As a Happy Holidays present yesterday Microsoft lawyers contacted digital.forest, our hosting provider, with a cute little email demanding an “immediate take-down” of MacSlash for infringing activity. Being the good guys that they are, digital.forest promptly got in touch with Microsoft (email reprinted with permission below the fold) with a response: No way.<\/p>\n
It seems that several (and by several, we mean 8) months ago an anonymous commenter [url=http:\/\/macslash.org\/comments.pl?sid=3315&cid=33568] posted[\/url] a comment which contained a purported serial number for Longhorn. The comment was rated -1 and until yesterday those of us who administer MacSlash were completely unaware of it lurking there in their archives.<\/p>\n
Digital Forest’s Reponse to Microsoft’s complaint letter:
\nMr. Young,<\/p>\n
The server in question is not owned by digital.forest, it is a
\ncolocated server to which we have no login access. As such we have no
\nmethod to remove the content in question. Additionally we will NOT
\nshut down or remove a paying client’s colocated server without
\nspecific direction to do so from a Court of Law.<\/p>\n
That said, I suggest you contact the server owners directly, and ask
\nnicely for the offending content to be removed, or obfuscated in some
\nway satisfactory to all parties. I can not divulge the contact
\ninformation of the server owners, as it is a violation of our privacy
\nprovisions. You could deliver a subpoena to us, at which point I
\ncould divulge the information requested. However, given that your
\ntitle is “Internet Investigator” I’m sure that you could do some
\ninvestigation on the Internet… *(Hint: LOOK at the site. Hint:
\nwhois)* and find out an easy way to email the server owners and make
\nyour request directly to them.<\/p>\n
My final hint: A short lesson in human nature… Try asking nicely. I
\nrealize that owners of intellectual property feel the need to enter
\ninto discussions with lawyers blazing, but I know from long
\nexperience that attack begets defence, whereas courtesy begets
\nrespect. If you look at this situation objectively, I’m sure you will
\nrealize that the site owners have not acted in any malicious way. The
\ncontent in question was posted to the bulletin board by some
\nanonymous user. So, rather than using terms like “Demand for
\nImmediate Take-Down” why don’t you try something like “Please remove
\ncopyright infringing content”.<\/p>\n
You will likely be amazed at how much better it works.<\/p>\n
Regards,
\n–chuck goolsbee
\nv.p. technical operations<\/p>\n
—
\nthe digital.forest abuse team 216.168.32.0\/19
\n_________________________________________________________________
\ndigital.forest Phone: +1-877-720-0483
\nwhere Internet solutions grow Int’l: +1-425-483-0483
\n19515 North Creek Parkway Fax: +1-425-482-6871
\nSuite 208 [url=http:\/\/www.forest.net]http:\/\/www.forest.net[\/url]
\nBothell, WA 98011 email: [email]abuse@forest.net[\/email]
\n*** celebrating over a decade of operations – 7\/12\/94-7\/12\/04 ***<\/p>\n
And the Microsoft complaint letter, as sent to digital.forest:
\n—— Forwarded Message
\nFrom: “MSAntiPiracy02 (by way of abuse role account)” Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 06:17:51 -0800
\nSubject: Demand for Immediate Take Down – Notice of Infringing Activity – MS Ref. 35876<\/p>\n
VIA EMAIL:<\/p>\n
Demand for Immediate Take-Down: Notice of Infringing Activity<\/p>\n
URL: [url=http:\/\/macslash.org\/comments.pl?sid=3315&cid=33568]http:\/\/macslash.org\/comments.pl?sid=3315&cid=33568[\/url] <\/p>\n
CASE #: 35876<\/p>\n
16 December 2004<\/p>\n
Dear Sir or Madam,<\/p>\n
Microsoft has received information that the domain listed above, which appears
\nto be on servers under your control, is offering unlicensed copies of, or is
\nengaged in other unauthorized activities relating to copyrighted computer
\nprograms published by Microsoft.<\/p>\n
1. Identification of copyrighted works:
\nComputer program(s):
\nWindows 2003 Server Standard
\nCopyright owner:
\nMicrosoft Corporation<\/p>\n
2. Copyright infringing material or activity found at the following
\nlocation(s): [url=http:\/\/macslash.org\/comments.pl?sid=3315&cid=33568]http:\/\/macslash.org\/comments.pl?sid=3315&cid=33568[\/url] <\/p>\n
The above location is offering ‘Cracks’ or ‘Product Keys’, intended to
\ncircumvent technical measures that control access to Microsoft’s copyrighted
\nworks and that protect Microsoft’s copyrights in those works.<\/p>\n
3. Statement of authority:
\nI hereby certify under penalty of perjury that the information in this notice
\nis accurate and that I am authorized to act on behalf of Microsoft, the owner
\nof the copyright(s) in the work(s) identified above. I have a good faith belief
\nthat none of the materials or activities listed above have been authorized by
\nMicrosoft, its agents, or the law.<\/p>\n
We hereby give notice of these activities to you and request that you take
\nexpeditious action to remove or disable access to the material described above,
\nand thereby prevent the unauthorized distribution of these cracks and product
\nkeys via your company’s network.<\/p>\n
We appreciate your cooperation in this matter. Please advise us regarding what
\nactions you take.<\/p>\n
Yours sincerely,
\nJames Young
\nInternet Investigator
\non behalf of Microsoft Corporation
\nOne Microsoft Way
\nRedmond, WA 98052
\nUnited States of America
\nE-mail: [email]Internet1@microsoft-antipiracy.com[\/email]<\/p>\n
more from [url=http:\/\/macslash.org\/article.pl?sid=04\/12\/16\/2346202&mode=thread]Macslash[\/url]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Microsoft Attempts To Shutdown MacSlash<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-m"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4bBYZ-3P","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepquest.code511.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepquest.code511.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepquest.code511.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepquest.code511.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepquest.code511.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deepquest.code511.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepquest.code511.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepquest.code511.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepquest.code511.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}