RIAA draws up new plans to punish file swappers.
Posted on 07/30/2003 2:21:36 AM PDT by yonif
LOS ANGELES - As the recording industry prepares hundreds of copyright lawsuits against online music swappers, the makers of file-sharing software are fortifying their programs to try to mask users' identities.
Some of the upgrades reroute Internet connections through so-called proxy servers that scrub away cybertracks. Others incorporate firewalls or encryption to thwart the sleuth firms that the recording industry employs.
"Everyone is concerned about their privacy," said Michael Weiss, chief executive of StreamCast Networks. The upgrade to his Morpheus file-sharing software has been downloaded more than 300,000 times since its release last week.
Music industry officials insist file-swappers can't hide.
"Nothing that has been invented has prevented us from being able to identify substantial infringers and collect evidence," said Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business and legal affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America.
Yet experts say some of the countermeasures could make it more difficult to trace individuals on peer-to-peer networks. Though none can guarantee total anonymity, they ultimately may not have to.
"With enough technology it may not be worth the effort for the RIAA to come after somebody," said Mark Rasch, a former U.S. Justice Department computer crimes prosecutor. "At some point it can become so difficult to find out who did something that it becomes practically anonymous."
Seth Schoen, staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group for online civil liberties, said many of the upgrades remain unproven.
"I'm not aware of independent testing or review to verify the claims that people are making," he said.
The RIAA, which represents the major recording companies, announced last month that the industry would soon begin suing individuals who swap copyright music online in a bid to discourage piracy. It has already issued more than 900 subpoenas and its lawyers say they expect to file lawsuits in the next few months.
The RIAA scours the most popular file-swapping systems for users with large collections of copyright works and tries to identify their Internet service provider through the Internet Protocol, or IP, numbers assigned to computers on the Internet. The RIAA can then subpoena a service provider demanding a user's identity.
Upgrades to the file-sharing software seek to short-circuit that detection process.
Morpheus, for one, lets members connect to a Web site that links to several public proxy servers, which help mask the user's IP number. The more proxy servers involved, the more difficult it can be to trace connections to their source.
The chase is further complicated because proxy servers operate independently of Internet providers.
The RIAA would not say whether it would subpoena proxy server owners. Even if it does, trails could quickly end if a proxy server is located in a nation that does not recognize subpoenas.
Nonetheless, tracing is not impossible.
"You're putting all your trust in that box. Can they be subpoenaed? Can they be forced to testify, forced to turn their logs over?" said Errol Weiss, vice president of technical services for Solutionary Inc., a McLean, Va., computer security firm.
Rasch, who also works at Solutionary, said proxies only make tracing more difficult. "That's all it is, a cat-and-mouse game."
In a separate countermeasure, the new Morpheus edition and several other file-sharing programs, including Kazaa Lite and Shareaza, help users identify the IP addresses of companies hired by recording companies to troll networks for pirates.
Users can then try to block access from those addresses using software such as PeerGuardian. The tactic forces investigators to change their addresses.
Sharman Networks Ltd., which owns Kazaa, released updated software within days after the RIAA announced it would take individual file-sharers to court. Among other things, the update reconfigured settings so users have to grant permission for others to see their files.
Two Spanish-based peer-to-peer services -- Filetopia and Blubster -- claim to have the strongest privacy protections.
Filetopia uses encryption to scramble data on its network. Users also have the option to use a program that reroutes data similar to a proxy server.
Pablo Soto, the developer of Blubster, said his program scatters packets of data at random using other computers on a file-swapping network. Each data packet eventually finds its way to the computer seeking the file, where the packets are reassembled.
The scattering process makes it difficult to gather evidence because transmission logs don't reveal a file exchange has taken place, Soto said.
Errol Weiss, the security expert with Solutionary, disagreed. He said the data traveling through Blubster-type networks still carry enough information to track their origin.
"I can still tell where it's coming from," he said.
RIAA draws up new plans to punish file swappers.
the RIAA better get ready,if its a fight they want,i think there gonna get it...copyrights this,not fair to our artists that...look RIAA you suck..you will always suck...what makes mp3 any different from tapes that used to be made back in the 80s-90s? some difference but the concept is the same
if your sooooo worried about losing money on your coprighted pop-rock pop punk and britney spears bullcrap then stop pre manufacturing this crap and actually SIGN some musicians like ones that play actually instruments instead of the ice around there necks or oversized cilicone monsters....
anyone in the metal community or anyone who has any real talent doesnt care about what you say is cool...it sucks..plain and simple you wanna protect your boob-job teenie bop corrupting bullcrap...pull it...alot of us dont want it nor download it anyway,so leave us real musicians and people who can appreciate music alone..
another thing,alot of the reasons i even download is for anime episodes (some of which rock,and you cant get here in the U.S)and old stuff which is impossible to find anywhere (I.E vince guaraldi trio) and anime music too plus the fact that your CD prices are stupid 20 bucks for a cd with 5 songs 2 of which i like and 3 that i dont,
what about artists who havent been signed? you know that they use mp3's to at least get noticed amoung your pop music monstrosity,and some of those artists ive come across are incredible? but nah your not interested in that are you RIAA? nah your more interested on how many in the public wanna dress/look/act like britney or the backdoor boys...and your money...which is another point...why the heck are all these artists (most of which are rich beyond all belife)who got soooo much money on there first record alone...are crying saying they dont have as much money cause were downloading? um...hey genuis..if you wouldnt blow all your first second...whatever album royalties on drugs,lavish houses which your gonna wreck in one of your overdose/drunken stupors and boobjobs...maybe you would have more money and wouldnt be crying about all this now wouldnt you? well then again from what i seen most of these artists are soo greedy they put the stereotype that republicans are greedy oil crazy monsters..to shame
my final word on this is im gonna keep downloading,but i am careful what i share (for instance i have all the metallica album's but i dont share them online because yes,i did purchase all there albums at one point..regretfully i dont have them anymore due to my 13 year old brat for a sister lol) and if lars urlich is gonna scream and yell about whatever (who btw for anyone keeping score at home is the one who started this WHOLE mess to begin with) ill be nice cause i did get all the metallica albums so even though your a traitor lars,ill be nice...
this is my opinion i could be wrong,but at the same time i think im pretty right on about all this
the RIAA better get ready,if its a fight they want,i think there gonna get it...copyrights this,not fair to our artists that...look RIAA you suck..you will always suck...what makes mp3 any different from tapes that used to be made back in the 80s-90s? some difference but the concept is the same
if your sooooo worried about losing money on your coprighted pop-rock pop punk and britney spears bullcrap then stop pre manufacturing this crap and actually SIGN some musicians like ones that play actually instruments instead of the ice around there necks or oversized cilicone monsters....
anyone in the metal community or anyone who has any real talent doesnt care about what you say is cool...it sucks..plain and simple you wanna protect your boob-job teenie bop corrupting bullcrap...pull it...alot of us dont want it nor download it anyway,so leave us real musicians and people who can appreciate music alone..
another thing,alot of the reasons i even download is for anime episodes (some of which rock,and you cant get here in the U.S)and old stuff which is impossible to find anywhere (I.E vince guaraldi trio) and anime music too plus the fact that your CD prices are stupid 20 bucks for a cd with 5 songs 2 of which i like and 3 that i dont,
what about artists who havent been signed? you know that they use mp3's to at least get noticed amoung your pop music monstrosity,and some of those artists ive come across are incredible? but nah your not interested in that are you RIAA? nah your more interested on how many in the public wanna dress/look/act like britney or the backdoor boys...and your money...which is another point...why the heck are all these artists (most of which are rich beyond all belife)who got soooo much money on there first record alone...are crying saying they dont have as much money cause were downloading? um...hey genuis..if you wouldnt blow all your first second...whatever album royalties on drugs,lavish houses which your gonna wreck in one of your overdose/drunken stupors and boobjobs...maybe you would have more money and wouldnt be crying about all this now wouldnt you? well then again from what i seen most of these artists are soo greedy they put the stereotype that republicans are greedy oil crazy monsters..to shame
my final word on this is im gonna keep downloading,but i am careful what i share (for instance i have all the metallica album's but i dont share them online because yes,i did purchase all there albums at one point..regretfully i dont have them anymore due to my 13 year old brat for a sister lol) and if lars urlich is gonna scream and yell about whatever (who btw for anyone keeping score at home is the one who started this WHOLE mess to begin with) ill be nice cause i did get all the metallica albums so even though your a traitor lars,ill be nice...
this is my opinion i could be wrong,but at the same time i think im pretty right on about all this
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