MESSAGE
| DATE | 2001-10-16 |
| FROM | Brooklyn Linux Solutions CEO
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] RIAA Computer Warfare
|
Not long ago Sony threatened to firewall every computer in america to
prevent the swaping of music.
This is a SERIOUS threat to fair use rights, and we need to prepare for
class action lawsuits to prevent this.
Ruben
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20011016/tc/riaa_we_ll_smother_song_swappers_1.html
Tuesday October 16 11:13 AM EDT
RIAA: We'll smother song swappers
By John Borland, Special to ZDNet
The copyright infringement battle takes a new turn. The recording
industry is
now experimenting with new technology it hopes can smother online
song
swapping by targeting music traders' computers directly.
The recording industry is experimenting with new
technology it hopes can smother online song
swapping by targeting music traders' computers
directly.
The record, movie and software industries have
long
pursued a controversial campaign that identifies
people
trading large numbers of songs though services
such as
MusicCity, OpenNap or Gnutella (news - web
sites).
Once the people are identified, the groups
attempt to
persuade Internet service providers (ISPs) to
shut down
those individuals' Internet connections.
But copyright holders, including record labels,
are now
experimenting with new ways to cut down on
copyright
infringement. As described by sources at the
Recording
Industry Association of America (news - web
sites)
(RIAA), one method uses software to masquerade
as a
file-swapper online. Once the software has found
a
computer offering a certain song, it attempts to block other
potential traders from
downloading the song.
Already a potentially contentious plan, the recording industry
inadvertently
sparked a further wave of criticism last week with plans to
protect its strategy from
being undermined by a pending antiterrorism bill.
RIAA lobbyists sought a provision to the bill that would shield
copyright holders
for any damage done to computers in the pursuit of copyright
protection--a goal
that critics charged was too broad and might even give the group
the ability to
spread viruses in the pursuit of pirates.
"We referred to it as the 'license to virus,'" said one
congressional staffer. "It
would have given them the incentive to employ lots of hackers
trying to figure out
how to stop (MusicCity), Morpheus or Audiogalaxy."
An RIAA spokesman said the group was simply trying to protect its
existing tools,
not expand them.
"We have a legitimate concern that the measure currently being
debated could
unintentionally take away a remedy currently available to us
under law that helps
us combat piracy," said RIAA spokesman Jano Cabrera.
The direct approach
Copyright holders have been struggling for years to put the
brakes on accelerating
online piracy of music, movies and software, now centered in
peer-to-peer
services that have replaced Napster (news - web sites). Lawsuits
filed against
Napster, Scour, Aimster, MusicCity, Kazaa and Grokster have shut
down some of
these file-swapping gathering points, but the practice remains as
popular as ever.
This is the first evidence of a technological campaign by
copyright holders that
would mount a direct technological counter strike on the
file-swappers
themselves.
The new strategy would take advantage of file-swapping networks'
own
weaknesses, amplifying them to the point where download services
appear even
more clogged and slow to function than they are today. Because
most peer-to-peer
services are unregulated, the quality of connections and speed of
downloads already
varies wildly based on time of day and geographic location.
The software technology, according to industry sources, would
essentially act as a
downloader, repeatedly requesting the same file and downloading
it very slowly,
essentially preventing others from accessing the file. While
stopping short of a full
denial-of-service attack, the method could substantially clog the
target computer's
Internet connection.
Record labels hope to make the point that subscription services
such as MusicNet
or Pressplay, which will launch on Yahoo, America Online, MSN and
RealNetworks by year's end, will not be subject to the same
doubtful quality of
service.
It's unclear yet how much time and money any record label or
industry group is
willing to devote to the project. Given the huge number of
file-swappers online,
using this kind of direct-action technique against even a small
percentage of
song-traders could quickly soak up technical and financial
resources.
Appetite for more?
According to industry sources, the technology is being provided
by outside
technology companies and has not yet found its way into wide use.
But the
Washington battle indicates that the industry is willing to
protect its ability to use
its own technological tools against its high-tech adversaries.
A copy of the legislation proposed by the RIAA last week would
appear to have
given the group broad latitude to attack file-swappers' computers
without suffering
any civil liability.
No civil liability would result from "any impairment of the
availability of data, a
program, a system or information, resulting from measures taken
by an owner of
copyright," the proposed text read.
That language never made it into the antiterrorism bill, however.
Several
legislators of both parties objected, and the RIAA's text was
dropped. Industry
lobbyists are pursuing a different tack that they say would still
allow them to pursue
the current technological plan, however.
The new technological techniques, which would essentially hog a
file-traders' Net
connection so that genuine song-seekers couldn't get in, are
expected to be taken
up across the copyright holder community.
A representative for the Motion Picture Association of America,
which has also
aggressively pursued online pirates, declined to comment on that
organization's
plans.
--
Brooklyn Linux Solutions
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
http://www.brooklynonline.com
http://www.nylxs.com
http://www.nyfairuse.org
1-718-382-5752
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/mp3/The_Beatles_-_Rocky_Raccoon.mp3
____________________________
New Yorker Linux Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
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