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Legalizing Attacks on P2P Networks

Posted by timothy on from the oh-sure dept.

miniver writes: "Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) wants to legalize DoS attacks on P2P networks such as Kazaa and Morpheus by 'copyright holders.' The Washington Post reports on his proposed legislation here. Berman's bill, to be introduced in the next several weeks, would attempt to minimize the illegal trading of copyrighted songs and other content on "peer-to-peer" (P2P) networks by permitting copyright holders to use technology against pirates. As can be expected, the RIAA is in favor of the proposed legislation."

5 of 837 comments (clear)

  1. DoS? by niloroth · · Score: 5, Informative

    where does it say anything about DoS attacks? From the article:

    "His bill would allow copyright holders to set up decoy files and use other techno-tricks like file-blocking and redirection to throw P2P pirates off the trail, but it would forbid those holders from employing tactics that would damage or destroy pirates' own computer systems"

    And further along....

    A copyright owner should not be allowed to damage the property of a P2P file trader or any intermediaries, including ISPs," Berman said. "(I) wouldn't want to let a particularly incensed copyright owner introduce a virus that would disable the computer from which copyrighted works are made available ... "

    Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is a good thing, but I also don't think we need to blow it out of proportion, who does that really help in the end? No one.

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  2. No, he doesn't want to legalise DoS attacks by KNicolson · · Score: 5, Informative
    Sigh, not even the submitter is reading the story these days:

    His bill would allow copyright holders to set up decoy files and use other techno-tricks like file-blocking and redirection to throw P2P pirates off the trail, but it would forbid those holders from employing tactics that would damage or destroy pirates' own computer systems.

    It seems like a futile attempt, however, as people can always route around trouble, and if such tactics become commonplace, software will soon adapt so even the most clueless newbie can be autoupdated with the latest and greatest roadblocks to avoid.

    1. Re:No, he doesn't want to legalise DoS attacks by interiot · · Score: 5, Informative

      DoS attacks actually don't damage the target's computer at all, they merely disable the network connection while the attack is ongoing. I read the above paragraph to mean that DoS attacks would specifically be permited.

  3. READ THE ARTICLE, READ THE ARTICLE, READ THE ARTIC by Erasmus+Darwin · · Score: 4, Informative
    It appears like this only makes it permissible for copyright holders to set up decoy songs. So it'd no longer be illegal (it was illegal before?) for them to put up mp3s with the names of RIAA-protected artists that're really just noise. In short, no big deal, as far as I can tell.

    Everyone who has already knee-jerked at the Slashdot summary and decided that this means the RIAA can start ping-flooding people on P2P networks needs to read the article.

  4. Want to know who's funding Rep. Berman's campaign? by ActMatrix · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check out OpenSecrets.org if you want to see who's financing this guy's campaign. Top donors, surprise surprise, are: Walt Disney, AOL Time Warner, Viviendi Universal, Viacom, DreamWorks, and Sony. Gee, no bias there.