Kazaa Sends Out Its Own DMCA Takedown Notices

from the not-smart dept

This one seems to fall into the "what are they thinking" category, but Sharman Networks, the owner of the Kazaa P2P platform has apparently sent DMCA takedown letters to Google and others for having links to Kazaa Lite - the non-spyware version of Kazaa. Of anyone out there, Sharman should know better than to use the DMCA for their own purposes. As it stands, Google has been forced to remove links to Kazaa Lite. Of course, the end result of this is that Kazaa Lite is getting a hell of a lot more attention, and will only make more people likely to use that instead of Sharman's own spyware-filled version. Still, it's unfortunate that a company like Sharman wouldn't realize that a takedown notice for links to one of their competitors from a search engine is a bad move and will make them lose an awful lot of sympathy from users.
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  • identicon
    Ed Halley, 2 Sep 2003 @ 6:28am

    No Subject Given

    Is this a double standard? Seems like most opponents of DMCA would *love* to see it applied against the likes of RIAA as many times possible. If a weapon is made available, it will be used by as many parties as has the brawn to wield it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      LittleW0lf, 2 Sep 2003 @ 10:43am

      Re: No Subject Given

      If a weapon is made available, it will be used by as many parties as has the brawn to wield it.

      Absolutely agree with this. DMCA is one of the worst laws ever written. The more people who use it, the more its evilness will be apparent, and the more hatred and anger over it will swell, until Congress has only one option, to dump it, and the idiots behind it (MPAA/RIAA) into the ocean as a environmental management project.

      Congress has so far been reluctant to change it because of the outcry of only a very small population of nerds, but as it gets used more and more to affect the way joe-sixpack lives his life, the more Congress will worry about their livelihood, and the more likely the change will occur.

      link to this | view in chronology ]


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