[IP] MPAA Robots Stalking The Planet...
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Bosley, John - BLS" <Bosley.John@xxxxxxx>
Date: September 21, 2004 8:50:27 AM EDT
To: "'Dave Farber (dave@xxxxxxxxxx)'" <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: FW: MPAA Robots Stalking The Planet...
For IP if merited, Dave. MPAA seems to be doing it all on the cheap.
John
-----Original Message-----
From: Crowley, Greg - BLS CTR
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 8:36 AM
To: Bosley, John - BLS
Subject: MPAA Robots Stalking The Planet...
http://news.com.com/Linux+group+rebuffs+Hollywood+piracy+charge/2100
-1030-
5374528.html?part=dht&tag=ntop
<http://news.com.com/Linux+group+rebuffs+Hollywood+piracy+charge/2100
-1030
-5374528.html?part=dht&tag=ntop>
What seems to be a blunder by the Motion Picture Association of America
in its hunt for online pirates has prompted Linux Australia to contact
its legal representatives and warn of a possible breach of Australian
law.
Linux Australia President Pia Smith told Builder AU that the MPAA had
issued the organization a notice of claimed infringement, demanding
that the group cease providing access to two copyrighted movies--one
called "Grind" and the other "Twisted"--and ordering it to "take
appropriate action against the account holder."
However, the files in question had nothing to do with those movies.
The file labeled Twisted is a download of the popular framework written
in Python, and Grind refers to a download of Valgrind, a tool for
developers to locate memory management.
The MPAA has no legal rights over this software. The agency did not
return Builder AU's calls regarding the matter.
Linux Australia is an association that caters to the Linux community
Down Under.
Smith said the incident demonstrated that the process used to locate
allegedly illegal files on Australian servers was flawed and that the
MPAA could be breaking a number of local laws.
"We realized that the MPAA must be doing blind keyword matching
against Internet content and then sending out automatic take-down
notices with no real research or double checks," Smith said.
"This seems to be a huge misuse of resources, an infringement upon
various global spam laws, an infringement upon our own Copyright Act
under Section 102 and needless stress and cost upon small Australian
organizations and companies," Smith said.
Linux Australia's legal counsel plans to contact the MPAA to inform
them of the mistake and the legal implications of their actions.
"Linux Australia is concerned that this kind of shoot-in-the-dark
approach to copyright protection is potentially damaging for Australian
organizations and companies," Smith added. "Organizations that
participate in such behavior should be held accountable and forced to
put at least some effort into researching the validity of their keyword
searches."
Brendon Chase of Builder AU reported from Sydney.
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