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Reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated...


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As most of you know, two days ago we were contacted by an Apple representative concerning links, posted by our members, to the newest patches by Maxxuss on his site. Since the beginning, we have made it known that we would be very willing to work with Apple regarding any concerns they had with their intellectual property and this site (I actually wrote Steve about it a few months ago… but that's another story...). After speaking with the lawyer representing Apple, we've removed the handful of links to Maxxuss' website from the Forum.

 

Apple is certainly well within their rights to protect their OS and we have always supported them in this effort. Our first-class moderating staff has helped ensure that direct links to any patches are not allowed. We have in the past linked to the homepage of Maxxuss - but not to the offending 10.4.4 patches - in the interest of news, but we've removed those links just in case.

 

News of Apple's DMCA concerns with the links on our site have traveled far and wide over the past 24 hours. Most major tech news site have covered it in one way or another, some accurately, some not. I'd like to be clear regarding the history of this site. Back in the summer, after Steve announced the Intel transition and the Net was filled with rumors of faked leaks, it became apparent to a few of us that the transition was one that many people would want to discuss. We first started the wiki, then the forum, then the full-fleged news portion of the site. Since that time, we've been recognized as the leader in discussion of all things "OS X on x86" related.

 

This site was not founded to be a "watercooler for hackers" as CNet posited. Instead, it was simply meant to be welcoming Mac community for switchers and experts alike. We think that we've accomplished that goal - a large portion of our forum membership is comprised of new iMac users who have commented on the accepting ethos of our forum. We welcome everyone. Of course the hackers came (as we knew they would) but as long as they accepted the rules, they were welcomed as well. It's also important to note that situations like this, in which members post questionable material and the site is served with legal notices, are not uncommon; a similar situation occured in the early days with Neowin and Microsoft.

 

So that's the story. Apple doesn't "have it in" for our site; they were simply concerned with a few links posted by our members. Those links have been removed and we're back.

 

Thanks for your patience with this matter, and to those who are new... welcome to the most talked-about forum on Earth right now. :P

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Lol - I'm not too sure an attack is really what we need. :-)

 

The lawyer working for Apple was very kind. I'm not mad in the least - I'm happy Apple takes OS X seriously enough that they're willing to protect it.

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Thank god you guys are back up... (I had faith that you wouldn't be gone for long)

I was starting to go into withdrawal! :weight_lift:

 

Edit: yeah, good question? why does the wiki still redirect me to the forum?

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Thats a good question, the wiki isnt loosing any information is it? If the DMCA causes information on a forum to be deleted it's censorship at best and book burning at the worst. I can understand removing links to an actual copy of their operating system but maxxus's patches are created by him and offered for free, the only thing a maxxus patched system is breaking is the eula which says you cant install it on anything but apple hardware. a person could have legally obtained the software, and besides eulas are not exactly legal as you've already paid for the operating system by the time you read the contract and you cannot return the software if you dissagree with it. Just seems that apple doesnt have much real legal ground to stand upon here.

 

Either way I'm just glad the sites back up lets hope this doesnt happen again

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The wiki is just getting a thorough check for any infringements just as the forum has been, the forum was the priority but the wiki will be back again very soon. As soon as we are satisfied with it's content we'll reopen it.

 

With regard to randomblame's post. Although many feel the DMCA is a step too far in terms of censorship - it has always been osx86project's stance that we will remain within the law and we are happy to co-operate with Apple as it seeks to protect it's intellectual property.

 

Thanks to everyone for their patience while this work is carried out so we can continue to be the number one place for everything to do with Mac OS on intel. Long Live OSx86 Project.

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And I know everyone has read the forum rules but I'll just repeat a few important points for the benefit of our new members -

 

No Warez

No direct links to Warez

Don't attach copyrighted materials

Don't attach copyrighted work which you've modified

No direct links to torrents of copyrighted materials

No direct links to sites offering patches, cracks or any of the above

 

And please, no asking for any of the above. You'll probably get flamed by the regulars and deleted by the mods. :) And remember one word if you're in the market for any of that stuff - Google.

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We have in the past linked to the homepage of Maxxuss - but not to the offending 10.4.4 patches - in the interest of news, but we've removed those links just in case.
Are we to infer by this that even the posting of links to Maxxuss's page is verboten? Surely anybody can Google the page?
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Maxxuss work can be discussed freely - links to his page or any of his work is not permitted. But as you say anyone can google that. (Google has certain privileges relating to ISP's and routing users that makes their links to maxxuss page permitted under the DMCA)

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Just to be on the safe side, I'd say yeah...It really shouldn't be too hard for people to Google for Maxxuss/patch related things. But no...simply saying the name "Maxxuss" will not invoke some fire-hungry sun God to smite you off of the face of the earth.

 

:)

 

EDIT: Beat me to it 0uch!....so yeah, what he said.

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