IP: Embrace, extend, censor

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: ecdesign () bellsouth net
> Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 23:30:12 -0500
> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
> Subject: Embrace, extend, censor
>
>
> http://www.salon.com/tech/log/2000/05/11/slashdot_censor/index.html
>
> Embrace, extend, censor
>
>                     Microsoft asks Slashdot to remove posts revealing
>                     copyrighted information.
>
>                     - - - - - - - - - - - -
>                     By Andrew Leonard
>
>                     May 11, 2000 |  Yet another skirmish has broken
>                     out in the ongoing war between free-software
>                     hackers and proprietary-minded corporations -- and
>                     this one promises to be a doozy. On Wednesday,
>                     lawyers representing Microsoft requested the
>                     removal of a series of posts on the bulletin boards at
>                     Slashdot, the popular "news for nerds" Web site.
>
>                     Citing the provisions of the Digital Millennium
>                     Copyright Act, Microsoft asserted that the Slashdot
>                     posts, which reveal information about Microsoft's
>                     proprietary version of a popular security technology
>                     called Kerberos, include "unauthorized
>                     reproductions of Microsoft's copyrighted work" --
>                     as well as information on how to get around access
>                     restrictions protecting Microsoft's "data
>                     specification."
> <snip>
>                     In contrast to other
>                     disputes involving copyrighted information -- such
>                     as the Napster controversy -- this particular tangle
>                     cannot easily be painted as one in which hackers are
>                     ripping off corporations or depriving artists of
>                     revenue. Instead, Microsoft is attempting to co-opt a
>                     popular public technology and, after having been
>                     confronted about that, is attempting to control the
>                     transmission of information revealing its actions.
> <snip>