Crazed Microsoft robot accuses BBC kids' channel of Win8 piracy
Microsoft falsely branded BBC CBeebies, CNN.com and other websites as Windows 8 piracy haunts - and ordered Google to remove them from search results. Pages belonging to the Beeb's children’s telly service CBeebies, film reviews site Rottentomatoes and US cinema chain AMC Theaters - as well as web articles by the BBC's …
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Re: Windows 8 piracy?
> And what's wrong with that? The IBM Model-M is one solid hardware.
Absolutely right. I dropped a laser printer on mine (shelf supports broke), it knocked the caps off a couple of keys and broke the switch in one. The printer came off worse.
I guess...
The server(s) on which this bot runs will now be moved back to running Windows 7, until the first win8 service pack has been released.
All jokes aside; I wonder if you could hold MS liable for false accusations when they take down your website based on these fake allegations.
Re: I guess...
I wonder if you could hold MS liable for false accusations when they take down your website based on these fake allegations.
Yes. Filing a false DMCA takedown request is considered perjury. That's one thing the DMCA has got right -- google "dmca penalty false request" for some good examples of what you can lose by filing a false DMCA takedown request.
Re: So many joke posibilities...
Like, if it detects the word "infantile" then it assumes someone is talking about the Windows Metro play-bricks on-screen experience.
One in ten aint bad ...
... especially given that Google reckons that less than 1% of links on bittorrent sites are to infringing download like "Download Shrek" -> torrentsite/shrek/film.avi is infringing but the other 1000 "Download Shrek film" links are to something completely different.
Re: One in ten aint bad ...
"... especially given that Google reckons that less than 1% of links on bittorrent sites are to infringing download like "Download Shrek "
Ah, statistics...! I could instantly throw up a few hundred thousand more links onto bittorrent to various works of classic literature in the public domain and then it would be even less than 1% of links that are to infringing content. Of course, unless people are torrenting that classic literature instead of Shrek, it says not one thing about piracy rates.
The relevant stat is not the percentage of links that you quote, but how popular those links are. A million illegal downloads of Avengers Assemble is a million illegal downloads, whether there are five-thousand links to legitimate content on the same site, or five million links.
Name and shame ....
Any idiots that actually pay this hideous patent troll any money for their new steaming piece of unusable turd operating system.
Anyone who funds them (and that include ALL tax payers, we do not have a choice) is harming 'real' computing.
Re: Name and shame ....
Sigh.
I love the class of FOSSers who suggest that Windows is utterly un-useable because it's UI is wrecked, but also a GUI is for point and drool idiots who can't work a command line and that a command line is totally user friendly you've just got to work a bit to use it.
That is all.
Re: Name and shame ....
Ah, that would be the elite hacking group called the 57r4w m3n.
Re: Name and shame ....
No idiot I was suggesting that *WINDOWS8* is an unusable piece of crap, any thing else would be a lie.
You do know that most modern Linux distros have a GUI nowadays ?
KDE for example is in my opinion more usable than any version of Windows as a desktop, once you compare it to Windows 8 you would actually cry at how much better it is.
Win8 is very much like Unity in Ubuntu which also a steaming pile of crap, however a few hours with Windows8 made me realise how much more usable Unity is.
CBeebies?
They were probably worried that Mr Tumbles garish and brightly coloured spotty bag bore too much resemblance to TAFKAM and kiddies might get confused.
I like claim 19.
Cartoon network Punch time explosion XL (XBOX 360)
There are no allegedly infringing URLS.
Seems absolutely fair enough to me. Windows 8 and the Modern UI are going to revolutionize computing as we know it. I've been using it for over a month now and thus have first hand experience rather than other's mere conjecture and can safely say that the productivity benefits have been nothing short of outstanding. Microsoft richly deserves to be rewarded for that and not let the freetards win. If the C-Beebies site was indeed linking to automated activation servers, then MS is well within it's rights to ask the DMCA to be enforced.
The deck is rigged.
I've not used it yet, but it seems perfectly possible to me that Windows 8 is a huge leap forward in efficiency and usability. After all, Windows 7 and the Office ribbon added at least one extra mouse click to just about every task. All that would be necessary would be to take that click away again.
p'wah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha -- oohh, I wet 'em
These days, it's not so much that comment forums such as these are polluted by shills as the fact that the shills suck so badly at what they do.
Thank you for playing, here's a copy of our home game. Who's our next contestant, Bob?
Re: p'wah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha -- oohh, I wet 'em
How dare you call me a Shill - I am merely an extremely happy MS user, and I can say confidently that Ballmer's boys have delivered on this one. I've not been this ecstatic with a product since MSDOS 3.3 - only Windows ME came close in the interim years - and have been utterly disgusted with the reception this product has received from what I can only describe as technophobic morons.
Re: Ten downvoters with no sense of irony, it would seem.
If you were being ironic, perhaps you did too good a job. Look up "Poe's Law" sometime, it'll explain your downvotes quite effectively.
Using it for what thought?
Perhaps you would enlighten us as to what you actually use it for?? I personally upgraded from windows 7 to a pencil and pad for note taking, my productivity went through the roof, and my data loss fell to almost zero!
Re: Data loss fell to almost zero?
Almost zero? Sounds like that 'Door left open on a windy day' bug has struck again. And don't get me started on that 'pencil needs sharpening' error.
Re: Ten downvoters with no sense of irony, it would seem.
I know all about Poe's law - and the above is an example of how adept I am at proving it.
For Kids Only
I can see the reason for confusion, I have tried to make use of Win (H)8, but not being an under school age child I have found it awful, frustrating and, highly restrictive. I guess that CBBC and MS are competing for the same market, though the former probably does a better job.
Does being falsely targeted by MS entitle the BBC to 10, 000 free win licenses?
I'd rather wait for a x86 version of Android. I tried the Windows 8 beta and it's just as bloated as Windows 7. Unworthy of being put on a tablet. Now if SSDs would get away from 2.5" form-factor and follow a PCMCIA like removable SSD media for tablets and laptops, I would think twice about getting Windows 8. Maybe then it would worth pirating.
"I'd rather wait for a x86 version of Android"
..also for the wheel and movable type? ^ ^
You can already run x86 Android, and you can do the usual stupidity like running it up on a netbook. Hell, there's an x86 Android phone, though being Motorola, I wouldn't touch it with someone else's bargepole (slimy bootloader relocking lying about upgrades etc.).
Who's betting...
The offending machine has an infection and it is feeding click bait free software ad's to the scanning sw?
A am not a lawyer, but...
the 'take down' notice is a (false) accusation that the beeb (and others) are committing some sort of copyright offence. This accusation is not made to the beeb but to a third party. The beeb has a valuable reputation that can be badly damaged by such accusations. Doesn't that count as libel under British law? So can't the beeb sue M$ for BEEEELYONS of dollars? G'wan, g'wan, g'wan....
Re: A am not a lawyer, but...
Don't know about libel, but aren't DCMA take down notices filed under penalty of perjury?
Re: A am not a lawyer, but...
Yes- also this 'whitelisting' bothers me. It speaks of one internet for the big knobs and one internet for the rest of us. Can I get my blog on a whitelist? I suspect not.
Furthermore. AIUI the only 2 options to a DMCA takedown is delete or unpublish content. So whitelisting - no matter how big and 'trusted' the DMCA recipient is - is effectively circumventing the law.
Microsoft should be slapped with a fine for false DMCA filing, but Google should also be slapped with a fine for ignoring a DMCA request... after all lets be fair and show the DMCA up for the farce it is.
I do not like this brave new world that America has decided for us.
45
I read somewhere that the disputed pages contained the number "45", so does that mean that MS are saying that they own the number and no-one else is allowed to use it? Has "IP" protection gone mad?
Re: 45
No. It's not "has" it's "did", a very long time ago.
Google's automated software
Should auto black list any source that tries to take down a white listed site.
Make them wait for manual checks and bill them for wasted time on bogus requests.
False DMCA?
Aren't they issued under threat of perjury if they are false?
Time for some MS execs to be put in the dock State-side I think.
Impressive AI.
The AI has already surpassed the intelligence of a large proportion of the British public and is forming great ideas of it's own!
13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glock
14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain's_Got_Talent
There definately needs to be a fine for all the unsubstantiated takedown claims, there have been a lot of people whos sites and work have been removed for no reason other than a bot (or organisation/rival) doesnt like it, and most people just havnt got the money/experience/time to fight it.
The fine should be related to the size of the organisation issuing the false takedown i.e. if its someone like Microsoft, £1 million+any legal costs per offence, if its an average joe, £100+any expenses. If loss of earning can be proved, the loosing party should pay that as well.
Or maybe, if an organisation is found to have filled a false claim, they are banned from using the takedown mechanism for a while, say 6 months.
Both these things might make them pause for thought before firing off 10000000 takedown notices at random.
And why would Microsoft be bothered about a few beta copies floating about?, I thought that was the idea of a beta, give it to as many people as possible to test.
Really? it's that hard to check a list before firing off legal threats? Really?
Bloody hell... They really need to pull their thumb out and stop letting people file automated complaints...
I came to say the same thing, having an automated tool to locate possible infringing sites is one thing. Having it automatically firing off DMCA take downs is just asking for this.
Given how people attempt to trick search engines for SEO, I can see a dodgy market emerging here to get competitors flagged up and taken down on your behalf by some foolish mega-corp.
If it's a bot
the request should just land in /dev/null. I thought it was a requirement that DMCA requests had to be checked, "I swear under penalty of perjury" etc.
Re: If it's a bot
The robot did swear and if it lied, then it's off to robot prison for it
Oh please...
I don't come to work on a drab, grey Monday expecting to chuckly my way through the afternoon... that's normally reserved for post-lunch Friday hours!
Whilst the individual(s) at Microsoft will likely be feeling suitably emsmallened* by this experience, on the positive side for them, it's not as though any of them are in a position to broadcast the news beyond the relatively tight-knit geek community of El Reg.
It's not as if we're talking about the BBC's technology news department, CNN or The Huffington Post.
*If 'embiggened' is a perfectly cromulent word, then so must this be.
Simple no
URL should be REQUIRED BY LAW to be verified by HUMANS and fellow the proper court and police channels....... automated banning bot should be outlaw PERIOD. MS should be fined at least 1 billions for damage.
Crazed Microsoft robot accuses BBC kids' channel of Win8 piracy
Did they have 20 seconds to comply?
Sponsored software helps artists profit from BitTorrent
one of the blocked beeb pages...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18981491
Simple Test
Did the offending sites vanish from Bing? If not, I'd assume something else was at work besides a simple "software error."
Fines
$1 for first bad 'un
$2 for second
$4 for third
$8 for fourth
You can see where this is going, can't you? It might seem trivial to PHBs but by the time you get to the 32nd bad takedown it's up in the serious money stakes.
(FWIW the final step is $18,446,744,073,709,551,616, which is an awful lot of rice)
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