DMGenie - Masters of the Djinn Yahoo Group missing

[rom90125]

Does anyone have insight as to why this Yahoo Group was nixed?

 

[Zulithe]

Some details here:

http://evildm.blogspot.com/

Hopefully more will come to light soon.

 

[jcfiala]

Some details here:

http://evildm.blogspot.com/

Hopefully more will come to light soon.

I just looked on the discussion pages of the DM Genie. Apparently someone reported that the group had copyrighted materials, they confirmed it, and they shut it down and all of his email as well.

It's a shame - they had been working to make sure that the people who used the files actually owned the books in question - but Yahoo's pretty draconian - if they spot you doing something wrong, you're shut down like that. *snap*.

 

[rom90125]

I agree. Being a newb to such matters, I am curious if there is a legal way for users of DMGenie to share copyrighted material assuming all parties in question own a copy of the protected material. If I want to script the PrC Fang of Lolth for DMGenie, is there anyway I can share this script with other users that also own the original copyrighted source material from which this PrC came from?

 

[smootrk]

I agree. Being a newb to such matters, I am curious if there is a legal way for users of DMGenie to share copyrighted material assuming all parties in question own a copy of the protected material. If I want to script the PrC Fang of Lolth for DMGenie, is there anyway I can share this script with other users that also own the original copyrighted source material from which this PrC came from?

I do not think you will have much to worry about sharing code based upon WOTC's copyrighted materials as long as you are sharing directly with other folks whom you know own the materials as well. I think the problems stems from 'posting' these copyrighted works in a place where they can be freely downloaded, even among a group's membership.

If you create some code, and want to share it, you will need to take responsibility for who receives that material, not just share openly. WOTC wants to sell game material, not see it freely distributed in a way that bypasses the purchasing of the books as well.

 

[Zulithe]

"WOTC wants to sell game material, not see it freely distributed in a way that bypasses the purchasing of the books as well."

The zip/rar files are passworded and require knowledge that only someone who possesses the book could know (like words on certain pages). Maybe not the most secure way, but it is an effort. Now granted I saw a few files that were not in zips that anyone could have dowloaded. I won't defend that, and it is a mistake that whoever uploaded it should not have made.

In the future, I think making the groups harder to join in order to safeguard against those wanting to download material they don't own would be a good idea.

 

[kingpaul]

The zip/rar files are passworded and require knowledge that only someone who possesses the book could know (like words on certain pages).

Actually, that's not true. I could go into a store and look the words up without ever having to buy the book

In the future, I think making the groups harder to join in order to safeguard against those wanting to download material they don't own would be a good idea.

But once again, we're talking about distributing IP without the owner's permission.

 

[Zulithe]

Hi paul.

If people are going to steal or wish to be maliciuos, there is no way to totally prevent that. We see it with regards to movies, music, computer software and games all the time. The best one can do is try to prevent it in a reasonable way that doesn't negatively effect legitimate users of the material.

"Actually, that's not true. I could go into a store and look the words up without ever having to buy the book"

yes... and I could walk into a convenience store and jot down codes from under the bottle cap of a pepsi to get free iTunes music. But I don't.

 

[DonTadow]

Sounds kind of fishy. Just a week or two ago i was commenting how good it is to have a program that has a nice community. Someone from codemonkey got pissed about it. Just fishy in my books.

 

[DonTadow]

Hi paul.

If people are going to steal or wish to be maliciuos, there is no way to totally prevent that. We see it with regards to movies, music, computer software and games all the time. The best one can do is try to prevent it in a reasonable way that doesn't negatively effect legitimate users of the material.

"Actually, that's not true. I could go into a store and look the words up without ever having to buy the book"

yes... and I could walk into a convenience store and jot down codes from under the bottle cap of a pepsi to get free iTunes music. But I don't.

This is though if you're going through that much trouble to get the material then you're probably going to steal the real thing. I advice he be a little more careful to whom he let into the groups from now on.