MPA "University Toolkit" taken down

[PriceChild]

http://mjg59.livejournal.com/78590.html (context (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/11/mpaa_university_toolkit_opens_1.html))

Digg (http://digg.com/tech_news/MPA_s_University_Toolkit_subject_of_winning_takedo wn_request) link.

[bobbocanfly]

Dugg. Best news so far this month.

[LookTJ]

MPAA is supposed to be anti-copyright. They think they can get away with this?

Dugg.

[jflaker]

hMmm, a taste of their own medicine. Time to take them to court and get money for EVERY COPY that was downloaded. Time to give back!

[SOULRiDER]

Simply owned, although I'd be delighted if they got sued.

[hanzomon4]

HaHa, Owned!

[FuturePilot]

Up there with some of the best things I've ever read.

[kevdog]

Guess I missed in those links where it was explicitly stated it was taken down!

[mellowd]

Nice

[PriceChild]

Guess I missed in those links where it was explicitly stated it was taken down!First link I gave, spot the difference.

[Dr. C]

It is really quite interesting. When the MPAA's general counsel, Gregory P. Goeckner, denied the copyright infringement the copyright holder went to the ISP and issued a DMCA take down notice.

Matthew Garrett deserves all our thanks for his action in this matter

Here is some news reports
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/04/mpaa_copyright_petard_hoisting/
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/04/015229

I believe I can now link to the site in question without any question that it is a violation of the terms of use of Ubuntu Forums regarding linking to pirated software.
http://universitytoolkit.org

[plun]

Great news....:)

[Ozor Mox]

Good stuff. I think this is why the GPL is so popular, it prevents this kind of exploitation of open source software.

Though having said that, I get the feeling that all the MPAA need to do now is contact universities privately and distribute the software and no one would know about it unless reported, right?

Still, kudos to the Ubuntu developer who got it knocked offline.

[Bannor]

Hat's off to the mpaa for using an open source OS

[Dr. C]

Good stuff. I think this is why the GPL is so popular, it prevents this kind of exploitation of open source software.

Though having said that, I get the feeling that all the MPAA need to do now is contact universities privately and distribute the software and no one would know about it unless reported, right?

Still, kudos to the Ubuntu developer who got it knocked offline.

I really do not think the MPAA is that reckless. IANAL but such a move could set them up for willful copyright infringement.

Some things to keep in mind Matthew Garrett is not the only copyright holder here, there are many more. Under the GPL you loose your rights to distribute the software if you violate the license (version 2) or are notified of a violation (version 3) . So each copyright holder must reinstate a copyright violator under GPL 2 and each copyright holder that has notified a copyright violator must reinstate a copyright violator under GPL 3. I do not see anything in Matthew Garrett's blog about reinstating the rights of the MPAA to distribute his code. The MPAA may be in a nasty legal mess here

I suspect the MPAA is more like liking its GPL wounds now rather than planning further distribution at this point.

[p_quarles]

Hat's off to the mpaa for using an open source OS
It'd be fine if they actually, you know, opened the source code. If they can't get that part right, I'm afraid that no kudos are in order.

I like Linus' attitude toward this (paraphrasing): If you want to use OSS to make something evil that will help you take over the world, fine. Just make the code available so we can all benefit.

[PriceChild]

I believe I can now link to the site in question without any question that it is a violation of the terms of use of Ubuntu Forums regarding linking to pirated software.
http://universitytoolkit.org*grins*

[Linuxratty]

What goes around comes around.
:twisted:

[Depressed Man]

Good stuff. I think this is why the GPL is so popular, it prevents this kind of exploitation of open source software.

Though having said that, I get the feeling that all the MPAA need to do now is contact universities privately and distribute the software and no one would know about it unless reported, right?

Still, kudos to the Ubuntu developer who got it knocked offline.

I'd welcome the MPAA to do that. It's a good way to waste money and time (it's likely any evidence wouldn't be able to use in court) plus they'd then have a bigger issue on their hands.

MPAA suing some college student for distributing movies over whatever.

Everyone GPLed regarding Ubuntu/Linux/etc.. suing MPAA for distributing this over whatever.

Plus it makes the MPAA's method look even more idiotic, as they're now just doing the same thing they're suing people for.

[Lord_Dicranius]

I believe I can now link to the site in question without any question that it is a violation of the terms of use of Ubuntu Forums regarding linking to pirated software.
http://universitytoolkit.org
:lolflag:

[Dr. C]

Well the MPAA has updated their http://universitytoolkit.org website, and they say that "The Toolkit is temporarily unavailable, but please check back soon for the latest version." So we will see.