Pirates Invading Yahoo

Okay, now I’m really wondering what is going through the heads of some executives out there.

First, any businessperson should be familiar with the law before opening and operating a business. Second, any CEO or head of a company, especially the big ones, should have an attorney at their fingertips to make sure of certain legalities.

Look at Cisco and MS, now they know how to run a business and don’t play games. They even enjoy crushing illegal activity, like pirating, and would NEVER, EVER be caught facilitating it.

YEA for Cisco and MS for being upstanding.

In my opinion, it seems Yahoo may be straddling the line. Straddling the line is foolish and will get you racked.

Personally, when someone knows an activity is happening and they do not react, they are condoning the activity and when someone makes something possible, they are facilitating the activity. Some examples would be the owner/creator of Astatalk, Underground and Demonoid.

Take this prime example of what seems to be Yahoo’s condoning and facilitating of illegally distributed copyright protected material. There’s a Yahoo group that has been complained about for sharing copyright protected material, but Yahoo has done nothing in response.

I re-typed the group’s intro—public info as it is made available to the general public—but the group seems to enjoy threatening people with suing if anyone uses their words. Please, sue me so I can countersue for illegal copyright distribution as I’m sure a few of the big boys would love to turn the group owner and probably a few members into known criminals. I think I’ll alert MGM, MS, EA and a few other big guys to this group and hope others follow my example.

Okay, onto the group’s welcome screen…and this part is public, Kim.

This group:
1-calls themselves a sharing group
2-shares music, movies, programs, games, ebooks and audio books.
3-says that no download links are allowed in the group unless with a specific file.
4-says no adult content, but certain ratings of movies are okay.
5-members must apply using certain channels or they will be denied membership.
6-refuses to allow stories, jokes, Paint Shop Pro and pictures.
7-recommends having a gmail account and that members must be on individual mail.
8-says members must have their program in order to get the attachments.

Since this group is authorized by Yahoo, that, to me, indicates Yahoo sanctions piracy by facilitating the transfer of copyright protected property.

Yahoo, we beg you to realize that there are many groups doing this and although countless complaints are filed with your abuse department, nothing has been done.

Our questions are simple:
Where does Yahoo stand on the piracy issue? Why does Yahoo allow their groups to be used for facilitation of illegally distributed copyright protected property?