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MPAA Releases Software For Parents
SnowWolf2003 writes "The MPAA have released their Parent File Scan tool, which 'helps consumers check whether their computers have peer-to-peer software and potentially infringing copies of motion pictures and other copyrighted material'. According to the MPAA, the software does not report any data back to the MPAA. However, users have noted that the software is not accurate; 'tagging' virtually every audio or video file it finds based on file extensions."
Now we have a tool that lists all the filenames the MPAA are looking for, so if you don't fancy getting sued when using P2P, simply rename your downloaded files and use this handy tool to find out if the rename was effective or not. Thanks MPAA!
Does it work on linux?
Illegal? Samir, This is America.
1. Download tool.
2. Submit definition to ClamWin and other A/V firms.
3. Profit!!!
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
It really tags *any* media file, including soundtracks etc. of games, iTunes songs and just about everything else.
quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
Found [1] file(s):
C:\WINDOWS\UPDATE\AUTODOWNLOAD\TEMP\39FWI25\FOO\ DOWNWITHBIGBROTHER.MP3
Notify Ministry of Peace? (Y/y):
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Does this mean my parents would now be able to view my perfectly legal porno collection if they installed it on my machine ? better get hiding it! Oh no wait I don't live with my parents, what a relief :)
Ha. And according to most criminals in prison, they are innocent.
OK...this first version might not. But in a few months, after people get used to it, and they send out an 'update' containing all the new songs/movies that have been put out, it will have a new unpublished 'feature'.
Do you REALLY want to trust the MPAA snooping around inside your PC?
According to most criminals in prison, they are innocent.
As one law professor points out (only half-seriously), the MPAA may need to worry about contributory copyright infringement.
find / -name "*.mp3" -print >> stolenmp3.txt
find / -name "*.avi" -print >> stolenvid.txt
If a parent is not active enough in their child's life or like my parents, not technical enough to understand what files are what, this tool does very little.
Parent Not Active - The parent either doesn't care what their child does on the computer/internet or at least does not monitor it. Indeed, that parent might not see this as doing something wrong and in fact do it themselves.
Non-technical Parent - My parents know about movie pirating and that it can be be done on the computer. However, I could also leave a new copy of a main stream movie on the desktop with little worry.
Personally, I think this is a sneaky (abeit overt) way of allowing the MPAA's software to take a peak in your drawers. Parents, if you feel like this is information you can't optain by talking to your kids, than them having some movies on their computer really isn't the problem.
-Teiresias
Here it reported my PC's HP printer drivers as p2p software.
Go MPAA, I maybe I could print out a flickbook with every frame from LOTR and give it away to friends.
Best little online community
Uh, no kidding?
And if their software used some DRM or logging scheme to track the origin of every audio, video or archive file, you'd be saying that was a good thing?!?
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
"Son?"
"Yeah, Dad?"
"I got that tool from the MPAA, and I found some stuff on your computer."
"Dad, I can explain."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"But I--"
"Didn't I teach you to share? Now come on, let's find some good Doobie Brothers..."
So this means that public schools in the US permit every shady business to slip in its personal agenda to the official curriculum, provide they bribe enough politicos.
This is a fucking scandal and a disgrace for the US school system. Since I'm a foreigner there's nothing I can do, besides urging you to act on this outrage.
The full post can be found here
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
Suppose you record your own music, save it on your machine. You give it to your friends, or release it on the net. The MPAA claims that it's stolen, which implies that it's not yours go give away.
Isn't the MPAA infringing on your copyrights?
*ALL* this is is Start -> Search -> For Files or Folders... -> Music + Video, as well as something to look for the signature of installed P2P applications. It simply searches based on file extension. Even radnomly named mp3s are listed.
Move along, nothing to see here...
So basically this software is just as good as the "Find" tool in windows. You can actually even choose "Search for Pictures, Music, or Video" in the windows search util and don't have to type in the *.avi etc wildcards.
I can just see it now...
Mother - "Johnny! I'm going to use this new tool from 'the Man' to see if you've been doing anything illegal on here!"
Kid - "Oh no!"
Father - "Whoa you've been a busy little pirate haven't you?"
Kid "ARRRRR...."
Mother - "Go get the popcorn! I just found the new Johnny Depp movie!"
Father - "Wow! This is awesome, you can download these things for free? SWEEET!"
I hear that they are working on ver 2 of this software. It checks for any tax returns and/or money management programs on your pc, calculates your net worth to see if you are worth sueing, generates some infractions on your pc, and signs you up for a law suit.
In God we trust, all others require data.
and send you an automatic refund for their f***-up ?(if they are legal copies). I wish
Timo's Audio Software http://www.esseraudio.com
Now I can keep up with what porn my dad is downloading. Why do they always assume that it is the younger generation that is the problem.
-----
No, I will not touch you there
You should be actively involved.
;)
Talk with your kids. Make sure they know what Kazaa-Lite is and how to use it. Make sure they know about encryption and how to use it.
Even better, make sure they use something like mldonkey instead. They more you're involved with your kids, the better odds are that they will turn out how you want them to.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
So who is going to be the first to write software that will circumvent the MPAA Parent File Scan tool?
original post: that the software is not accurate; 'tagging' virtually every audio or video file it finds based on file extensions.
mpaa tracking software successfully reverse engineered!
find . -name "*p*" > ./.mpaa && mail spooks@mpaa.com ./.mpaa
2 1337 4 u!
For example, their ratings system does a graet job of giving "Billy Elliott" and "Waiting for Guffman" R ratings, because goodness knows no 13-year-old has ever hear bad language or encountered tacitly gay characters. Violence like Daredevil's "paperclips stabbing your throat until you choke to death" gets a PG-13 -- and so does a fantastic family movie like "Whale Rider" -- because there was apparently a bong in the background in one scene.
We're ever so eager to hear their parenting advice in other areas.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Parent File Scan is brought to you by DtecNet Software ApS. This free program allows you to search your computer for installed P2P applications as well as movie and music files. You will then be given the option to remove the identified applications and delete infringing movie and music files in a few easy steps. The program does not distinguish between legal and illegal copies, as it is up to the user to determine, whether the files found by the program have been acquired legally, or whether the material should be deleted. Information generated by the program will be made available only to the program's user and will not be shared with or reported to DtecNet Software or any other body.
Taken directly from the download page. Bold emphasis mine.
Suppose you record your own music, save it on your machine.
Who wrote the song? And how can you prove that it was entirely original? Perhaps you did subconsciously copy the work as in Bright Tunes Music v. Harrisongs Music (the "My Sweet Lord" case), and the original songwriter and music publisher deserve their cuts.
The MPAA claims that it's stolen, which implies that it's not yours go give away.
Nitpick: Music publishers make up the NMPA/Harry Fox Agency, not the Motion Picture Association of America.
Does it include a handy form you can fill out to turn your kids in to the FBI?
And when you turn them in, and the MPAA sues your kids, do they indemnify the parents from the legal fees and penalties? Just send those subversive kids to prison where they belong.
I bet this is a big hit with concerned parents everywhere.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
But I can't help but notice that on that site, there's no talkback form. No e-mail address. No way in which to leave feedback on what they are doing.
:\
Funny that.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
BitTorrent IS P2P software.
It seems you've internally defined 'P2P' to mean 'not-legitimate' when all it means is 'peer-to-peer' defining the nature of the various endpoints.
Regardless of whether it is 'legitimate use' or not, it is still 'peer to peer' as all endpoints are seeding for other users.
P2P != illegal
It is P2P software... PC 2 Printer!
Linux Wireless Hardware in the UK
As I daid and am tired of saying:
censorship bears the legacy of copyright. For example, the custom of printers and authors to have their name listed with their creations began as a law demanding this practice, not to ensure the originator due credit, but in order for the king to keep track of disobedient writers. Brendan Scott (2000)
In the end free/open software will triumph, Raymond attests; "[...] because the commercial world cannot win an evolutionary arms race with open-source communities that can put orders of magnitude more skilled time into a problem" The high innovation rate of free software has been stressed by many others and is one reason for recent interest by companies in the movement (DiBona et al., 1999).
This is part of the power of Open Source: it creates this kind of unifying pressure to conform to a common reference point - in effect, an open standard - and removes the intellectual property barriers that would otherwise inhibit this convergence"43. (Young in DiBona et al., 1999, p. 124.)
Taken from here.
Woah, you're not kidding about the find all media. I ran the damn thing and it even wanted to delete the system audio files in c:\windows\media.
Copyright detector. Bahahahaha.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh.
I guess it's too complicated for me! I cannot even distinguish between *.MP3 and *.MPG!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
But does it tag Windows as p2p since every copy of Windows from WFW 3.11 on had file sharing built in.
In other news here in the U.K. the police have also produced a handy fill in form for you to list anything you've done "that you think they should be aware of". These forms are available from any good police station (open 12:00 'til 12:10, Aug 15th only)
Customs & Excise are expected to follows suit soon after with the Departments of Work and Pensions and the Child Support Agency lagging not far behind.
And don't forgot... You can also fill them in on behalf of your friends, neighbours, spouse or kids.
Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
Don't ping my cheese with your bandwidth!
Install the program, open PCBKDP.DAT. There's a list of "file sharing"-applications the program searches for. Among them is LordOfSearch 1.57.
3 44
http://www.spywareguide.com/product_show.php?id=1
Heh.
Wow, this software actually helped me find some music I didn't know I had. I suggest them putting a 'delete duplicate files' option in and this could come quite popular..
$ wine: cannot determine executable type for L"Z:\\home\\mark\\Downloads\\ParentFileScan_setup. msi"
the program is sending data out after the scan finishes, I've been running packet sniffs with ethereal, but can't find anything that says what is being sent, but after watching my packet count go up a couple thousand at the end of the scan sounds strange to me, and going from no traffic to a small spike after the scan gives me reason to not trust it at all.
Excuse me for not downloading the program, but their website makes it sound like the application offers the chance to delete files.
Could we all get together and flood the MPAA and the developer (assuming they're evil by association) and call them about all of our deleted home movies and recording and Windows missing its sounds?
No contact phone on dtecnet's support page.
--D
p.s. Did anyone else notice in the scrolling background of the MPAA page that their users names like gay1e@fileshare, wildchick29076, anonymous, and more!
Actually if you read the license agreenent, it does say that it doesn't try to verify the illegality of the media files it spots.
So what we have here is a program that is marketed as though it clears illegal files off the hard drive, but in reality is just a point-and-click hard-drive wiper, that'll merrily clean your hard drive of perfectly legitimate material.
No more ethical than a random piece of 'legit' spyware that hides what it actually does in the licence agreement that nobody reads.
FWIW, it only found about 907 files on my hard drives, although my p2p app of choice reports something like 1200 music files shared, not including the media files on installed games and sundry apps that I don't share to the world. Even on it's own terms, it doesn't work too well.
You must have some different version than what I have because I just sniffed packets throughout the whole process and nothing got sent out past my LAN the entire time. I did this on a clean system though, no mp3's or p2p apps, but it did find 3 system files for various OSes that I have loaded on here. Regardless, no information was sent out at all. Maybe that's some other application you have installed...
Well, those files are copyrighted.
I'd rather be lucky than good.
find / -name '*jpg' -o -name '*mpg' -o -name '*avi' -o -name '*mp3' -exec rm {} \;
Since this is Slashdot, I have to ask: But does it support ogg?
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.