us government declares war on p2p
 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Media companies would be allowed to sabotage Napster-style networks to prevent songs, movies and other copyrighted materials from being swapped over the Internet under a bill introduced in Congress on Thursday.

The bill would permit recording companies and other copyright holders to hack onto networks to thwart users looking to download free music, and would protect them from lawsuits from users.

Although Congress has little time to debate the bill before the August recess, sponsor Rep. Howard Berman, a California Democrat, said the measure was necessary because the decentralized systems were impossible to shut down.

"No legislation can eradicate the problem of peer-to-peer piracy. However, enabling copyright creators to take action to prevent an infringing file from being shared via P2P (peer-to-peer) is an important first step," Berman said in remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Many large record labels have already resorted to a method known as "spoofing," where they hire firms to distribute "decoy" files that are empty or do not work in order to frustrate would-be downloaders of movies and music.

Additionally, sources have said the major recording companies, like Bertelsmann AG BTGGga.D BMG, EMI Group Plc EMI.L , Vivendi Universal EAUG.PA and Sony Corp 6758.T are considering taking a new tack by suing individuals who use the services, rather than the companies that host them.

The industry's trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America, on Thursday welcomed the bill.

"We applaud Congressman Berman for introducing bipartisan legislation that takes an innovative approach to combating the serious problem of Internet piracy," said Hilary Rosen, chairman and chief executive officer of the RIAA.

"Online piracy undermines the growth of legitimate music sites and hurts all consumers in the long run. Every dollar lost to piracy is a dollar that cannot be invested in fresh, new artists we have all come to expect and enjoy," said Rosen.

The bill does not specify what measures copyright owners could take to foil online song swapping, but does impose some limits on their efforts.

Copyright owners would only be able to stop the trading of their own songs, and would be required to notify users and the Justice Department when they took action.

Overzealous companies could face a government ban and lawsuits from users who suffered economic harm.

The recording industry blames rampant online piracy for a decline in CD sales last year and has prosecuted online networks aggressively.

But while the industry succeeded in shutting down the pioneer Napster service last summer, other less centralized networks like Kazaa and Morpheus continue to attract millions of users.

"The current landscape for online music is dangerously one-sided, with the peer-to-peer pirates enjoying an unfair advantage," Rosen of the RIAA said.

"It makes sense to clarify existing laws to ensure that copyright owners -- those who actually take the time and effort to create an artistic work -- are at least able to defend their works from mass piracy," Rosen said.

Members of the movie industry also embraced the initiative, but not entirely.

"We're pleased that a bipartisan group of lawmakers .. want to curb the explosion of Internet piracy," said Jack Valenti, president and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, in a statement.

"However, there are aspects of the bill we believe need changing as it moves through the legislative process. We look forward to working with Congress in this regard," he said.

A spokesman for Valenti was not immediately available to elaborate.

:rofl:

"The draft bill doesn't specify what techniques, such as viruses, worms, denial-of-service attacks, or domain name hijacking, would be permissible. It does say that a copyright-hacker should not delete files, but it limits the right of anyone subject to an intrusion to sue if files are accidentally erased.

Other critics have pointed out that because the proposal applies to any copyright holder, news organizations, photographers, and even the Church of Scientology would be granted new hacking authority."

- js.

Could someone provide an example of any "artistic work" Hillary & The RIAA have created? :PO:

Or should I be prepared to fend off a personal attack from Lars or The Dixie Chicks... :dunno:

Congress goes after file sharers for not paying for a $13 CD, yet they have no problem trying to "slip" in $279 billion worth of pork spending into the bill. Luckily it was reduced to $20 billion, but that's still something that they should be concentrating on correcting, not file sharers.

Can you tell I just got done reading about all their little "pet" projects? Gawd that makes me sick. :MAD:

Curiously the proposed legislation would leave the corporate instant messengers - AIM, MSN and Yahoo - with their filesharing features protected under the law, as reported by Wired News. This of course after the RIAA has managed to kill Aimster, the nasty independent messenger with exactly similar features. Just how corrupted can these Hollywood congressmen get? :uu:

- tg ;)

They can't possibly pass that.
BTW, that is some avatar you got there, Ms Girl. :eek:

Thanks Hunk! :KSY: :BL:

- tg ;)

schmooky007 's piccy ain't without it charms too. :AP:

International Law
 

I'm just wondering what implications that would have in light of p2p file sharing being an international phenomenon.

If the US Congress passes the bill, it would give the RIAA (or whoever really does the hacking) rights to do something on home turf. It would not give them the right to do the same thing against someone outside the US. For such wide spread rights some kind of international treaty would be needed, I'd suspect.

Doesn't this put such a bill ad absurdum?

Comments anyone?

Stoepsel

thank u :D

I don't think the bill will be passed, but on the off chance that it is I'd expect them to slip in a DMCA style clause that makes it illegal to try to defend yourself from one of these attack, and a gag clause that keeps people from talking about defence against an attack. It's a bad road the RIAA is sending us down, eventually we won't even have legal rights to use our own computers.
They're a bunch of Internet Isolationists no better than the Taliban or the Chinese government.

Well put, Mazer! :tu: :AP: :AP:

- tg ;)

they must know if the person they are hacking is from the us or outside the us by their IP.?
i guess it dont matter our pathetic government will be one of the first to join in on this bullshit(i think they like the taste of US boots)
damn this .....special firewalls and virus checkers for p2p users/applications, new forms of encrypted files
dummy servers full of fakes...
a intrusion warning system that nukes the intruding IP
mass sit-ins(DOS attacks) on/at the sites of the corporations
responsible
mass boycotts
fire bombing of record company offices
:MAD: assasination attempts:ND:
:dir: ppl enciting the mob to riot...
:no: :no: :no: :no: :help:
:dz: omg this is making me dizzy
:bong:
:shk:

Too much even for Valenti
 

It seems that even Hollywood got scared of the prospects of the proposed hacking bill... the corrupted lawmakers overdid it this time.... :CG: :BL:

The Register:
:BGS:

- tg ;)

i dloaded gold member early last week. was bourne identity really, second half. dloaded gold member again got first half of scooby do that time. dloaded gold member again yesterday, got both halfs of bad company.

im about ready to give up on gold member, im pretty sure its not worth this much effort.

but what i really wonder, is whos renameing all these files. just people who want to be assholes? or are other people to intentionally fuck up p2p.

edit: got it on the 4th try, and the second half of Scooby Do too