HOLY HORSESHIT, BATMAN!
 

Guess what?

My domain, metastudios.com, was shut down yesterday. My shell access to the server was also disabled. I sent in a trouble ticket, and they responded that my account was disabled. I asked why, and they tell me:

Know why?

I had a fucking file on there named DeCSS.tar.gz. Know what it was? Some software to remove Cascading Style Sheets from HTML web pages. Obviously they didn't examine this software, nor the webpage it was on, which clearly stated

"this software cannot be used to make illegal copies of DVDs".

What a bunch of fucking shitfaces, both the MPAA and the host. THEY REMOVED MY SITE, WITHOUT EVEN ASKING ME FIRST FOR CLARIFICATION, AFTER THE MPAA MADE SHIT UP ABOUT MY SITE. From the MPAA email:

NOT VERY FUCKING GOOD INFORMATION, YOU SHITBAGS.

I am fucking disgusted.

Not an hour after I sent my email to the host, my site was back online. I received 2 emails from CIHost - one stating that they were very sorry for the problem (and that my account had been restored), and the other a copy of the email they sent to the MPAA, which was pretty much <b>scathing</b>. Unfortunately, web access to my work email is down, so I can't post the texts of these emails - I will do so tomorrow, when I get into the office.

I must say, though my initial irritation with CIHost still remains, they seem even more pissed off at the strongarming MPAA and irritated that they fell for it. So I guess that's fair, seeing as I have my shit back and I no longer have anything to worry about from the MPAA as far as metastudios is concerned. Hopefully all is well.

Email from CIHost to me:
Email from CIHost to MPAA, the fuckheads:

I've read several exactly same stories (CSS stripping prog.) on slashdot.

I say dump your current host.

WHAT THE FUCK?

Why didn't THEY bother to check it first? Don't fucking pass the buck.. YOU're the service provider.

P.S. Welcome to The Corporate State.

QUICK! DO YOUR AMERICAN RIGHT: SUE. Bastards, they didnt even look into it. I hope someone slams with a lawsuit, thats just being jackasses.


I wonder if you could say that that is terrorism--they were trying to affect your right to be a citizen and to free speech. You could do some damage.

Would it be too much to suggest that your hosting service give you a month's free credit on your hosting bill in appreciation for your continuing to give them your business after they screwed you over by shutting you down without notice?

You could have just taken your business elsewhere, and left them in their self-righteous ingnorant bliss!

You know - for once i agree, SUE.
bluffing or not this kinda shit stinks bigtime. Personally i keep a large number of mirrors on fre ehsoting iwth decss, obviously renamed and the wording on the pages is obscure, just to make life difficult - its infomation war baby!

Well, as for hosting... they fudged something a long time ago, so I have free hosting for life... so shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. :)

My dad mentioned a lawsuit, saying I could probably collect against the RIAA in punitive damages. There's definitely a possibility, but I'll need to research the matter further. If any of you have ideas (or are lawyers), post 'em here!

Tortious Interference with contract is the cause of action against the third party, and your weakest element to prove would probably be actual damages. You must have suffered some actual damages, however small, for there to be a cause of action. If the cause of action for Tortious Interference is proved, the court may award punitive damages in addition to the actual damages, if the court considers that the actual damages to the plaintiff would not be sufficient deterent to the defendant's egregious actions.

I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. Seek independent legal counsel. The above is provided for your entertainment only. :)

I'm putting a DeCSS on my pond account real soon now.

De-Content Scrambling System or De-Cascading Style Sheets?

There's not much point in mirroring DeCSS anymore. Mirror the plugins for the appropriate Linux DVD players instead.

'Cept the principle of it, of course. That being to stand in defiance of a silly organization that has bought a ill-enforced "ban" on a piece of software that doesn't do anything illegal, save for the unconstitutional law that it kinda maybe breaks.

ill rig it up
just got a box as syney uni that can auto-update the contents of about 20 mirrors on free servers. I tunnel into that and bounce it though 2 boxes that i know the admins for - no logs.

It's pigdog's DeCSS which is up. If I want to flout the DMCA publicly and for real, I've got some stuff of my own I'll put up. In the mean time, I'll wait for the outcome of the court cases (which are unfortunately mostly currently decided for RIAA).