Parody site ClownStrike refused to bow to CrowdStrike’s bogus DMCA takedown

submitted a month ago by stravanasu

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/08/parody-site…

Doesn't CrowdStrike have more important things to do right now than try to take down a parody site?

That's what IT consultant David Senk wondered when CrowdStrike sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice targeting his parody site ClownStrike.

Senk created ClownStrike in the aftermath of the largest IT outage the world has ever seen—which CrowdStrike blamed on a buggy security update that shut down systems and incited prolonged chaos in airports, hospitals, and businesses worldwide....

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73 Comments

A_A a month ago

The Streisand effect is an unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove, or censor information, where the effort instead increases public awareness of the information.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

sunzu a month ago

Yez 🤡

CileTheSane a month ago

Someone is racing Elon in an "any % speed run to completely destroy an established companies credibility."

Marthirial a month ago, edited a month ago

Elom should buy CrowdStrike, rename it clownstrike, send the DMCA, and then run it into the ground like Twitter.

fmstrat a month ago

Yes and no here. Businesses by and large won't stop using them because of this. And if they succeed, it's a deterrent for others.

A_A a month ago

We must agree that :
1-they did want to sensor information
2-but the information was made more public.
Now, are you saying that (1) was indeed their intention but also that (2) was intentional. That being quite rich, they will continue to send DMCAs to intimidate anyone. Finally, their main goal wouldn't only be to deter this one action but also similar actions by others, which would be more effective if the DMCA succeeds.
... i must agree with you here if this is what you meant.

Shadow a month ago

Sounds like they could use some more sites linking to them to improve SEO. https://clownstrike.lol/

LazaroFilm a month ago

Full Streisand effect.

This. This is why we invented the internet. Well this and porn.

thisbenzingring a month ago

It's blocked on my work computer, saying it's a malware website

All_Your_Base a month ago

"The category of https://clownstrike.lol/ is Phishing

This site has been reviewed recently. We are not accepting category change requests at this time."

Fortinet filter lmao

umbrella a month ago

ill manually whitelist them on my fleet rofl

lennivelkant a month ago

Accessible through my corporate network. Fun thing, that.

systemglitch a month ago

That was a good read with him documenting and sharing everything.

grubbyweasel a month ago, edited a month ago

this is so tame lmao

roofuskit a month ago

Using the DMCA as a censorship tool needs to be a criminal offense subject to jail time.

phoenixz a month ago, edited a month ago

Agreed 100%, it's tactics similar to slapp lawsuits, and either shouldn't be allowed and require jail time when abused

4am a month ago

Why that’s literally what it was designed to do

rezifon a month ago

DMCA was designed to prevent intellectual property infringement, not as a censorship tool.

Ransack a month ago

Yes that's exactly what the person you replied to was saying.

DMCA was built to save IP, however it's routinely abused and used for censorship. And not a single thing is done to the abusers so they continue with their nonsense.

lud a month ago

No they literally said that DMCA was designed for censorship...

TeoTwawki a month ago

Copyright assholes got a seat at the table when it was being drafted everyone else was given the finger. Its designed to be easily abused. Accidently on purpose, if you get me.

turmacar a month ago, edited a month ago

It is, but this isn't. The DMCA doesn't mention Trademark. That's a separate section of law because copyright and trademark are different things.

Crowdstrike submitting a DMCA takedown for alleged Trademark infringement isn't how it's supposed to work at all. Likely because they know this isn't actually a Trademark infringement case.

Cloudflare's automated system not being smart enough to see that is fine. Their abuse/counterclaim process being broken isn't. ( Not that that's new or unique )

WolfLink a month ago

The ClownStrike person didn’t attempt to use Cloudflare’s counterclaim system.

turmacar a month ago

Cloudflare's counterclaim system didn't open a ticket when the notification email was *replied to.*

That's the kind of nonsense you expect from a local municipality hosting solution. Not one of the biggest on the Internet.

nifty a month ago

Lmao what a legend. How would DMCA even apply in this case though? Parodies are free speech

CosmicTurtle0 a month ago

They don't. Companies regularly abuse DMCA notices because the law REQUIRES a hosting company to take down the information immediately.

It allows 14 days for the same information to be restored after receiving a counter notice.

Otter a month ago

I think if DMCAs are abused, it should limit the company's ability to file one in the future.

and if not... regular people could do the same

WhatAmLemmy a month ago, edited a month ago

Laws only apply to poor people. If you submit a bogus DMCA that takes down a corporation's site, they will sue you so hard your children's children will be paying off the debt.

It's all by design. The level of damage is measured by capital, and not by how illegitimate, anti-competitive, immoral, or criminal the actions are. There aren't any multipliers to level the playing field against their wealth and power. All of the multipliers are in their favor.

phoenixz a month ago

It should require jail time if abused.

dan a month ago

I don't see anything on that site that infringes the DMCA. At best they might have a trademark violation claim, but DMCA is only for copyright claims, not trademark claims.

TeoTwawki a month ago, edited a month ago

The only real use of trademark I could find was actually on the twitter account clownstrike took a picture of, unless they seriously want to try and tell is they think the name could be confused for theirs with a straight face.

dan a month ago

They have an edited version of the Crowdstrike logo on the page, which is what I was thinking of. It's a stretch though.

Otter a month ago, edited a month ago

https://clownstrike.lol/crowdmad/

This line:

P.S. Don’t your lawyers have more important shit to be doing right now anyway?

sunzu a month ago

Yeah but then it would not be a clownstrike...

Pieverson a month ago

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Es a espera

Otter a month ago

You may have posted this to the wrong thread :)

dan a month ago, edited a month ago

I don’t see anything on the parody ClownStrike site that infringes the DMCA. At best, Crowdstrike might have a valid trademark infringement claim, but DMCA is only for copyright infringement claims, not trademark claims.

anon_8675309 a month ago

They should have used their software to bring it down. We all know that will do it.

lennivelkant a month ago

...provided it runs on CrowdStrike-protected systems. I would expect the site's operator to make sure to avoid that if they can help it.

djvinniev77 a month ago

You sonofa.. Made me spill my drink...

Ramune a month ago

I support the right of clowns to strike for whatever reason

Darkassassin07 a month ago

They've gotta do something in the face of ballooning expenses...

EdgeOfToday a month ago

Well everyone nose about inflation, but what about a clown's right to shoes?

TimeSquirrel a month ago

Shoes? They could use a bigger car first. Have you seen how many people they have to cram in there?

TachyonTele a month ago

Bigger cars!? Have you seen the price of pies *in this economy*?

Lost_My_Mind a month ago

Buddy, I don't want to hear about clowns and their creampies, or whatever it is you're watching online.

HootinNHollerin a month ago

Helium prices are TOO DAMN HIGH

conciselyverbose a month ago

told Ars that he has no plans to move ClownStrike back to Cloudflare's hosting service. Instead, he responded by suggesting that Cloudflare update its abuse-reporting system to confirm receipt of counter notices, build a web portal where users can track abuse reports,

Good suggestions

and perhaps most significantly, revoke CSC's ability to submit abuse reports as a penalty for sending a bogus takedown

Pretty sure they can't. DMCA has strict rules that providers must follow to avoid liability.

Imagine believing that large enough companies would be so heinous as to follow the law. What villains they'd be!

/s

sunzu a month ago

Only when it benefits them*

solsangraal a month ago

way to go, dorks. now i've heard of this site that i would have never heard of if you hadn't streissanded it. and i for one approve

troybot [he/him] a month ago

My name is Nathan Fielder, And I graduated from one of Canada's top business schools with really good grades.

The plan: turn this website into the world's first parody cybersecurity platform

__init__ a month ago

We will call it… Dumb Crowdstrike.

WhatAmLemmy a month ago

Crowdstrike IS the parody of what Crowdstrike purported itself to be.

Lvxferre a month ago

Apparently, Cloudflare never received either of Senk's counter notices, which is a problem since Cloudflare only allows a 72-hour window to contest a takedown notice.

This sounds like ClownFlare outright lying through its teeth. Probably not even to defend ClownStrike, but to not look incompetent.

lennivelkant a month ago

I think it's time to expand the Clown-Empire and add ClownSocialServices.lol and ClownFlare to its Vassals.
What do we call the head of state? The Witish Clown?

Lvxferre a month ago

The POTCS (President of The Circus States)? The Top Wig?

Imgonnatrythis a month ago

Maybe laylow and STFU crowdstrike? You know what never mind, pour fuel on the fire burning below you - go out screaming you turds.

TheReturnOfPEB a month ago

they should update their homepage to a forced download of an empty index.html

Ghostalmedia a month ago

Clown Strike’s only real crime is kerning.

snekmuffin a month ago

thats not kerning, that's justification ☝️🤓️

kerning refers to the spacing between individual letters in the words, and justification is a method of typograghic alignment where space between words is stretched to make text flush with both left and right margins

Yup, kerning vs keming.

Sentient_Modem a month ago

Funny that clownstrike.com redirects to crowdstrike.com. I tried this before seeing the .lol domain. Lol

sunzu a month ago

I am kinda PO'ed I didn't come up with this on my own lol

jabathekek a month ago

While parody sites are not the intended target of these efforts, it’s possible for such sites to be inadvertently impacted. We will review the process and, where appropriate, evolve ongoing anti-fraud activities.

Hmm, I think I've heard something like that before...

But it pledged Wednesday to keep software glitches like last week’s from happening again, and to publicly release a more detailed analysis when it becomes available.

The company added that it is developing a new check for its validation system “to guard against this type of problematic content from being deployed in the future.

"Oops!"

I love this

Hildegarde a month ago, edited a month ago

I am illiterate ignore me.

>Senk received a DMCA notice from Cloudflare's trust and safety team, which was then hosting the parody site.

Cloudflare sent themselves a DMCA takedown notice, instead of just taking down the content from their own web hosting for violating their policies. Weird.

mark a month ago

Cloudflare and Crowdstrike are different companies.

Hildegarde a month ago

ooooooopppppps someday I will learn to read