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DMCA, Easylist, Adblock, Copyright Access Control and Admiral

blog.getadmiral.com

11–20 of 33 posts

Re: DMCA, Easylist, Adblock, Copyright Access Control and Admiral

#11

Anybody know the usual amount of time it takes for GitHub to post a DMCA notice? They should've received Admirals takedown at least 2 days ago, but it still hasn't shown up on https://github.com/github/dmca/tree/master .

It finally appeared: https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2017/2017-08-02-L... , received 01/August/2017.

Re: DMCA, Easylist, Adblock, Copyright Access Control and Admiral

#12
I had no idea who Admiral was before, and I can't say I have a great opinion of them now. I'm sorry, but you don't get to control what I can and cannot ad block.

This is mind blowing since Dan was the COO of GROOVESHARK which basically didn't care about copyright, at all.

Re: DMCA, Easylist, Adblock, Copyright Access Control and Admiral

#13
post #9

It's important to note that Admiral is making the claim that this domain is used as part of their platform which protects the integrity of paywalls, which in turn guards copyrighted material of their clients. Therefore, this would be a correct application of the DMCA according to 17 U.S. Code § 1201 - Circumvention of copyright protection systems: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201 Subsection A specifica…

But the content has already been delivered by the time this "access control" replaces the original page content with itself. There is no middle step/layer actually guarding the content on Admiral's system. Disabling JavaScript would have the same effect. There is no guarantee that clients must process all network requests or execute all script actions specified by a webpage. If you need access control for a website,…

Others within this thread are claiming, without evidence, that this is an incorrect application of the DMCA. I'm simply quoting the portion of the law which is in accordance with Admiral's claim. I care nothing about the mechanism they've created or the philosophical implications or discrepancies of protecting content after it was already made available, etc. I'm simply restating their argument here so others may view it in regard to the letter of the law, and stating that on its face it seems to be a valid claim.

Re: DMCA, Easylist, Adblock, Copyright Access Control and Admiral

#15
post #7

So... pardon the language but: Fuck you Admiral, and congratulations. I had no idea who you were before but you've become a shining example of corporate authoritarian entitlement. It's my damn computer and if I want to deface a webpage on my computer I can do it however I want--I can adblock it, I can use MS Paint to draw bananas on it, or I can get my toddler to do it with an eraseable crayon.

Next thing you'll be telling us is that you can play a European DVD in an American DVD player…

Re: DMCA, Easylist, Adblock, Copyright Access Control and Admiral

#16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the content has already been delivered by the time this "access control" replaces the original page content with itself. There is no middle step/layer actually guarding the content on Admiral's system. Disabling JavaScript would have the same effect. There is no guarantee that clients must process all network requests or execute all script actions specified by a webpage. If you need access control for a website,…

Others within this thread are claiming, without evidence, that this is an incorrect application of the DMCA. I'm simply quoting the portion of the law which is in accordance with Admiral's claim. I care nothing about the mechanism they've created or the philosophical implications or discrepancies of protecting content after it was already made available, etc. I'm simply restating their argument here so others may vie…

Yes. I wasn't disagreeing with you, but with Admiral's argument. Your distinction is helpful for those thinking that the domain name itself is somehow copyrighted, and the target of this DMCA request.

Re: DMCA, Easylist, Adblock, Copyright Access Control and Admiral

#17
post #7

So... pardon the language but: Fuck you Admiral, and congratulations. I had no idea who you were before but you've become a shining example of corporate authoritarian entitlement. It's my damn computer and if I want to deface a webpage on my computer I can do it however I want--I can adblock it, I can use MS Paint to draw bananas on it, or I can get my toddler to do it with an eraseable crayon.

Next thing you'll be telling us is that you can play a European DVD in an American DVD player…

Haha. I have a beautiful hardware-based-region-unlocked bluray player sitting right here in fact. It works beautifully. One of my prized possessions from my spouse. I have no idea where she got it from.

Re: DMCA, Easylist, Adblock, Copyright Access Control and Admiral

#18

How would one configure Adblock Plus to ensure Admiral's domains are blocked irrespective of whether EasyList capitulates? (Asking as a hypothetical, of course.)

and I'll answer totally non-hypothetically ;)

Adblock Plus > 'Open the dashboard' > My Filters.

add 'functionalclam.com', no quotes, which will be treated as a HOSTS entry to be ignored.

Re: DMCA, Easylist, Adblock, Copyright Access Control and Admiral

#20
post #9

It's important to note that Admiral is making the claim that this domain is used as part of their platform which protects the integrity of paywalls, which in turn guards copyrighted material of their clients. Therefore, this would be a correct application of the DMCA according to 17 U.S. Code § 1201 - Circumvention of copyright protection systems: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201 Subsection A specifica…

As far as I can tell, Admiral's code detects use of ad blockers, and puts a wall around the content in response. If you're not using an ad blocker, there's no wall, and the content is freely accessible.

So in a roundabout way, they're effectively claiming that the ads themselves are the paywall. It's a clever argument, to be sure, but I'm not sure it's a reasonable one.

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