[WikiEN-l] Press coverage listing the HD-DVD key

[David Gerard]

On 04/05/07, Todd Allen <toddmallen at gmail.com> wrote:

> Find a nice Dutch webhost? (Which given this garbage, might not be a
> terrible idea anyway?)


Nope: just say "Here's an encyclopedic article. They're trying to
suppress this. Have a look at them SUPPRESSING a NUMBER." Instant
press disaster. Same reason the RIAA backed down from suing Ed Felten.

We may get crappy press about stupid vandalism to living bios, but
that's completely irrelevant to this PR battle. on one side you have
this (ultimately) nerdy and noble Internet encyclopedia that A THIRD
OF ALL AMERICANS USE DAILY, not to mention *every* journalist I've
spoken to about Wikipedia in the last year ... and on the other, you
have widely despised thugs with money, trying to SUPPRESS a NUMBER.

The people posting to this list with the apparent impression that a
DMCA notice sent to Wikimedia about the key would cause the site to be
switched off an hour later or sent broke ... are being ridiculous.
Completely and utterly clueless about how these things work in
practice. If you feel I'm being unfair to you in saying that, please
detail your experience, 'cos I bet I have way more than you do.


- d.