RE: [7.8.2002 44916] Notice of Copyright Infringement]

["Kayne Ian (Softlab)" <Ian.Kayne () softlab co uk>]

I completely agree with you, there's no question that copyright infringement
is a crime in the UK. What makes this ironic is that an American company is
sending letters detailing contravention of American law to a person living
in the UK. Hold on, didn't America just opt out of the International
Criminal Court/Global Arrest Warrant "scheme"? Aww. Shame. Looks like you'll
have to go through extradition proceedings instead, which will involve the
DCMA being pulled apart in the European Court of Human Rights, notorious for
making dodgy decisions.

Opinions are my own, etc. Copyright infringement is a crime, etc. Just
wanted to make that clear, because we are after all just having a discussion
about the subject, and not necessarily participating in it.

Ian Kayne
Technical Specialist - IT Solutions
Softlab Ltd - A BMW Company


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jason Coombs [mailto:jasonc () science org]
> Sent: 12 July 2002 20:50
> To: Kayne Ian (Softlab)
> Cc: Vuln-Dev
> Subject: RE: [7.8.2002 44916] Notice of Copyright Infringement]
>
>
> Aloha, Ian.
>
> See: http://www.wipo.org
>
> The DMCA doesn't apply in the UK, but your government agreed to outlaw
> precisely the same activity using laws of local design. I don't know
> what the law is named in your country, but I bet if you look you'll
> find that it does exist. There was a deadline for passage of such
> legislation in order to comply with treaty.
>
> Your point is valid concerning the specific language of the threat
> letter your friend received, but that's little more than a typo.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Jason Coombs
> jasonc () science org
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kayne Ian (Softlab) [mailto:Ian.Kayne () softlab co uk]
> Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2002 10:28 PM
> To: Vuln-Dev
> Subject: RE: [7.8.2002 44916] Notice of Copyright Infringement]
>
>
> 2 points about this thread.
>
> First, a lot of people have posted responses to the effect of 
> "Unless xxx
> downloads the file that is supposedly breaching copyright, 
> they can't tell
> if you *are* breaching copyright or not, thus breaching it 
> themselves".
> Unfortunately this isn't true (at least for EDonkey). EDonkey 
> creates a hash
> of the file on your hd, and compares it with the hashes on 
> everyone elses
> hd. If you're in the middle of downloading the file, Edonkey 
> can be sure
> it's resuming the same file from someone else (regardless of 
> filename) by
> these hashes. Therefore to prove copyright infringment, all 
> these companies
> need to do is to confirm your hashes are the same hashes as a 
> "real" warezed
> version of whatever movie. Of course the movie house give the 
> company legal
> permission to download etc the file, therefore they are not 
> in contravention
> of copyright law. So all the company does is run a donkeybot 
> or similar,
> scan the network and log all the people who are sharing a 
> file with hashes
> that match a warezed ver of the movie. Until it becomes 
> illegal to own a
> checksum of a file...
>
> As a side note, this hashing works against them too. They may 
> have been
> flooding the p2p networks with "bad" versions of movies, but all any
> sensible person needs to do is to use a website (sharereactor.com, for
> example) and use the hash link off there. Providing the 
> website is "true"
> (and there are enough of them), you'll always be garanteed to 
> download the
> file you actually want.
>
> Secondly, companies & "entities" in the USA really need to 
> get a damn grip
> of themselves. A friend of mine received an email from a 
> company saying he
> was breaching the DCMA etc for exactly the same reason as 
> Keith Tyler. The
> problem? He lives in the UK, just like me. Sorry to tell you, 
> no matter how
> much you don't want to believe it (and how many times you put 
> a Skylarov in
> jail) American law does NOT apply worldwide.
>
> All that said, piracy is of course a crime. Views are my own. Standard
> disclaimer applies etc etc.
>
> Ian Kayne
> Technical Specialist - IT Solutions
> Softlab Ltd - A BMW Company


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