tagged w/ DMCA
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EIGHTH STORY IN THE SERIES “Examiner Extremists and Facebook Foibles”
After filing many, many, many Copyright and DMCA Infringement Notices with Facebook, they had finally scrubbed the Facebook group known as Operation Burn Notice of all my copyrighted images. And another Infringement Notice got them to pull down the avatars of three Facebook users who, because like little children who think saying “poopie” over and over again is humor, took copyrighted images of mine and used them as their avatars.
http://www.turningovertherocks.com/2011/12/22/open-season-on-copyrights-at-facebook/EIGHTH STORY IN THE SERIES “Examiner Extremists and Facebook Foibles”... more
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A federal magistrate is granting Sony the right to acquire the internet IP addresses of anybody who has visited PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz’s website from January of 2009 to the present.
Thursday’s decision by Magistrate Joseph Spero to allow Sony to subpoena Hotz’s web provider (.pdf) raises a host of web-privacy concerns.
Respected for his iPhone hacks and now the PlayStation 3 jailbreak, Hotz is accused of breaching the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other laws after he published an encryption key and software tools on his website that allow Playstation owners to gain complete control of their consoles from the firmware on up.
Sony also won subpoenas (.pdf) for data from YouTube and Google, as part of its lawsuit against the 21-year-old New Jersey hacker, as well as Twitter account data linked to Hotz, who goes by the handle GeoHot.
Bluehost maintains Hotz’s geohot.com site. The approved subpoena requires the company to turn over “documents reproducing all server logs, IP address logs, account information, account access records and application or registration forms” tied to Hotz’s hosting. The Bluehost subpoena also demands “any other identifying information corresponding to persons or computers who have accessed or downloaded files hosted using your service and associated” with the www.geohot.com website, including but not limited to the “geohot.com/jailbreak.zip file.”
Sony told Spero, a San Francisco magistrate, that it needed the information for at least two reasons.
One is to prove the “defendant’s distribution” of the hack. The other involves a jurisdictional argument over whether Sony must sue Hotz in his home state of New Jersey rather than in San Francisco, which Sony would prefer. Sony said the server logs would demonstrate that many of those who downloaded Hotz’s hack reside in Northern California — thus making San Francisco a proper venue for the case.
The DMCA prohibits the trafficking of so-called “circumvention devices” designed to crack copy-protection schemes. The law does not require Sony to prove that Hotz received payment for the hack, which was designed to allow PlayStation 3 owners the ability to run home-brewed software or alternative operating systems like Linux. It builds on a series of earlier jailbreaks that unlocked less protected levels of the PlayStation’s authentication process.
Jailbreaking a console is also a prerequisite to running pirated copies of games, which Sony emphasizes in its lawsuit.
“I think the these subpoenas, the information they seek, is inappropriate,” said Corynne McSherry, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In a letter to Magistrate Spero, she termed the subpoenas “overly broad.” (.pdf)
The judge also signed off on a Google subpoena seeking the logs for Hotz’s Blogger.com blog, geohotps.3.blogspot.com.
A YouTube subpoena, also approved, seeks information connected to the “geohot” account that displayed a video of the hack being used: “Jailbroken PS3 3.55 with Homebrew.” The subpoena demands data to identify who watched the video and “documents reproducing all records or usernames and IP addresses that have posted or published comments in response to the video.”
A fourth subpoena is directed at Twitter, demanding the disclosure of all of Hotz’s tweets, and “documents sufficient to identify all names, addresses, and telephone numbers associated with the Twitter account.”
Sony has threatened to sue anybody who posts the hacking tools or the encryption key. It is seeking unspecified damages from Hotz.
A hearing on whether Hotz will be tried in San Francisco or New Jersey is set for next month in San Francisco federal court.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/geohot-site-unmasking/A federal magistrate is granting Sony the right to acquire the internet IP addresses... more
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Sony said Wednesday it would permanently block PlayStation 3 owners from the PlayStation Network if they are using jailbroken consoles.
Access to what Sony describes as a “world of entertainment” will be “terminated permanently,” the Japanese entertainment concern announced.
“To avoid this, consumers must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems,” Jeff Rubenstein, the company’s social-media manager, said in a blog post.
Sony did not return a message seeking comment about details on how it would carry out its threats. The demands came six weeks after the first full-fledged PS3 hack was released. The hack was designed to allow PlayStation 3 owners the ability to play homebrewed games, but can be tweaked to allow the console to play pirated games.
Sony’s chest pounding is in connection to a lawsuit against well-known iPhone jailbreaker George Hotz, 21 of New Jersey. He released the PS3 code hack in January, and now finds himself in San Francisco federal court, facing unspecified damages on Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations and other allegations.
It was the first full-fledged hack of the 4-year-old console, with 41 million units sold worldwide.
The DMCA of 1998 creates civil liability for trafficking in tools that “circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access” to copyrighted material.
Sony said jailbroken consoles breach its terms-of-service agreement and “community code of conduct.”
As part of the Hotz case, Sony has won the right to inspect his hard drive for materials associated with the jailbreak, and to remove such files.
Litigation in Sony’s case against Hotz is ongoing. A judge already ordered Hotz to remove the code from his website and also demanded he remove a how-to YouTube video. Hotz, nicknamed GeoHot, has complied.
Stay tuned to Threat Level for the latest developments.
By the way, it’s not unlawful to jailbreak a mobile phone.Sony said Wednesday it would permanently block PlayStation 3 owners from the... more
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In a landmark case, one gamer is being taken to court for installing chips in Xbox consoles enabling users to play illegally obtained games.
In the first trial of its kind, Matthew Crippen, 29, is being taken to court today for modifying Xbox 360s. Crippen was arrested in August 2009 after he was paid to install chips in consoles in order for users to play pirated games.
An undercover agent approached Crippen and offered $80 for the service, and recorded a conversation in which Crippen admitted to modifying three Xbox 360s a week. According to the prosecution, Crippen was running a small business with this operation. He was arrested and released on $5,000 bond. If convicted, Crippen faces a maximum of three years in prison for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
As the trial starts, Crippen’s defense is already weakening. Last week, a judge declared his team cannot argue “fair use.” The judge determined that “fair use” doesn’t apply seeing as the DMCA makes no mention of it. Crippen’s attorneys wanted to compare modifying a console to jailbreaking an iPhone, which fair use advocates argue have become more similar devices.
And as things couldn’t get worse for Crippen, there’s the possibility that video evidence of Crippen allegedly in the process of modifying a console will be used against him. In his corner, however, is infamous hardware-hacker Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, who (if permitted) will defend Crippen. Huang contends that Crippen’s modification methods did not technically violate the DMCA. However, the federal government does not plan to take Huang’s testimony into account.
What adds an air of controversy to the debacle is the stance Microsoft has recently taken on hacking regarding its new Kinect. A year ago, Microsoft put modifiers on blast, and began banning worked-on machines from Xbox Live. And when a similar situation arose after Kinect’s release, the company initially threatened legal action against users who tampered with the device’s hardware. However, after the “hacks” become more and more innovative and were largely praised by media outlets as revolutionary, Microsoft suddenly changed its tone. Microsoft argues it left the Kinect open source for the very purpose of modifying the device, which strangly contradicts the company’s original accusations — as well as everything else its ever said about modification.
Whatever the company’s true feelings on the subject, Crippen is facing extremely dire consequences for his own actions. Something gamers everywhere would be wise to take heed of.In a landmark case, one gamer is being taken to court for installing chips in Xbox... more
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How much did Google spend to fend off Viacom’s $1 billion copyright lawsuit? On today’s earnings call, CFO Patrick Pichette revealed that Google’s legal bills for the case amounted to $100 million, and that was before it went to trial.
The legal bill could have ended up being many times that amount, but last month the judge threw out the case, and Google declared victory. Viacom will reportedly try to appeal, but the summary judgement was pretty harsh. As I wrote at the time:
The fact that the judge granted YouTube’s summary motion to dismiss the case sends a clear message to media companies: Live by the DMCA, Die by the DMCA. The “safe harbor” provision in that Act is what protects YouTube and other Websites from being sued for the copyright infringement of their users as long as they take down infringing material. The judge found that while there were a huge number of infringing videos on YouTube, the site did take them down when notified. In fact, he points out one instance in 2007 when Viacom gave YouTube a single takedown notices for 100,000 videos. By the next day they were down.
Unless Viacom can find a judge who interprets the DMCA more liberally, this lawsuit is going nowhere. YouTube is here to stay, as long as Google has billions of dollars of cash in its war chest.
If Google spent $100 million on lawyers, I wonder how much Viacom spent.How much did Google spend to fend off Viacom’s $1 billion copyright lawsuit? On... more
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This is a big deal, since it allows for people on the web to be able to share things that in the past could have proved to violate possible copyright laws. The problem up until now is that bloggers, user-generated content sites and social media mavens were in a gray area in regards to the legality of sharing certain things with other people on the internet.This is a big deal, since it allows for people on the web to be able to share things... more
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Historically it's been the goal of every writer to be published. In blog-o-landia people can be published instantly. In about ten minutes, this rough draft will be out into the world, and millions of people will see it. (If by some slim chance it gets picked up by a mega-blog.) In this era of instant publication a new standard for cred has been established: the elusive book offer.
You mean someone will pay me to do what I've already been doing for free?
The successes of such blogs-to-books as Stuff White People Like, has spawned imitators looking for dat cash.
This is Why You're Fat, the ultracaloric picture blog, has recently gotten a deal to show pictures like this in their book:
(I ate something like that yesterday)
This blog appeals to internet food fetishists, and publishers hope these pictures translate to people buying gifts at Urban Outfitters. It's exciting to see the internet getting physically published to papyrus. But for every signed blog-to-book deal, there are hundreds that don't work out.
People assume this is how to get a blogdeal:
Aggregate thematic pictures.
Compile these thematic pictures, with mildly clever headings.
Get widespread recognition for idea.
Have your blog get noticed by a junior assistant at a publishing company. Wanting to impress his bosses, he suggests your blog be nominated for a book deal.
Publisher offers book deal.
Become hella rich.
But even if steps 1 - 5 happen, you have an important steps before you "become hella rich." You actually have to turn that book offer, into a book DEAL
I would guess that lots of book offers don't turn into deals because of the inherent flaw in blogginess. The wonders of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, make it super easy to put whatever we want on our blogs, without licensing them. If a copyright holder doesn't like it, they can tell you to take it down, no lawsuits on the horizon! But the print medium is more formal. You need to secure rights to publish those funny pictures you found.
My advice for young bloggers looking for dat ca$h, is to secure the rights to the pictures on your blog. Either by taking the pictures yourself or by acquiring them through legal mumbo jumbo when fans submit their own pictures.
But you should probably work on your content first.Historically it's been the goal of every writer to be published. In blog-o-landia... more
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The Internet Security Alliance presented Melissa Hathaway with its annual award for vision in cyber security Tuesday during an event at the National Press Club. Hathaway, the Obama Administration’s former acting cyber security chief, received the McCurdy Award on the one-year anniversary of when she began her 60-day review of the government’s cyber security program. ISA believes that Hathaway’s work, if implemented, would result in the establishment of a modern partnership between the public and private sectors, which is necessary for an effective and sustainable system of cyber security.
http://information-security-resources.com/2010/02/09/isa-presents-melissa-hathaway-with-award/The Internet Security Alliance presented Melissa Hathaway with its annual award for... more
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Typically, the economics of cyber security are not readily transparent and they are poorly appreciated. When defensive investment is compromised by factors beyond an organization’s control, the motivation for continued investment is reduced substantially. Effective and sustainable improvements in our collective cyber security posture will stem from a comprehensive understanding of how to effectively motivate all players across our economic landscape to actively engage in proven best-practices in both their business and individual cyber activities.
http://information-security-resources.com/2009/12/03/isalliance-delivers-cyber-security-report/Typically, the economics of cyber security are not readily transparent and they are... more
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“First, the President is correct in his appreciation of the need to view cyber security as not just a technical and security issue, but as an economic one as well. In the 21st century - the digital century - economics and security are opposite sides of the same coin. You cannot affect one without impacting the other.” ~ Congressional Testimony
http://information-security-resources.com/2009/11/18/isalliance-cyber-security-is-economic-issue/“First, the President is correct in his appreciation of the need to view cyber... more
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The ISA will release a new cybersecurity report, which proposes frameworks for taking key issues in the Obama Administration’s “Cyberspace Policy Review” document to the next level, in an effort to achieve tangible progress. The report will include frameworks for creating a new, practical model for information sharing; addressing the international nature of cybersecurity issues; developing a market for adopting good security standards and practices; building a highly educated digital workforce; and managing the global IT supply chain.
http://information-security-resources.com/2009/11/11/isalliance-to-release-cyber-security-report/The ISA will release a new cybersecurity report, which proposes frameworks for taking... more
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Internet Security Alliance (ISA) President Larry Clinton will describe the progress being made in the joint ANSI/ISA project to develop an enterprise wide cybersecurity framework Wednesday afternoon at the 8th Plenary of the Homeland Security Standards Panel in Washington DC.Internet Security Alliance (ISA) President Larry Clinton will describe the progress... more
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Internet Security Alliance President Larry Clinton will serve as one of three private sector briefers at a unique senior level pan-government briefing on cyber security Friday, October 16 from 10:00am to noon. Although this meeting is closed to the press, ISA members are invited to attend...Internet Security Alliance President Larry Clinton will serve as one of three private... more
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I’m not arguing for an eggshell model of security - crunchy on the outside, squishy on the inside - but it makes things much easier to be able to address an application server’s security requirements without the need to assume that whatever security you implement on an application level is all you will have.I’m not arguing for an eggshell model of security - crunchy on the outside,... more
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Does the DMCA matter to YouTube staffers? Apparently not according to evidence uncovered by lawyers for Viacom in its suit against the popular online video sharing site. Perhaps the better question: Does the DMCA matter to anyone?Does the DMCA matter to YouTube staffers? Apparently not according to evidence... more
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