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Sony Leaks Reveal Hollywood Is Trying To Break DNS

Posted by Soulskill on from the scorched-net-policy dept.

schwit1 sends this report from The Verge: Most anti-piracy tools take one of two paths: they either target the server that's sharing the files (pulling videos off YouTube or taking down sites like The Pirate Bay) or they make it harder to find (delisting offshore sites that share infringing content). But leaked documents reveal a frightening line of attack that's currently being considered by the MPAA: What if you simply erased any record that the site was there in the first place? To do that, the MPAA's lawyers would target the Domain Name System that directs traffic across the internet.

The tactic was first proposed as part of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in 2011, but three years after the law failed in Congress, the MPAA has been looking for legal justification for the practice in existing law and working with ISPs like Comcast to examine how a system might work technically. If a takedown notice could blacklist a site from every available DNS provider, the URL would be effectively erased from the internet. No one's ever tried to issue a takedown notice like that, but this latest memo suggests the MPAA is looking into it as a potentially powerful new tool in the fight against piracy.

11 of 388 comments (clear)

  1. The US Internet Shutdown Switch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Lots of people prefer to ignore that the world's root DNS servers are controlled by US companies...

    1. Re:The US Internet Shutdown Switch by rickb928 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't prefer to ignore this. I instead am thankful.

      You don't want the UN involved. And you'll have to recommend a better nation or group of nations to oversee DNS. Or another corporation.

      This arrangement has worked very well for a long time. There is nothing to fix, and everything to defend.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    2. Re:The US Internet Shutdown Switch by JMJimmy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And then we no longer have an internet (international network) we have a regional one which would royally suck.

  2. This needs to stop ... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The MPAA et al feel they have the right to undermine every bit of technology to server their purposes. They want veto over all new technology to ensure that it aligns with their goals, and makes sure their rent seeking is entrenched in law.

    Sony was more than willing to spread malware, and as a cartel these clowns have way too much sway over governments, and seem to think they can act with impunity.

    Want the sure file way to the shitty oligarchy of the future? Keep letting these bastards call the shots.

    I don't know who actually is behind this attack, but I'm starting to applaud them.

    Sony and the other members of the MPAA are out of control, and pretty much deserve to be burned to the ground for the crap they do.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:This needs to stop ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I also believe in free space which is why I will not support Sony by watching this film. It is possible that everybody is wrong.

    2. Re:This needs to stop ... by ganjadude · · Score: 3, Insightful

      doubt that is what he meant, but they could be using the scare tactics to drum up support for this one movie after the fact

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    3. Re:This needs to stop ... by tnk1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The hackers are totally wrong. So is Sony.

      Sony is getting egg on their faces, and the hackers may eventually get caught. Both parties may well get theirs.

      And thanks to them, I get to see a real life version of "Swimming with Sharks". That's the positive.

      The big negative would be if this becomes yet another excuse for Sony to break the Internet with trying to cover their own asses by making everyone else do their work for them. And in that sense, that is the negative for having both Sony, and hackers who attack Sony existing. Sony will never fix their security, just like they won't fix their distribution. That would require effort. They'll just try and buy regulations that make other people have to jump through hoops so they can continue to store their master password list on unsecured shares on their open network and continue to use various pricing schemes to make people pay more for the same product.

  3. These idiots remain idiotic by HBI · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they break DNS, we'll just move to a shadow system, whether based on hosts or just another flavor of DNS.

    Fuck them.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  4. comcast by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > and working with ISPs like Comcast to examine how a system might work technically

    Yet another reason not to do business... well, you know.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  5. Re:What am I missing? by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Well this is Murka and here we have freedum and speeches -- things you could never understand

  6. Re:GO GO POWER RANGERS! by matbury · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wonder what Kim Jong-Un would do with this power? Anything different from the MPAA?