Grindr will no longer have to go to court with F***r [censor by GDI] after the creator withdrew their copyright counter-notice because of the threat of an impending lawsuit.
F***r was a third-party piece of software that leaked the private data of Grindr users. The information revealed included names, HIV statuses, favourite sexual positions and even live GPS locations to an accuracy of five metres.
Grindr complained that the software was infringing copyright laws, and it was taken down under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The creator of F***r, known online as ‘tomlandia’, argued in a counter-notice that the platform was completely legal.
However, tomlandia has since messaged GitHub, the original hosting site of F***r, wanting to withdraw the counter-notice.
Torrent Freak reports that tomlandia said: “I wish to retract my DMCA counter notice concerning my repository tomlandia/f***r. While I don’t believe my code infringes Grindr LLC’s copyright in any way, I am no longer willing to face legal action in a foreign court simply to keep this project hosted on Github.”
The software owner maintains he didn’t do anything wrong. However, tomlandia has conceded it would be unlikely that he would win in the courtroom against a company with the experience and finances of Grindr.
The fact that ‘tomlandia’ is also not a US citizen would seriously increase the legal costs.
Read more here.