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RIAA Wants Right To Hack
An Anonymous Coward writes: "According to Wired, the recording industry wants the right to hack into your computer and delete
your stolen MP3s." From the article: "It's no joke. Lobbyists for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) tried to glue this hacking-authorization amendment onto a mammoth anti-terrorism bill that Congress approved last week. A copy of an RIAA-drafted amendment obtained by Wired News would immunize all copyright holders -- including the movie and e-book industry -- for any data losses caused by their hacking efforts or other computer intrusions 'that are reasonably intended to impede or prevent' electronic piracy." Does this give you the right to crack RIAA systems to make sure no one there is selling copies of your term paper?
If this story is true (and I doubt it is, as seen with The Register's recent retraction) then it's the scariest freaking thing I've heard of in a long time. Don't want people surreptitiously going behind my back and torching my legitimate (some of us rip our own CDs, thankyouverymuch) music collection on my hard drive.
Running with the possibility that this is true, hopefully the folks who would hack into peoples' computers will be tried as terrorists under the US's spankin' fresh new bills.
Easy does it!
This comment has been submitted already, 276865 hours , 59 minutes ago. No need to try again.
Under the proposed anti-terrorism laws, wouldn't this make the RIAA a terrorist organisation?
My other sig is funny!
If this got through then in theory a hacker could create their own 'tune', copyright it and let it wander the net. Then after a couple of months claim that the reason they were breaking into the FBI computer was to check that they didn't have any illegal copies of your MP3.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
We all saw this coming, but that's beside the point, you know what my main thought is today?
Who are these people?
They have that much time on their hands that they're willing to hack into individual people's computers to look for their files?
At dinner parties, do they go off about mp3's and how every college kid is going to kill the record industry?
Movements like this say "passion" to me, they're passionate about their copywrites, it's what they eat, sleep, and breath. Do they have nothing better to do? Are there this many idiots in the world?
Maybe I just haven't seen enough corporate America yet, but I can't believe people make their lives out of something this petty.
spacefem.com
Ok, something like this begs several questions: First of all, how would they determined that the mp3s and whatnot on my computer aren't legal? I happen to own cds for almost every single mp3 on my computer.
Second of all, how would they go about hacking into our computers? If these guys are stupid enough to come up with such an idiotic proposal, how can we expect them to be able to hack a 386 running windows 3.1 on a network running win NT with no patches applied?
To get to the point, this is the stupidest idea I think i've ever heard in my life.
The anti-salmon
Hacking is terrorism, but Hacking to defend copyrights is legal if you have enough Cash to by a Congressman, and get him to make legislation that says so? Have I got that right?
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
The RIAA just wants to be exempt from the new cyberterrorism regulations in the anti-terrorism bills.
They are afraid what they do all the time will be classified as cyberterrorism.
So really, even the RIAA is afraid of these new cyberterrorism regulations, and is trying to get their own loopholes put in.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
how do they determin the eleagal mp3's from the ones you ripped from your cd's
http://Lenny.com
4 great justice!
Well, the RIAA may not care about your pr0n, but the owners of those copyright images and movies may. Imagine waking up every few weeks to find that another sex site operator has broken into your computer, conducted a search and deleted some images it (summarily) decided infringed on its rights.
Imagine every few months waking up to find one of these sites screwed up and wiped your harddisk... and there's nothing you can do about it...
...It might not be all too soon. With the anti-terrorism legislation that has screwed with our rights more than necessary, it seems that congress is willing to do all sorts of scary things in the name of public safety. This seems to be the beginning of a big-brother society. Would the RIAA have rights to randomly hack into any machine they suspect of having illegal MP3s? What would happen in a situation like mine where the only MP3s on my computer are the ones I have ripped from my own CDs to transfer to my rio? Would the RIAA claim they have the right to crack my security measures because they know there are MP3s on the computer, legal or not?
This is insane....
It seems unlikely that hacking the individual machines would be the best solution for this (even if the law were to allow it). The cost would be very high. Much cheaper to do what they are now doing:
- Leaning on ISPs to cut off "abusing" users (without comeback - see previous slashdot stories)
- Suing the larger sites (napster obviously)
- Trying to stifle decryption technology.
In the long run these are likely to be 95% effective if the succeed. If their wording were to ever pass into law they would just be setting a dangerous precedent for anybody to go and explore somebody else's machine. I'm just off to RIAA's web site to "check" if they have a copy of my (copyrighted) memoires on the server....sig
No action may be brought under this subsection arising out of any impairment of the availability of data, a program, a system or information, resulting from measures taken by an owner of copyright in a work of authorship, or any person authorized by such owner to act on its behalf, that are intended to impede or prevent the infringement of copyright in such work by wire or electronic communication; provided that the use of the work that the owner is intending to impede or prevent is an infringing use.
Which means, if you own the copyright to something, and you believe that someone is poaching said thing, you have a blank check under this law. They can't prosecute you for whatever you do, provided you can prove the intent was to prevent/impede distribution.
But on the other hand, isn't intentionally breaking into someone's machine already illegal? How the hell would this amendment stand up as opposed to laws already in place?
I worry about this scenario:
1. RIAA starts portscanning my box, testing buffer overflow exploits, etc. in an attempt to get into my system.
2. I notice the suspicious activity, but don't know who it is.
3. I decide to figure out what's going on by scanning the originator and applying other various security tools. This could be anything, but if someone is trying to get in and I don't know who it is, I'm going to be tempted to respond in some way to stop the attack.
4. I get convicted of a felony (in many states) or terrorism (hasn't passed yet) for trying to hack into the RIAA's system.
5. They don't even get a slap on the wrist because it's legal for them.
My point is that it puts knowledgable people in a very risky position because they don't know who is attacking their PC and would naturally try to respond.
"STOP SUPPORTING THE RIAA"
Unfortunately, this is what Joseph Heller would call a Catch 22. One of those damned if you do, damned if you don't scenarios. If people stop buying stuff from RIAA members...then the problems would be even more dire. Then they would have "proof" that piracy is increasing because their sales are going down and people are obviously pirating the music they want. See? Either way is inefective. Sorry. I wish that would work...it would be a somewhat easy solution...get your way through economic pressure.
The anti-salmon
Strange, I thought this feature was included in all Windows OS...
+
3 questions...
If I infringed copyright for songs not belonging to RIAA Members, do they have the right to do anything ? for example, I have a large Reggae collection, and I'm sure Jamaican Producers from 1970 didn't belong to RIAA)
+
I happen to have only LEGIT MP3 (ripped from my own LP & CDs)... Can somebody tell me how to differentiate a legit MP3 from a fraudulent one if you only have access to my computer ?
For I have the right to make MP3s and backups (fair use...)
+
I'm a foreigner (Brit, french, German, whatever you want...)
If RIAA come to my pc and try to hack into it, this is illegal under my local law...no matter what (or they have to ask local police do do something)
which means I can sue them, even ban them If I want (can) (you know, you call ISP and tell him IP XXX.XXX.X.X just scanned all my ports, and flooded...)
Well, I don't know about you, but this is the sort of things I fear...
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
"The things you own end up owning you." - Tyler Durden
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
i stopped supported them about a year ago. i quit buying industry cds altogether and gave what i already had away--no joke! (minus a few that had been autographed.) now, the only music i buy is from independent bands, producers, and djs.
and i really wish rosen + crew would read this: i will never buy another cd or any other music product from any company that is affliated with riaa in anyway. you have crossed the line numerous times and there is no way in hell you'll ever get another penny of my money. let me put it this way: if jesus christ appeared before me and gave me the choice of buying a cd from you or going to hell--i'm choosing hell. fuck you!
Wrong. Read it again. "Impairment of the availability of data, a program, a system or information" (translation: Damage done to your programs/OS/data) IS hacking. What the amendment really says is that if such damage is caused to your computer, if the RIAA REASONABLY INTENDED to prevent the "unauthorized transmission" of copyrighted work (translation: if they thought you might be sharing MP3's), they cannot be held liable for the damages. Sure, they're trying to block transmissions. The problem is that the amendment says that they may do so with impunity; any damage they cause while attempting to do so, *whether or not justified* (only has to be "reasonable" intent) is *your* problem.
TANSTAAFL
You won't.
Everyone has to take an ID-Card around or your fine will be 500$.
Shops have to close at 8 PM (20:00).
Bureaucracy is nowhere as bloated as in Germany.
And secretary of interior Mr. Schily is pushing
anti-"cybercrime" laws as hard as US senators.
The pros: the politicians are not bought like in the US (there are strict laws against "donations" and lobbying), they have just no idea...
Of course the Greens are the salvation
as they are in government and really protecting your rights.
--- censored
The Bush Administration and the press had better be all over the RIAA and its Congressional sponsors. I can't think of a faster way to discredit the war on terrorism than opportunism like this.
InstaPundit! Ahead of the Curve Since 30 Minutes Ago
I wonder how many proponents of hacking someone's system (or writing a worm to do so) to remove Nimda for someone who isn't willing to patch their stuff feels about this. Although nobody would admit it, there's a huge double-standard here.
Of course the RIAA should not be allowed to decide what you can or can't have on your computer. We all agree on that, I think.
Granting them this right would be like deputizing them. But they'd really just be vigilante's.
The RIAA has every right to try and protect their propery, and ALREADY has a legal mechanism to do so. The court system.
I can't see this going very far. I can, however, see the RIAA encouraging politicians to write some new laws that make it more cost effective for them to seek legal remedy in the courts. We all know that the RIAA can't sue each of us for $500. Even they don't have enough money to pull that off.
Bah.
There is an article in the Los Angeles Times here which says AOL TIme Warner was objecting to the amendment for unspecified reasons.
The article also mentions that (surprise!) the MPAA also backed the bill.
Another interesting excerpt: The RIAA and MPAA have made no secret of their interest in a technological counterattack against piracy, particularly on the Internet's increasingly popular file-sharing networks.
The measures they've explored include software that can detect a song or movie as it's being copied through the Net, replace the unauthorized copy with a different file and even disable the original on the sender's computer.
You know... I happen to remember something a lot like this happening back in the dark ages... Something about floating or sinking in water being a proof of guilt or innocence, in that if you floated, you were a witch, and burned. If you drowned, you were innocent, and with god.
So, should we now be calling them Grand High Witch Hunter RIAA?
____________________
Clouds in the Sky,
Water in a bottle
Inspector: "Uh..."
RIAA: "So anyway, she drowned. She wasn't a witch, so we don't see the problem."
Inspector: "So, you're admitting you killed an innocent woman?"
RIAA: "No, we simply proved she wasn't a witch and that there's nothing wrong with her."
Inspector: "By killing her???"
I hope my analogy is clear.
---
"Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong." --Dennis Miller
This completely misses the fact that the violation and penetration is on its face reprehensible. What if the RIAA presents to a congressional hearing a supposedly fool-proof method to do what they want?
This places the burden of right-behavior on the wrong party. Compare this to what is required to enter someone's home to retreive stolen property. It requires a search warrant obtained through proper legal channels, and then the searching and reclaiming party would be police or FBI, not the party who was stolen from.
We need to assert strongly that our virtual space (which resides in a place -- hard drives, CPUs, etc that exist in a particular place) can be defended like our physical space.
It's illegal. Wouldn't this be a violation of "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."?
It's got loopholes galore. In order for me to verify you do, indeed, have illegal material, I have to break into your machine. "Ooops, sorry, nothing found here. Sorry about your machine.."
It's quite fucking hostile to me as a buyer of the RIAA's music. It's an assumption of guilt, backed up with the force of law.
The appropriate responses? Depends on your ethics. At a minimum, don't buy any music associated with the RIAA. At most? Do everything to hit them in the pocketbook. If it takes money from them, it's useful. Fucking bastards. Yeah, I've got great respect for our legislative process now.
"Avast! Prepare for the rodgering!" THWACK! "Arrr.. me nards.."
Tell everyone you know to vote out incumbants in Congress. The fact that the RIAA even thinks that they can get crap like passed into law shows that they are well on their way to totally owning Congress.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
Dear Mr Bin-Laden,
Please could you kill COUGH!, i mean 'take-out' the members of the RIAA, and MPAA. They are responsible for all the bad foreign policies that America has pushed, and the election of G.W.Bush (the ape man). For years they have bribed judges, and politicians to do their bidding, and have recently funded a number of airstrikes on your country which they have dubbed: "Drop CD samples onto Afghanistan" where they are attempting to fix the lack of market penetration in that area.
P.S
They are all high on crack too
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