How The DMCA Is Enforced

Hank Scorpio writes "Bob Cringley's latest column talks about a company, BayTSP, that performs most of the enforcement of the DMCA on the Internet. This is the company that collects data about who is sharing music or movies online, and this is the company to go after when you get busted! They claim to "go to the same places any user could go, look at the same files anyone else could look at, and we only probe the ports on your computer that you have made public." Interesting."

Comments

you would think that ISP's would cut them out

[johnjones]

you would think that ISP's would just remove them

after all Acceptable Use means that I cant go port scanning why the hell should they ?

and they use all the bandwidth and after all if your a telco you PAY for the amount of data

regards

John Jones

Made Public?

[ACNeal]

How do they know what I have made public before they probe them?

The federal law says that they have to cause damage via unauthorized, or under-authorized access, or intend to cause damage to be guilty of federal computer fraud crimes.

My question is, does intending to make me spend money defending myself constitute intending to cause damage?

Only probing the address he made public...

[futuresheep]

BayTsp (BAYTSP-DOM)
3150 almaden Expressway #234
San Jose
CA,95118
US

Domain Name: BAYTSP.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Ishikawa, Mark M (MI70) marki@BAYTSP.COM
Ishikawa,Mark
PO Box 1314
Los Gatos, CA 95031-1314
US
408-399-0600 408-979-7969

Record expires on 11-Jun-2004.
Record created on 11-Jun-1999.
Database last updated on 19-Sep-2002 16:19:51 EDT.

Re:Where do I start?

[Anonymous Coward]

ARIN:

OrgName: BayTSP.Com
OrgID: BAYTSP
Address: 19020 Skyline Blvd Los Gatos, CA 95033
Country: US
Comment:
RegDate: 1999-12-20
Updated: 1999-12-20

Another Address

[Anonymous Coward]

http://ypng.infospace.com/info/ypv3/list.htm?qb=73 74BF277A4&xmlurl=http%3A%2F%2Fyp110.superpages.com %2Fxml%2FspPage.phtml%3FCID%3D7374BF277A4%26PG%3DL %26R%3DN%26SRC%3DInfospace%26A%3D408%26P%3D0600%26 X%3D399%26MC%3D1%26PI%3D1&kcfg=ypus&ypinsp=0&searc htype=all&fromform=revphone&qb=7374BF277A4&qh=On+L ine+Access+Providers&qp=4083990600&qpa=408&qpx=399 &qpp=0600&qk=15&recid=On%20Line%20Access%20Provide rs

InfoSpace Lookup on BayTSP telephone #:

Bay TSP Inc
19020 Skyline Boulevard
Los Gatos, CA 95033

Only a few years ago

[killmenow]

Gee, only a few years ago, it looks like Mr. Ishikawa was hosting some porn sites and contributing to the spam problem...

Received: from out2.ibm.net [165.87.194.229] by in7.ibm.net id 935310503.141204-1 ; Sun, 22 Aug 1999 08:28:23 +0000
Received: from slip202-135-81-145.bg.th.ibm.net (slip202-135-81-145.bg.th.ibm.net [202.135.81.145]) by out2.ibm.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) with SMTP id IAA12758; Sun, 22 Aug 1999 08:28:16 GMT
Message-Id: <199908220828.IAA12758@out2.ibm.net>
From: (victim)
To: "marki@SBUSINESS.NET" <marki@SBUSINESS.NET>
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 99 15:28:12 +0700
Subject: You provide connectivity to criminal marketing fraud

TO: Mark Ishikawa, Coordinator, SuperBusiness

Dear Mark,

According to traceroute below, you provide connectivity to web1000.com, which operates a system of pornographic internet marketing frauds criminalized under the recent Virginia statute on UCE. They even advertise their webhosting service on the same webpage with the pornography. (I have record copies with me for future use.)

You are now on notice that you are a witting accomplice to web1000's criminal actions.

Please shut off connectivity to this fraud. If you continue to provide connectivity, the Virginia Attorney General can have your California corporate registration revoked for operating contrary to your charter (which is to conduct only legal businesses).

Kind regards,

(victim's signature block)

C:\>tracerte 216.49.10.14
0 bang1br1-tok1.ba.th.ibm.net (152.158.213.46) 187 ms 157 ms 187 ms
1 bang1br1-tok1.ba.th.ibm.net (152.158.213.46) 156 ms 157 ms 218 ms
2 sydn1br1.nz.ibm.net (152.158.248.2) 375 ms 313 ms 312 ms
3 lang1sr1-2-0-1.ca.us.ibm.net (165.87.224.14) 594 ms 500 ms 468 ms
4 lang1br2-ge-6-0-0-0.ca.us.ibm.net (165.87.32.181) 594 ms 468 ms 469 ms
5 sfra1br1-so-0-1-2-0.ca.us.ibm.net (165.87.232.41) 531 ms 500 ms 875 ms
6 sfra1sr2-5-0-0.ca.us.ibm.net (165.87.13.13) 531 ms 500 ms 500 ms
7 165.87.160.225 (165.87.160.225) 500 ms 500 ms 500 ms
8 12.123.12.222 (12.123.12.222) 500 ms 593 ms 500 ms
9 ar3-a3120s1.sffca.ip.att.net (12.127.1.149) 500 ms 562 ms 563 ms
10 12.127.196.94 (12.127.196.94) 593 ms 531 ms 532 ms
11 216.49.0.117 (216.49.0.117) 524 ms 532 ms 531 ms
12 www.webjump.com (216.49.10.14) 523 ms 532 ms 500 ms

C:\>whois -h whois.geektools.com 216.49.10.14
SuperBusiness NET, Inc. (NETBLK-SBN)
150 Almaden Blvd, Suite 500
San Jose, CA 95113
US

Netname: SBN
Netblock: 216.49.0.0 - 216.49.63.255
Maintainer: SBIZ

Coordinator:
Ishikawa, Mark (MI70-ARIN) marki@SBUSINESS.NET
+1 (408) 278-4400 (FAX) +1 408 346-0661

Maybe he got burned and that's why he's so anti-pr0n now.

See here for some of his congressional testimony.

Re:Where do I start?

[umask077]

> Can't somebody just embed a virus in an image that mails the personal info of these perverts to the FBI or something? - phorm

In an image no. Viruses imbedded in images are pretty pictures. I think I can find a picture of ebola for you. Good news. The picture wont make you sick.

In an mpeg file however is another story. You can force someone to automaticly load a website from an mpeg file. Easy way for the feds to log whos looking at the kiddie porn. This is not a virus but part of the mpeg standard so not illegal.

Also it was a while ago but there was a virus released that was imbedded in in a "kiddie porn" executable which sent personal information from the machine infected to, and dont quote me on this, scottland yard, it was to the brits im pretty sure at any rate. Because it infected the machine with a virus that collected data and sent it out it didnt make any friends with the cops it informed either and the virus scanners scan for it.

I used to work for a large usenet provider. One day they decided to shut down the known kiddie porn newsgroups which I cant argue with. Beyond being deplorable if you know about it and dont do anything about it you lose your common carrier status protections. for the next few weeks we would get calls about how "I cant access one of the newsgroups I used to read". We'd eventually get out of them which newsgroup and which point they would happily give us there username and there address for verification. This was popular with the feds. Morons.

Ok, all humor aside this Mike fellows a major dick IMHO. He doesnt agree with the law but he'll make a quick buck off it. Sounds like he and the law get along splendly. He gets lots of death threats? Thats the problem with todays kids, no follow through.

If he doesnt agree with the law thats fine. But to say you dont agree with it and then act on its behalf makes your an immoral sellout.

Could they use Ishikawa's former private ISP?

[Anonymous Coward]

The article mentions that Mr. Ishikawa had an ISP and hosting business that he sold out for a profit. Could he be using it now for some scanning of his own?

Without cooperation from ISP his actions are as illegal as his targets' .

Re:huh?

[EZmagz]

From the parent: what about all the people who've had net access denied just for running tools like nmap?

I've gotten into trouble for this. The first thing I did when I hooked up with RoadRunner was nmap people on my subnet, just out of curiousity, to see what kind of computers people were running. My intention was never to break into someone's box, mind you. Just to see if people were running webservers, etc.

Is this illegal? In some places. Is this unethical? Some would say "yes", although I say "no". Is this against RR's TOS? As I found out, undeniably yes. So I can't nmap people. I still get scanned hourly by Nimda, Code Red, SubSeven, and every other worm/virus under the sun, and it's always by the same people. Yet they haven't been threated to have their plug pulled...go figure.

So if I get in trouble for seeing what's "publicly available" (e.g., if a webserver's running), why can this fucking company do it without fear of consequence? Because they have a lame m.o. to hide behind? Because it's their "job" to check up on me?

All I can say is it's actually a GOOD THING in a sense that there's so many ignorant users out there today. If the internet was like how it was back in the BBS days (or even pre-AOL), everytime someone got scanned by these assholes retribution would be interesting, to say the least.

HuuuuuuuuuuHHHHH?

[GeneralEmergency]

.

BayTSP tracks for the FBI the global carriage of kiddy porn. When a big child pornography bust takes place, it is generally on the basis of evidence gathered by BayTSP.

HUH? What, EXACTLY, is the legal basis for BayTSP to search for and to hold Kiddie Porn? How is it that they are exempt from these laws?

Only sworn law enforcement officers should be permitted to perform this evidence search and digital duplication(collection). Contractor personnel are not subject to that very necessary body of laws that deal with "Abuse Under Color of Authority".

where is Martin Luther King when you need him?

[Chris Canfield]

The DMCA, which was put in effect in 2000, was an attempt by the U.S. Government to bring copyright law into the cyber age. But many people -- including, oddly, Mark Ishikawa -- think the DMCA goes too far by making it illegal for me to even tell you how to circumvent encryption or copy protection technologies. It makes the very passing of knowledge against the law whether or not that knowledge is ever used.

"It's a very flawed piece of legislation," says Ishikawa, who predicts that the government will rewrite the copyright law again "in eight or nine years" to correct the mistakes in the DMCA. But until then, the DMCA is the law of the land, and Mark Ishikawa is the Internet's top cop.

Mark Ishikawa feels that the DMCA is flawed wrt the conveyance of encryption information. Yet his company helped put Dimitry behind bars for many months, keeping him from his family and threatening to put him away for the rest of his life.

If he didn't do it because he believes in the legislation, then Ishikawa's motivation for helping Skylarov arrested must have been purely money. Ishikawa took half of a year of a man's life for simple cash.

I was going to feel bad that this copyright-enforcer was recieving death threats, until I realized what he had done to a foreign family soley in the interest of money. Where is the heroism? Where is the spine? "Oh, that part will be fixed later, I'm sure." Nothing happens on it's own, buddy. You of all people are in the best position for a little... nonviolent protest.

Of course he won't do that: money and success are demanding mistresses. We just shouldn't feel bad for this person, whatever reprocussions his actions bring down upon him.

-C

An analogy

[RobinH]

we only probe the ports on your computer that you have made public

Isn't that like saying, "we only searched houses of people who left their front door open"?

Where I'm from, leaving your front door open is a public invitation for neighbours and friends to knock and come in, but police and investigators still don't have the right to come in and search my house without an invitation or a warrant. Also, if someone came in and stole my TV while I was busy in the kitchen, they would still be a criminal. Of course, if they just listened to a few of my CDs and left, that probably wouldn't bother me too much.

Pegging the Hypocracy Meter

[GroundBounce]

In the past, whenever a story about the DMCA came up, by far one of the most common responses was:

"Why not go after the violators instead of taking away everyone's fair use rights?"

This is a reasonable response. Clearly the DMCA is bad because it takes away both fair use and certain forms of free speech that have never previously been banned. On the other hand, widely distributing copies of copyrighted material without the owner's permission is also not right in most people's minds (I realize that there are those who disagree with this).

So, we have an entity who is trying to go after the offenders (and primarily just the big ones), and many people here are criticizing it as some kind of evil activity. This seems pretty hypocritical.

In the past, the coexistence of copyright and fair use has worked because of the balance that existed between the allowing of petty violations (things like making a tape of a record for a friend) and the enforcement of big time content pirates.

The popularizing of the internet has allowed the many petty violations to become far-ranging, and hence the balance has been upset to some degree. As a result, the content providers' response has been to enact the DMCA, which has been bad all around because it attempts to eliminate fair use and petty violations but does little to stop big time piracy.

This company (BayTSP) is attempting to restore the balance by helping to ferret out larger pirates on the internet. If this works, it could actually provide justification for softening the overreaching DMCA by restoring the balance of petty and big time copyright infringement that existed under traditional copyright law.

A better way of doing it?

[bashibazouk]

Would it be possible to redirect bayTSP to a different directory rather than blocking them? It seems to me that by blocking, you are just initiating a battle of blocking/moving to different ip address space and/or advanced techniques of getting past the block. If you can fool bayTSP with a trojan directory, it will return no copyright infringement here rather than blocked from access. This could slow down the implementation of counter-measures that are sure to happen.

"Probing His Open Ports...."

[Anonymous Coward]

The following is public information culled from
public websites :

Public information - Mark Ishikawa

http://www.toyotaatlantic.com/Team.asp?ID=43 - toyota racing team same cell #
Ishikawa, Mark M (MI70) marki@BAYTSP.COM
Ishikawa,Mark PO Box 1314
Los Gatos, CA 95031-1314
US 408-399-0600 408-979-7969

BaySpider BayTSP.com
Contact: Mark Ishikawa (CEO)
3150 Almaden Expressway #234
San Jose, CA 95118 USA
Phone: +1(408)979-7900
Fax: +1(408)979-7969
E-mail: sales@baytsp.com
World Wide Web: http://www.baytsp.com/

BayTSP.com Intellectual property protection: About BayTSP: Contact Us
15466 Los Gatos Blvd. Suite 109-368 Front Desk Fax Toll Free 1.877.9BAYTSP
Information Career Opportunities Investment Opportunities Sales Information Your
Thoughts spiderbites@baytsp.com

Phone # listing for Ihsikawa in CA
Results:
MARK M ISHIKAWA
LOS GATOS CA 95030
(408) 399-4361
Results:
MARK M ISHIKAWA
LOS GATOS CA 95030
(408) 399-4391
Results:
MARK M ISHIKAWA
LOS GATOS CA 95030
(408) 399-4571

http://www.clerkrecordersearch.org/

16346860 07/08/2002 1 RELEASE LIEN ISHIKAWA, MARK M (E) COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA TAX COLLECTOR (R)
16147701 03/08/2002 1 CERT AMOUNT DUE ISHIKAWA, MARK M (R) STATE OF CALIFORNIA FRANCHISE TAX BOARD (E)
16088662 02/01/2002 1 CERT AMT DUE ISHIKAWA, MARK M (R) COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA TAX COLLECTOR (E)
16088661 02/01/2002 1 CERT AMT DUE ISHIKAWA, MARK M (R) COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA TAX COLLECTOR (E)
15957939 11/13/2001 8 DEED OF TRUST & ASSIGN RENT ISHIKAWA, MARK M (R)
HOUSEHOLD FINANCE CORP CA (E)
14624059 01/28/1999 1 RELEASE LIEN ISHIKAWA, MARK M (E) FRANCHISE TAX BOARD (R)
14595929 01/13/1999 1 REQUEST FOR NOTICE DEFAULT ISHIKAWA, MARK M (R)
BARRETT, JOHN C (R)
14595928 01/13/1999 1 RELS TAX LIEN ISHIKAWA, MARK M (E) UNITED STATES (R)
14595927 01/13/1999 1 RELS TAX LIEN ISHIKAWA, MARK M (E) UNITED STATES (R)
14595926 01/13/1999 4 DEED OF TRUST & ASSIGN RENT ISHIKAWA, MARK M (R)
BARRETT, JOHN C (E)

A possible alternate email address for
Mr Ishikawa.
Mark Ishikawa
Los Gatos, US
marki@valuserve.com

Now I am not saying The above are all the same
Mark Ishikawa, but at least some mark ishikawa lives in santa clara county and seems to not pay his taxes.....

Oh where, oh where has my privacy gone???

Re:Step 1 to Solve Problem Company

[koh]

Maybe you have a point here (would it be so easy ??)

However,
"We have 100 percent coverage of peer-to-peer file sharing," Ishikawa claims. "If you are illegally sharing copyrighted materials, we know who you are."
is the most stupid thing I read in years. Maybe they really think we're fools.

We only enter unlocked homes...

[KFury]

The problem, unlike what you probably expected after my trolling subject, is that just because someone left a port open and had DCMA-relevant content behind it, doesn't mean they broke the law.

If my mom flips a switch on OS X to allow personal web sharing, and doesn't understand that this means someone can traverse her iTunes library, then just because some guy can exploit that security breach doesn't mean that she violated the DCMA any more than someone who forgot their purse on a bench, and someone photocopied the book they found inside.

84% of us are guilty.

[KFury]

The next time an IE glitch is found that renders your machine open to full directory access and, after a reasonable amount of time, you still haven't applied the patch (if Microsoft actually released one), then are you guilty of DCMA violations?

Of course not, but what if people intentionally didn't apply the patch, and others created handy software to exploit the hole, so by tacit agreement you share in this 'non-intentional' way. Now don't you think they'd go after everyone?

Because that's basically the same as leaving ftp access open...

They better be carefull...

[StArSkY]

If they inadvertantly do this to an Australian citizen, then they are breaking our privacy laws, and can be extradited and prosecuted in Australia.

Sentences include jail time. They may think what they are doing is nice and legal, and it may be for people in America, but how are they to know if I am in America or Australia? I bet they don't check the IP ranges and where they reside before running port scans.

Tut Tut you evil crackers of doom