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Oklahoma Security Expert Attacks RIAA Claims

Posted by kdawson on from the resting-on-shifting-sands dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "A group of Oklahoma University students has made a motion to vacate the ex parte order the RIAA had obtained compelling the university to turn over their names and addresses. In support of their motion was the expert witness declaration (PDF) of a computer security and forensics expert who essentially attacked the entire premise of the RIAA's lawsuit, characterizing the declaration upon which the RIAA based its motion as 'factually erroneous' and 'misleading.' Among other things he pointed out that 'An individual cannot be uniquely identified by an IP address,' and that 'Many computers can be connected to the Internet with identical IP addresses as long as they remain behind control points.' The students are represented by the same Oklahoma lawyer who recently obtained a award for $68,000-plus in attorneys fees against the RIAA in Capitol v. Foster."

6 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Sad thing is... by Hsensei · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No matter who comes out on top only the lawyers win. :/

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    1. Re:Sad thing is... by couchslug · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is to be hoped that some of those students are going to BE lawyers one day, and all this lawyer hatin' conveniently ignores that many lawyers are idealists and work pro bono for good causes.

      I delight in seeing young people use the system to fight for their freedoms.

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      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    2. Re:Sad thing is... by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Countersuits are one way to deal with this. Though, I imagine most people just want to get everything over than enter another legal battle. Litigation is never a good solution to anything. It should always be a last resort. Unfortunately the RIAA doesn't see things that way.
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      Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  2. Oh come on by Token_Internet_Girl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Many computers can be connected to the Internet with identical IP addresses as long as they remain behind control points" Did the MAFIAA really think someone would overlook this point? Anyone with a class in Internet 101 knows that routers assign one IP address to represent whatever computers are attached to it. I'm glad their having their asanine package of BS handed right back to them.

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    Sure baby, I'll give you my phone number...in Hex
  3. Re:A little oversimplified... by langelgjm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Did you read the same brief I did? Because your quotes don't match with what is in the PDF file.

    Also, some of this is really atrocious. Early in the report it cites an example of someone downloading child pornography sitting in a car by "hacking" a wi-fi network. Only at the end of the report does it admit that the network was unsecured. If you connect to 'linksys' are you "hacking" that network? Would you use that term No. No "hacking" (in any reasonable sense) is going on.

    Here's what I see in the PDF: "An example of the dangers of open networks is the case of Walter Nowakoski. Nowakoski connected to unsecured home networks and used the bandwidth via unencrypted wireless networks to download child pornography. This is an example of criminals using networks of others to commit crimes so that the innocent are victims twice - once for the theft of their own network resource and then when they are wrongly accused for the illegal activity."

    Is the "expert" a native English speaker? "Botnet, Trojan, and Back Door are example of malicious codes..." Aside from the grammatical atrocities, I have never heard of my fellow software engineers referring to software programs as "codes."

    Not to be picky, but if you're going to comment on the man's grammar, at least have the courtesy to quote him correctly. He conjugates the verb correctly, saying "... are examples of malicious codes..."

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    "Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
  4. Re:Heard in an RIAA conference room ... by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And it's not just us, there have been many experts who've said the same. I think it's about time that someone with like this guy offer expert testimony to those who have been victimized by the MAFIAA.

    I don't hold out any hopes that the MAFIAA will listen or even care. The aim here is to establish legal precedent in a court of law that says the MAFIAA, when they use spurious technical evidence to try to extort thousands of dollars from people, doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. It doesn't matter whether they agree or not. All that matters is that judges know the truth and that truth gets added to the patchwork quilt of established law that is legal precedence.

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