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MPAA Infiltrating Campus Nets with Software
unassimilatible writes "CNet is reporting that the MPAA is starting to infiltrate college campuses with automated anti-piracy software. Known as the Automated Copyright Notice System (ACNS), the technology promises to make copyright enforcement easier on peer-to-peer networks, saving schools and Internet service providers (ISPs) time and money. ACNS allows them to automatically restrict or cut off Internet access for alleged infringers on notice from a record label or movie studio. Though not specifically ACNS, a similar system is set to go live Monday at the University of California at Los Angeles, one of the nation's largest universities with 37,500 students. UCLA's Copyright Policy page makes no reference of this system being implemented."
Does that paris hilton sex tape count as priated. my friend was wondering, not me. i swear
even a stopped clock gives the right time twice aday...
Why are colleges going to let some outside entity install software on their networks?
You want what with that?
Infiltrate? Who's words are those? The posting makes it sound as if the RIAA is covertly sneaking this software onto campus networks. The colleges do have a choice whether to use ACNS or not. Although I am sure that the RIAA will be putting a lot of pressure on those who choose not to.
How long before the *AA starts suing ISP/Unis which don't implement this for lack of due diligence?
Put identity in the browser.
The ministry of Plenty released today that production of shoes was up 20% from the same time last year...
The MPAA seems to be targeting titles that are not available on video yet. That in itself is ok in my book. My biggest gripe with the RIAA is how do they know that I don't own the song? I obviously don't own a copy of Starsky and Hutch because it hasn't been released on video yet. I don't like the possibility of violating privacy rights, so I am naturally skeptical of the ACNS system. The article did nothing to relieve those fears.
With every MPAA story like this, you get all kinds of sheep coming out of the woodwork stating things like, "Good, downloading movies is illegal and this is just!" without realizing a lot of your rights are going down the toilet simply because some cry baby organization/company is claiming "copyright infringment" even though it's been going on for YEARS, long before the internet ever made it popular.
These Universities need to tell them to piss off. They're just gonna get it even worse once anonymous P2P hits the masses.
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
Surely the following has been brought up before...
1. If I'm downloading copies of song which I already own on CD, then I'm not infringing, am I? Maybe I'm just too lazy to rip my own disks. I can think of other reasons why I might do that.
2. So if a high percentage (or even not so high percentage) of P2P users are downloading legitimate files, i.e. things they own or are otherwise allowed to access, doesn't this make it darn near impossible for the MPAA/RIAA/NSA/CIA/FBI to decide whose infringing and who is not ?
So basically we're back to the guilty and proven innocent mindset which is becoming all-too-common in the Corporate States of America (TM)
Absolute statements are never true
This is what I received, I've edited some of it sensitive material out. I had to acknoledge that I had stopped sharing this file or my internet connection would be dropped
:
Subject: Unauthorized Distribution of Copyrighted Motion Pictures
(Reference#: xxxxxx)
MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC.
15503 VENTURA BOULEVARD
ENCINO, CALIFORNIA 91436
UNITED STATES
Anti-Piracy Operations
PHONE: (818) 728 - 8127
Email: MPAA@copyright.org
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Name: XXX XXXX
E-mail: xxx@xxx
ISP: xxx University
Via Fax/Email
RE: Unauthorized Distribution of Copyrighted Motion Pictures
MPA Case Name: directconnect://xxx:ipaddr/
Reference#: 2937735
Date of Infringement: 11/12/2003 2:28:05 PM GMT
Dear
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) represents the following motion picture production and distribution companies:
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.
Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Paramount Pictures Corporation
TriStar Pictures, Inc.
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
United Artists Pictures, Inc.
United Artists Corporation
Universal City Studios, LLLP
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
We have received information that an individual has utilized the IP address, xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, at the above noted date and time to offer downloads of copyrighted motion picture(s) through a "peer-to-peer" service, including such title(s) as:
Chicago
The distribution of unauthorized copies of copyrighted motion pictures constitutes copyright infringement under the Copyright Act, Title 17 United States Code Section 106(3). This conduct may also violate the laws of other countries, international law, and/or treaty obligations.
Since you own this IP address, we request that you immediately do the following:
1. Disable access to the individual who has engaged in the conduct described above, and;
2. Take appropriate action against the account holder under your Abuse Policy/Terms of Service Agreement.
On behalf of the respective owners of the exclusive rights to the copyrighted material at issue in this notice, we hereby state, pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Title 17 United States Code Section 512, that the information in this notification is accurate and that we have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owners, their respective agents, or the law.
Also pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we hereby state, under penalty of perjury, that we are authorized to act on behalf of the owners of the exclusive rights being infringed as set forth in this notification.
Please contact us at the above listed address or by replying to this email should you have any questions. Kindly include the above noted Reference # in the subject line of all email correspondence.
We thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Your prompt response is requested.
Respectfully,
Thomas Temple
Director
Worldwide Internet Enforcement
"A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age." -Robert Frost
Getting network access as a student on a campus usually requires signing a blanket document that acknowledges that that the campus can monitor traffic that you send/receive. On many campuses, a student's choice is likely to be sign the form, or not get any access.
Of course, you could always ssl all of your connections. Hmmm...that could get ugly quickly. I wonder how that would stack up against the DMCA?
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
As a copyright holder (for example, I create an independent film that I want to protect), what do you think would happen if I demand access to this system to do my own enforcement? What if every copyright holder in America had access to the system as well? No, we wouldn't have access to this system. Obviously such a system shouldn't be in place, but it's presence represents an unfairness to everyone except the MPAA.
This is why we (used to) have a thing called due-process, to keep private entities from enforcing what they consider the law. But we all know due-process doesn't contribute to election campaigns.
_______
2B1ASK1
All these "programs" only run on M$ [ding!] Windoze [ding!] anyway.
2 points.
If you are luser [ding!] enough to run something as lame as Winblows [ding!] for your P2P trawling, you deserve whatever happens to you.
2 more points.
Me and my linux boxen [ding!] [ding!] will be happily working with no interruption.
Boxen! That's worth double.
Later on, M$ [ding!] suckas!
7 points total. Well done.
As a long term ISP and University network admin, people that let themselves be caught are a pain in my ass to enforce. They cost me money and time in terms of following up on these damn letters from the MPAA/RIAA, and they make me sit in meetings with worried lawyers regarding company or campus policy.
As one who has also run a streaming media server since 2000, has downloaded mp3 since 1996, and ftp'd media around since 1992, all I can say is you people are idiots if you keep getting caught, and you're making my job hard, and I have no problem with laying the smack down.
Figure out how to stay under the radar, AOL'ers and undergrads. That way everybody's happy. Your problem is you've had p2p file sharing handed to you on a platter since Napster and you expect it like a right.
I could just write something that generates a false positive, perhaps by reverse-engineering the kazaa search mechanism, and spoof it from every IP on campus....I could shut down the entire campus network in 15 minutes. :)
But there is another kind of evil that we must fear most... and that is the indifference of good men.
CNS allows them to automatically restrict or cut off Internet access for alleged infringers on notice from a record label or movie studio.
It's nice to see no trial is necessary to make every student guilty. Guess that constitution thing doesn't apply unless your a corporate executive.
Wow, how long do you think it will be before this is abused.
Enter one Melvin P. Thornowsky, CS major, geek with taped glasses and pants a little tight around the armpits. Of course, our hero has a HUGE crush on Miss Bambi Vanderbilt, sophomore member of the local Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Melvin finally gets the nerve up to ask the beautiful, yet not all that smart Bambi out. Of course, he goes down in flames.
As revenge Melvin hacks Bambi's brand new laptop that her Daddy bought her and adds a nice pirated copy of "Flesh Gordon". Next time she hooks up to the campus network to check Cosmopolitan Online the MPAA Storm Troopers show up and take her to Jail. The whole Vanderbilt family is embarrassed, Bambi is disinherited and has to move in with Rocko, her secret boyfriend from the wrong side of the tracks.
MPAA - ruining lives one campus at a time.
Find coupons in Greeley
Okay. Where can I download the source code? Coz acns.sourceforge.net and acns.freshmeat.net don't seeem to work.
The article is mentioning the loss of billions of dollars to piracy. Again it looks like the assumption is if it wasn't pirated, a legal sale would have taken place. I have a nephew who was in school and is now in the military serving in Kuait. I have seen his MP3 collection. If each track was a $1 sale instead of piracy, the assumption is he would have spent more on music during his stay at college than I spent on my new car. When I was that age and bought LP's and Tapes (Pre CD's by many years) my collection never even aproached the value of the 10 year old beater I drove at the time. I would have liked to buy an albun a week, but price was prohibitive and still is. I bought about 1 record every 2 or 3 months at that age. That's only 4-6 /year. After a decade I had my modest library of about 50 albums (1 boxful). I don't know many people who have invested over $200/year in CD's with or without piracy. Most people I know have a modest CD collection of 100 or less titles for a lifetime collection of $2,000 tops.
College students don't have the money in four years to outright buy new car that I have to get a loan for of many years. Piracy is an opentunistic act of copyright infringement, not theft. A college student with several thousand MP3's is not the theft of several thousand dollars of original recordings. They are cheap copies, not originals taken from rightful owners. Killing piracy of 1,000 tunes does not create the sales of 1,000 tunes at a buck each or create 1000 tunes now on the store shelves that weren't there for sale before. I doubt no matter how many copies iTunes sells of any song, they will have a sellout. Cost of duplication is cheap. The spin folks and the marketing folks both know this but are in denial.
Other than the spin on the financial loss, the article was interesting in the war on piracy.
I personaly buy less CD's now because I'm afraid of getting a non-returnable deliberatly defective disk. I look for the Compact Disk logo for compatibility with my rip-mix-burn setup and portable devices. There are very few CD's anymore with the Compact Disk logo. It makes shopping for a CD like panning for gold. There is lots of shiny stuff out there, but finding the real thing is getting harder as the supply dwindles. I now visit the DVD section instead of the useless CD section. It's money better spent.
I'm currently enjoying Old Time radio which is now in the public domain. It's free.
The truth shall set you free!
"Right. I mean, campus networks are for educational purposes, not for the mere entertainment of students"
If you are FORCED to live in a dorm, and your ONLY internet access is available through the campus network (due to the school's monopoly), and you are the one paying for this internet connection anyway (it is included with your outragous dorm fees), then you should be able to do whatever you damn well please with your net connection, including entertainment. Computer labs could be used for education only, but the only connection you are allowed to have to your own home is yours and not the school's. Nice troll, though.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.