Comments: SunnComm v Alex Halderman (MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System), DMCA notes

Why does nobody comment on your weblog? It seems so lonely.

Posted by Osaka at October 10, 2003 03:35 PM

Because almost nobody reads it. Maybe it needs cats.

Posted by Seth Finkelstein at October 10, 2003 03:53 PM

Maybe it's because Michael cast you as a loonie. (Sorry, I was Googling about for other stories on Michael and found that instead.) You really ought to mirror his "essay", because it looks like he's taken it down.

You wouldn't need to add your comments much:

"Note that we (the other five of us) all knew at the time that Seth was mentally unstable"
(Repeat after me, michael... I am not a Scientologist... I am not a Scientologist...)
"So, you followed a link from somewhere or another and you came to this page. You may have been expecting something to do with censorship or censoring software - software that censors someone else's internet access. Instead you've gotten an essay about some people trying to do good works on the net, and a net-loon."
(Well, that was nice of you, michael, wasn't it? Denying your audience the actual website, and putting up a fantasy story with you as the hero instead.)

And wait, there's this:
"Seth continued to send his hate to me and the other members of the group, and to various mailing lists dealing with legal issues or censorship."
OK, from now on I'm just straight-out boycotting Slashdot. They certainly aren't choosing their editors on the base of ethics.

Posted by Osaka at October 10, 2003 04:01 PM

Ah, I see you've got a quick thing about that on your censorware.org page-- I missed it after reading the original essay. Still, people are linking to Michael's page as if it were gospel.

I can't believe he shelled out about $50 for a new domain (stalkedbyseth.com) all about you. *deletes Slashdot bookmark from toolbar*

Posted by Osaka at October 10, 2003 04:05 PM

The attacks from Michael Sims are indeed a major factor in my marginalization. It works like this: Almost nobody comments in my blog, because almost nobody reads me. Almost nobody reads me, because I'm marginalized. I'm marginalized IN PART because of Slashdot's de facto support of Michael Sims.

Note, again, it's not the only reason. I'm not doing a "but for him" statement here. It's a reason. Over the years, I made some absolutely enormous mistakes in terms of not looking out for myself, and willingly letting other people take credit or get recognition for my extensive work. I regret it now.

E.g. I took on Mike Godwin. I got backstabbed from trusting Declan McCullagh (long issues there). Basically, while there are people who think well of me, and people who think ill of me, the people who think negatively of me were/are willing to attack me much more readily than the people who think positively of me were/are willing to support me.

And eventually, in sum, the snipers won. That's just what happened. Many times, in my writings, I talk about the power of journalism. Michael Sims' theft of the Censorware Project domain is the most public and unarguable example here. People used to say to me that he was insane, that there had to be something mentally wrong with him for doing the domain-hijacking. I never agreed. As a simple statement of fact, I though his reasoning was extremely clear - with Slashdot's support, he could be destructive and abuse anyone, and get away with it, so he did. It wasn't nice, but it wasn't incomprehensible.

Note since almost nobody reads me, almost nobody will read any rebuttal.

I have no solution to this. As I've been writing, the legal risk and lack of support and attacks regarding my censorware research finally caused me to quit.

Posted by Seth Finkelstein at October 10, 2003 05:53 PM

SunnComm accused Halderman of wrongdoing for exposing their weak copy protection. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". Is SunnComm without sin?

In December 2000, SunnComm announced a $20M deal with Will-Shown, who they described as a major Pacific Rim CD Manufacturer.

SunnComm Inks $20+ Million Copy Protection Deal With Major Pacific Rim CD Manufacturer

http://cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/news/0012/sunncomm_cd_protect.shtml

People are asking who is the Will-Shown Technology Company. Why would a CD manufacturer license copy protection? It is not a record label. Why would it commit so much to an untested product by a penny stock with no track record? How could a major Pacific Rim CD manufacturer not have a web site? How come it is not even mentioned on the web by anyone else? The stock price tripled in the days after the announcement. Who can find Will-Shown and clear up the mystery? A major Pacific Rim CD Manufacturer couldn't just vanish like that, could it?

SunnComm was previously named Desert Winds Entertainment. The SEC found a little problem with them: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/complr17462.htm

Paloma appointed Jacobs as president and Jacobs, who accused Halderman of wrong doing, was the person responsible for the Will-Shown press release.

Posted by ataboy at October 17, 2003 09:55 AM