Blocking Kazaa 2.0?

coder_ asks: "Has anyone had success blocking the latest versions of this annoying P2P application in a network-wide context? Previously, people have been told to block a specific port, etc, yet as expected, Kazaa has found an easy solution to this. Apparently, when a connection via default port is not available, Kazaa makes encrypted http requests through port 80, making it rather difficult to now block. If anyone has had success in doing so, I would love to hear from you."

Comments

Um...No.

[RMH101]

Username/Pass system? This would be peer to peer systems we're talking about, right?

write a decent AUP, periodically scan for mp3s and *bitchslap* anyone who breaks them.
Fear, uncertainty and doubt will cut it's usage.

Users should not install software. Period.

[jotaeleemeese]

One person or team has to take responsibility of software installations, otherwise you are wide open to virus, trojans and to have not copyrighted software installed without your knowledge.

Issues to consider

[Pointer80]

A lot of posters are suggesting allowing Kazaa on the author's network, but ratelimiting it. This question is really to you. Have you received complaints from the DMCA 'police' yet? If so, how have you responded--if at all--to the complaint?

Typically, I've heard of ISPs sending notices to customers asking them to remove the offending material. If the customer continues to download/share copyrighted material most ISPs will terminate the customers account. If the bandwidth isn't an issue and the customers business is valuable, it would make more sense to block Kazaa (for that customer; if you can't get them to stop sharing copyrighted content).

I did some googling in mid-November of last year and came across some interesting usenet posts relating to the topic. One poster went through all the normal ports that Kazaa used and blocked each one. Then s/he noticed that it used port 80. Later I ran into some docs where someone was using iptables (there was a post on one of the snort mailing lists about this as well) to block Kazaa traffic using '-m' and the 'X-Kazaa' header that it uses. I haven't had time to play with this though. :(

Good luck and please let us know what you find.

/pointer

Re:Why not just use Web proxies

[duffbeer703]

Pirating software & music is illegal.

Specifically enabling a P2P app to traverse your network sounds like an invitation to the BSA for a visit or an opportunity for RIAA lawyers to earn their pay.

There is no place for Kazaa or eDonkey on a commercial network.