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Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

torrentfreak.com

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Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#181

Post by chc »

batista wrote: post #179
tikhonj wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. But Romeo and Juliet apparently borrowed heavily from works from 1562 and 1582[1]. Since he wrote the play in 1591, both works would have been under today's copyright. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_juliet

"borrowed heavily" != copied verbatim. How many hollywood movies feature extremely similar plots?

I hope this doesn't sound overly aggressive, but you don't seem to have a very firm understanding of how copyright law works. Derivative works are covered as well. You don't have to literally copy every piece of something with full fidelity to fall under it; borrowing heavily can be quite sufficient. For example, an unauthorized encyclopedia of the Harry Potter universe got stomped because it borrowed heavily from the Harry Potter books. It wasn't actually a copy of any book, but it took enough to get slapped down.

IANAL, but I personally have no doubt that Shakespeare would have been sued if today's copyright culture had existed then. He even copied the characters' names (and yes, characters can be covered by copyright), not to mention most of the major plot elements. It wasn't just "Oh, this general idea is kinda similar to that one."

It's the skill of Shakespeare's story telling that made him so great, not the stories themselves. But the stories are protected by copyright, not the skill.

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#182

Post by 7952 »

drchaos wrote: post #43
7952 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly Skype? It does have end to end encryption but this is hard to validate independently.

Well I for one hope they roll out this "feature" in Skype too, ASAP. I've been preaching to (some of) my buddies for years now why it is not a good idea to rely on a closed, centralized platform for communication, but they keep on telling me that Skype is just "so convenient" and they "don't need anything else". Making Skype less convenient (by means of censorship) would mean that open and decentralized alternatives…

Of course its a bad idea to rely on a closed platform. Except that the majority of people rely on closed platforms (Windows and iOS) to communicate all the time. MS could prohibit pirate bay links on windows using the automatic update system; but they probably wont't.

You have to use software that people are actually comfortable with and operate within that ecosystem. At the moment Skype may well be the best bet. Try finding another piece of software that has end to end encryption and is widely adopted by non-geek's.

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#183

Post by [deleted] »

drchaos wrote: post #43
7952 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly Skype? It does have end to end encryption but this is hard to validate independently.

Well I for one hope they roll out this "feature" in Skype too, ASAP. I've been preaching to (some of) my buddies for years now why it is not a good idea to rely on a closed, centralized platform for communication, but they keep on telling me that Skype is just "so convenient" and they "don't need anything else". Making Skype less convenient (by means of censorship) would mean that open and decentralized alternatives…

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#184

Post by Lockyy »

simonbrown wrote: post #154
gitarr wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a musician who would never deal with RIAA, instead we put both our albums on The Pirate Bay to download and spread for free. Now I cannot link to those albums in Microsoft software because they censor all links? That my friend is as anti free speech as it gets, and this censorship really erodes society not the sharing and copying of files.

You could distribute them via something like ClearBits.

Why should be he required to change distributor?

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#185

Post by Lockyy »

javert wrote: post #122
gitarr wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/us-governmen...

Any claim that copyright infringement does not hurt copyright holders is dishonest, and people who make dishonest claims should not be admitted into serious discussions. I'm responding to gitarr here, not the link itself.

So, you assert that any argument against you is inadmissable in the debate. So you're trying to argue that you yourself win this debate no matter what. That really isn't how this works.

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#186

Post by Lockyy »

javert wrote: post #174
18pfsmt wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were the only person left on the earth, copyrights wouldn't matter anymore. You can't say the same for the laws of physics.

True. I'm not saying that property rights are the same as physics.

"javert 1 day ago | link

Yes, precisely, like physics."

But you are.

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#187

Post by billybob »

pearkes wrote: post #10

Facebook does this as well. (Or at least, they did until The Pirate Bay changed it's TLD to `.se`) You could argue that it's for the user's security. Torrent sites do have a lot of sketchy cruft.

Baloney. This has nothing to do with security. Even if you're chatting with me and you link to www.pleasegivemeviruses.com, nobody at MS should overrule that piece of conversation. Maybe I wanted the link. Maybe we're both security researchers. Or maybe I'm gullible. Who's to decide?

I've chosen to chat with you, and you've chosen to say something. Normal human trust mechanisms apply. Censoring our conversation because you think you know what's best is ridiculous.

The minute I thought a chat client was actively thwarting my conversation, I would uninstall it.

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