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Comment by JohnTHaller | Hacker News Reader

The only reason HNers are pulling out the DMCA is because another project is (unethically or not) using their names to raise funds in a way that they do not permit. That has nothing to do with bitcoin.

Like it or not, the pseudonymous (not anonymous) nature of bitcoin will always attract a high level of illegal and unethical activity. Many people will then use those activities, stories, and experiences to paint bitcoin as a whole. The same holds true for Tor, 4chan, reddit, the internet itself, etc.

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> The only reason HNers are pulling out the DMCA is because another project is (unethically or not) using their names to raise funds in a way that they do not permit.

And what does that have to do with the digital millenium copyright act? Using a name without permission in a way that can confuse consumers is a trademark violation, not a copyright violation.

It's horrible that the DMCA has turned into a generic weapon in legal online warfare.

>It's horrible that the DMCA has turned into a generic weapon in legal online warfare.

agreed, and it sucks that the DMCAs most vocal 'anti-group' (techies) is resorting to such threats so quickly.

Bad legislation only sucks when you're at the wrong end of it.

Also, pushing misuse of bad legislation "to the max" might be the fastest way to get it fixed.

Bad legislation only sucks when you're at the wrong end of it.

That really sums up the problem with all governments quite nicely.

Some open source licenses prohibit the use of the names of contributors to promote a derived product (e.g. 3-clause BSD). Violating that clause could terminate the license to distribute, then the DMCA could be used to stop the unauthorized distribution. Not a lawyer.

tip4commit is not distributing anyone's code.

It doesn't. It would likely fall under trademark law. Could possibly also fall under fraud. But people have come to using 'use the DMCA' for everything involving copyrights, trademarks, and licensing agreements for some reason.

It's not about the name thing. It's about the usage of parts of the licensed material without following the license. For example, commit messages, the subtitle, etc.

Theoretically:

* tip4commit violates the license the code is published under (for example if it has a NonCommercial clause).

* The original author is now the only one who has copyright.

* tip4commit is using safe harbor protections (a user chooses to create a page for a project).

* DMCA is now applicable to protect the copyright of the original author.

I see a lot unethical behavior around normal currencies too.

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