Posted on 02/08/2008 10:58:09 AM PST by ShadowAce
When is a virus not a virus? When it's sending your personal data to the Recording Industry Association of America, silly.
Internet advocacy website Public Knowledge has posted a highlight reel from the State of the Net Conference, where RIAA boss Cary Sherman suggests that internet filtering sorely lacks the personal touch of spyware.
While ISP-level filtering dragnets such as those proposed by AT&T have their way of catching the sloppier digital music thieves out there, the technology is more-or-less bypassed by basic file encryption.
That's why Sherman recommends finding a way to install filtering software directly onto people's home PCs.
"One could have a filter on the end-user's computer that would actually eliminate any benefit from encryption. Because if you want to hear it [the music], you would need to decrypt it. At that point the filter could work," said Sherman.
"Why would somebody want to put that on their machine? They wouldn't likely want to do that," mused Sherman.
Why indeed?
"They'd do that when it benefits them such as for viruses and so on and so forth. But that's the sort of thing that could be enforced whether at the modem or something that's put in by an ISP."
Ah, trickery. But perhaps you'll need some rationalization so it doesn't sound like your average run-of-the-mill nefarious spyware.
"I don't think you should underestimate the educational benefit of these kind of things. A lot of this is basically letting people know that what you're doing here is not OK."
Education. Perfect. If history is any judge, we're sure the RIAA's legal department will find a very reasonable and scholarly way of setting a person back on the straight and narrow. Meanwhile the vast majority who don't steal music will be happy knowing the RIAA is scanning every packet of their incoming data in the name of academia.
Catch the highlights here. Or see the full conference here (watching an hour of streaming Real Player video is done at your own risk). ®
The RIAA can bite me.
I call for the RIAA to bite my shiny metal ass.
Didn’t Sony already try installing rootkit?
Bender fan eh?
No doubt various organizations and individuals would find it very convenient to put a little filter on HIS PC to see if he is paying his taxes, hot-chatting with his secretary, gambling on-line, ordering pharmaceuticals from shady sources, or just generally in need of “political re-education”.
The RIAA needs to be put down like a mad dog.
It’s a good thing I gave up music long ago. They will never get my money.
/sarc
The RIAA would lose this in court. The big thing they have always bitched about is the quality of the recording (ie digital files). It’s the reason why they say you can’t rip a song off your own personal CD. However, FOREVER, they have never cared or never said it was illegal to make mix tapes (on cassettes) from CDs or records or other tapes. Their flaw is that the crux of their argument rests on the quality of the copy making it illegal, when they have already set a precedent of allowing people to make mix tapes or pull tracks onto cassettes and not telling people that THAT was illegal.
So for 25-30 years people have copied music they own onto tapes they listened to or gave to others, and the RIAA never said BOO about it. Now that music is in digital files they now say you can’t make copies of it if the copy is digital quality. That is bullsh1t and quality of the copy is not going to be a strong enough argument against 25-30 years of implicit acceptance of people copying music they own, or sharing it with others.
They are just pissed that the absolute sh1t the music ‘industry’ is pumping out is not being lapped up by people anymore. The vast majority of it is an assault on people’s ears.
How stupid does the RIAA think we are? Depend on them for virus protection? They are bound and determined to drive off their ever-dwindling customer base. See “EMI looking to slash funding for RIAA, IFPI” at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1932227/posts
bttt
Hey, now with Windows Vista, Bill Gates gets 10% for implanting and hiding this RIAA virus on your PC.
Don’t trust Vista.
Would not touch Vista with a 10-foot pole. Was talking to a Geek at Best Buy the other day and he told me about the brisk business they’re doing installing XP in new computers that come with Vista. Snort.
The RIAA will eventually go the way of the buggy whip.
What's truly scary is that he feels he has the right to install software onto others' computers against their will.
Yes.
MS thought the same, but the EU shot that down and forced MS to remove several of their embedded programs in earlier editions of Windows.
Sherman might find an ally in Orin Hatch. Several years ago, Orin was advocating a way of blowing up computers that had illegal downloads.
The trouble is, it is difficult to tell what is illegal and what isn’t.
I can go right now to at least 2 different websites that let me play thousands of music titles online. They claim to be fully legal. They actually download disguised files to a temp directory. So, am I illegal if I find that directory on my computer, find that file, rename it to a real title+extention, and play it as a regular mp3 music file?
RIAA and the similar movie group, along with many politicians, have no real idea about how the Internet actually operates.
You can still buy e-machines at Walmart with XP on them.
“MS is having a difficult time even giving VISTA away.”
There are no piracy issues with Vista. Nobody wants it.
I’ll be damned if they put that crap on my P.C. I’ll erase the hard drive if I find it on it.
GREED BY THE RIAA SEEMS TO HAVE NO BOUNDRIES.
“I’ll watch whatever DVD I pay for regardless of region code. I paid for it with my HARD EARNED money, I will watch it whatever way I want to which includes bypassing their commercials they shove on at the beginning.”
The RIAA’s thinking process:
“You can watch that DVD, but only how we allow you to do it. You only paid for the privilege of watching it and any other use beyond that will get you sued/thrown in jail. And no, you cannot bypass the commercials.”
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