US Congress Proposed Law to let Hollywood Hack Your Computer

BBC ^ | Friday, 26 July, 2002

[Mister Magoo]

Friday, 26 July, 2002, 12:42 GMT 13:42 UK Hollywood tries hacking tactics

The Harry Potter film was pirated in China last year

Hollywood is hoping a law will be passed that would allow it to use hacking techniques to prevent the illegal download of music and movies from the internet. A bill introduced in the US seeks to allow the industry to hack into personal computers to search for illegal material.

It could also allow technology to be used to disrupt or disable computers known to be trading in copyrighted films or music.

The biggest change would be the lifting of civil and criminal penalties against companies for "disabling, interfering with, blocking, diverting or otherwise impairing" pirated songs and movies.

Hollywood has long been keen on stopping illegal downloads

Users would get no warning of the "hacking" and would only have cause to sue if the violation caused more than $250 (£158) of damage.

Experts estimate the worldwide cost to the movie and music industries of internet piracy is $4.3bn (£2.9bn).

The proposed new legal powers could mean record companies avoiding the usual route of lengthy legal action against file-swapping services.

The bill was introduced by representative Howard Berman, the top democrat on the House Judiciary subcommittee on courts, the internet and intellectual property, and considered a friend of Hollywood.

Mr Berman said his bill "allowed copyright owners to use technology to deal with technological piracy".

He said the proposal would not give access to personal data kept on PCs or allow files to be destroyed or viruses to be spread.

'Theft'

Mr Berman said the technology would only allow them to disable illegally downloaded films or music.

He compared it to a car dealer repossessing a car which had not been paid for.

"There is no excuse or justification for this piracy," he said.

'Innovative'

"Theft is theft, whether it is shoplifting a CD in a record store, or illegally downloading a song."

But the move is not welcomed by everyone.

Alan Davidson, of the Center for Democracy and Technology, said the legislation provided "a hunting licence for copyright holders to seek out legitimate users of the internet".

The music industry led the way in trying to curb the activities of file-swapping services such as Napster, which has spent nearly a year battling lawsuits.

Recording Industry Association of America chief Hilary Rosen called the bill an "innovative approach to combating the serious problem of internet piracy".

The Motion Picture Association of America praised Berman's efforts but said in a statement: "There are aspects of the bill we believe need changing."

[Mister Magoo]

The idea of letting music companies access to everyone's computer to ferret downloaded songs is simply unbelieveable. This simply must be stopped.

[bluefish]

So if my stereo gets stolen out of my car, I guess I should have the right to enter all my neighbors' houses in an effort to find it and smash it with a hammer?

[Jeff Chandler]

If they start doing this they will be painting bulls-eyes on their systems for every malevolent hacker in the world.

[supercat]

I don't have any particular problem with record companies harassing P2P networks by, e.g., uploading 'garbaged' copies of songs all over the place. If people who want to download music waste hours downloading garbage copies, that's their problem. That, however, is a far cry from what the RIAA et al. are proposing.

It should be noted, btw, that while Internet "music sharing" may deprive the RIAA of a few sales, it actually poses a much bigger risk: the music industry gets much of its money not just from music sales, but for "promotion". The RIAA et al. rely upon business paradigm which requires musicians to pay big money for "promotion". If bands are able to promote themselves cheaply via the Internet, they'll have much less need for the record companies' "value-added" services.

[Lockbox]

And the next bill which should be introduced......................

A bill has been introduced to allowing breaking and entry techniques to prevent illegal activities in homes of actors and studio heads in Hollywood

It could also allow technology to be used to disrupt or disable homes and cars known to be trading in illegal activities

The biggest change would be the lifting of civil and criminal penalties for "disabling, interfering with, blocking, diverting or otherwise impairing" illegal activities in homes of actors and studio heads in Hollywood

Users would get no warning of the "entry" and would only have cause to sue if the violation caused more than $250,000 of damage.

Experts estimate the worldwide cost of illegal activities in homes of actors and studio heads in Hollywood is 10 billion dollars.

The proposed new legal powers could mean avoiding the usual route of lengthy legal action against illegal activities in homes of actors and studio heads in Hollywood. .

[weikel]

Every hacker I know will make the music industries life a living hell if this passes.