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Anti-Piracy Firm Rightscorp Will Hijack Pirates' Browsers Until a Fine is Paid (torrentfreak.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Anti-piracy firm Rightscorp says that it's working on a next-generation technology called Scalable Copyright, under which it plans to extract cash settlements from suspected Internet pirates. The company says its new technology will lock users' browsers and prevent Internet access until they pay a fine. (Sounds familiar?) To encourage ISPs to play along, Rightscorp says the system could help to limit their copyright liability. For those unaware, Rightscorp works with copyright owners such as movie studios, music labels, and game developers, and tracks the IP addresses of people who are torrenting copyright infringing material. Sadly, the company's previous tactics haven't worked so well. The company doesn't have many clients, and it posted a net loss of $3.43m in 2015, up from the $2.85m net loss recorded in 2014.
I think they plan to do this at the ISP level with a proxy or something, doesn't sound like they are inventing or installing anything. Sounds like they are man-in-the-middling your connection with a bad proxy.
I think we can all agree that consumption of that intellectual property without consent is theft. It's not like driving some else's car, since in this case the original owner retains a copy; it's like taking some else's car design and using it to build your own car without their consent.
No we can't all agree on that. I don't see anything wrong with taking someone else's car design. I don't necessarily agree that intellectual property in the copyright sense has any value. While the patent system is in need of reform I do see some value there in encouraging invention. If car design does not advance the art and technology of car design in any patentable way than I see no reason at all why anyone else should be denied its use. Now if you do some actual R&D and come up with novel and improved way to do something as a result and integrate it into your design yes I would agree you should have a limited time right to license that.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Other than getting ISPs to block users (where the ISP now has to deal with a potential subscriber lawsuit because of the word of a third party), I just don't see how this is going to work:
1: Browser makers won't allow a third party to disable their software at the third party's whim. Even if were mandated (perhaps a DMCA2 treaty), there would be some people in Russia who will just fork off a pre-bongoed source and offer that for download.
2: If it gets nailed through a browser or add-on, it will be patched by the browser or third parties. They better stand in line behind the real ransomware makers if they want to go for 0-day security day holes.
3: People have multiple browsers. To separate tasks, I use sandboxie, multiple browsers, browsers on USB flash drives, and different types of browsers. Will they shut them all down? Perhaps if they inject malware that does redirects.
4: People have virtual machines. Destroy the VM that I use for browsing the web, I just run "vagrant destroy --force && vagrant up", and in a few minutes, I have my browser virtual machine back up, running, with all my extensions present, courtesy of provisioning scripts.
5: People have and use VPNs, both in the same country and offshore. Good luck with sending copyright notices to the VPN in Switzerland, Sweden, or even Canada. Even a VPN in the same area, unless the party decided to press a legal case, they won't be handing names and other info over, if they are to remain in business for long.
6: People use combinations of the above. Push too hard and even Joe Sixpack will start using an offshore VPN service for $5 a month, pretty much making any IP enforcement impossible without having to make it an international event.
tl;dr, Rightcorp's existence depends on trying to get ISPs to do the belling the cat (with the legal risk that entails for the ISP) for them... and all it takes is 1-2 false positives for that ISP to start seriously hurting. Even worse, it will just make the pirates "go dark" and ensure that nothing but the most elaborate tracking will actually work.
Well... if the person actually IS distributing copyrighted material that would come out in court if they decide to fight...
It may end up costing the person more in the end.
I am guessing they are relying on the old "make the cost less than that of hiring a lawyer" strategy that patent trolls use.
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
This is EXACTLY what they are counting on. Suppose I were sued for downloading/distributing Random Movie via this method. They lock my browser (how, I have no clue) and I can't go online. Now, let's also suppose that I was innocent. Perhaps their software was flawed (I was distributing a public domain movie clip called "Just Another Random Movie") or maybe there was a typo in the IP address entry (entered .215 when they should have entered .251). In any event, they were accusing me without merit.
My recourse would be to respond to their accusation by hiring a lawyer, mounting a "Not Guilty" defense, and hoping that they didn't sway the judge with technical sounding (but ultimately false) evidence. I'd have to hope that my lawyer would work pro-bono during this case, would need to endure the media looking into my private life and labeling me some sort of hacker/pirate (and all the fallout that would cause professionally), and would need to dedicate a lot of time/effort/stress to my defense.
Or I could take a quick, relatively inexpensive settlement and avoid all that.
Sadly, most people would take the settlement so they could just get on with their lives. I know I'd be very tempted to sign it.
It's legalized Mafia tactics. "That's a nice life you have there. It'd be a shame if your reputation were dragged through the mud, you lost your job, tons of cash, and years of your life to a lawsuit. Just sign here and you'll be 'protected' against all that from happening. If not..." *knocks browser off shelf, shattering it to a million pieces to prove a point*
It's funny - the older I get, the more tempted I am, should this happen to me, of taking matters in my own hands and solving a whole lot of other people's problems - if you catch my drift. I mean, if they're gonna fuck up my life beyond repair, and I've only got a decade or so left anyway, why not go out with a bunch of folks grateful for what I did to get justice? I might die, I might end up in prison for a few years before I croak. I can't be the only one who feels this way.