File-sharing and AOL

Andrew Leonard writes "Farhad Manjoo's cover story in Salon today, on AOL's refusal to take a stand on the RIAA's (so far) successful attempt to get subscriber information from Verizon, is a detailed look at the most important battle in the file-sharing world right now."

Comments

Re:"Online Privacy"

[davidj0228]

Very true, deviant activity such as file-sharing is just like marijuana smoking, it supports terrorism.

Was that my IP?

[crisco]

All that the record industry had on the alleged thief was an eight-digit Internet protocol address, 141.158.104.94.

Hmm, I wonder what my IP was last July 15th...

Re:Was that my IP?

[Anonymous Coward]

All that the record industry had on the alleged thief was an eight-digit Internet protocol address, 141.158.104.94.

Hmm, I wonder what my IP was last July 15th...

Even better question: How on earth is that an eight digit IP address?

Re:Was that my IP?

[kruetz]

Hexadecimal? It becomes: 8D.9E.68.5E ... but then again, since the RIAA can't even count burners (maybe they were using octal, so 150 becomes 104!) it's more likely they got lost counting the digits in the IP address - "one, two, three, ... three ... ummm ... oh hell, there can't be more than eight! yeah! there's eight!"

Re:Was that my IP?

[Anonymous Coward]

Good question. I'm actually straight myself (though I usually sleep with gay and straight men), and I haven't heard anything about this.

And you're wrong about Dell. Michael Dell himself is quoted as saying "man, I'd love to flutter my tongue gently...against the underside of [Microsoft CEO Bill] Gate's [testicle] sack". [InfoWorld v 12 issue 24, April 25 1993]

Why do you think the internal code name of the Dell PowerEdge servers was the same as a popular brand of anal dildo?

The only 100% "straight" computer company was Digital, but they had to "go funny" when they were bought by Compaq (with a name like Compaq, well, you pretty much have to!).

Anyway, if you uncover any more info on Apple's marketing campaign, I'd just die to hear about it.

Re:Was that my IP?

[Anonymous Coward]

The RIAA analyst who logged in to Kazaa last July 15 discovered that the Verizon subscriber had 666 music files available for others to download, including songs by "Billie Holiday, ..., Britney Spears, and countless others," the RIAA says.
...
All that the record industry had on the alleged thief was an eight-digit Internet protocol address, 141.158.104.94.

I see four numbers made up of eleven digets, but if they're only worried about the first eight digits, then whoever the RIAA is after doesn't have anything to worry about ;)

The RIAA saw a countless number of digits in the IP address, and 8 was just a guess.

Heheheh...

[YellowElectricRat]

From the article:

All that the record industry had on the alleged thief was an eight-digit Internet protocol address, 141.158.104.94

...and a nasty case of trying to count without taking their socks off... :)

Re:Heheheh...

[pimpinmonk]

...and a nasty case of trying to count without taking their socks off... :)

No... it's a nasty case of subconsciously thinking in hex... even worse IMHO

This doesn't make any sense.

[goatasaur]

It takes, like, five hours to download an MP3 on AOL.

Re:This doesn't make any sense.

[Eric_Cartman_South_P]

And does it go "beep beep beep beep beep beep" and then half of your MP3 is gone?

Great.

[mikeophile]

Not only are all the tech jobs going overseas, but now the US is going to lose it's warez site superiority too.

ATTENTION RIAA! NO NEED TO CONTACT MY ISP

[Veovis]

I just downloaded Metallica's "Enter Sandman" from the following P2P network:

Kazaa

My IP is 204.39.65.157, a proxy

My information is:

Home Address:
John Abshire
14387 SeeYouInCourt
Whatareyougonnadoaboutit, MI, 48hahaha

You may also contact me at my work address:
John Abshire
1 Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA USA 98052-8300

Re:ATTENTION RIAA! NO NEED TO CONTACT MY ISP

[kruetz]

Pity the poor bloke that actually lives on SeeYouInCourt Rd, Whatareyougonnadoaboutit. "Alright, buddy, get in the van!" "What? What's this about?" "We know you've been downloading illegal MP3s. Now move it!" "But I don't even own a computer! I only moved in last week!" "Look buddy, we saw your post on slashdot. Now're you're fucked!" -- slashdot nabs another net-thief

Yea, Right

[Veovis]

Dialing..... Connecting... Loading... WELCOME! YOU GOT LAWSUIT!

Re:Yea, Right

[Maserati]

Someone had to bring this up. Dude, you got busted !

Someone really ought to submit it as a story, probably to kuro5hin.

8, 12, what's three digits between friends?

[autopr0n]

All that the record industry had on the alleged thief was an eight-digit Internet protocol address, 141.158.104.94

Of course, it would have been 8 digits if it was written in Hex. maybe the author was just a hard-core nerd? And thought, digit = 4bits?

Patrick Henry, Slave Owner

[handy_vandal]

Patrick Henry said "Give me liberty or give me death" -- but he didn't say it to the slaves working his plantation.

"He concedes the evil, laments his entrapment in the system, suggests it will be abolished in the fullness of time, and declares that he will transmit to posterity, together with his slaves, a pity for their unhappy lot and an abhorrence of slavery. Henry was skilled at the politics of gesture and brave in defiance of convention, but on this issue -- the gravest and most fateful in our history -- [he followed] the common path of least resistance and left successor generations to sip the sorrow of his era's default."

The Political Legacy of Patrick Henry

heyyyy

[The Other White Boy]

wait a minute ... people still use aol?? now that's what i call a news story!

666

[rolux]

from the article:

The RIAA analyst who logged in to Kazaa last July 15 discovered that the Verizon subscriber had 666 music files available for others to download

and, imagine: he or she had even set the file permissions to 0666!!

All that the record industry had on the alleged thief was an eight-digit Internet protocol address, 141.158.104.94

so, lets see... 1+4+1=6... 1+5=6... 8 ("eight-digit internet protocol address") is the 6th digit... 104+94=66+66+66...

bring on the californian inquisition!

Re:666

[evilWurst]

bring on the californian inquisition!



nooooo-one expects the californian inquisition!

Welcome!

[grub]

You've Got Warez!

RIAA taps AOL chatroom

[grub]

Welcome to: w4r3z_w4ld0

40L_h4x0r: g1bb0r m3 j00r ju4r3zzzz!
h4x0r_g0d: gn0, j00 g1bb0r m3 j0000r ju4r3zzz!!!
40L_h4x0r: J00 f4gg0rzzz!! G1BB0R M3 J002930mczxcfsdf lsd3 0 013
###CARRIER LOST
***40L_h4x0r has joined w4r3z-w4ld0
40L_h4x0r: where was I.. oh ya.. G1BBOT M3 J00R JU4R333ZZZZ F4GG000RRRRZZZZ!!!!

Now I see why the RIAA is so worried. Crime as organized as this is a threat to everything that keeps democracy flowing.

Novel solution to p2p woes.

[praksys]

What p2p software needs is a login procedure where a message is displayed that expressly forbids certain classes of individuals from using the network. The classes should be carefully defined so that no mention is made of protected groups (of course) and so that absolutely everyone is covered. Something like "You may not access this network unless your bodyweight is either more than 1000 pounds or less than 10 pounds" would do. Anyone who logs on would be violating the law by gaining unauthorized access to a network.

At this point the proposal probably doesn't seem very promising, but here is the advantage:

Presumably people who were planning to break the law by trading copyrighted material wouldn't be scared of by the warning, but on the other hand, if the RIAA came along with evidence that someone on this network had violated copyright then that alone would be evidence that the RIAA had violated the law, or encouraged someone else to do so.

Report

[Malicious]

I say we report to the RIAA Officials that we've found Millions of Illegal MP3's on IP 127.0.0.1

See what happens.

Re:I don't see the big deal

[_anomaly_]

(I'd just go for another swim in my money....)

... you're assuming that (predominantly dialup) ISP's make money ;-P

Re:I don't see the big deal

[appleprophet]

"If _I_ had an ISP, I wouldn't comment either (I'd just go for another swim in my money....)"

Considering AOL just posted a loss larger than Russia's entire budget, I don't think money swimming is a common sport over there.

Will they include the sound...

[bobdotorg]

So in version 11 of AOL's software, after a few downloads can we expect to hear, "You've got busted" ?

Or...

[KillerHamster]

You've got Jail!

Re:What's the article about?

[Jeremi]

I agree with you on this point, but then I sit back and think about it: Am I really that interesting?

Ja, Herr trmj. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. Your papers, please?

Re:Who writes the law?

[milo_Gwalthny]

Please, this is America. We have respect for private property here.

You can be on the panel when you buy your own congressman.

The Future

[TrevZB]

I can envision a day in which private companies will set up technology to broadcast a variety of popular music over the airwaves and people will be able to buy receivers and tune in for FREE!

That'll show those RIAA dastards.

Trev