Court Upholds Ban on World of Warcraft Bot
Apparently game playing robots are illegal under the DMCA:
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Glider bot, which automatically kills enemies and performs other Warcraft functions while you’re away from your computer, is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provision banning the marketing of products that circumvent a technological measure that “effectively controls access to a copyrighted work.”
Blizzard argued that because the bot allowed users to level-up their characters in less time, users were ‘stealing’ from Blizzard who charges based on monthly usage.
I love how online games and poker are forcing us to account for automated intelligence in our legal system.
