[iwar] Deception and media industry iwar

From: Charles Preston (cpreston@sinbad.net)
Date: 2002-07-03 14:40:29
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Pakistan.seeks.China's.help.to.become.IT.power.-.PTI]"
Previous message: televr: "[iwar] Bush defends his corporate record"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.2.20020630110633.02b33ec0@127.0.0.1>
To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
From: Charles Preston <cpreston@sinbad.net>
Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com
Precedence: bulk
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 2002 13:40:29 -0800
Subject: [iwar] Deception and media industry iwar
Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Reports from the music industry war on copyright violators indicate that 
the RIAA and copyright holders are using deception and denial of service 
techniques.  As described, the deliberate over-consumption of computer 
resources intended only to reduce availability of those resources to others 
might be a violation of the law in some states.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, use of these techniques is becoming 
more widespread.  Earlier, quoted in the November, 2001, excerpt below, 
Cary Sherman says that the RIAA "has not yet used any technologies that 
would affect file-trading on peer-to-peer networks."

But in a recent excerpt "Music industry swamps swap networks with phony 
files", from June, 2002, are claims that spoofing is widespread.

Only the strongest will survive -
Notice from another excerpt, below, "Let studios hack P2P networks" that a 
U.S. congressman is preparing a bill to legalize the use of deception 
tactics via Internet, with the purpose of damaging the ability of peer to 
peer network sharing of mp3 and probably other files.  This might help 
produce a lot of informal research on deception measures and countermeasures.

Real time file identification and transfer interruption is already taking 
place, according to  "New Technologies Target Swapping of Bootlegged 
Files". (See below).  This could lead to disguised or encrypted files, as 
many bbs postings suggest.  If that happens, it would seem the easiest 
solution is to prohibit any file disguise or repackaging.  This could also 
bring up the issue of who can stop which file transfers.  If this 
technology is used to detect common steganographic signatures, is it also 
being used to interrupt transfer of those files, including ones containing 
possible terrorist communications?  This is a method of censorship for any 
files where multiple copies with the same content are requested.  These 
could be a video clip from the BBC or a PowerPoint presentation.  And if 
you are already sitting in the middle, why not hijack connections or use a 
MITM attack and send along altered content?  Properly altered content could 
be much more fun than denial of service.

cmp


    ------------------------------
Billboard November 3, 2001

Govt., Tech Critics Decry RIAA Tactics

BY BILL HOLLAND
A number of critics of the rejected RIAA draft language also objected to 
the fact that, had it been accepted, that language would have granted the 
RIAA full immunity to employ controversial new technologies that slow down 
or clog computers on peer-to-peer networks. The best-known of this 
technology is called Interdiction, produced by Los Angeles-based firm Media 
Defender. It acts as a downloader, repeatedly requesting the same file and 
downloading it very slowly, essentially preventing other peers from 
accessing the the file or sharing any other file. The company also has a 
"spoofing" program that sends out fake music files, often with just 
meaningless data on them.

    Cary Sherman, RIAA general counsel, says the trade group "is 
considering the use of such technologies, but we can provide little detail 
about them [or the companies that offer them] because of confidentiality 
restrictions. In very general terms, these technologies can be used to 
identify sources of infringing content, spoof file-trading systems, and 
stop illegal downloads of copyrighted files - without in any way destroying 
or damaging the files themselves or the user's computer or 
software." 


     Media Defender's president Randy Saaf says "less than 100 but more 
than 30" small and large copyright-holder companies have signed up for his 
company's products, but he is reluctant to name clients because of the 
"sensitivity of the issue" of ongoing RIAA lawsuits against file-sharing 
networks. But, Saaf added, "I can tell you this, we've been in contact with 
the RIAA for a year and a half."

    Sherman says, "We are not presently prepared to describe technical 
measures being used or considered. But it is clear that any such measures 
will be lawful and will constitute a very modest response to a very serious 
problem."

    Sherman also says that the RIAA "has not yet used any technologies that 
would affect file-trading on peer-to-peer networks."
------------------------------
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3560365.htm

Posted on Thu, Jun. 27, 2002



Music industry swamps swap networks with phony files
By Dawn C. Chmielewski
Mercury News


Major record labels have launched an
aggressive new guerrilla assault on the underground music networks, 
flooding online swapping services with bogus copies of popular songs.

The online music sites know they're under attack. Darrell Smith, chief 
technical officer of StreamCast Networks, parent of the popular 
file-swapping service Morpheus, said he first noticed the practice about a 
year ago, but chalked it up to ``rogue teenage hackers just being obnoxious.

``It's more prevalent in the last three months,'' he said. ``It's gotten 
real, real, real severe.''

Sources at three major labels admit they're deluging popular services like 
Morpheus, Kazaa and Grokster with thousands of decoy music files that look 
identical to a sought-after song, but are filled with long minutes of 
silence -- or 30-second loops of a song's chorus.

By making stealing more of a hassle, they hope to persuade more people to 
shell out for a CD at the local record store.

The practice is called ``spoofing'' and it is widespread. Over the last 
three months, virtually any song destined for the Billboard pop music 
charts has been spoofed, the sources say.
------------------------------

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t287-s2117979,00.html

Let studios hack P2P networks, says US politician

12:00 Wednesday 26th June 2002
John Borland, CNET News.com


Cyberattacks by copyright owners on networks where their goods
are traded illegally would be within the law if a new bill gets through 
Congress in the US

Let studios hack P2P networks, says US politician

12:00 Wednesday 26th June 2002
John Borland, CNET News.com


Cyberattacks by copyright owners on networks where their goods
are traded illegally would be within the law if a new bill gets through 
Congress in the US

A California congressman is preparing a bill that would let copyright 
owners, such as record labels or movie studios, launch high-tech attacks 
against file-swapping networks where their wares are traded.
...

These tactics include:

* interdiction, in which a copyright owner floods a file swapper with false 
requests so that downloads can't get through;

* redirection, in which a file swapper might be pointed to a site that 
doesn't actually have the files they're looking for;

* and spoofing, in which a corrupt or otherwise undesirable file 
masquerades as a song, movie or other file that people are seeking.

Use of some of these tactics might be deemed illegal today under common 
law, state statutes, or the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Berman said.

File-swapping companies criticized the proposed legislation, saying it 
opened the door for copyright holders to launch "cyber warfare" on consumers.
------------------------------
http://www.audiblemagic.com/News&Press/LATimes_02_20_01.htm

Tuesday, February 20, 2001
Home Edition
Section: Business
Page: C-1 New Technologies Target Swapping of Bootlegged Files By: JON HEALEY
TIMES STAFF WRITER

...
IpArchive and Vidius combine multiple identification tools with widespread 
detection mechanisms that watch files as they enter or exit key points on 
the Internet. For example, their technology could be inside a regional 
aggregation point for an Internet service provider, a campus computer 
network or even the software used by a movie downloading service.
Richard Schmelzer, founder and chief executive of IpArchive, said his 
software has been deployed already by several major Internet pipelines, 
although he would not disclose which ones.
Once IpArchive's technology spots an unauthorized transfer passing through 
its monitoring point, Schmelzer said, it can stop the transfer and send a 
notice directing the would-be downloader to an authorized source of the 
file. The company won't identify the sender or the recipient, he said, 
because, Schmelzer said, "That's a line I don't want to cross right now, 
for obvious reasons."
------------------------------



------------------
http://all.net/ 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Pakistan.seeks.China's.help.to.become.IT.power.-.PTI]"
Previous message: televr: "[iwar] Bush defends his corporate record"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2002-10-01 06:44:31 PDT