Apple Filed A Questionable DMCA Notice On A Tweeted iPhone Encryption Key... Before Backing Down

mood · Dec 13, 2019

Apple Filed A Silly, Questionable DMCA Notice On A Tweeted iPhone Encryption Key... Before Backing Down
December 13, 2019
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2...hone-encryption-key-before-backing-down.shtml

Copyright continues to serve its purpose as a tool for censorship, it seems. This week there was some hubbub over Apple's highly questionable decision to send a DMCA takedown notice over a tweet by a security researcher who goes by "Siguza," and who appeared to publish an iPhone encryption key on Twitter: [...]
Twitter took it down upon receipt of the takedown notice, but later put it back after Apple rescinded the takedown -- either realizing that the takedown was bogus or futile (or, I guess, both).

But it does raise questions. Is an encryption key even copyright-eligible? That seems highly unlikely. Copyright only is supposed to apply to the creative elements of a work, and it would be difficult to argue that an encryption key meets the "creative" level necessary.
US courts have already decided that phone numbers are not subject to copyright (even made up numbers), so it seems unlikely that an encryption key would pass muster for getting a copyright.

It's good that Apple backed down on this, though it still highlights the problems of the DMCA takedown process, and how it can be used unfairly for censorship -- even if that "censorship" completely backfired this time.
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Motherboard: Apple Used the DMCA to Take Down a Tweet Containing an iPhone Encryption Key

At the same time, Reddit received several DMCA takedown requests for posts on r/jailbreak, a popular subreddit where iPhone security researchers and hackers discuss techniques to jailbreak Apple devices, according to the subreddit’s moderators.

iPhone security researchers and jailbreakers see these actions as Apple trying to clamp down on the jailbreaking community. Some in the community have questioned whether an encryption key, or posts linking to jailbreaking tools, are subject to copyright at all.
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Apple Filed A Questionable DMCA Notice On A Tweeted iPhone Encryption Key... Before Backing Down

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Apple Filed A Questionable DMCA Notice On A Tweeted iPhone Encryption Key... Before Backing Down

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