But in order to continue doing so, we need your support.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites - especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis. Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. It kind of makes you wonder what the hell is the point of trying to shut down a tool like SlySoft in the first place, doesn't it? After the shock wore off we considered our options and the overwhelming support of our community convinced us to pick up the pieces and continue the development.

It looked like the fox would be gone for good as its burrow ceased to exist with SlySoft.īeing left without any infrastructure and nothing but our forum still running, we were about to give up. The RedFox team consists of former SlySoft developers and staff members who were left without a job after the company was forced to close down for good on February 22nd, 2016. But, as reader Derek points out to us, it looks like it only took a week or so before former SlySoft employees resurfaced in Belize with a new offering called RedFox, using a somewhat similar logo. It looked like Hollywood had done what it normally does and scared an innovative company it didn't like out of business. So it took some people by surprise when it announced it was shutting down due to regulatory changes earlier this year. The company was based in Antigua and had been around for years. However, whenever the issue would come up, most people would point to SlySoft's AnyDVD product, which was a clunky, but functional bit of software for getting around DRM and ripping DVDs. Either way, it was much more difficult for people to rip DVDs.

If anything, it seemed to be an artifact of history. It never made much sense that ripping CDs in the US is considered legal, while ripping DVDs is somehow horrible piracy.

Sly fox dvd copy