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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.

27 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 pegr · · Score: 3, Funny

      This is a great idea. Let's call this file "hosts"! Now, where to put it?

    2. 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.
    3. Re:The US Internet Shutdown Switch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      And then we no longer have an internet (international network)

      INTERconnected NETworks, not international - though it's been that too, since fairly early

    4. Re: The US Internet Shutdown Switch by xrayspx · · Score: 3, Funny

      We should probably have a whole area of disk for various flotsam and configs and yadda yadda, et cetera.

      --
      I like music
    5. Re:The US Internet Shutdown Switch by afidel · · Score: 3, Informative

      The I,K, and M root servers are outside the US and are controlled by entities which the US can't directly bully into doing their bidding.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  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 Shakrai · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

      You might want to hold your applause.

      I saw the previews months ago for that movie and thought to myself "That looks stupid." but now I'm going to go see it anyway. You should really encourage all of your friends to do the same. Blackmail resulting in self-censorship is not something that needs to be encouraged.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    2. Re:This needs to stop ... by fustakrakich · · Score: 3

      ...but now I'm going to go see it anyway. You should really encourage all of your friends to do the same.

      Getting to sound like a good PR campaign now.. It'll probably still flop. It sounds like a real stinker.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    3. Re:This needs to stop ... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well, it's kind of like Snowden. Everybody knew they were doing something wrong. The sheer magnitude of it is slowly coming to light. Nobody started off with the illusion they were innocent before this.

      I'm torn, I really am. On the one hand, yes, hacking and extortion bad.

      On the other hand, I find multinational corporations like Sony to be complete douchebags, who will do anything to advance their own goals, at the expense of everyone else on the planet, and with the assistance of governments who have been willing to stick it to their citizens to protect corporate interests, largely because the politicians are on the fucking payroll.

      And then I want to go all Tyler Durden on them because I'm getting tired of the oligarchy and the asshole politicians enabling it.

      You don't keep a free society by making it beholden to corporations who tell us what we can and can't do.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:This needs to stop ... by fustakrakich · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Nobody knows who is making 'threats'. I see no reason to give any money to Sony. They are hardly a bastion of free speech. As far as I'm concerned the whole thing is a scam, though the new Bond flick could be okay. Eh, maybe Sony might get my money after all, and I am amused by your Hollywood Tough Guy talk :-)

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    5. 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.

    6. 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
    7. 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. Go ahead by cdrudge · · Score: 4, Funny

    If a takedown notice could blacklist a site from every available DNS provider, the URL would be effectively erased from the internet.

    Good strategy. Go ahead with that plan and let us know how that turns out.

    1. Re:Go ahead by StikyPad · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Exactly. There's nothing frightening about this at all; it's a nuisance at best for the sites. Between using IP addresses directly, or editing a hosts file, or switching to an offshore DNS server, it's all of a 30 second delay.

      For sites dedicated to piracy, it won't make the slightest difference in traffic. The demand is there, so people will seek out the product. The idea that making it marginally (or even substantially) more difficult to find will reduce demand is like saying "If Barnes and Noble doesn't carry pornography, there won't be any demand!"

      Is piracy morally justifiable? Not really. In the end, someone is going around the rules of society for personal gain. Still, available evidence suggests that the actual economic damage is minimal, at worst, and possibly that it's helpful to the bottom line. People who pirate seem mostly to be people who wouldn't pay anyway, so they're not really lost as customers. Additionally, word of mouth can help the popularity of films, regardless of whether that opinion came from a free screening, a paid viewing, or a pirated download. From a practical standpoint, it doesn't make sense to focus efforts on stamping out something that's so benign. In other words, we shouldn't tolerate measures that negatively impact the rest of society to protect one group from an imaginary harm.

      --
      https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
    2. Re:Go ahead by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Informative

      I guess they don't know history so well. AlterNIC could easily return under such a scenario.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:Go ahead by mrchaotica · · Score: 5, Informative

      Is stealing from the Public Domain by turning copyright into some sort of perpetual entitlement morally justifiable? Not really. In the end, someone is going around the rules of society for personal gain.

      FTFY.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  4. 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.
    1. Re:These idiots remain idiotic by geekmux · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

      Fuck them.

      That "shadow" system you speak of could in fact be the catalyst we've all been waiting for to push the majority into IPv6 space.

  5. 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.
  6. huh what? by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Informative

    No one's ever tried to issue a takedown notice like that...

    Really?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...
    They haven't?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...
    Tried this?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...

    Because, the last I checked...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...
    It was happening
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...
    all the time...

  7. Screw them! by excelsior_gr · · Score: 5, Funny

    We'll make our own DNS!

    With blackjack and hookers!

  8. North Korea by Esra+Erimez · · Score: 3

    Even though the Pirate Bay move to North Korea was a hoax, but if North Korea really wanted to exact revenge on the industry why wouldn't they take an approach that would really hurt them and actually host pirated content?

    --
    Esra Erimez
  9. Re:black DNS? by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 4, Informative

    Funny, Microsoft has actually had a P2P DNS system for several years: PNRP.

  10. Odd individuals they must have been by Archtech · · Score: 5, Funny

    It seems that the bipeds who once inhabited this planet had, at one time, developed a comprehensive worldwide networking system. They accomplished much through it, from exchange of all kinds of information to commercial transactions, education, and even personal communications.

    But suddenly, one day, this useful system was destroyed. Apparently a small group of bipeds, which had enriched themselves by creating carefully distorted fictional representations of life and events, decided that the network might be slightly reducing the rate at which they amassed wealth. So they sabotaged it.

    We really have no idea what kind of intelligence those bipeds had - if it was even intelligence as we know it.

    --
    I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
  11. 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?