Amazon Fights Piracy Tool, Creators Call It a Parody 268
jamie points out an interesting story which started a few days ago, when a pair of students from the Netherlands released a Firefox add-on which integrated links to the Pirate Bay on Amazon product pages. Customers who had the add-on would see a large "Download 4 Free" button next to items which were also available on the Pirate Bay. The add-on quickly drew notice, and the creators were hit with a take-down notice and threats of litigation from Amazon. Now, the students have removed the add-on, and they are claiming an unusual defense: "'Pirates of the Amazon' was an artistic parody, part of our media research and education at the Media Design M.A. course at the Piet Zwart Institute of the Willem de Kooning Academy Hogeschool Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was a practical experiment on interface design, information access and currently debated issues in media culture. We were surprised by the attentions and the strong reactions this project received. Ultimately, the value of the project lies in these reactions. It is a ready-made and social sculpture of contemporary internet user culture."
I know It sounds silly (Score:4, Informative)
It sounds silly, but I see how this was a parody, and perhaps even some sort of statement. First off, anyone who installed this already knew how to install a bit torrent client, and probably knew how to go to piratebay and search for what they wanted. I think what the creators of this extension were commenting on is the ease of getting anything for free online; pretty much every mainstream downloadable product on Amazon is probably online somewhere.
Honestly, what serious extension has adds big "'Download 4 free,' 'Not Downloadable,' or 'Not Available'" buttons to your browser? Any way, there's no way to sue an extension out of existence - if people really want it, they'll get it. This extension is probably pretty useless, so I think Amazon should just let it die.
Re:So Where is it Now? (Score:5, Informative)
Or Freenet. I got it here: http://torrentfreak.com/files/piratesoftheamazon.xpi [torrentfreak.com]
Re:So Where is it Now? (Score:5, Informative)
The original part of the extension is actually just a fairly short Greasemonkey script. For some reason, they packaged it with a bunch of other stuff from Greasemonkey. It's pretty poor quality code, to be honest.
Re:Chin deep (Score:3, Informative)
The Pirate Bay is not just linking to a .torrent though, they're a BitTorrent tracker. Given a torrent hash ID, you can get a list of IPs seeding and downloading using the torrent.
Arguably that's also legal, but it's more than just linking.
Re:I know It sounds silly (Score:5, Informative)
Classic example of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect [wikipedia.org]
Re:And a billboard giving detailed instructions on (Score:4, Informative)
And a billboard giving detailed instructions on... running a confidence scam, successfully robbing banks, the finer points of mugging, or the detailed design of a botnet/phishing/money laundering operation
I know these people are in the Netherlands, but just a general FYI to this discussion, in the US all of those things are not only legal but it would be unconstitutional for congress to create any law criminalizing it.
If you want to blow up some building, and someone else says they are willing to do it if you give them the explosive formula, that is conspiracy to commit a crime, and that is a crime.
If you are working the register at a store, and you have actual knowledge that some particular person intends to murder someone by forcing a rubber duck down their throat, it is criminal aiding and abetting to sell that rubber ducky to that particular person.
However if you merely publish something and you don't commit any other actual crime, the fact that some generic person might use the information to commit some unknown crime does not make it criminal for you to publish that information - even on a billboard.
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Re:So Where is it Now? (Score:5, Informative)
You can also get them for LastFM searches [userscripts.org] and MusicBrainz searches [userscripts.org]
Re:So Where is it Now? (Score:4, Informative)
http://torrentfreak.com/files/piratesoftheamazon.xpi [torrentfreak.com]
The original part of the extension is actually just a fairly short Greasemonkey script. For some reason, they packaged it with a bunch of other stuff from Greasemonkey. It's pretty poor quality code, to be honest.
The Piet Zwart Institute is an art school (a pretty renowned one, too). I don't find it very strange that the code is poor. Unusual as the defense might be, it makes sense to me.
Re:Huh? (Score:3, Informative)
The "experiment" stuff wasn't just an off-the-cuff excuse. They did write a paper on it.
Re:To anyone that doesn't get it (Score:3, Informative)
Piet Zwart was a famous designer, photographer, and typographer, especially in the 20s and 30s.
Re:Chin deep (Score:5, Informative)
Last I checked the DMCA didn't apply in the Netherlands...
Re:So Where is it Now? (Score:4, Informative)
1. Install Google Toolbar
2. Google Toolbar > Settings > Options > Buttons > Add Button > Enter in search field "Pirate Bay" > pick one of the buttons to add to your google tool bar.
3. Go to Amazon
4. Select the name of product
5. Right mouse click to call pop up menu > More Search Types > middle mouse click on added in step #2 button.
That's what I use for anime and mininova.
Contributory infringement, I think, in the USA. (Score:1, Informative)
In the USA, recent decisions (i.e. Grokster, if memory serves) say that you can be held liable for contributory copyright infringement for inducing someone to commit an infringing act.
I think there are other means of vicarious liability, but IANAL. You'd have to ask an RIAA lawyer if you want to know which laws they'd twist to wring someone out to dry for something like that.
Re:Piracy tool? PUBLIC DOMAIN TOOL! (Score:4, Informative)
The "official" answer is that a current version of something like Ulysses is going to have lots of notes at the back trying to explain what on earth the author was on about, and that the text of these notes will have been added recently.
If you want to read the pre-1923 version of e.g. Ulysses, feel free:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4300 [gutenberg.org]
Re:Blantant copyright infringement (Score:4, Informative)
They don't re-distribute the Amazon.com website, they just render it differently. That's not copyright infringement, there's no copying.