Previous Politech message: "Blizzard game company uses DMCA to shut down Bnetd emulator app" http://www.politechbot.com/p-03163.html --- From: [deleted per request --DBM] To: <declanat_private> Subject: Blizzard gets smacked with a DMCA notice of their own. Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 08:55:08 -0700 [Friend is worried this might get him fired. Would you mind hiding my name if you print this? Thanks!] Thought you might want to see this. Blizzard had earlier sent a DMCA takedown notice to BnetD, a system that would allow gamers to play one another on a networked system. /. covered it earlier in February: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/21/0136256 Blizzard got much flak for the action, and has since recanted on the DMCA threat, and instead tosses out a lawsuit alleging pure Copyright Infringement against the creators of BnetD. The actual filed papers can be found here. http://www.eff.org/sc/bnetd/20020405_blizzard_complaint.pdf Well, Karma's a bitch, so to speak. Turns out from a source in blizzard, Sony is going right along and doing the same thing to Blizzard. Likely, the DMCA end of it won't stand. But Sony might have a claim for Copyright Infringement. The worst thing of this, is that now most of the programmers (who have nothing at all to do with the legal BS) are pretty much cut-off musically speaking. MEMO: Blizzard was recently served with a DMCA ("Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notification from Sony Music for copyright infringement. This infringement was allegedly committed by one of our employees who was purportedly using a peer-to-peer file-sharing program on a Blizzard computer system to share copyrighted music with others over the Internet. Unauthorized distribution of copyrighted audio, video, graphics, software and/or any other files (e.g., commercial recordings, films, or software) is illegal. Providing these files over the Company network through peer-to-peer file-sharing programs (ie. Kazaa, Morpheus, EDonkey, Gnutella, and similar programs) or by other means puts both the user and Blizzard in jeopardy of being held liable for copyright infringement. As you can imagine, this risk is not one that the company is willing to take. In addition to the legal ramifications, peer-to-peer file-sharing programs may inadvertently expose confidential and proprietary company files that have been enabled for sharing to the Internet. When you are connected to the Internet, anyone on the Internet may then have access to that data or material. These file sharing programs themselves may install spyware and/or install Trojans, again exposing local and network data to outside access. Further, swapping of files causes higher Internet usage and in many cases utilizes costly network and local hardware resources. We therefore need to make sure that everyone understands our policy regarding peer-to-peer file-sharing programs and that immediate steps are taken to stop any copyright infringement from taking place at Blizzard. POLICY. Peer-to-peer file-sharing programs may not be used on any computers connected to Blizzard or Blizzard North's networks without the express written approval of Mike Morhaime or Paul Sams. This policy shall go into effect immediately. Exceptions, if any, will be installed and tested in a controlled environment and properly configured to ensure an adequate level of security before implementation. If an adequate level of security cannot be established, such usage will not be approved, and an alternative method will need to be found. REMOVAL. To ensure currently installed programs have been uninstalled correctly and all associated files have been removed, an Information Systems (IS) staff member should be notified to remove all pieces of the infringing program(s) and make any necessary registry changes. If you currently have any of these peer-to-peer file-sharing programs on your computer, please contact IS to facilitate their proper removal. IS will be able to make sure that any related spyware is removed also. ENFORCEMENT. Due of the very serious legal and financial harm that Blizzard could experience as a result of an employee infringing upon another company's copyrights in this manner, we have adopted this policy. Please be aware that disciplinary action, up to and including termination, will be taken against any employee that is found to be using a peer-to-peer file-sharing program on computers connected to Blizzard or Blizzard North's networks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sign this pro-therapeutic cloning petition: http://www.franklinsociety.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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