Tool To Allow ISPs To Scan Every File You Transmit

timdogg writes "Brilliant Digital Entertainment, an Australian software company, has grabbed the attention of the NY attorney general's office with a tool they have designed that can scan every file that passes between an ISP and its customers. The tool can 'check every file passing through an Internet provider's network — every image, every movie, every document attached to an e-mail or found in a Web search — to see if it matches a list of illegal images.' As with the removal of the alt.binary newgroups, this is being promoted under the guise of preventing child porn. The privacy implications of this tool are staggering."

Comments

You know, it really makes me wonder...

[genw3st]

... what is going to prevent this proverbial snowball from building into a full-blown avalanche? I guess it has already become one to some extent... I can't recall a time in history when the WORLDS rights and privacy were as stripped and neglected as it is now, and then everyone suddenly got their right to privacy and freedom back. Despite its amazing capabilities, technology sure has put us into an interesting position when in the hands of people like "Brilliant Digital Entertainment" ... yeah, real brilliant. Crackheads.

Re:Probably just for P2P

[dat cwazy wabbit]

You would still lose the election.

Re:Probably just for P2P

[DerekLyons]

The parent is an example of typical slashdot idiocy. ISPs aren't common carriers. Though my karama will end up a smoking crater for breaking with the established GroupThink, so I'm making this post anonymously.

Yet, for all your noise and handwaving - you fail to establish that an ISP isn't a common carrier.

Re:Probably just for P2P

[Baton Rogue]

I think he's referring to MD5 Collisions where you can make a completely different file that matches the same MD5 hash of another file.
But if all they are doing is comparing hash files, couldn't you just as easily change the resolution of the file, or insert a couple different bits around to change the file slightly, which ends up with a completely different hash?

Re:Probably just for P2P

[svank]

But if all they are doing is comparing hash files, couldn't you just as easily change the resolution of the file, or insert a couple different bits around to change the file slightly, which ends up with a completely different hash?

Yup. That, along with good encryption, means the bad guys get around this easily, while innocent bystanders are caught up by hash collisions.

Re:Probably just for P2P

[PopeRatzo]

but the company claims it can fool the sender's computer into believing that the recipient was requesting an unencrypted and uncompressed file.

That's not hostile, much. As is common in our corporatocracy, here's a company that starts from the assumption that their customers are their enemy. So now we're going to pay our ISPs to "fool" our computers. Some "customer service" huh?

No thank you.

How about this: We pay you, and you give us bandwidth and stay the fuck out of our business. If we're using too much bandwidth, then spell it out in our contract and charge us more, so we can choose to give our business to someone else.