Slashdot Mirror
MPAA Developing Digital Fingerprinting Technology
Danathar writes "The MPAA is looking to use digital fingerprinting technologies that in conjunction with legislation will enable and force ISPs to look for network traffic that matches the signatures. " From the article: " Once completed, Philips' technology--along with related tools from other companies--could be a powerful weapon in Hollywood's increasingly aggressive attempts to choke off the flood of films being traded online."
that some of the scariest 1984ish stuff would be coming out of the fricking entertainment industry fer chrissakes.
Is it fascism yet?
aaaactually, mr wizard taught me that it's just the water's skin that's really wet--that is, it's self-adhesive properties...
pour a shitload of babypowder on a cup of water, and stick your finger down to the bottom. it'll be baby-fresh instead of wet.
this to me is the least offensive method of combatting piracy
Yes, until you get your new bill from your ISP, which includes an extra $50.00 per month so that they can afford to comply with the law.
See, I'm pretty sure that the MPAA won't be paying the ISP to implement this technology, to purchase the additional equipment to use it, and to maintain it.
The ISPs will be legally required to do man in the middle attacks. When you start up an SSL connection they will accept it as if they were the destination and then make a request to the destination for a connection. They will then pipe all info between the two connections through their fingerprinting program, and then pipe the approved data to you and to them. None of this will ever happen.
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WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
This is nothing more than an automated private-sector wiretap. Bad thing. I don't want the FBI monitoring private communications without proper authorization and judicial oversight, and I sure as hell don't want the likes of the RIAA, MPAA or any other AA looking at my personal communications and deciding whether or not to sue me for whatever they think they've found. The RIAA is not a law enforcement arm of the government, neither is my ISP ... and I don't want either of them to become such.
It's generally considered wrong when private individuals or organizations take the law into their own hands (see: vigilante justice.) It's even more dangerous when the organization in question is as heavily-bankrolled and as morally bankrupt as our two favorite "entertainment industry trade groups". No thanks. They can keep their grubby little lawyer fingers out of my data stream.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
If they do read slashdot for a free technical review, they can hardly ignore the same points raised over and over again:
1. Technically infeasable and economically ruinous for ISPS to scan all network traffic (unless you want to pay them for their trouble, MPAA? you could indemify us all for the resultant Internet slowdown perhaps?). You've been told so many times, you can't be that stupid.
2. Copy-protection can always be broken. It's like King Canute live action when I go to see a movie and be insulted by MPAA movie-theft ads.
3. If you drive the people to encryption, a lot more than your precious assets will go byebye, it will bring down the gravy train for everyone else, and won't they thank you for it.
Using Occam's Razor I ask which is more likely: that they either don't read slashdot or do so in such a way as only read it for the pictures.
insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer