats, legal or otherwise, were made is false. Even if the threats were made accidentally, threats were made. Saying an automated email was kicked off inadvertently does not mean the email was never sent.

Then there's the issue of the mistakenly activated automated email. Why do they have a process that automatically sends out DCMA notices?

Then there's the action of removing the files at issue. I'm not sure how I feel about the selective action on files. If I'm breaking the ToS, why not freeze my account? On the one hand, I can appreciate the effort to not freeze accounts, but at the same time, I don't want the admins at Dropbox going through my files.

Re:Is that fraud?

[LordLimecat]

It was not a DMCA "request". It was a notification that they were removing the file in order to comply with DMCA Section 512 C-1-c, which indicates "No liability if ... upon obtaining knowledge or awareness, OSP expeditiously removes Work"

In other words, they believed the material to infringe on DMCA, and as the file host, they have the right and duty to remove such a file when they believe it to be infringing. See, Dropbox isnt just the potentially "injured party", they are also the service provider-- and that is the capacity they were issuing the notice in. (NB- IANAL)

Re:Maybe a BIT sensationalistic...

[xMrFishx]

Why is there even a default DMCA notice in the system in the first place? Surely these things should be manually handled, rather than essentially "spammed" out. This is the sort of realm of Auto-Lawsuits where everyone got a letter through their mail box. This sort of thing should not be automatic in any sense of the word.

Re:Maybe a BIT sensationalistic...

[0100010001010011]

VIA post at slashdot.org

Re: Copyright Claim

The Slashdot Hosting Company:

I am the copyright owner of the post being infringed at:

http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2105778&cid=35944048

Copies of the post being infringed are included to assist with their removal from the infringing Web sites.

This letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) to effect removal of the above-reported infringements. I request that you immediately issue a cancellation message as specified in RFC 1036 for the specified postings and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its Web address, from posting the infringing photographs to your servers in the future. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to “expeditiously remove or disable access to” the infringing photographs upon receiving this notice. Noncompliance may result in a loss of immunity for liability under the DMCA.

I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or the law. The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am the copyright holder.

Please send me at the address noted below a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.

Sincerely,

0100010001010011

It's a shame SpiderOak's sync funtion doesn't work

[Overzeetop]

Never has, never will based on the replies from CS/Tech Support. Seems that it will work okay with a simple setup and small data set, but get one thing off or try to use what you paid for (in my case, about 100GB of corporate data), and you can just give up. I spend two months, five re-installs, and countless hours trying to get things to work - we finally just gave up and went with an inferior service that we could make work acceptably.

FWIW - SO's backup service was flawless. I never found a missing file or had a problem with it keeping the backup data working.