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BlackFriday.info Says The Grinch Got Into Best BuyBlackFriday.info Says The Grinch Got Into Best Buy
<a href="http://www.blackfriday.info">BlackFriday.info,</a> a site that <a href="http://www.information.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=194300123">informs consumers about holiday shopping deals,</a> says it took down a leaked price list from Best Buy after Best Buy threatened to use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to shut down the entire site. BlackFriday says Best Buy is abusing the law, but there's nothing they can do about it.</p>
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BlackFriday.info, a site that informs consumers about holiday shopping deals, says it took down a leaked price list from Best Buy after Best Buy threatened to use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to shut down the entire site. BlackFriday says Best Buy is abusing the law, but there's nothing they can do about it.
While we believe that sale prices are facts and not copyrightable, we do not want to risk having this website shut down due to a DMCA take down notice. Because of this, we have removed the Best Buy Black Friday ad from the website as requested.
Ars Technica says Best Buy is not alone.:
Best Buy and other retailers that churn out takedown notices are misusing the DMCA, but the larger problem is the law itself. The powers granted by the DMCA are broad enough that it is tempting for companies to wield the law as a bludgeon against whomever is displeasing them. Until the law is changed, companies will continue giving into the temptation to misapply it.
Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing adds:
BestBuy has been sued for abusing the DMCA this way in the past. If BlackFriday wants a mirror for its BestBuy prices, I'd be glad to host it here on Boing Boing. If we got a bogus takedown from BestBuy over this, we'd just post it here and make fun of it. Sue and be damned.
Later, Boing Boing posted a mirror of the pricing information, retrieved from the Google cache.
And BlackFriday.info user Mreslin said she sent a letter of protest to Best Buy: "Since you apparently don't like the idea of your loyal customers having a convenient and fun way to plan their holiday shopping at your store I have no choice but to assume you also no longer want our holiday business. Being in the giving holiday mood that I am, I will grant your request and take my business elsewhere," she wrote.
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