Blunderov
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"We think in generalities, we live in details"
  
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RE: virus: The Death of Whistling?
« on: 2003-09-10 16:39:18 » |
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Blunderov <Wonders whether whistling a tune he heard on the radio would
render him liable to penalties if he did it in public>
http://www.msnbc.com/news/963684.asp?vts=091020031315&cp1=1#BODY
File-sharing lawsuits: Are you next?
A look at how the music industry is targeting defendants
By John Borland
Sept. 9 - The Recording Industry Association of America sued 261 alleged
file swappers Monday, launching a legal campaign against ordinary
Internet users that could ultimately result in thousands of additional
lawsuits. But are you at risk?
IF YOU OR A family member have used Kazaa or any other file-swapping
application recently and have left your computer open to the Net, the
answer is possibly - although the odds of being singled out among an
estimated 60 million people using peer-to-peer software remain small. If
you've kept thousands of songs in the file you're sharing with other
file swappers, then the odds are a little better, though still slim.
Here's a quick look at how the RIAA has done its investigations and what
kind of information it has used to find people and file Monday's
lawsuits.
Step one: Finding file-traders isn't hard. Anybody who opens a shared
folder on Kazaa, Morpheus or any other file-swapping network is
susceptible to potentially prying eyes.
In the most recent wave of investigations, the RIAA has used automated
tools that look for a relatively short list of files. When it finds a
person sharing one or more of those files, it downloads all or many of
them for verification purposes.
A complete list of these target files is not available, but a sampling
of files cited in the early lawsuits includes the following artists and
songs:
Bobby McFerrin, "Don't Worry, Be Happy"
Thompson Twins, "Hold Me Now"
Eagles, "Hotel California"
George Michael, "Kissing A Fool"
Paula Abdul, "Knocked Out"
Green Day, "Minority"
UB40, "Red Red Wine" Ludacris "Area Codes" Marvin Gaye, "Sexual
Healing"
Avril Lavigne, "Complicated"
This is far from a complete list, but if you've downloaded and shared
any of those songs recently, you may be at greater risk of finding your
way onto the RIAA's list.
Step two: The RIAA uses features within Kazaa, Grokster and some other
software programs to list all the files available within a person's
shared folder and takes screenshots of that information. As filed in
court, that provides a record of what in some cases has been thousands
of songs shared at once.
Step three: The RIAA's software records the Internet address associated
with a computer that is sharing one of the copyrighted songs the
organization is investigating. Some file-swapping programs try to hide
this by using mechanisms such as proxy servers, but most downloads still
expose this information.
Step four: According to information filed as part of a related lawsuit,
the RIAA also has the ability to do a more sophisticated analysis of the
files that have been downloaded. The group checks the artist's name,
title, and any "metadata" information attached to the files, looking for
information that may indicate what piece of software has been used to
create the file or any other. Some files swapped widely on the Net
include messages from the original person who created the MP3 file, such
as "Created by Grip" or "Finally the Real Full CD delivered fresh for
everyone on Grokster and Kazaa to Enjoy!"
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The RIAA has also analyzed in detail some files' contents. The trade
group has databases of digital fingerprints, or "hashes," that identify
songs that were swapped online in Napster's heyday. Investigators check
these fingerprints against those found in a new suspected file swapper's
folder, looking for matches. A match means the file has almost certainly
been downloaded from the Net, likely from a stream of copies dating back
to the original Napster file.
Step five: The RIAA files a subpoena request with a federal court. The
subpoena allows the group to go to an Internet service provider and
request the name and address of the subscriber who's associated with the
Net address that was used to swap files. A few Internet service
providers (ISPs) have fought back against these requests, but most have
been forced to comply with the RIAA's request.
Many ISPs notify their subscribers when a subpoena comes in that targets
their information. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has set up a
database that allows people to see whether their online screen name has
been the target of one of these subpoenas.The RIAA said it has filed
more than 1,500 of these subpoenas to date.
Step six: Once the identity of the ISP subscriber has been exposed, the
RIAA puts together all the information gleaned through the earlier
technical investigation and files a lawsuit. In earlier cases, it has
accepted settlement agreements that range between $12,000 and $17,000.
In this case, it has accepted some settlement agreements for as little
as $3,000.
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