Blizzard Rains on Bnetd Project 771
Sir Homer writes: "Blizzard Entertainment has shut down the bnetd project using the DMCA, as declared in their site. The bnetd project is a battle.net server emulator licenced under the GNU/GPL originally for Linux and also works on most Unix variants. Project details can be found on this freshmeat.net page." As I understood it, bnetd was a complete re-implementation of battle.net, so it isn't clear what copyright violation Blizzard alleges occurred. Note to bnetd: under the DMCA, you can file a counter-notice with the hosting provider asserting that Blizzard was wrong.
Down with the DMCA! (Score:3, Informative)
It's time the politicians got some sense knocked into them.
Text of www.bnetd.org (for when its slashdotted) (Score:3, Informative)
... we are down right now. However, this time it isn't because of technical reasons but for legal issues.
This site has been disabled as requested by Blizzard Entertainment and it will remain closed as we have no legal recourse other than to file a lawsuit against a large corporation. This is due to 17 USC Section 512(c)(1)(C) (AKA DMCA, supposedly required to be passed by WIPO treaties). Blizzard claims bnetd is in violation of 17 USC Section 1201(b), though we do not agree with their interpretation. Blizzard refused to specify a specific list of files on this site so the whole thing must be blocked. We are very sorry for the inconvenience but there is nothing we can do.
Text of original message follows:
February 19, 2002
Internet Gateway Inc.
tjung@igateway.net
noc@igateway.net
hostmaster@igateway.net
Dear Sir or Madam:
This letter is to notify you, pursuant to the provisions of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, that we believe one of your customers is
infringing Blizzard Entertainment's, a division of Vivendi Universal Games,
Inc. ("VUG"), copyrighted materials. Specifically, Blizzard Entertainment is
the owner of the copyright for the computer games Diablo(r) II and StarCraft(r)
and the multi-player server software run by Blizzard Entertainment on its
Battle.net(r) site. The following site hosts and/or distributes software that
violates Blizzard Entertainment's copyright:
http://www.bnetd.org/
The aforementioned site either hosts or distributes software which illegally
modifies and/or alters Blizzard Entertainment copyrighted software or
bypasses anti-circumvention technology, thereby infringing upon Blizzard
Entertainment copyrights. Accordingly, Blizzard Entertainment demands that
you act expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the web page listed
above in order for you to claim a safe harbor under the DMCA from liability
for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. Please immediately
delete or disable access to this web page and remove its contents from view.
Should you have any questions, please contact the undersigned at
piracy@blizzard.com or 949-955-1380 extension
1616.
I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained
of is not authorized by Blizzard Entertainment, VUG, its agents or the law,
and that the information in this notice is accurate. I declare under penalty
of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that I am
authorized to act on behalf of all of the aforementioned entities.
Sincerely,
Rod Rigole
Corporate Counsel
End of original message.
We would like to thank our users for all the support and feedback over the years.
Google comes to the rescue again. (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~rocombs/sc/ [nmsu.edu]
fsgs battlenet server still available. (Score:2, Informative)
There's no sign on their homepage that they have received nasty letters.
http://www.fsgs.com
They didn't shutdown sourceforge (Score:5, Informative)
CVS, and the downloadable files are still there for now.
Blizzard's Lawyers (Score:5, Informative)
I suspect the real reason is the Warcraft 3 BETA mess. Combine this with the issue of other groups (http://www.madgrfx.com/warforge.html, http://www.clan519.com/, and a group on DALnet #bnetd) trying to say that they were the bnetd group and began working to support the Warcraft 3 BETA being pirated everywhere. Well I am sure that didn't help things at all.
It does seem like a DMCA violation to me. (Score:5, Informative)
It's a terrible law, which copyright holders can apply in far too broad a scope, but terrible or not, it's on the books. Write your legislator, or hope the supreme court finally stops it.
Re:wcIII (Score:3, Informative)
1) Write your Representative and tell them how you feel about the DMCA. By law they are required to respond to all letters.
2) Don't purchase products from DCMA supporters
3) Tell DMCA supports that you will no longer buy their product because...
If you read this and think its too much trouble...fine I won't flame, but you should know that our Gov't laws are made by your representitives in congress and the senate, not by Corporations. Your congressman is a whore who values two things money and apporvel ratings. If you are a provider of either they will listen.
It is still on sourceforge. (Score:2, Informative)
mirror (Score:5, Informative)
I expect to get the CVS version of the project up there soon as well.
Blizzard Contact Info (Score:5, Informative)
Ok, here's the contact info straight from their web site, if you feel like voicing your opinion. Couldn't really find a "bitch at us" address...
Blizzard Entertainment
P.O. Box 18979
Irvine, CA 92623
Sales Information/Ordering
USA: (800) 953-SNOW
International: (949) 955-0283
sales@blizzard.com
Support
support@blizzard.com or
macsupport@blizzard.com
This is nothing new. (Score:5, Informative)
life several years ago. In fact, the news was on Slashdot at the time, IIRC. He gave the project to
someone else, and no longer has anything to do with
bnetd.
Incidentally, he told me he recieved a cease and desist order from Blizzard when the news got out about his work. He also says he ignored it, and
nothing happened. However, this was before the DMCA existed, IIRC, so now Blizzard has the
teeth to follow through.
So Blizzard has been after bnetd before. This is
nothing new.
Counter File Paperwork (Score:5, Informative)
Was orginally made to deal with Napster issues at the height of the craze.
--
Malk-a-mite
=============
Dear Internet Service Provider:
This letter is written in response to your notification to me of a complaint received about my webpage(s). The pages in question are:
(insert list of URLs here).
The complainant's claim of copyright violation should be rejected because (please see all checked items):
The material in question is not copyrighted, or the copyright has expired. It is therefore in the public domain and may be reproduced by anyone.
The complainant has provided no copyright registration information or other tangible evidence that the material in question is in fact copyrighted, and I have a good faith belief that it is not. The allegation of copyright violation is therefore in dispute, and at present unsupported.
The complainant does not hold the copyright to the material in question and is not the designated representative of the copyright holder, and therefore lacks standing to assert that my use of the material is a violation of any of the owner's rights.
My use of the material is legally protected because it falls within the "fair use" provision of the copyright regulations, as defined in 17 USC 107. If the complainant disagrees that this is fair use, he or she is free to take up the matter with me directly, in the courts. You, the ISP, are under no obligation to settle this dispute, or to take any action to restrict my speech at the behest of this complainant. Furthermore, siding with the complainant in a manner that interferes with my lawful use of your facilities could constitute breach of contract on your part.
The complaint does not follow the prescribed form for notification of an alleged copyright violation as set forth in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 USC 512(c)(3).
Specifically, the complainant has failed to:
Provide a complaint in written form.
[17 USC 512(c)(3)(A)]
Include a physical or electronic signature of the complainant.
[17 USC 512(c)(3)(A)(i)]
Identify the specific copyrighted work claimed to be infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single complaint, provide a representative list of such works.
[17 USC 512(c)(3)(A)(ii)]
Provide the URLs for the specific files on my website that are alleged to be infringing.
[17 USC 512(c)(3)(A)(iii)]
Provide sufficient information to identify the complainant, including full name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address.
[17 USC 512(c)(3)(A)(iv)]
Include a written statement that the complainant has a good faith belief that use of the disputed material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
[17 USC 512(c)(3)(A)(v)]
Include a written statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complainant is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
[17 USC 512(c)(3)(A)(vi)]
This communication to you is a DMCA counter-notification letter as defined in 17 USC 512(g)(3):
I declare, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good faith belief that the complaint of copyright violation is based on mistaken information, misidentification of the material in question, or deliberate misreading of the law.
My name, address, and telephone number are as follows:
(insert your name, address and phone number here).
I hereby consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which I reside (or, if my address is outside the United States, any judicial district in which you, the ISP, may be found).
I agree to accept service of process from the complainant.
My actual or electronic signature follows: ________________________________.
Having received this counter-notification, you are now obligated under
17 USC 512(g)(2)(B) to advise the complainant of this notice, and to restore the material in dispute (or not take the material down in the first place), unless the complainant files suit against me within 10 days.
David S. Touretzky is a principal scientist in the Computer Science Department and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University.
Re:Bye Blizzard. (Score:5, Informative)
*Subliminal Guy mode on* VU are the same nice people (blood sucking control freaks) that bring you movies (and prosecute the exchange of ideas like DeCSS), music (and squash P2P music exchange) as well as other forms of entertainment (cultural control). *SubGuy mode off*
Go figure.
Soko
Re:The real reason it was shut down... (Score:5, Informative)
The BNetD project had NO support for Warcraft 3 in it, and the team was not planning on even starting to add Warcraft3 support to it until it was officially released by Blizzard.
What you had was a group of people downloading the source code and modifying the source code to work with Warcraft 3, OUTSIDE of the BNetD tree. The BNetD project had nothing to do with the leaking of the Warcraft 3 beta, nor the support for the non-blizzard bnet servers for War3.
What you basically have is somebody getting ahold of an Open Source program, changing the source to violate license agreements with Blizzard (beta testers, read the agreement over) or enabling people to play pirated beta copies of the software, and the original open source project getting busted for it. This would be like somebody downloading the source for grep, changing it to automatically break out copy protection in some program, distributing it back out on the net and then the companies going after grep as being the issue.
This leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I also just cancelled my pre-order of Warcraft 3.
Re:Down with the DMCA! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Everyone's missing the point. (Score:2, Informative)
Read the news page at www.battle.net before you start blowing smoke.
Sourceforge released files (Score:3, Informative)
When you see this on SourceForge, it generally means that everything the project has done up to that point is considered beta quality at best. There is no official "release" of the project yet. However, there is often a CVS repository that can be used to slurp up the current state of the project. The parent poster was attempting to point out that you can still use CVS to download this from SourceForge. I hope Blizzard misses this point long enough for a ton of people to get the files.
In addition to the boycotts being called for, I thought of a way for development to start back up. Use anonymous remailers to post signed tarballs and patches to USENET. That's awkward but would allow development to start back up unimpeded by Blizzards lawyerbots. Serve 'em right too.
This could be a killer app for Freenet if someone could think of a way to host a project inside it's cloud.
Email adresses of blizzard execs (Score:2, Informative)
So Bill Roper's email is broper@blizzard.com
Some other blizzard people worth contacting, from the credits list in the D2 manual:
Project and design leads:
Dave Brevik dbrevik@blizzard.com
Erich Schaefer eschaefer@blizzard.com
Max Schaefer mschaefer@blizzard.com
Various producers:
Mike Morhaime mmorhaime@blizzard.com
Matt Householder mhouseholder@blizzard.com
Kenneth Williams kwilliams@blizzard.com
Michael Huang mhaung@blizzard.com
Bill Roper broper@blizzard.com
Mark Kern mkern@blizzard.com
If you only email two of these people (but there's no reason not to send a copy of your complaint letter to all of them), email Max Schaefer and Bill Roper.
Oh yes, you might want to email Chris Metzen (cmetzen@blizzard.com), who was reponsible for the Diablo 2 story concept and script editing and manual design, layout, and artwork, and the cinematic script, and the coice casting and direction. In other words, the entire plot of D2 came from him. Ask him what part of the Diablo 2 story includes the fans getting f*cked over by Blizzard.