"We don't like your app competing with us and we want you to shut up, and we can drag your ass into court and we will bankrupt you with legal bills before the case finishes."
The blatantly retaliatory DDoS attack should have raised red flags and gotten the feds involved in at least realizing the deeply criminal nature that spam really is. If it was a mere nuisance of the variety CANSPAM was designed to deal with, Blue Frog would not have been attacked as fiercly and viciously as it was.
Spamming is more than just harassment. It is extortion, RICO, complicity in theft of services, and all that nasty stuff. It's a lot more than just pissing off the people that don't want to receive it.
Was the lawyer they sent a member of the appropriate bar association?
If yes, then they should have been familiar enough with US law to raise the jurisdiction argument up front, and failing to raise such an obvious objection is such a bonehead move it's almost certainly legal malpractice.
If no, then what the hell was he doing in a US courtroom on behalf of Spamhaus in the first place?
Either way, the lawyer they sent screwed up big time.
I'm not buying this UK law bit. The only way he would have been authorized to stand in for Spamhaus was if he was qualified with US law.
The only reason this case even got as far as it did was because the court improperly assumed jurisdiction.
Of course, Spamhaus (or malpracticing lawyers on their behalf) acquiesced by responding to the lawsuit and then flopping off the radar by ignoring the summons and not even moving for dismissal. They jumped onto the barbecue and didn't jump off when the fire started.
Which just goes to show you that when you have a despot hell bent on having his own way, a silly founding document isn't worth the paper it's written on.
I think what happened is that the Guardian stabbed them in the back and gave all the governments in the world the excuse they needed to go after Wikileaks.
So now Wikileaks is deciding to go out with a bang before someone slits their throat and denies them even a whimper.
Slashdot Mirror
You don't need it for real mail because tampering with an envelope addressed to someone else is a federal offense.
The incentives patents provide to reveal inventions is more than dwarfed by the chilling effect patents have on competing innovations.
Many things are squashed or suppressed either by companies suing for infringement, or even just using legal departments to intimidate.
It won't work.
A patent that attempts to stifle the actions of the incumbent status quo will ironically be suppressed.
It's ok because Google lets me decide for myself whether I want to whore it out, and respects my wishes when I decide not to.
Other companies deceive you into giving consent and then get lazy and cryptic when you try to opt out.
Governments simply take it by force.
Your credibility is lost when your customers say it is.
Reputation's funny that way.
That's because Google is the host and isn't allowed to fight it.
Sending a counter-notice is the responsibility of the person whose work the notice is directed at.
Simple.
The real reason is:
"We don't like your app competing with us and we want you to shut up, and we can drag your ass into court and we will bankrupt you with legal bills before the case finishes."
Because a DMCA takedown is big and scary and has the advantage of FORCING the service provider to comply even if it's bullshit.
If the DMCA doesn't apply against the developer all he has to do is send a counter-notice.
Unfortunately doing that invites CBS to sue him, so he caved.
Or maybe they're actually stupid enough to chill their entire fanbase out of paranoia or control freakery.
They are a big mighty corporation. If they tell their fans to screw off and let them sue, they'll probably shut up and go away.
CBS already has a pile of money from it, it's not like they have much incentive to be nice now that the profits are already in the bag.
Mod up.
Hilarious and shockingly plausible.
I would guess that
1) The iphone version is licensed by CBS
2) CBS is collecting royalties out of the app sales.
We also tried that with Blue Security.
The blatantly retaliatory DDoS attack should have raised red flags and gotten the feds involved in at least realizing the deeply criminal nature that spam really is. If it was a mere nuisance of the variety CANSPAM was designed to deal with, Blue Frog would not have been attacked as fiercly and viciously as it was.
Spamming is more than just harassment. It is extortion, RICO, complicity in theft of services, and all that nasty stuff. It's a lot more than just pissing off the people that don't want to receive it.
Spamhaus consented to jurisdiction by responding to the summons and failing to challenge jurisdiction.
OTOH, it was a stupid move that would make me consider tarring and feathering their lawyer for malpractice.
Was the lawyer they sent a member of the appropriate bar association?
If yes, then they should have been familiar enough with US law to raise the jurisdiction argument up front, and failing to raise such an obvious objection is such a bonehead move it's almost certainly legal malpractice.
If no, then what the hell was he doing in a US courtroom on behalf of Spamhaus in the first place?
Either way, the lawyer they sent screwed up big time.
I'm not buying this UK law bit. The only way he would have been authorized to stand in for Spamhaus was if he was qualified with US law.
Responding to the summons without contesting jurisdiction was a dumb move.
Estoppel by acquiescence.
The only reason this case even got as far as it did was because the court improperly assumed jurisdiction.
Of course, Spamhaus (or malpracticing lawyers on their behalf) acquiesced by responding to the lawsuit and then flopping off the radar by ignoring the summons and not even moving for dismissal. They jumped onto the barbecue and didn't jump off when the fire started.
And you're right, they won.
Which is bad precedent.
And also if they continue after you signed off of it.
Can't consent be revoked?
Putting a saboteur inside the Guardian in order to get Wikileaks shut down might well be worth it.
There might have been someone somewhere pissed off enough at Wikileaks to be pretty much immune to any compunctions about collateral damage.
I didn't say the Guardian was in on the conspiriacy.
What I said was that someone might have infiltrated the Guardian.
Which just goes to show you that when you have a despot hell bent on having his own way, a silly founding document isn't worth the paper it's written on.
I'd be interested in knowing how the Guardian even got the password in the first place.
You can also blame Wikileaks for trusting the Guardian with that information in the first place.
You don't give away the key to the henhouse, period.
How could wikileaks have been sure that the Guardian didn't have a mole in it?
I think that someone may have put a mole in the Guardian.
It would be a perfect opportunity to make wikileaks look like a pack of pricks.
And getting them shut down might just be important enough to risk a leak.
I think wikileaks got screwed and is now just doing damage control.
They were finished the minute the Guardian "accidentally" leaked the master password.
I think what happened is that the Guardian stabbed them in the back and gave all the governments in the world the excuse they needed to go after Wikileaks.
So now Wikileaks is deciding to go out with a bang before someone slits their throat and denies them even a whimper.
And also that the corporate run media will keep people that way.