Time-Warner steps in it, again

Friday, August 25, 2000 by Dave Winer.

A damning chain 

Here's a CNN story.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/08/23/decss.part2.idg/index.html

Scroll to the bottom.

There's a pointer to a site where you can download the DeCSS software.

Now, follow this trail.

CNN is a Time-Warner company.

As is Warner Brothers Pictures.

Warner Brothers Pictures is a member of the MPAA.

Which won a case on 8/17/00, where this act was the matter in question.

(I kept a screen shot in case the page is modified.)

This is round two 

In July, while Time-Warner, as part of the RIAA, was suing Napster for facilitating user-sharing of MP3s, AOL, which is in the process of merging with Time-Warner, was running a search engine that did the same thing.

Now the movie industry sued a website for pointing to DeCSS software, and won, and a week later they're doing the same thing.

This hypocrisy is making a joke of the US Constitution. If the litigants can't keep their own act clean, how dare they sue others to stop what is clearly an expression of free speech.

Dave Winer

PS: Thanks to Ravi Nanavati for the pointer.