Intellectual Infringment, Appeal Denied - App Stores

Hello everyone,
I'm new here, hope I'm welcome. Couldn't find an introduction area so I hope this will suffice as my introduction to this community.
I'm 20, I've been into computers for as long as I can remember. I'm currently serving in the US Air Force. I plan after I get out in a couple years to go to college full time and get my Masters in Computer Science. I'm interested in either getting a job in computer forensics, administration, or software engineering. We'll see.
I don't normally get on forums much because I'm so busy but I'm getting more into Android development, or I was until Google's Android team stabbed me in the back.
To make this story short, I posted what was basically a soundboard, with clips of Mathew McConaughy's famous quotes. It was a joke app I made after a few friends and I started this running joke of "I was flying space ships before it was cool to fly spaceships." in a Matthew McConaughy voice (Interstellar Movie + Lincoln Commercial = Funny but overused joke).
Here's the weird thing though. I had originally made the app (io.mxb.matthewmcconaughysoundboard) and it stayed on the market for a week before I went to update it and realized I had lost the password to my keystore. I had to reupload my app with a new package name (io.mxb.soundboard. matthewmcconaughy), and when I did, not even an hour after uploading, I received the infamous email stating I had infringed on intellectual property.
I thought I was protected under Fair Use. But I'm not a lawyer, I don't know. I'm just very upset and confused. I even attempted to appeal their decision, most likely made by a bot. They denied reinstating the app and stated that their decision was final.
I've seen several apps with celebrity soundboards, some even with ads and paid versions. But I had no intention of putting ads or making a paid version of the app. It was just a free, funny app idea I had from a friend.
Any suggestions, ideas, support would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks guys.

Related

The Ultimate truth about Piracy whether you like it or not opinions wanted!!

Read it and post your opinions on the matter.
http://piratemw.blogspot.com/
I feel it covers ground and is fair to all sides.
2 spelling mistakes in the first sentence alone makes me think it's the gibbering of an idiot.
Didn't bother reading the rest.
To be honest, I don't think "the best article" on anything "to date" will ever appear on a blogspot site.
Moved as not software release.
elyl said:
2 spelling mistakes in the first sentence alone makes me think it's the gibbering of an idiot.
Didn't bother reading the rest.
To be honest, I don't think "the best article" on anything "to date" will ever appear on a blogspot site.
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it may not be the best but it may worth be reading.everybody is not fluent in english
dummy
elyl said:
2 spelling mistakes in the first sentence alone makes me think it's the gibbering of an idiot.
Didn't bother reading the rest.
To be honest, I don't think "the best article" on anything "to date" will ever appear on a blogspot site.
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What spelling mistakes? You dont even know english and your talking about me. Stupid mofo hahahaha
No need to throw insults about like that
EDIT: Just read it. The ultimate truth? No. I see A LOT of 'good' software that has been pirated, that has come from big developers and the little guy just starting out. They crack for fun/addiction/because they think they are rebels etc, whatever the reason they will do it because THEY CAN, not because there are ethics involved. Seriously, which major company went "Hey guys, our software got pirated on the first day and we didn't make any money from it, let's release something truly innovative so they won't pirate it." Sorry, that is NOT the 'ultimate truth'.
What a pointless article (IMO).
this is bull ****. there are lots of apps cracked that cost only like $10 made by some developer that only has this tiny simple but cool app that most find usefull. So this developer gets 1000 apps sold over 1.000.000 cracked downloads.
Now lets just steel that new Toyota car because it's only a little design change from the last model and some minor changes to the breaks system.
zarpy said:
What spelling mistakes? You dont even know english and your talking about me. Stupid +++ hahahaha
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Please refrain from using bad lenguage and insulting your fellow members
the response
Ok
1) If you read the whole summary of the truth about piracy Iam not saying piracy is good on a whole level. But if there was no piracy , the games made would be old rehashed garbage. Look at Gameloft games for windows mobile. They basically make the same game over and over with different graphics. That to me is theft selling us non-sense with pretty package.
I know people from both sides of this war. Developers from xda-developers,ppc geeks, and pirates like ppcwarez . Iam not going to sit here and say lets take the developers side on all issues. Thats non-sense , Iam a freeware developer myself , with commercial software too. One-sided thinking will just continue the war. I do support the independent developers , for they make truely innovative original software.
As far as the insult...the man called me out 1st...I just responded.
zarpy said:
Ok
1) If you read the whole summary of the truth about piracy Iam not saying piracy is good on a whole level. But if there was no piracy , the games made would be old rehashed garbage. Look at Gameloft games for windows mobile. They basically make the same game over and over with different graphics. That to me is theft selling us non-sense with pretty package.
I know people from both sides of this war. Developers from xda-developers,ppc geeks, and pirates like ppcwarez . Iam not going to sit here and say lets take the developers side on all issues. Thats non-sense , Iam a freeware developer myself , with commercial software too. One-sided thinking will just continue the war. I do support the independent developers , for they make truely innovative original software.
As far as the insult...the man called me out 1st...I just responded.
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Very interesting
Just make donateware
I immediately think that you're trying to get traffic to your own website rather than discuss the matter here. So rather than go there and read it, I'll discuss it here at XDA, where I'd rather keep my attention and loyalty.
Any law that basically says making a mixed tape for someone else is illegal is complete garbage and media companies can take it and shove it up their a**.
Any law that says I cannot "loan" a movie to someone else, even a complete stranger, and that I have to be responsible for the actions of the person I loaned it to is complete garbage and media companies can take it and shove it up their a**.
Any law that says I'm responsible for what happens to something I loaned someone else is complete garbage and media companies can take that law and shove it up their a**.
Any law that tells me what I can or cannot do with my own property is complete garbage and media companies can take it and shove it up their a**.
Stop enforcing 100-year-old copyright law for media medium that doesn't fit into the law.
Donate to the EFF
http://www.eff.org/
Rorymeadows
Ok rorymeadows
1) The link i provided is not to my website but to my blog. All you do is read blogs not join them. My website is www.krenisiswinmobilegamesapps.com and I didnt direct anyone there
2) You blame me saying Iam redirecting people and your loyal to xda-developers? If your so loyal to xda , why are you posting a redirect and telling people to donate to another website? Before you call someone out, check yourself.
Everything else you said , I agree with.
zarpy said:
Ok rorymeadows
1) The link i provided is not to my website but to my blog. All you do is read blogs not join them. My website is www.krenisiswinmobilegamesapps.com and I didnt direct anyone there
2) You blame me saying Iam redirecting people and your loyal to xda-developers? If your so loyal to xda , why are you posting a redirect and telling people to donate to another website? Before you call someone out, check yourself.
Everything else you said , I agree with.
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EFF is a professional organization. Yours is a shameless plug for a teen online journal. Please stay on topic.
OP's blog said:
Its you who forces companies to make better and innovative software hoping if they make great software, then people will buy them.
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Sorry, but that makes no sense whatsoever. By the same reasoning, stealing televisions should force the manufacturers to make better ones. That is simply wrong.
Not to offend, but to be clear, I find your arguments blinkered and naive. Piracy has very little to do with sticking it to big companies. 99% of the time it's about getting something for free.
johncmolyneux said:
Sorry, but that makes no sense whatsoever. By the same reasoning, stealing televisions should force the manufacturers to make better ones. That is simply wrong.
Not to offend, but to be clear, I find your arguments blinkered and naive. Piracy has very little to do with sticking it to big companies. 99% of the time it's about getting something for free.
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I agree. It's not about sticking it to big companies. It should be about revolution with digital media and laws, and electronic freedom.
fairness
So judging by the comments so far , both of you believe hacking and cracking software only hurt companies and developers. Also you believe is there was no more software pirates, that would benefit the consumer. The major companies say the same , cracked software leads to high priced games.
1)False= cracked software does not lead to high priced games. I remember super nintendo was charging $40-$60 a game. So that is false statement.
2)Facted= Cracked and pirated software has been around since early 80's,90's . People were happy around that time period with quality of thier software, so people didnt look for free downloads or cracked software. This isnt just about games Iam including the industry as a whole. This includes movies,music,and video games.
Opinion= I believe once those 3 industries started to make rehashed and low quality products, people started looking toward pirated software. If this isnt true, then this issue would have come up a long time ago.
Now to rorymeadows , no Iam not a teen and I dont sound or act like one.
I have absolutely no idea how you got any of what you said from my post, but you're wrong. That's not what I'm saying at all. You're just assuming things.
I wonder what this post will be about!
Incidentally, you should look at the technological and social changes that have taken place over the last 30 years and factor that into your opinions. Piracy is a bigger issue now simply because it's in your face, in your living room, on the internet and on your PC. 30 years ago it was kids copying tapes with games on them, but no mass forums to make it publicly available. Music was copied, but it was time consuming so not done as quickly as it is today - the same goes for movies (tape-to-tape VHS recorders for example). Times have changed, but the essence of piracy hasn't. Lots of people like stuff that costs nothing. That is the only fact you can state.
Well there's another thing going on, too.
I was browsing the Microsoft Mobile Marketplace last night. One of the programs I found up there was Resco Photo Manager. $60. $60!!!!!!! For THAT?!?!?! A program that I'd probably use 10 times a year is $60??!?!?!?!
I used to work at the college dining hall back in undergrad. People used to steal and steal, pocking pop-tarts, walking out with drinks and subs without paying. It drove the price up more. Yes, stealing jumps the overhead and makes things costlier. But did that stop the stealing? No, in fact, it made it much worse.
johncmolyneux and rorytmeadows both are correct.
/end thread.

Yongzh developer account not showing up (Nor his famous emulators)

There was recently some talk on this Forum about Yongzh rereleasing N64oid. I went on the Market 10 minutes ago and was shocked to see that none of his emulators were in the "Top 10 Games" section of the Market. I then did a search for first, his Developer account, and that yielded no results. Then I searched for every emulator that he has released, which still yielded no results. Me thinks there has been foul play... What do you guys think is happening?
Yea, realised this before, im scared.... ive been looking forward to n64oid for ages.... still searching for answers...
This is exactly what happened to ZODTTD, someone should tweet him about it and look for some answers.
yeh i just noticed they were no longer under my purchased app list in the market also... even when n64oid was gone it would show up under my purchased list but say that the emulator couldn't be found... now its absolutely nothing at all... something foul is afoot :/
hmmm i hope i get a chance i never used an emulator on mu droid
I noticed this as well. Does Yongzh post anywhere we can see status updates?
OMG if it is Goole for real who is baning the accouts i start hating the company...
I talked to yongzh about it and this is his respones
From: Yongzh
Google pulled all my emulators, explaining that they violated the distribution terms on the Android Market, but without mentioning the details.
I am considering hosting my apps on SlideME (a 3rd-party app store). I will make them free for download for a limited period of time (eg. a week) to avoid existing customers from having to pay again.
Thanks very much for your understanding and support!
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I Also Talked to google about it and this is what they had to say:
Greetings,
Thanks for your inquiry. It looks like the applications you referred to
are no longer available on Android Market due to violations of our Terms
of Service. You may view those terms here:
http://www.android.com/us/developer-distribution-agreement.html
http://www.android.com/market/terms/developer-content-policy.html
If you'd like additional details, we recommend you contact the developer
directly.
Let me know if I can assist you with anything further.
Regards,
Eric
The Android Market Team
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Started a support thread here. (WARNING: strong language)
ok yongzh apps are on slideme for free for a little while: http://slideme.org/applications?text=yongzh
engagdget artical: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/29/android-markets-most-popular-emulators-disappear-without-a-trac/
Thank god he lets people dl it for free i bought all his apps and forgot to save them. Good guy always loved his support and customer service. Bought all his apps from the market. stupid google
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
http //www reddit com/r/Android/comments/hmwj7/android_markets_most_popular_emulators_disappear/
http //www snes9x com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=4454
http //www gp32x com/board/index.php?/topic/58889-n64-for-android/
ok another update from zodttd
Hello, ZodTTD here again.
Things have been rough as of late. Please read this one through as it will also shine a little light on why products and updates have not been rolling out. I’ve been extremely busy getting things straight in the “real world”. Though Google’s takedown of my Market and Checkout account couldn’t have come at a worse time. As you may have seen, Yong Zhang (yongzh) of Android emulator fame, was also taken down from Market by Google in the same manner that I was.
First and foremost, our takedowns have nothing to do with any sort of open source licensing violation. Both Yong and I handle developer relations behind the scenes. We give cuts to original authors at times, and I have posted sources to my source repository. Though there is a lot of rhetoric surrounding this, it is not an issue.
Google has no developer relations and support. Instead of Google simply removing the application in question, psx4droid, they did that and followed up a week later suspending my entire Market and Checkout account, with no interaction on my part.
And what happens when you suspend a Market account with a case such as Yong’s with lots of customers? Well you get hellish levels of emails, tweets, etc. that I must respond to most of every day. What’s worse is these customers are pretty stranded by Google. We can’t verify that many customers by hand. There’s no way to honor these previous customers, effectively killing our products. We can’t even issue a refund to users who are furious.
Yong’s emulators built Market up and gave it purpose when there was little to care about on there. Google was well aware of Yong’s top selling apps. Why is Google killing off developers (not even apps but the developer accounts!) that helped them get to where they’re at now? I wonder if they were aware all along. Take high risk apps, make themselves look all nice and open, then once they approach AppStore reach, they pull the developers they used. World may never know.
Right now as it stands, there’s little to no chance of Yong or I getting back on Market without a fight. I appealed and lost with Google in a canned response manner. I can go to 3rd party storefronts, but they have such a small number of users compared to Market, it’s not really an option with the large amount of effort these apps take.
For Cydia fans out there, I apologize for my lack of updates. But with all that has been happening, it made updating so many products nearly impossible. Things have snowballed and I now have so much work to do on Cydia products that it too has become more work than it’s worth.
So I wonder where that leaves me. This has killed my spirits immensely and I think it’s time to change things up.
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source: http://www.zodttd.com/wp/2011/05/it-hit-hard/

Internet Censorship Bill - CALL/WRITE your representatives!

I didn't see a post for this elsewhere (though some may recall that I have an exceptional ability to miss the obvious ), and you will not hear about this on the news, and it's barely even being covered in print or online. I'm usually too much of a cynic to bother with this sort of activism but this is a big deal, so please grant me 5 minutes of your time; you won't regret it.
The big deal? The "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA). Well wait now, that doesn't sound so bad. We all download music for free here and there, maybe use an "extended trial" of Photoshop, but we know that piracy is technically stealing...so this can't be that bad, right? Wrong. Horribly wrong.
The fact that no news agency is covering this is absolutely insane. We criticize countries like China and Iran for censorship, but at least they don't attempt to conceal it within a vague anti-piracy bill. It is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most significant bills to come through congress in the past decade, and most people don't even know it exists; much less that discussion began on it today. Of those that do know about it, half of them don't understand why it's a bad thing because H.R.3261 has such an innocuous name (it is also called the Protect IP Act of 2011 in the Senate). Don't be fooled.
"American Censorship Day" - Information on the Internet Blacklist Bills​I urge you to take the time to educate yourself on H.R.3261 "SOPA" and write and/or call your Senators and Congress(wo)men! I guarantee if you spend 10 minutes reading about this, you will understand why I'm using an annoyingly large, bright red font.
The Wikipedia Article has a brief section ("Supporters") that shows--in a nutshell--how some politicians are deceptively framing this as a "pro-jobs" bill, among other pleasant sounding things; this couldn't be further from the truth. This is, in a manner of speaking, trying to apply archaic copyright laws to a 21st century Internet, rather than taking the effort to rewrite the copyright laws to make sense in the modern world.
You can find a lot of information explained very well at "American Censorship Day" website (scroll down past the petition), and I would encourage you to do your own research as well. Sign the petition if you want, but really, it is considerably more effective to call or write (or both!) your representatives.
A few more good links:
"Contacting The Congress" - Easily lookup the names/contact information of your Reps/Senators.
SOPA Wikipedia Article - References - These references link to a variety of websites/articles that are both for and against this bill. I would like to personally point out how most of those in support are entities of a political nature, while those against are largely non-political technology-oriented entities.
Full Text of H.R.3261 [PDF] - A relatively "short" 78 pages.
Hearing Information - House Judiciary Committee - This bill is on "the fastrack," meaning its authors are trying to push it through as quickly as possible...This hearing is where the bill began it's journey today (11/16/11).
I thank you for taking the time to read this; if you choose to reply to this thread, bash me as much as you like, but please keep your responses to each other civil.
Alright, back to rooting my Revo (before doing so is a felony ).
Sincerely,
James
Good stuff the masses don't even realize how important this is
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Basically when this bill passes we have no freedom of speech on the internets. The US government can block websites hosted on servers outside it's borders. And you can get sued for having a song playing on the radio heard in your video posted online.
jaszek said:
Basically when this bill passes we have no freedom of speech on the internets. The US government can block websites hosted on servers outside it's borders. And you can get sued for having a song playing on the radio heard in your video posted online.
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This is ridiculous we must stop them!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Must stop big brother government before it's too late!
Its getting near time for the guns to come out boys...
Brb, there are strange men in suits at my door....
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
Great Job was about to post something about this on here but you beat me to it anyway here are some more links to articles,info and petitions:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-segal/stop-the-internet-blackli_b_739836.html
*
http://americancensorship.org/
http://demandprogress.org/blacklist/*
http://demandprogress.org/blacklist/?referring_akid=a2655379.916925._mXAo4&source=auto-taf
P.S keep spreading the word guys!
I think XDA should censor their logo/ and or have the javascript popup to support it http://americancensorship.org/
I have done it to my website for support purposes. come on guys we need this to be halted! So if you have a website/ blog please join the movement and censor your website for a day!
I guess this is the day when we finally found out for sure that govenments can be bought and paid for by greedy corporations.
You are now no longer being ruled by an elected body, but by a fat-cat in a pin-stripe suit.
This is the new world order i guess.
Very well written. I know quite a bit about this topic, since we will get something called "vorratsdatenspeicherung" where I live (austria). Basically The government logs your internet connection and it logs when and who you call/write a sms/ send an email and where you were by doing that.
Should be published on the portal!
I do what i want, because I can.
THIS IS CRAZY
This has to be one of those interpretation of the law issues though surely? I mean... you can't be prosecuted for lying on a dating profile about your height, weight, age etc. There'd be nobody left on match.com
Mykocorum said:
This has to be one of those interpretation of the law issues though surely? I mean... you can't be prosecuted for lying on a dating profile about your height, weight, age etc. There'd be nobody left on match.com
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The way the law is written does allow for scenarios like the one you propose. The retort of the politicians is, "We won't ever (ab)use this power for doing stuff like that, never ever." I don't know about you, but that's not too reassuring for me. If it's not abused now by these politicians, it'll be abused later by future politicians. Not to mention the precedent it sets...Once you give the government a little bit of control, it becomes very easy for them to get a lot of control.
Even if this were solely an interpretation of the law issue I'd still be against it, because Congress shouldn't be writing laws that can be so easily misinterpreted.
A link to the full text is up there, I plan on reading it tomorrow.
I totally agree the law should be written so that there is no room for interpretation.. you know if what you are doing is illegal from day one, ignorance is not a defence, but as devils advocate the counter is that you end up with thousands of very specific laws for hundreds of situations whilst occurrences the lawmakers didn't think of at the time are getting through loopholes and running away.
Circumstantially you should really be able to use the end purpose of why you are doing what you are doing as to the criminality of what's going down. I don't think anyone on this board would argue that a 40 year old man pretending to be a 13 year old girl on a forum or website to talk to other teenagers should be made illegal and is a very wrong thing - but who hasn't said they are two inches taller on a dating profile or put their build down as "athletic" rather than "a few extra pounds"
Bear in mind that the UK equivalent to this, the 'Digital Economy Act' was passed into law some time ago with barely a whimper of protest. Just like ProtectIP, it was kept quiet and barely reported on until it was too late. We just woke up one morning to draconian new laws. Again, it was bought and paid for by big media.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Economy_Act_2010
I doubt anything can be done to stop the same happening in the US, but perhaps enough pressure can be brought to bear to force some changes to the act. At least you guys have advanced warning to do something about it.
Edit: Big Content stacks Senate Committee
"US Senators have done their level best to give Big Content the law it wants to basically lock up citizens who might think of piracy or file sharing without having to worry about that pesky thing called constitution. The House Judiciary Committee today held an important hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act but only those witnesses who would not object to the law being invited. This was designed to give the impression that all the witnesses were in favour of the law."
Bump this baby. Also voted for frontpage!
I do what i want, because I can.
DirkGently said:
Bear in mind that the UK equivalent to this, the 'Digital Economy Act' was passed into law some time ago with barely a whimper of protest. Just like ProtectIP, it was kept quiet and barely reported on until it was too late. We just woke up one morning to draconian new laws. Again, it was bought and paid for by big media.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Economy_Act_2010
I doubt anything can be done to stop the same happening in the US, but perhaps enough pressure can be brought to bear to force some changes to the act. At least you guys have advanced warning to do something about it.
Edit: Big Content stacks Senate Committee
"US Senators have done their level best to give Big Content the law it wants to basically lock up citizens who might think of piracy or file sharing without having to worry about that pesky thing called constitution. The House Judiciary Committee today held an important hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act but only those witnesses who would not object to the law being invited. This was designed to give the impression that all the witnesses were in favour of the law."
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Thanks for posting this...It's absolutely crazy...I'm sure they'll find a way to completely circumvent a public hearing that gives opponents a chance to speak throughout the entire process.
jamRwoo said:
Thanks for posting this...It's absolutely crazy...I'm sure they'll find a way to completely circumvent a public hearing that gives opponents a chance to speak throughout the entire process.
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As always, the people can have a say.. at the ballot box!
I'm pleased to report that the government that introduced the DEA in the UK, lost in the next election shortly afterwards. (After being in power for thirteen years).
Karma b*tches!
Bumping this due to some developments...
Well, this is finally seeing the light of day and getting coverage by some news agencies; caught these articles on Drudge Report.
I just want to say that I hope Chris Dodd dies in a fire. Slowly. FYI: He's a former Senator spearheading this bill AND the new head of the MPAA. Primarily by attempting to bribe members of Congress. Gotta love that the Hollywood/Record Label lobbyists are getting all the airtime, while the people who actually understand this stuff are being silenced as much as possible.
Not too late to call/write your representatives. You can also share these links with your friends...tweet them, facebook them, reddit them, do whatever. If these links don't scare the living s**t out of you, well...idk...too many benzos perhaps. Feel free to copy this post and use it wherever, if you wish.
All of these articles are great and cover a different aspect (with some overlap) of the consequences of this legislation. Props to The Hill for giving this so much coverage; glad someone's doing it.
---
MPAA Head Chris Dodd on Online Censorship Bill: China's the Model -- http://bit.ly/u7kgXy
"When the Chinese told Google that they had to block sites or they couldn't do [business] in their country, they managed to figure out how to block sites."
Google chairman says online piracy bill would 'criminalize' the Internet -- http://bit.ly/tRWEnj
"It's not a good thing. I understand the goal of what SOPA and PIPA are trying to do," Schmidt said of the Senate counterpart bill, the Protect IP Act. "Their goal is reasonable, their mechanism is terrible. They should not criminalize the intermediaries. They should go after the people that are violating the law."
Internet piracy bill: A free speech 'kill switch' -- http://bit.ly/tY6o6f
Consider this: Under the proposed legislation all that’s required for government to shutdown a specific website is the mere accusation that the site unlawfully featured copyrighted content. Such an accusation need not be proven – or even accompanied by probable cause. All that an accuser (or competitor) needs to do in order to obtain injunctive relief is point the finger at a website.
Legal expert says online piracy bill is unconstitutional -- http://bit.ly/tNBUDH
"Conceivably, an entire website containing tens of thousands of pages could be targeted if only a single page were accused of infringement," Tribe writes. "Such an approach would create severe practical problems for sites with substantial user-generated content, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and for blogs that allow users to post videos, photos, and other materials."
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God, do I hate politicians.
P.S. For those interested in a more detailed analysis of how this is a flagrant violation of free speech: Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor and Supreme Court advocate, wrote a memo detailing how SOPA does exactly that -- http://scr.bi/sFSRBg
Closed:
XDA Forum Rules said:
2.4 Personal attacks, racial, political and/or religious discussions: XDA is a discussion forum about certain mobile phones. Mobile phones are not racial, political, religious or personally offensive, therefore none of these types of discussions are permitted on XDA.
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[INFO] Megaupload has been shut down and the founders arrested

Thread closed. There is already many threads about this. ~TRM
In case anyone is noticing that megaupload links aren't responding.
Megaupload finished: Feds shut down file-sharing giant without SOPA
MegaUpload Shut Down by the Feds, Founder Arrested
Here's the actual indictment filed in an Alexandria, Virginia, US court;
Mega-Indictment
It doesn't look like the service will back anytime soon, so folks may want to consider utilizing other services for uploads, etc.
Good Luck..
Addendum:
Deleted the reference to SOPA/PIPA in my subject heading because this action has nothing to do with those laws. SOPA/PIPA are designed to implement measures so that "suspected" "piracy" sites can have their DNS entries blocked from US internet users which will frustrate efforts to access those sites, and to take away revenue by stopping credit card companies from doing business with them. IOW these are laws targeting the so-called "end users".
This action against Megaupload was a straight up site takedown and arrest of the founders, which was obviously coordinated with multiple law enforcement agencies from multiple countries. (At least the US and New Zealand were involved). This was action targeting the so-called "suppliers".
Having said that, if you're a US voter you should make sure you let your US Congress representatives know how you feel about SOPA/PIPA. Even if phase one of the web protests are over for now.
Horrible day for humanity....
SGSII
****ing bull****
If I have helped or contributed in*ANY*way please hit the*THANKS*button. It is very much appreciated!!
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They charged people to see copyrighted content. screw them
messed up, 2012 will be a crazy year, millions of websites will get shutdown, with or without sopa =/
http://gizmodo.com/5877679/anonymous-kills-department-of-justice-site-in-megaupload-revenge-strike
Anonymous is striking back.
Wow
this getting out of hand.. The gov needs to chill out ... If we continue down this path we will end up like north Korea .. No offense btw
1984 g.o.
Sgsii
What!?
I use icefilms to watch all mt TV and ice uses all MU links...
I had a 2 year sub for MU too...
Their download speeds were the best!
HRodMusic said:
messed up, 2012 will be a crazy year, millions of websites will get shutdown, with or without sopa =/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Theyre really showing ppl how SOPA/PIPA can hurt him. If this is what they can do WITHOUT it, im afraid to think what kind of rampage theyll go on after.
Im glad there is nothing else wrong with the country, that the goverment has this kind of thing to focus on.
Wow is all i can say.
GreggoryD502 said:
Im glad there is nothing else wrong with the country, that the goverment has this kind of thing to focus on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct!
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Edited OP.
Megaupload should be taken down
and this is a good example that the current laws in the book are good enough if they just enforce them. There is no need for SOPA/PIPA.
Megauploads business model asks for money to see others copyrighted content.
Torrent sites on the other hand dont make any money and are much more complicated legally yet those got taken down before Megaupload. Megaupload should of been the first.
And so began the WAR...
MU business model is unethical. As so many, many copy cats out there such as filesonic, 4shared. It's only matter of time before they get taken down. Megaupload is just an example.
jim93 said:
Megaupload should be taken down
and this is a good example that the current laws in the book are good enough if they just enforce them. There is no need for SOPA/PIPA.
Megauploads business model asks for money to see others copyrighted content.
Torrent sites on the other hand dont make any money and are much more complicated legally yet those got taken down before Megaupload. Megaupload should of been the first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Either you're ignorant or your just stupid. MU did not promote copyright material at all, it took down anything that was flagged as infringing. Many many people use MU, doctors sharing cancer cures. Scientists sharing data, teachers sharing work for data, the list goes on. They only charges for premium access which only gave you unlimited download speeds and no limits. With or without you could download copyright material.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
President Obama has taken a stance against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), a bill that would allow the justice department to force Internet providers and search engines to block all sites accused of copyright infringement.
For now, it appears that President Obama has stalled the controversial legislation. Read the details according to Forbes.com:
“The growing anti-SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) support that has swept through the gaming and Internet community found a very big ally today. With websites like Reddit and Wikipedia and gaming organizations like Major League Gaming prepared for a blackout on January 18th – the same day that the House Judiciary Committee hearing on HR 3261was scheduled in Washington, D.C. – President Barack Obama has stepped in and said he would not support the bill.
SOPA has been delayed, for now. The House has agreed to revisit the issue next month, but they now know the White House will veto any bill that’s not more narrowly focused.
Much to the chagrin of Hollywood, the Entertainment Software Association (which has been a backer of the bill from early on), and Internet domain company GoDaddy.com (which lost many accounts as a result of its support for the bill); SOPA has been shelved. The Motion Picture Association of America, one of the bill’s largest sponsors, is expected to regroup.”
I foresee prohibition-style shakedowns and takedowns. This issue is going to explode as the two sides engage in strikes and counterstrikes, but I do hope cooler heads prevail.
All respect to other opinions voiced here, but megaupload facilitated a great deal of sketchy shenanigans and did not appear to police its site effectively enough. Of course, a task like that is gargantuan.
I wonder, though, if the g-men will also shut down YouTube and arrest its principals as well? I suspect there is more pirated intellectual property there than on most of the rest of the internet combined. What would make YouTube exempt, and would such an exemption be fair?
"Soup" or no soup, the coming months will prove historic in the life of the internet, an internet that will be forced to grow up beyond the walled garden of its adolescence and thence to play by the rules of the rest of society. You heard it here, folks: The age of internet innocence is over, and sopa/pipa are just early, clumsy practice shots as the media industry and legislators gauge public opinion before launching a more calculated assault.
This is why the retaliatory actions of Anonymous and others cause me great concern. I think they will turn public sentiment against the internet community, paint all opponents of sopa and pipa and similar bad legislation as wildeyed bandits, and thus embolden the powers that be to insist on draconian measures that will force the internet to mature too quickly, severely undermining its usefulness in the process.

De-Google-ing my Note 9

Hi guys. I'm starting this thread in hopes of sparking a conversation and a concerted effort to rid ourselves as users from the clutches of Google and other big tech companies. I am sick and tired of Google tracking me and attempting to force feed me ads on a daily send constant basis. Then selling my info to other companies such as Facebook. So, I have started down the path of decluttering (De-Google-ing) my device(s). I am primarily interested in securing my device as much as possible and protecting my privacy.
So far, I have reformatted my entire device to factory default settings installed and using F-Droid (FOSS) for all my apps. I use Yandex as my search engine (I am often to suggestions and recommendations) in the "private browser" app. I use Aurora instead of Google Play store, New Pipe for YouTube-ing, Frost for Facebookingand SlimSocial for Twitter. I have stopped using Google keyboard and any other Google apps. I have abandoned gmail and replaced it with proton mail instead. So far, no ads and as far as I can tell, no tracking. I have also installed a VPN and am using it religiously—Cyber Ghost, a $99 for 3 years subscription with support up to 8 devices.
However, I am still very much connected to Samsung for I am not privy as to whether or not Samsung is as sinister as Google and Facebook.
Again, I am open to all suggestions, corrections and recommendations. Thank you and I hope to engage with you all.
leave it up to them yandex russians to protect your privacy.
but seriously. the most dangerous thing you can do is acctualy think that the steps you take are really making your life private.
vpns just channel the traffic to an other end point and does the queries for you then sends the data encrypted to you.
the queries are still made on the www. account info and all things you store or access online is still accessible by the www. vpn companies just fool you into thinking that the data being relayed to you is the only weak link. plus the free ones mine your data.
best thing you can do is not use social media. its made to invade your privacy. its designed to fool you into giving as much of your personal life info as possible and sell your habits to add companies so they can in turn send you quatered adds.
the minute you use the internet you void your privacy regardless of how you think the measures you take are working or effective. and what are you going to do about the 100 and 1000's of companies being hacked and their data mined and sold every month? you cant do anything about that. plus its much better for hackers to get their info from a big company because you get much more than just 1 dude that does his banking online and chat every now and then.there is no money to be made from 1 individual.
if you think people are specifically after you, you are gravely being fooled by the vpn ad campaigns that have been poping up everywhere about "privacy".( they must hide the fact that they also get hacked very well.its just that the media hasint picked up on it yet)
anyways who want to waste time on an end user/device?
when again you just need to hack equifax like a few years back and you get the motherload instead.
all in all I've abandoned the thought of real privacy. its futile.( even abstinents dosen't work because companies and governments don't secure customer data correctly. and unfortunately if you are born, you must be branded and labeled and filed away.)
live your life. just know that what ever you do you can't escape big brother and your data from being leaked by the big companies that say that it is secured with them.
the whole infrastructure relies on them companies and the habits we have been embraining ourselves and our children with is the problem.. we live our lives intertwined with the services and devices that we take for granted and have clicked next next next through polices and consent forms for over 25 years now whithout even giving it a second though. we're in over our heads now and it is a little late to back out. this was al dine by design and all voluntarily. its crazy how marketing is evil.
a cabin in the woods is the easiest and most secure thing one can do. anything shy of that is a waste of time and a false feeling of privacy.
anyways I'm going around in circles now.
one thing for sure is that the criminals we think that we need cover from are not who we think they are.
they are the FCC dealing with big telcos, they are the big media giants spewing false information and fabricates facts. they are in our governments in the highest ranks pushing hidden agendas and most of all they are the big social media platforms remodeling our society each day under our noses at our expense.
but hey this is not new. the internet police is just tring to make you think it is and spend 9.99$ a month for a vpn lol
good luck.
I just stopped using as many Google apps as I can and switched over to MS Office apps and use Samsung services where I can too...
bober10113 said:
leave it up to them yandex russians to protect your privacy.
but seriously. the most dangerous thing you can do is acctualy think that the steps you take are really making your life private.
vpns just channel the traffic to an other end point and does the queries for you then sends the data encrypted to you.
the queries are still made on the www. account info and all things you store or access online is still accessible by the www. vpn companies just fool you into thinking that the data being relayed to you is the only weak link. plus the free ones mine your data.
best thing you can do is not use social media. its made to invade your privacy. its designed to fool you into giving as much of your personal life info as possible and sell your habits to add companies so they can in turn send you quatered adds.
the minute you use the internet you void your privacy regardless of how you think the measures you take are working or effective. and what are you going to do about the 100 and 1000's of companies being hacked and their data mined and sold every month? you cant do anything about that. plus its much better for hackers to get their info from a big company because you get much more than just 1 dude that does his banking online and chat every now and then.there is no money to be made from 1 individual.
if you think people are specifically after you, you are gravely being fooled by the vpn ad campaigns that have been poping up everywhere about "privacy".( they must hide the fact that they also get hacked very well.its just that the media hasint picked up on it yet)
anyways who want to waste time on an end user/device?
when again you just need to hack equifax like a few years back and you get the motherload instead.
all in all I've abandoned the thought of real privacy. its futile.( even abstinents dosen't work because companies and governments don't secure customer data correctly. and unfortunately if you are born, you must be branded and labeled and filed away.)
live your life. just know that what ever you do you can't escape big brother and your data from being leaked by the big companies that say that it is secured with them.
the whole infrascturuce relies on them companies and the habits we have been embraining ourselves and our children with is the problem.. we live our lives intertwined with the services and devices that we take for granted and have clicked next next next through polices and consent forms for over 25 years now whithout even giving it a second though. we're in over our heads now and it is a little late to back out. this was al dine by design and all voluntarily. its crazy how marketing is evil.
a cabin in the woods is the easiest and most secure thing one can do. anything shy of that is a waste of time and a false feeling of privacy.
anyways I'm going around in circles now.
one thing for sure is that the criminals we think that we need cover from are not who we think they are.
they are the FCC dealing with big telcos, they are the big media giants spewing false information and fabricates facts. they are in our governments in the highest ranks pushing hidden agendas and most of all they are the big social media platforms remodeling our society each day under our noses at our expense.
but hey this is not new. the internet police is just tring to make you think it is and spend 9.99$ a month for a vpn lol
good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oy vey! Thank you very much for yor contribution. It is very much appreciated and I see what you are saying.
AndroidUser00110001 said:
I just stopped using as many Google apps as I can and switched over to MS Office apps and use Samsung services where I can too...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How has this been working out for you? What are your thoughts on Samsung's and Microsoft privacy policies etc?
Nonetheless, what are some good and viable alternatives to Google and optimally "securing" one's device (taking everything bober10113 has said).
michel5891 said:
How has this been working out for you? What are your thoughts on Samsung's and Microsoft privacy policies etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like the other poster said, I gave up on worrying about privacy. I made the switch for other reasons and privacy was down on the list...
I just do not like what Goolge has been doing lately, especially blocking ad blockers soon in Chrome so I switched to MS Edge on Android and the Chromium version of Edge for desktop and the rest of the apps just followed through. I am seeing how the switch works for myself and if all goes well I will switch back to MS for the small company I work for.
I gave up on Gmail, Google Drive and all their office apps so far and I stopped using Nexus/Pixel phones for the first time in 10 years. I started with the S9+ which I enjoyed for a couple of months and then got a Note9 during a holiday special and now I cannot wait for the Note10.
Privacy is what it is nowadays... We should all own our data and if we choose to let be used as companies are doing now then we should get a slice of all the money being made but I doubt it will ever get to be something like that.
michel5891 said:
How has this been working out for you? What are your thoughts on Samsung's and Microsoft privacy policies etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't think that they are any better than Google's. Majority of the companies out there that are international had to adhere to the EU rules of privacy, so a lot of them have adopted those standards. NOT ALL OF THEM. That's why all of a sudden you are getting new agreements from all the major companies that touch each section of land on the world.
I still don't trust any of them even to that point.
This is morbid. I have been thinking a lot more about death, debt, privacy and such, and I have come to the conclusion that I honestly don't care about my own anymore because it has been stolen, including my wife's. Future children though, I worry about them because you don't even have to mention their name on the internet and somehow every major company knows about them.
Ever had a conversation with someone without actually looking something up on the web, and then a day or two later Google and other ads start showing things concerning what you were talking about to someone in person? Yeah, it has happened to me numerous times now I can't even count anymore.
Jammol said:
Ever had a conversation with someone without actually looking something up on the web, and then a day or two later Google and other ads start showing things concerning what you were talking about to someone in person? Yeah, it has happened to me numerous times now I can't even count anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES!!! I noticed this a few months ago. My wife and I were talking about some random subject and BAM there it was in my Google discovery feed.
I mentioned that to her and she thought I was crazy until it happened again.
My friend was over last week, he mentioned something about a car he is fixing up and once again in my Google feed...
*EDIT*
I am not going to go as far as saying they are listening because my wife did say she looked up what we were talking about later on that day on her phone so I am guessing it is more GPS based then Google listening to give them the benefit of doubt for now. I need to ask my friend if he searched anything while here...
You want to De-Google your phone? Sell it and don't get an Android phone. Don't get an iPhone, either. In fact, get one of those huge car phones from the 80s. I can't add really anything that hasn't been said, other than some slight humor, but again, if you want privacy, stay off the internet.
AndroidUser00110001 said:
YES!!! I noticed this a few months ago. My wife and I were talking about some random subject and BAM there it was in my Google discovery feed.
I mentioned that to her and she thought I was crazy until it happened again.
My friend was over last week, he mentioned something about a car he is fixing up and once again in my Google feed...
*EDIT*
I am not going to go as far as saying they are listening because my wife did say she looked up what we were talking about later on that day on her phone so I am guessing it is more GPS based then Google listening to give them the benefit of doubt for now. I need to ask my friend if he searched anything while here...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I'm trying to prevent. Exactly the same thing had happened to me. We were simply discussing an AC unit; never looked it up or mentioned the name of it and the exact make and model in the room we were in showed up.
michel5891 said:
This is what I'm trying to prevent. Exactly the same thing had happened to me. We were simply discussing an AC unit; never looked it up or mentioned the name of it and the exact make and model in the room we were in showed up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it's super duper creepy. Funny thing is since I refreshed my Note 9 up to PIE, I haven't given assistant or google search any permission to use my microphone and I don't even have them setup!
this might help:
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/6030020?co=GENIE.Platform=Android&hl=en
turn voice activity off. also check your history to see if it has any recording...

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