Yahoo Doesn't Want You To Know Its Spying Price List; Issues DMCA Takedown
from the can-the-pricelist-be-copyrighted? dept
Last week, well-known privacy activist, Chris Soghoian, got a lot of attention for revealing some data on how often Sprint was sharing GPS data with the government. However, perhaps an even more interesting part of his detailed writeup about various service providers and how they provide data to the government, was his attempt to uncover how much various service providers charge the government. This was interesting, in that it showed how giving the government private data could be a bit of a profit center for some firms. Soghoian uncovered some price lists, but Yahoo and Verizon refused to reveal their price lists, claiming that doing so would "shock" or "confuse" customers. That was odd, since other firms did reveal their price lists, and the results weren't all that shocking or confusing.Of course, it didn't take long for someone to leak Yahoo's spying price list (or, more accurately, its "compliance guide for law enforcement," which also includes some pricing info) to Cryptome.org. Other, similar documents were also posted to Cryptome from other service providers, but the only one who freaked out appears to be Yahoo. Robert Ring alerts us that Yahoo sent a DMCA takedown request to Cryptome over the document. Cryptome appears to have just posted the takedown request along with its ongoing email discussion with Yahoo's lawyers, while leaving the original document in place.
Of course, by now, you can rest assured that Yahoo's document has been copied in all sorts of places, just by nature of Yahoo's attempt to hide it. It makes you wonder why the company even bothered in the first place.
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Filed Under: dmca, law enforcement, price guide, privacy, spying
Companies: cryptome, yahoo
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It's not like Yahoo! is selling data to whoever asks. It still requires a court order and wants to be recouped the overhead of complying. You can argue the price points, I guess. But, not for charging.
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Subpoena shmoopeener
You don't need to be a government to purchase other people's phone records!
Testimony of Robert Douglas Before the Committee on Energy & Commerce, U.S. House of Representatives (February 1, 2006)
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What I just e-mailed the lawyer
I, like tens of thousands of others, only become privy to such information when a takedown notice is issued, because I'm curious what people try so hard to hide. Had no DMCA notice been issued, I never in my life would have stumbled upon this information that Yahoo! is trying so dearly to protect.
In the future, I would strongly recommend that you urge your clients not to issue such notices, as it only serves to spread the allegedly infringing content further. It would be negligent of you not to mention this possibility to your clients. It will now be impossible to get this document off of the public Internet, which was counter to what Yahoo! requested your services for.
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Thanks!
[And thanks Yahoo lawyers for making a fuss; I wouldn't know about the document otherwise.]
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Re: Thanks!
Two things:
- if you didn't click through to read Cryptome's ongoing discussion with Yahoo lawyers, do so. The Cryptome Admin has a decent sense of humor about this.
- the Yahoo document as well as a similar MySpace document were posted to Wikileaks yesterday.
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Now, off to re-education camp you evil free radical!!
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That said, the PR burn to them for going after an educator is something they'd have to consider. That and the Streisand Effect.
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Price This!
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open records
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Fake info + VPN
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It's not just a list of prices, but rather a whole guide for law enforcement on how to submit requests to Yahoo (including estimated prices). Certainly the whole document, produced by a private company, can be copyrighted.
Cryptome seems to be claiming that Yahoo can't send a DMCA take-down notice until after it officially registers the copyright on the document with the Copyright Office (or at least that it doesn't have to comply with such a request until the copyright is officially registered). Is that actually correct?
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So, what is the "correct" procedure?
What is the correct procedure for an individual or organization to assert its rights under copyright?
In this case, Yahoo filed a DMCA takedown notice, and the response is (in not so many words) "Streisand effect!"
In another, rather similar case involving a church, they filed a lawsuit, and the response was the same. "You call attention to it! Now everyone knows your secrets! Lookie lookie!"
In cases involving works of fiction, the story goes, "Embrace the file sharers! Use the free publicity! Connect with fans, reason to buy!"
Is it the prevailing opinion that "copyright" is meaningless? That, no matter who you are, what the document is, or what your intent to do or not to do with it is; someone is going to copy it and republish it on the web, and there's not a thing you can do about it?
Or is there some "Techdirt-approved" way to produce and publish a document, maintain control over that document's publication, and appropriately assert those rights to keep others from taking that document from you?
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Re: So, what is the "correct" procedure?
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Re: So, what is the "correct" procedure?
First, there's no creativity.
Second, to the extent there might be some miniscule iota of creativity, it's outweighed by the public interest.
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Re: Re: So, what is the "correct" procedure?
Furthermore, the public interest issue you mention is completely without merit in copyright law. There is no basis in law or precedent for expression to lose its copyright protection merely by virtue of its disclosure being in "the public interest."
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Re: So, what is the "correct" procedure?
If a reporter were to write an original article in which they disclosed that sources had revealed Yahoo!'s pricing, and it was $x for y service, presumably Yahoo! would not take issue.
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Re: So, what is the "correct" procedure?
Yes. It involves learning the definition of "take."
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from the response TO the lawyer...I laughed
Regards,
John Young
Cryptome Administrator
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I'll tell you why they bothered in the 1st place
I say this as I am currently having an error issue with my email, and after requesting yahoo's help, they act like they have no idea of how yahoo's (it's own serivce)works.
If this is not incompetent then I do not know what is.
They also were unable to tell time or at least count to 24.
This is why, they have way more money and power than sanity.
Make sense now?
Remember Nero fiddle while Rome burned.
SexyJennifer
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yahoo spying on me
The other Information they can not use for the news is then given to conspiracy theorist like Project Camelot, Michael Tsarion,
They claim to be department of Intelligentz but in reality they are just a bunch of criminals making money of their costumers privacy.
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