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."
So Where is it Now? (Score:3, Interesting)
Be interesting if the source was published to Wikileaks.
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: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.
It's pretty poor quality code, to be honest. (Score:2)
They claim to be *media* students.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Crap. I just downloaded that Amazon/piratebay malware. I thought I could trust slashdot authors to not post links to dangerous code but I guess not.
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)
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.
Defense for what? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Defense for what? (Score:5, Interesting)
Indeed. What exactly are they threatening to sue them for? Contributory copyright infringement? Guess what? Amazon isn't the copyright holder of many (any?) of these works. They have no standing.
Of course, there is that trademark issue ;)
Re:Defense for what? (Score:5, Funny)
Conspiracy to commit contributory copyright infringement.
So, yeah, it's a death penalty case.
Re:Defense for what? (Score:5, Funny)
Judge: "Kids, you're guilty, and I sentence you to receive 700 million dollars from Amazon"
Kids: "Woohoo!"
Amazon: "That's no fair!"
Judge: "Oh oh, it's not working. 800 million!"
Kids: "Woohoo!"
Amazon: "Gaah!"
Re:Defense for what? (Score:5, Funny)
If my keyboard didn't have drain holes
Ugh. They guy at Circuit City told me they were speed holes.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This the user himself inserting things on it's own computer from it's own computer. Not the same as ISPs inserting adds at all.
The precedent it would create would not be good at all. It would be like making it illegal to write stuff on a store catalog that you got in in you mail box while sitting on the can in you own house.
What about copyright infringement? (Score:3, Insightful)
(of Amazon's website, not of the products they sell, the media conglomerates can defend themselves if they so wish).
Or Fraud?
Or Misrepresentation?
Re:Defense for what? (Score:5, Funny)
What is illegal about this?
I believe that would be the crime of pissing off a corporation with enough money to rape your pathetic ass in court.
-
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Defense for what? (Score:4, Funny)
p.s. I don't use FireFox, so I can't verify the link torrent is anything useful.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
p.s. I don't use FireFox
Get off my Slashdot.
Re:Defense for what? (Score:5, Funny)
There, I said it!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Think of Al Gore's responsibility in all of this!
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, yes, but you could be more precise. Here, let me help:
Since slashdot (in the US) has nonspecifically allowed a user (who appears to be in the US [slashdot.org]) to post a link to thepiratebay (in the netherlands) providing a mirror of a tool created (by students in the netherlands seemingly otherwise unaffiliated with thepiratebay) for the alleged purpose of allowing a user to automatically alter the appearance of the online catalog of (US) media vendor amazon to include links to thepiratebay, a website that offers
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing, but you don't have to break the law to be punished.
Re:Defense for what? (Score:4, Insightful)
What do they have to defend? What is illegal about this?
The threat of litigation or the act of a lawsuit has gone way beyond "knee-jerk reaction" to "standard corporate policy" these days.
Armies of Attorneys used to be an risk expense that had to be mitigated and controlled. Nowadays, it's a budgeted line item with it's own department number and P&L statements.
The world price tag for almost everything is controlled by litigation history, which much like Moores Law, seems to double in size every 18 months. What does that affect you ask? Grab one of your old pay stubs from 10 years ago and tell me how much you were paying for better medical and dental coverage and compare it to your 2009 rates. (Try not to make yourself violently ill over the figures either, and certainly don't start calculating what they'll be 10 years from now, remember your emergency room co-pay ain't cheap...)
Re:Defense for what? (Score:4, Insightful)
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ... whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness
And the point being? (Score:2)
Ok. So what's new here? Nothing?
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: (Score:3, Insightful)
This extension is probably pretty useless, so I think Amazon should just let it die.
Instead of letting it die Amazon.com brings everyone's full attention to it instead, brilliant PR move.
I use Amazon.com and Pirate Bay all of them. If I had known the companies were merging I would have purchased more stock in both of them.
Re:I know It sounds silly (Score:5, Informative)
Classic example of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect [wikipedia.org]
Please don't tell me this surprises you. (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazon has inked distribution deals with a bunch of record companies -- deals which are certainly not permanent. If anything, given that Amazon is the first major seller of non-DRM-encumbered MP3s, these deals are probably subject to renewal in a short period of time (so that the record companies could pull the plug if need be).
Now a way of circumventing sales -- however obvious and silly -- which places links on Amazon's pages is featured on Slashdot, a fairly well read site. You're Amazon's legal department. Do you decide to:
(a) Exert pressure on the authors of this tool to remove it, thus demonstrating to the record companies that you are serious about your agreement with them and make the next round of negotiations easier? If so, turn to page 72.
(b) Do nothing. If so, turn to page 93 -- and prepare to get reamed in the ass when the record labels demand $2.50 per download.
This has nothing to do with public relations and everything to do with vendor relations.
Re: (Score:2)
If anything, given that Amazon is the first major seller of non-DRM-encumbered MP3s, these deals are probably subject to renewal in a short period of time (so that the record companies could pull the plug if need be).
This being Slashdot, I feel free to be pedantic - but this is a serious question as well.
Is there such a thing as a DRM-encumbered MP3?
Some of the AAC files iTunes sells are DRM-encumbered, and I imagine Sony has (at least in the past) sold it's own DRM-encumbered Sony format (whatever it was called) - bot does anyone put DRM on MP3 files and sell them?
Re: (Score:2)
Is there such a thing as a DRM-encumbered MP3?
Touché. :-) You're right, I was being redundant; my intent was to call out the non-DRM-ness of the offering.
Indeed, no, at least that I'm aware of. It is possible to watermark them, but such marks are easily removed by re-encoding the MP3 file. Now, it's possible to use MPEG 1 Layer 3 encoding technologies and layer DRM on top of it, but the result would not be what anyone would consider to be an MP3 file.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, probably Amazon was obliged to do this, still, if they don't, i would have missed this 'great' add-on.
Re:I know It sounds silly (Score:5, Interesting)
What might have made a nice further comment would have been to code an extension that would show e.g. "available on Amazon for $2.00" on the pirate bay site, and see what kind of traffic would go in the other direction. ...or maybe the comment was that more insightful media corporations would have thought this up for themselves a while back.
Re: (Score:2)
I would actually install that plugin, too. Take it a step further and link to a shop aggregator (to get multiple prices and pick the best) and it's even better.
I must admit, though... If I'm willing to buy and I'm at a torrent site, I've already failed to find it anywhere that I would shop at.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It sounds silly, but I see how this was a parody
I suppose if Michael Stone can claim that forcing his way into the Stormont parliament and attempting to kill Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness was "an act of performance art" [bbc.co.uk] then one can claim anything :)
Parody (Score:2)
" a feeble or ridiculous imitation " ( http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parody [merriam-webster.com] )
Imitation.
If would have been hugely parodyc to build a similar website, that could have got feeds from Amazon itself mind you, and to prominently put the button there.
That is parody.
To do so on top of the website itself is not parody, is naked provocation, almost trolling, which seems to be working nicely.
Got it although I don't really need this. (Score:4, Interesting)
I have just downloaded and installed this extention. Not that I would ever use it -- if I need a torrent, I'd go to thepiratebay.org in the first place.
But as amason tries to forbid this thing, I think I'll give it a try. Somehow it feels really good browsing amazon with this add-on knowing that this is exactly the thing they don't want you to be able to do.
Re:Got it although I don't really need this. (Score:4, Insightful)
That sounds a bit juvenile really.
Re:Got it although I don't really need this. (Score:5, Insightful)
That sounds a bit juvenile really.
So does calling someone a name and posting anonymously. I say go for it dude! Look, he's not collapsing the economy by doing it, some greedy bankers and a lot of irresponsible lenders already did that. Some college kid getting some free songs is not something you really need to get all huffy and righteous about. What you need to get huffy and righteous about is all of the powerful people who have destroyed the economy and your parents' retirement. But wait! Downloading a song is sooooo much more important, right?
To all of the righteous "downloading is a crime" types: get some priorities and complain about things that really matter, children.
Re: (Score:3)
Lets just say I wish I had a private corporate jet and could fly to DC and ask for large billions of dollars because "I made Bad Business Decisions".
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Phew! (Score:5, Funny)
Well thank God, because now people won't download shit for free anymore and instead buy it on amazon.com.
Re: (Score:2)
Parody (Score:5, Insightful)
This social project is not over... (Score:3, Interesting)
Nope. Apparently, this tool created for this school project is not over. The second half of the experiment, after they take down the software, should be to see what kind of punishment they would receive if this were to happen in the real world.
Then they will really know, not just by the reactions of Amazon and their take down notice, but through the legal system about the social feedback such a software will receive...
Piracy tool? PUBLIC DOMAIN TOOL! (Score:5, Insightful)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The 2007 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency
The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Ulysses by James Joyce
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
Paradise Lost by John Milton
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
The Marvelous Land Of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
Amazon.com has all or nearly all of those books, some as DRM-Kindle ebooks.
Now... what idiot here wants explain to me why the hell I SHOULDN'T have this convenient Download-torrent-from-ThePirateBay button show up on the page in my Firefox browser? And offer me their brilliant rant on how this browser extension is or shoud-be illegal?
-
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Now... what idiot here wants explain to me why the hell I SHOULDN'T have this convenient Download-torrent-from-ThePirateBay button show up on the page in my Firefox browser?
I guess I'll be that idiot (hey, arguing on the internet is like competing in the special Olympics; win or lose, you're still retarded!).
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: (Score:2)
Because the artist doesn't get paid if you make a copy yourself.
There.... HAPPY????
Thought #1: Is someone actually attempting to pay L. Frank Baum at this late date?
Thought #2: How was that post a "Troll"? Other than the usual juvenile Slashdot user's logic "This person doesn't have the same value system as I do (or lack thereof), so anything he posts is a troll"?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This leads to the obvious question: when are they (or somebody) going to rewrite the extension to point to Gutenberg and other legal sources (e.g. authors and bands who put their works up for free on the Internet, or have released them under CC licenses)?
To anyone that doesn't get it (Score:2)
Piet Zwart Institute of the Willem de Kooning Academy.
That sounds just like a joke name but this place does seem to exist. 'Zwarte Piet' is dutch for santas helper.
I don't think courts normally allow the 'My school has a stupid name' defense.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Piet Zwart was a famous designer, photographer, and typographer, especially in the 20s and 30s.
Re: (Score:2)
There's a thing, I went to uni with someone called Pete Black. Doesn't sound so funny now, does it?
Re: (Score:2)
First Google hit: http://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/ [wdka.hro.nl]
That must be an art school, the website is UGLY.
Pirates Of The Bay (Score:5, Interesting)
Amazon should instead create another Firefox add-on, when users are browsing through TPB torrents, a large "Buy Genuine 4 Cheap" button next to those torrent listings would appear and link back to Amazon.com.
Re: (Score:2)
Contextual ads aren't that contextual. If a given site indicates that they don't want adult-rated material, you can be damn sure that you'll see undressed woman models posing as individuals from your local area, regardless of what else you can find.
Huh? (Score:2)
I guess the OJ break-in was simply a work of "performance art", too.
Yes, I know that these folks didn't do anything illegal, but the "I'm an artiste" defense has got to be one of the dumber ones I've heard. Damn, if you are an artist, stand up for your art and have Amazon really come after you before you cave. Especially if you are actually an artist.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The "experiment" stuff wasn't just an off-the-cuff excuse. They did write a paper on it.
regardless of legality this is stupid (Score:5, Insightful)
Regardless of its legality this is truly self-destructive and silly. I can understand how people want to get stuff for free, even though I fundamnetally disagree with piracy. What I do NOT understand is why those peole cannot see that if everyone does what they do, no new content will be produced. (Mainly thats why piracy is unethical, because it relys on you leeching off everyone else).
So where you may have an economic incentive to pirate stuff, there is also a clear incentive not to let anyone else know how to do it.
So why as so many hardcore pirates such evangelists for piracy?
They are making it easier to get caught (by always seeding and promoting it), inviting much heavier penalties, and ultimately destroying the income of the exact content producers they like.
The rational pirate would keep a low profile, or at most, only distribute links to really poor content. It just goes to reinforce my belief that its mainly immature kids who do this kind of thing.
Re:regardless of legality this is stupid (Score:4, Interesting)
>What I do NOT understand is why those peole cannot see that if everyone does what they do, no new content will be produced.
Well, I don't think I have ever seen an explanation of how the imperative/compulsion to create gets overridden by the need to make money doing it.
I mean, our oldest paintings are something on the order of 30000 years old, are you trying to tell me they only got painted because the painter got paid and hade copyright protection?
100% Correct. (Score:5, Insightful)
You are 100% correct.
The ability to make money over and over on creations like this is a relatively recent idea. People, in general, are not going to stop writing, painting, or making music because of a lack of copyright.
The only change is the other people who make money off of the artists are not going to get paid. Those people have made a lot of money over many years and will do almost anything to keep that money coming in.
Re:regardless of legality this is stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
Mainly thats why piracy is unethical, because it relys on you leeching off everyone else.
That reminds me of Bastiat's "The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else."
The big difference of course is that you are talking about non-rivalrous goods (copies of works), while Bastiat was referring to scarce, rivalrous goods.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
> That reminds me of Bastiat's "The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else."
Except the dude was just a little pessimestic. It appears MOST seek to live at the expense of everybody else through the power of socialism. Some of us though, still vote for limited government as envisioned by the US Founders. The US Constituition. That would be Change I can Believe in. Doubt I'll ever see it practiced again, but I can keep trying for a little while long
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Regardless of its legality this is truly self-destructive and silly. I can understand how people want to get stuff for free, even though I fundamnetally disagree with piracy. What I do NOT understand is why those peole cannot see that if everyone does what they do, no new content will be produced.
What browser are you using? The way I see it, either you're using Firefox, and therefore wrong, Q.E.D.
Or you're using I.E., and therefore of inconsequential opinion.
Re: (Score:2)
More Musicians Recognizing The Power Of Free [techdirt.com]
I am against piracy, but also against copyright. (Score:2)
Piracy is illegal (by which I mean copyright infringement is illegal in most localities), period.
But copyright in its current form is immoral, so I am not surprised many folks are prepared to brake a law that is clearly flawed.
Your argument that without copyright there would be no artistic output is easily debunkable, many great advances of humanity were achieved before copyright arrived to the scene, and actually lack of copyright is demonstrably better for the spreading of ideas and science.
Shame... (Score:5, Funny)
Are they stupid ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazon may as well make it a condition of using their site that you may NOT maximise your browser. Mind your own f*kin business. Whatever I choose to do with information legally obtained, after it gets to my machine, is my business, and my business alone. They should go after Opera the browser too. After all, you can make Amazons websites text be rendered in any font you like using CSS preferences. And Opera is a commercial venture, so they may be able to pay.
Please sort yourself out. (Score:2, Troll)
"The Amazon site is not being changed in any way whatsoever"
or this
"The Firefox addon only modifies the way the page appears to the user of the browser where that addon is installed"
The mental gymnastics that some people perform are worthy of an Olympic gold medal...
Re:Note to artists: (Score:4, Interesting)
If you chose to join it of your own volition, that's your problem. No one put a gun to your head and made you download it.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
But, Postmodernism was just an art project, with lots of unwitting participants (for example, most of the academics involved), and the instigators failed to inform anyone...
Re: (Score:2)
I always thought "Postmodernism" was a misnomer. Modern means "Pertaining to the current time and style" - i.e. "now". Post- means "After".
Alls I'm sayin' is where the Hell is my goddamned time machine you lying bastards?!
Got that ass-backwards (Score:2)
Actually, no. If you participate in a society, that society is entitled to comment on your participation.
Re:Chin deep (Score:4, Interesting)
So how is this more illegal than what tpb already does? All they're doing is /linking/ to a torrent. Whether that should be legal or not is a whole 'nother can of worms.
Re: (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:Chin deep (Score:5, Funny)
You must be new here (on planet Earth, that is).
Re:Chin deep (Score:5, Informative)
Last I checked the DMCA didn't apply in the Netherlands...
Re:Chin deep (Score:4, Insightful)
I think that is solid advice whether they tangle with Amazon or not.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Not that logic ever kept a company from spooging lawyers all over some random person.
Yerg! (Score:3, Funny)
Lovely image, thank you!
(reaches for large bottle of whiskey to blot out the very idea...)
Cheers,
You're missing the point... (was: Re:Chin deep) (Score:5, Funny)
All it takes to trigger the download is One-Click (TM)...
The plugin authors did not obtain a license to use Amazon's One-Click patent, now did they? ;-)
Re:And a billboard giving detailed instructions on (Score:4, Insightful)
But I bet this "art work" is in direct violation of a number of laws
Can you name any?
Blantant copyright infringement (Score:2)
Not of Amazon wares mind you, but of Amazon's website itself, and that is just for starters.
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.
Re:And a billboard giving detailed instructions on (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, agreed. This is like those professors who were found with a bunch of issues of Playboy in their office and they claimed it was part of their research into the correlation of economic conditions with contemporary playmate body types, as a study of evolutionary psychology.
Re:And a billboard giving detailed instructions on (Score:4, Interesting)
were found with a bunch of issues of Playboy in their office
In the year 2008, soon to be 2009, is that really that scandalous? ;-)
(Believe it or not, I actually once did cite Playboy in a literary analysis paper while at school: They carried an interview with Kurt Vonnegut and Joe Heller. No joke.)
Re: (Score:2)
I'd read that research, even if it had no pictures in it. It actually sounds interesting, assuming they can find such a correlation.
Re:And a billboard giving detailed instructions on (Score:4, Funny)
Oh ... my ... god. Apparently, I got it wrong. It wasn't some off-the-cuff excuse. They actually wrote up the paper [sagepub.com]!
More [marginalrevolution.com] links [nytimes.com].
Re: (Score:2)
And the paper is 20 dollars to read :(
On the plus side, I'm apparently going to be quite the looker next year.
Re:And a billboard giving detailed instructions on (Score:4, Funny)
Not writing the paper would be like telling a cop you were speeding to get to the hospital. Then when he lets you go, you drive to the movies while he follows you.
Re:And a billboard giving detailed instructions on (Score:5, Interesting)
Doesn't need defending - everything you mention is perfectly legal (at least in the US). Why would simply describing some illegal activity be against the law?
Not that I have anything against freedom of speech.
Yes you do. You are suggesting that sharing of information should be restricted if it's conceivable that someone could potentially use that information for some illegal purpose; that's pretty far into the "not for" freedom of speech end of the spectrum.
But I bet this "art work" is in direct violation of a number of laws and is about to get the "artists" into a lot of legal difficulty.
Is it? TFA is pretty light on details, but I'd be very surprised if Amazon's complaint was about anything other than their trademark being used in the name of the plugin. Even if it is possible to sue people for linking to links to torrents in the US (which I'm not sure it is), Amazon are not the copyright holder here.
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.
-
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Where did the article say anything about DMCA? You can threaten to sue no matter where you are.
Re:Ahem (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, they did write a paper on it, though it doesn't seem to be publicly available free ($20 to get it, and it isn't on TPB (yet)).
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That is, unless we want a paper copy of a book, in which case I'll look on amazon (or more likely, in my local brick-and-mortar bookshop to browse what's available).