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RIAA/MPAA vs. xMule Author, EarthStation 5

Posted by michael on Thu Aug 21, 2003 10:10 AM
from the lunge-and-riposte dept.
Two bits of news in the ongoing battle between the RIAA/MPAA and the rest of the internet: One P2P company, apparently based in Palestine, has thrown down the gauntlet to the movie industry. Meanwhile, a developer of another P2P tool who unwisely chose to live in the USA has been shut down (mirror) by the RIAA.
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  • by InterruptDescriptorT (531083) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:14AM (#6754738) Homepage
    this is getting fucking ridiculous.

    It saddens me as a developer that you can't even deign to write a P2P add without the assumption that it will be used for sharing copyrighted materials and thus shut down by the RIAA/MPAA. It's really amazing to see what lengths these bastards will go to to protect their industry after a major, earth-shattering shift in their profit model.

    I urge everyone reading this to be very diligent in your boycott of buying new music or going to see movies. I haven't bought a CD in 22 months and haven't seen a movie since (believe it or not) 1999. You can't cheat and plead, just one movie! It's the Matrix! I have to see it. Nothing but the bottom line is going to get through to these people. If these folks don't get the message and soon, you may find yourself asking for permission to write anything on your machine that moves bits around.
    • by varith (530137) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:21AM (#6754828)
      The problem is that the entertainment industry is using dropping revenue as proof that they need to implement tighter controls to prevent file sharing. So any boycott may be backfiring!
      • by bigpat (158134) on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:00AM (#6755241) Homepage
        I've been boycotting the music industry since 1996, not because of the RIAA, but because I don't care about music enough to buy it. Nor do I care enough about music to go through the hassle of downloading it, I'll stick to just listening to brainless pop or classical on the way home if I happen to get tired of NPR and the BBC.

        "The problem is that the entertainment industry is using dropping revenue as proof that they need to implement tighter controls to prevent file sharing. So any boycott may be backfiring!"

        They can use it as proof, but that does not make it proof. It is very easy to show that with the increased popularity of Napster that Music sales went up, but when Napster was shut down music sales went down. I don't think that is proof that file sharing increases sales of music, but it certainly shows that their proof is garbage.
        • I've been boycotting the music industry since 1996, not because of the RIAA, but because I don't care about music enough to buy it

          That's not a boycott. That is just you making a choice. It is the same as me, a non-smoker, saying I have boycotted the tobacco industry. If you're not in the market and you don't buy then it is not really a boycott is it.

          We can argue all day that the music industry sucks and the bands all suck but when the bands sell out concert venues in 30 minutes then someone must like them. But why aren't their CD's selling? In 1983 I'd pay full price for a Billy Squire tape for a couple good songs. In 2003 I don't have to. Is P2P to blame? Hell yes. It might be hard to prove using sales figures. You can't look at a pile of receipts and figure out why there are more or less but when you look around at the popularity of P2P, the volume of files online, and the volume of comments HERE and other places as to why people trade there is your proof that P2P is hurting the industry.

          This post will probably be modded as troll or flamebait but it is pretty close to the truth.
          • by Newer Guy (520108) on Thursday August 21 2003, @12:51PM (#6756605)
            See, in 1983, before CD's came out, LP albums cost about $6.98, and tapes about the same. Then CD's came out, costing TEN DOLLARS MORE! The industry's excuse was that CD's cost more to make, "better sound forever", and other rubbish. Now we know these all were lies. CD's now cost about 1/10th as much to press as records cost at their cheapest (and I'm speaking 2003 dollars here which are worth about half of 1983 ones). CD's STILL cost almost 20 bucks apiece. The record companies' excuse is that inflation has finally caught up, which is more bullshit. In essence, they TRIPLED the price of CD's over LP's, got rid of LP's (to remove choice), got rid of singles (to make sure that you HAD to pay $17.98 to get the ONE song you liked), raped the consumer for over 20 years, formed cartels (which would have been illegal in 1983!) and now when the consumer finally has the ability to fight back they respond by bribing our lawmakers to maintain the status quo by passing the DMCA, throwing the Constitution out the window in the process. Yep..sure sounds like an upstanding business model and a fair deal for the consumer, huh?
      • by Greedo (304385) on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:48AM (#6755925) Homepage Journal
        Exactly! The obvious solution is to start text messaging everybody [slashdot.org] instead of going to see a movie or buy a CD.
    • I just got about 52 GB of music from a friend of mine, and you know what? I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. A lot of this shit either underground bands or uncommon stuff, and even the popular stuff I don't care if I didn't buy it. To pull an axiom from The Matrix:

      The RIAA is a system, AC. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around and what do you see? Guitarists, Drummers, Mixers, Singers...the very minds of the people we're trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so innerred, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will that they will fight to protect it. Are you listening to me, AC? Or were you looking at the free lesbian porn?
      • by operagost (62405) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:49AM (#6755127) Homepage Journal
        Now I understand the mindset of Arab Muslim terrorists, who think it's okay to kill innocent people because they're part of the evil Zionist system.
        • by rworne (538610) on Thursday August 21 2003, @12:13PM (#6756219) Homepage
          52GB equates as 'big fish' the RIAA says they'll go after. That equates to 5 kilos, man. You're not just a recreational user now, you're a dealer! Federal penitentiary for you!


          ROFL...

          I can see it now, mandatory sentencing for copyright violations just like drug convictions. Here's a glimpse into our near future (ripped from a current drug bust article):

          MP3 busts yield 17 GBs, 6 suspects
          Police were watching local hotels known to have WiFi

          By Sarah Huntley, Rocky Mountain News
          August 20, 2003

          Denver vice detectives dealt a major blow to local MP3 distributors this week, seizing a total of 17 GBs of ripped tunes.

          The MP3s, recovered during four separate busts, are worth at least $306,000 and would likely have traded for significantly more if bundled in smaller amounts, police said.

          Three of the busts targeted local hotels identified as WiFi hotspots along a popular route for "leeching," or people who download MP3s. The MP3's were being hosted from Texas, said Lt. Kris Kroncke of the Denver Police Department's Vice and Copyright Squad.

          Kroncke said detectives have not determined who were supposed to receive the MP3s, but investigators believe Kazaa was the final destination.

          "(With copyright investigations,) it's feast or famine, but this was an unusually good week for us, to recover that much in intellectual property," Kroncke said.

    • by Chas (5144) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:41AM (#6755051) Homepage Journal

      Not that I'd de-advocating this sort of stance. I'd really prefer that my money not go to these money-grubbing [NAUGHTYS].

      But think on this for a second. These idiots don't even have a NODDING acquaintence with common sense, or even REALITY. All they'll see, and yammer about, when sales plummet is "It's filesharing!" "It's texting!" "It's freedom of speech!"

      No matter what, they're utterly incapable of believing tha that their sales dropoffs are actually due to:

      1. Death of dinosaur markets, resulting in a narrowing of profit vectors.
      2. Death of niches no longer favored by the consumers, resulting in FURTHER narrowing of profit vectors
      3. A tighter, more fiscal-necessity-oriented economy
      4. The decreased efficacy of marketing and promotion in a society that has "peer" review instantaneously available on a global telecommunications network.
      5. An market already HIDEOUSLY bloated by a massive amount of content being released
      6. Alternative forms of entertainment competing for the consumer dollar in said economy
      7. The shoddy market research which results in the greenlighting of...
      8. A growing preponderance of "crap" product being shoveled out to the public which then DON'T get consumed. Tying up resources as product languishes on shelves. For the distributor, the point of sale, and the artist.

      Need I go on?

      In short, no matter what people do, or do not, buy, the likes of the MPAA and the RIAA will merely blame-shift so they don't have to accept responsibility for their own [NAUGHTY]-ups.

      • by enjo13 (444114) on Thursday August 21 2003, @12:05PM (#6756132) Homepage
        Your wrong, kind of.

        The MPAA and the RIAA are quite aware of why they're not making money. They don't truly beleive that filesharing and text messages are killing their business. The people running these things are many things, but stupid is not one of them.

        What they are really interested in is providing the perception of being victims. They are hoping to use this perception that they are failing at the hands of college-age criminals in order to garner anti-competitive protections for their business. Even if they may be making less money than before (is that even true?), media remains a TREMENDOUSLY good business for established players. By establishing themselves as victims, they can prevent new distribution channels (like P2P) that they can't control from allowing new competitors to emerge.

        In the end, that's what this is about. The Theater->Video->Tv chain is a tightly controlled one for the members of the MPAA (the RIAA has similiar in CD->Radio). When indepednent film makers can start to distribute quality work over alternative distribution channels it is in the best interests of these companies to shut them down.

        One thing to consider.. if the RIAA wasn't seen as the victim of 'stealing' on Napster, does the DMCA even get passed? I doubt it.. Much like the airline industry bail-outs. Without 9/11 the Airlines would have a much more difficult time getting money out of our government, but since they are seen as 'victims' of the increased fear after 9/11 it is much easier for them to get these kinds of concessions.

        These laws are not born out of hatred for the American consumer, but generally on really wanting to do the right thing. After all, if the MPAA is being stole from then we should do what we can to fix that. The problem is, our representatives are having trouble seeing the difference between justice and manipulation.
    • by Kaa (21510) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:53AM (#6755170) Homepage
      It saddens me as a developer that you can't even deign to write a P2P add without the assumption that it will be used for sharing copyrighted materials and thus shut down by the RIAA/MPAA.

      Sure you can. Grokster and Morpheus won their court case, remember?

      The xmule situation is very unclear. There are three not necessarily related things happening:

      (1) The guy got a subpoena. That's basically a court order saying "come talk to us". He is not under arrest and so far hasn't been charged with anything. Hysterics about federal jails and moving to Mexico seem to be quite uncalled for.

      (2) His ISP cut him off for "unacceptable use". Looking at cable providers' Terms of Service, it seems you can't do anything but browse the web anyway, so I am sure he broke some clause there. Likely he's been running a server on his connection which most ToSes prohibit. Tough luck. Dump the cable and get a DSL line instead.

      (3) He is getting close to his bandwidth limit. Well, that's the consequence of popularity. Nothing earthshattering there.

  • Full text of article (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mskfisher (22425) * on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:16AM (#6754756) Homepage Journal
    He mentions having reached 90% of his bandwidth allocation for this month, so I would guess a Slashdotting wouldn't help things.
    Here's the full text of the article, to hopefully stem some of that tide.

    Today's Featured Article I've been personally shut down...


    Thursday, August 21 2003 @ 12:46 AM CDT
    Contributed by: Un-Thesis
    Views: 788
    Apparently I have been subpoenad, personally, on 8-17-2003 by an as-yet unknown entity under the DMCA clause, because of xmule, when it went on to gov'ment radar w/ the e-matters.de alert :P The subpoena lasts, suposedly, until Dec 6, when i must stand infrotn of a federal appellet court

    100% of My job is online
    100% of My school is online
    100% of My friends are online
    100% of My hobbies are online

    and if i can't use a comptuer at all, they might as well put me in a federal
    prison taht allows me to read and purchase any book i want...

    As of 7:43AM MST (-7 UTC) my personal internet connection was shut down due to "unacceptable use". It took me 6 hours to finally contact my ISP customer support, a local cable modem provider, because they were swamped with MSBLASTER calls.

    I was redirected to a 1800 number who redirected me to some other number, etc, until i finally reached a federal clerk's office in Washington, D.C. who informed me that it *seems* as though I have been personally subpaened by the USA Gov'ment on behalf of the RIAA. They told me that they were limited in their search for information due to the late hour (8PM EDT (-4 UTC)), but that the prosecuting body that issued under hte auspicies of the DMCA and NOT in the same category as the other 8,000+ copyright violation affidavits issued by the RIAA in recent months.

    Additional bad news: xmule.org has reached 90% of its allocated monthly bandwidth. It is the 19th. I am very incapable of rectifying this decision w/out knowledgeable outside assistance in the United States (due to telephone communication required). If you can help me set up the other webserver, please contact me at 520-296-3408.

    Unless DRASTIC action is taken within the next 48 hours, or my internet connection is restored, xmule.org forums will be permanently shut down until the bandwidth issue can be resolved.

    Supposedly, the subpaena was filed on 8-17-2003. For those that know, the e-matters.de published xmule ni its security bulletin, thus, probably, raising us to teh level of teh RIAA's notice for the first time. Since I am the only american developer, and since i am really the only main developer, it seems they struck at the source.

    I have not received written or otherwise announcement of the subpaena, and i still do not know the ramifications of my injunction. I may be able to use dialup or even DSL, cable is certainly out, or I may be completely barred form teh internet (this message might be illegal)

    At this point i *know* i will need to hire a civil rights attorney, and if I am not liable to a prison sentence, then I might be able to leave the United States to either Mexico or Canada, at which point i will also need money to relocate...So any donations are greatly appreciated. PLEASE use the Amazon donation box, since it requires no online access by me, while paypal erquires a connectino.

    I wont' know what my options are until some time tomorrow or later. Development of xMule seems to be the most likely target of me, since I have downloaded very little copyrighted material over the last, o, 6 months. I figured that before i found out i was banned completely from the internet i would send this mesasge...

    Keep it real...weclome to the Fourth Reich of Amerika.

    Un-Thesis
      • by darkov (261309) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:31AM (#6754940)
        I intend to flee if you try to arrest me.

        Not quite, I think he is saying that he has to relocate to continue his work. Let's face it. The US is a pretty fucked place to live unless you're rich and have several lobbyists on the payroll.
  • by borgdows (599861) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:16AM (#6754759)
    (...) Earthstation 5 is at war with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Record Association of America (RIAA), and to make our point very clear that their governing laws and policys have absolutely no meaning to us here in Palestine, we will continue to add even more movies for FREE.
    (...)
    ES5 (http://www.es5 .com) does not require any signups, registration, credit cards and/or any other personal information to watch the first rate streamed movies like TERMINATOR 3, BRUCE ALMIGHTY, MATRIX RELOADED, etc. Our secure software protect our users who use our P2P application and there is nothing that you can do to stop us, says Ras Kabir, president of Earthstation 5 (http:/www.earthstation5 .com).
    (...)
    Ras Kabir's warning to the RIAA and the MPAA, "The next revolution in P2P file sharing is upon you. Resistance is futile and we are now in control".

    OMG! It's what I call a man who has BALLS!!
    • by mccalli (323026) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:30AM (#6754926) Homepage
      OMG! It's what I call a man who has BALLS!!

      He certainly does. Calling Bruce Almighty a first class movie takes something special.

      Cheers,
      Ian

    • by Trigun (685027) <evil&evilempire,ath,cx> on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:58AM (#6755228)
      They are anti-establishment. Their software is the epitome of ideals held by hackers everywhere.

      From the article:Earthstation 5 also has a FREE multi-user Voice and Video chat system,
      FREE Dating system, provides FREE video streaming of first run movies, FREE
      ten SEX channels, FREE live Sporting events, and will be releasing soon a
      Voice over IP application providing FREE local and international telephone
      calls to its users to communicate with each other.


      They are attacking the old bricks-and-mortar businesses, in an attempt to force them to change their ancient business practices. And good for them! Information wants to be free, but content doesn't have to be. These companies had better start releasing their music/movies/services to the unwashed masses in a proper and timely manner or people are going to do it for them.
    • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:33AM (#6755733)
      And from this [gonze.com] mans blog :

      So I just tried installing ES5 on my Windows machine. The first thing
      it did is attempt to connect to an IP in the Gaza Strip. The
      administrator for that IP block is someone with an earthstationv.com
      email address. Then my keylogger warning program popped up and
      complained that the program had attempted to hook to my keyboard. I
      killed it, and ran an uninstall. The uninstall failed because some of
      its DLL's were still 'in use' despite no matching processes. I rebooted
      and was able to do a successful uninstall manually. Afterwards, I
      checked my registry and removed a fresh entry from "Intertrust," a
      company that makes DRM software.

      Overall, an entertaining experience.
  • Oy. (Score:5, Funny)

    by NaugaHunter (639364) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:17AM (#6754773)
    That's all we need. The MPAA and RIAA getting involved in the Middle East. I wonder if Big Oil will like the competition.
  • by kindbud (90044) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:18AM (#6754792) Homepage
    No other press releases that I can find on prnewswire.com have had their company website URL link made inactive. Looks like the MPAA/RIAA can strongarm Prnewswire to remove what they allege are offending links from press releases, even if its a corporate website.

    Watch out Apple, your press releases may be next to have links disabled.
  • by Dark Lord Seth (584963) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:20AM (#6754820) Journal
    Earth Station 5 is spyware free, adware free and contains no popups and/or annoying advertising. Earth Station 5 is located both in Gaza and in the Jenin Refugee Camp of Palestine.

    HTTP error 506:

    Server has been ran over by an Israeli tank.

  • by dowobeha (581813) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:22AM (#6754837)
    OK, so here's a question for you....

    Most countries are signatories to one or more copyright treaties that commit them to recognizing and protecting international copyrights. They are therefore more or less prohibited from allowing the explicit breach of copyright declared in this PR release.

    But who is responsible for enforcing copyright in an occupied country? Palestine has been recognized by the UN as an occupied territory, with Israel as the occupying power. With little real power, is the Palestinian Authority still supposed to enforce copyright restrictions? Or is that for Israel to do?

    The same situation would apply, I assume, in Iraq. America is the occupying power, so I would think the same criteria should apply as in the Israel/Palestine situation. There is no true Iraqi government to enforce copyright, but on the other hand it seems a bit absurd to think that American laws should govern Iraq.

    Interesting situation....

    • by sometwo (53041) on Thursday August 21 2003, @02:39PM (#6757778)
      Cannibals capture three hunters an American, a Briton, and an Israeli," begins a classic Israeli joke. The first two hunters make last requests typical to their nationalities, then it is the Israeli's turn. He asks that he be punched in the face.

      The surprised cannibal grants the wish, at which point the Israeli pulls out a gun, shoots the chief, and frees himself and his friends. The American and Briton, furious, demand to know why he prolonged their terrifying experience when he had the power to free them all. The Israeli replies: "What? Are you mad? The UN would have condemned me as the aggressor.
  • The amazingly out-of-touch theme of the web site.

    Hey! 1997 called! They want their web developer back!

  • probably hoax (Score:5, Interesting)

    by guybarr (447727) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:28AM (#6754907)

    I'm not a speaker, but AFAIK "Ras Kabir" is arabic for "large head"
    definately a pseudonym.

    What's more, with the fighting in the west-bank over the last two years,
    I doubt that people there had time to run any OS project, let alone one with "15 million active online users" cocurently. Especially entertainment-oriented.

    This "declaration of war" is probably a hoax, and I wouldn't be surprized if kooky conspiracy-theories actually turn-out true in this case ...

    (BTW, I'm not much of a speaker, but AFAIK "Ras Kabir" is arabic for "large head" definately a bad pseudonym )

  • Wow (Score:4, Funny)

    by autopr0n (534291) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:34AM (#6754967) Homepage Journal
    100% of My job is online
    100% of My school is online
    100% of My friends are online
    100% of My hobbies are online

    and if i can't use a comptuer at all, they might as well put me in a federal prison taht allows me to read and purchase any book i want...


    Man... get a life. Maybe taking away your computer would be a good thing :P
  • Interesting (Score:5, Informative)

    by randyest (589159) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:37AM (#6755004) Homepage
    From the website, it seems they do have their privacy ducks in a fairly neat row:

    ES5 #1 goal is to protect its users from intrusions to their privacy by providing encrypted traffic, random ports and IP anonymity:

    ONE CLICK PROXY SERVER - Users can send connection requests through intermediary proxy servers located throughout the world so that the download destination of a file cannot be traced by any entity whatsoever. There is nothing for the user to set-up, just right click to enable the proxy server.

    SSL - SECURE SOCKETS - Prevents monitoring of a user's uploading or downloading activity. Users can automatically deploy SSL by right clicking.

    UDP -USER DATAGRAM PROTOCOL Using UDP makes it impossible to reliably scan a useras computer to determine if ES5 is running. Also, unlike TCP connections, UDP traffic can not be easily blocked by ISPs.

    ES5 SECURITY KEY - ES5 utilizes a standard HTTP server to transmit files, but deploys a special "security key" so than only ES5 users can access your shared files.

    IP ADDRESSES - ES5 does not display user IP Address information.

    DYNAMIC PORTS- Each ES5 node uses a randomly chosen port (unless the user chooses a specific port themselves). Therefore, ISPs will be unable to identify file-sharing traffic based upon port numbers and unable to throttle back the users bandwidth.

    USER DEFINED PORT SETTINGS- ES5 provides users with "one-click" port setting options for ES5 to use port 53 (the port used by DNS) or port 37 (the port used by time service) therefore rendering all blocking attempts hopeless.

    MULTIPLE POINTS OF ENTRY - ES5 uses multiple methods for connecting to the ES5 network including IP Multicast, Usenet Articles, Web Sites, Node List Files and a several other undisclosed methods.

    PENETRATING FIREWALLS - UDP allows seamless penetration of firewalls without inconvenient setting of firewall parameters. For users behind firewalls, ES5 uses UDP to request a PUSH, where the behind-the-firewall computer initiates the connection back to the requested user's computer. PGPDisk - As an additional security feature, to all P2P programs, is that ES5 integrates seamlessly with PGPDisk (which is a free program and will be provided by ES5 to its users) that lets you encrypt your disk drives to store your P2P content. No one except you will ever be able to see your files, not your kids, your spouse, your mother, your boss, the FBI, the KGB or anyone else!

    So, the plot thickens. Whatever will the *AA do? ;)
  • 1. Wonderful press release, kick the MPAA/RIAA where it hurts.

    2. Web site not slashdotted.

    3. 40kb/sec download of the software. Exactly what kind of net pipes do they have running into Jenin? Maybe download.es5.com is located somewhere else...

    4. None of this "we're just technology providers" bullshit. No, this is theftware at its best. Hey, the US has paid billions to help the Israeli state bomb the Palestinians into the stone age, it's not surprising there is not huge local support for US "intellectual property".

    The software was apparently developed in Russia, financed by Arab and Israeli businessmen. It appears to use UDP rather than TCP/IP, which is a neat idea when you are sending redundant chunks of information around, and SSL for security, which may or may not be really secure.

    The whole thing may be a hoax, I am downloading it to a test machine to try right now.

    At last, someone with the guts to sock it to those bums at the MPAA and RIAA. Yeah!!
    • by srvivn21 (410280) on Thursday August 21 2003, @01:16PM (#6756847)
      [me polymorph]# dig download.es5.com

      download.es5.com. 10m36s IN A 213.152.119.5

      [me polymorph]# dig -x 213.152.119.5 ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
      213.in-addr.arpa. 2H IN SOA ns.ripe.net. ops-213.ripe.net.

      In other words, download.es5.com's IP address is "owned" by ripe.net. http://www.ripe.net/ripencc/about/ [ripe.net] states in part:
      The RIPE Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) is one of Four Regional Internet Registries (RIR) that exist in the world today, providing allocation and registration services that support the operation of the Internet globally.

      The RIPE NCC performs activities primarily for the benefit of the membership in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and African countries located north of the equator. These are mainly activities that its members need to organise as a group, even though they may compete in other areas.

      The services provided by the RIPE NCC ensure the fair distribution of global Internet resources in the RIPE NCC service region required for the stable and reliable operation of the Internet. This includes the allocation of Internet (IP) address space, autonomous system numbers and the management of reverse domain name space.


      A traceroute from my desk shows (again, in part)...

      11 bpr1-so-0-0-0.sanjoseequinix.cw.net (208.173.54.65) 50.889 ms 51.496 ms 55.282 ms
      12 208.173.54.74 (208.173.54.74) 55.430 ms 51.065 ms 50.517 ms
      13 so-5-0-0.gar1.sanjose1.level3.net (209.244.3.137) 51.761 ms 52.379 ms 55.816 ms
      14 so-7-0-0.mp1.sanjose1.level3.net (64.159.1.73) 62.741 ms 58.862 ms 51.160 ms
      15 unknown.level3.net (64.159.3.254) 114.017 ms 113.364 ms 111.183 ms
      16 so-2-0-0.mp1.london2.level3.net (212.187.128.137) 188.881 ms 189.685 ms 188.827 ms
      17 so-2-0-0.mp1.amsterdam1.level3.net (212.187.128.26) 195.189 ms 193.874 ms 194.465 ms
      18 gige10-2.ipcolo1.amsterdam1.level3.net (213.244.165.99) 191.791 ms 192.253 ms 195.587 ms
      19 unknown.level3.net (213.244.164.18) 192.521 ms 193.254 ms 192.870 ms
      20 213.152.119.253 (213.152.119.253) 193.077 ms 192.419 ms 193.005 ms
      21 213.152.119.5 (213.152.119.5) 193.729 ms 192.124 ms 194.005 ms

      So download.es5.com looks to be housed in Amsterdam (gige10-2.ipcolo1.amsterdam1.level3.net).

      Just my take on the situation.
  • Don't buy in to it (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nahdude812 (88157) on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:23AM (#6755609) Homepage
    As loudly as they proclaim, "Get your Illegal Warez here, we will protect you, we got nothing but illegal sutff," I don't trust them to not be a trap for users. Think about it, RIAA/MPAA set this up, make it super duper abundantly clear that the only purpose here is to be illegal, they score a two fold victory: first their case is strengthened against P2P in general, and second, they eventually sue said company and in an "out of court agreement" come away with complete logs of who did what on the network. Now they get to really sue those people, and their case is all the stronger, "More people watched Terminator 3 on the net than went to see it in theatres!"
  • by Un-Thesis (700342) on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:37AM (#6755790) Homepage
    Below is a copy of my letter to my senator, McCain, of Arizona. Feel free, indeed encouraged, to email your own senator (or even others!) and representatives. You can find their addresses at http://www.senate.gov/ and http://www.house.gov/

    With respect,
    Un-Thesis
    =====================
    Dear Senators,

    Some of you have . It affected me personally on 17-Aug 03. I am the main developer of one of the few person-to-person filetrading programs for UNIX (Linux, FreeBSD, etc) machines and MacOS X.

    Apparently I was struck without warning by some DMCA clause for downloading 'copyrighted material.' In other parts of the law, you need habeus corpus, search warrants, judicial review, warning, etc. With the DMCA they merely terminate you, with no warning, with no appeal, with no representation, with no pretense of jurisdiction, based upon evidence that was 100% obtained outside the framework of any noticeable governmental or 3rd-party oversight.

    In short, it is an apparently open fascist policy prone to rampant abuse, supporting the rights of the Establishment over the People.

    My life revolves around the marvelous information transport technologies collectively referred to as the Internet. I attend a part-time university online (www.accis.edu), near 95% of my contact with my friends and family is online, 100% of my employment is online (via rentacoder.com), and my personal hobbies (www.xmule.org) and political activities (www.fearlesszippy.com, wakeup-people.com, etc) are online.

    In short, terminating my internet without warning has seriously halted my life. It is time we make the right to chat online a fundamental human right. The government should be allowed to restrict a person's movements (prohibit uploads, downloads, etc) by placing restrictions on the amount of data a 'criminal' should be able to send online in a given day or so (500KB should be sufficient for email, chat, etc). Such bandwidth caps are already implemented by teh vast majority of broadband suppliers throughout the nation adn would be just about as easy to implement and enforce as the current DMCA suspension of accounts.

    I just wish there would be *some* judicial process involved in the DMCA. I should have my constitutional right to a fair trial. This is above and beyond the reasons why most people download movies. People overseas download movies and music because of artificial monopoly regulations that delay the international exportation of American media by weeks and even months.

    People in America download media because they are either too poor to purchase the overpriced media, and also primarily to see if a given media is of good enough intellecutal quality to warrant purchasing, due to the unequal consumer rights 'laws' which prohibit the returning of open media.

    Generally, people download not out of nefarious intent, but because they lack real alternatives to verify the intellectual quality of any given electronic Media before purchasing.

    Thus, more consumer rights laws, less 'illicit' copyright infringement.

    Sincerely,
    Theodore R. Smith
  • Remember WASTE (Score:5, Informative)

    by cc_pirate (82470) on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:51AM (#6755960)
    You can share with your friends (instead of 60M people) so it's less guilt factor. Plus it is over an RSA encrypted link. The best of all P2P worlds.

    http://waste.sourceforge.net/
  • by uncoveror (570620) on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:51AM (#6755964) Homepage
    "Allah Ackbar! Earthstation 5 declares Jihad against the evil infidels of the MPAA and RIAA. May their souls roast in the pit of hell! We call on all file sharers to join the Intifada. Death to Hollywood! AHLAHLAHLAHLAHLAHLAH!!!"

    Is this the cyberterrorism the talking heads on the idiot box have gone on and on about?

  • by JoeShmoe (90109) <askjoeshmoe@hotmail.com> on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:55AM (#6756011)
    For the "sake of curiousity" I decided that I wanted to check this site out. Particularly the claim of providing first-run movies (I'm not interested in wasting my money on The Hulk...hey I got the text page telling me it sucks, remember?). I don't know if it's the bandwidth constraints of refugee camps or the serious slashdotting but the movie stop for two minutes of buffering just about every 20 seconds.

    Frustrated, I whipped out my trusty copy of ASFRecorder. Imagine my surprise when it failed to connect! First time that has ever happened to me. So I whipped out my trusty backup copy of ASFRecorder that was recompiled with a Windows Media Player User-Agent string. That didn't work either! This was bizarre. I'm watching the video play right now (albeit poorly) in WMP but ASFRecorder with the exact same user agent is getting connection closed. I try HiDownload, again, failed, even with the same agent string! What is going on here?

    The entire thing is SWF based so I download an evaluation copy of SWF Scanner and decide to see what URL I'm actually going to. Low and behold, what is this?


    on (unLoad) {Get URL("mms://stream.es5.com:1755/es5/movies/The%20Hu lk-384.wmv" , Target = "")


    What the hell is with that blank "target" paramenter? Can anyone explain that? I have a feeling that is the problem. ASFRecorder only takes a URL, there is no place to specify a target. Ditto for HiDownloader and Windows Media Player. I confirmed that if I type the stream location into Media Player, it fails to connect. But, if I make an ASX file that links to the stream and includes the blank "target" parameter, it works!

    Okay, now it's gone beyond trying to see if The Hulk is really as crappy as everyone says. This is a mystery, and I'm hoping someone here can figure it out.

    In short, streaming file plays in Windows Media Player but it seems impossible to capture this stream using any of the tools available. Is there a solution? And why would these boneheads at war with the RIAA/MPAA bother to sabatoge downloads to begin with?

    - JoeShmoe
    .
  • A thought.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Awptimus Prime (695459) on Thursday August 21 2003, @12:03PM (#6756108)

    Isn't it amazing how something so unimportant as a few studios that produce screen plays and music can drastically change the laws in a huge country full of freedom loving (wanting) people?

    The RIAA and MPAA members wealthy off our dollar. Please don't spend more money with these people unless you don't mind kissing more freedoms goodbye.

    • Nope.. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by fault0 (514452) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:22AM (#6754843) Homepage Journal
      Their company page (http://www.es5.com/company.html [es5.com]) says:

      "Our group is made up of many people, Jordanians, Palestinians, Indians, Americans, Russians and Israelis. Some of us are Jewish, some Christians, some Hindus and other of us are Muslim.

      Believe it or not, we all love and respect each other.

      We all work and play together. Our families on many occasions eat at the same dinner table. We trust each other and are very close friends with each other. As a group, the most important thing in our life is our children, our families and love ones and of course our friends. "
      • Re:Nope.. (Score:5, Funny)

        by Scrameustache (459504) on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:33AM (#6755739) Homepage Journal
        As a group, the most important thing in our life is our children, our families and love ones and of course our friends.

        Bunch o' freaks! The most important things to me are my computer, my iPod, and my broadband connection.

        Those crazy palestinians ;- )
    • Re:It's Idiotic. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Hatta (162192) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:31AM (#6754942) Journal
      You have the right to do anything you want until the state takes that right away. The ES5 live in a country where american copyright is not recognized. You may argue that what they are doing is unethical. You might have a point, law does not dictate morality.

      Now users of this software may be be breaking the law, but I would argue that they are doing nothing unethical. After all law does not dictate morality.
    • Re:It's Idiotic. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Dunark (621237) on Thursday August 21 2003, @10:46AM (#6755098)
      ...Yes, Hollywood DOES have the right to make money. ...

      No they don't. They have the right to TRY to make money by making movies that people want to see. They have no right to expect a profit if they make crap, no matter how much they spend making the crap.
      • The problem is (Score:4, Insightful)

        by phorm (591458) on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:46AM (#6755906) Homepage Journal
        People don't download the crap. They don't even download the good stuff to avoid getting crap. They download to avoid paying.
        Now, I'm no fan of any of the money-hungry lawsuit-happy big corps out there, but you have to use your head a bit. The RIAA business model is based around singles and one-hit-wonders. To get one decent song you want, you have to shell out for a whole CD or Album which often otherwise contains crap.

        It's not about the expense of CD's themselves... I find that a CD with 90%+ good content is worth the bucks (if it weren't funding the RIAA)... it's about getting a shitty value for our dollar.

        Now with movies it is different. Unless you go to opening night (and that's your choice) there are loads of movie reviews out quickly. The MPAA even admits that text messaging [slashdot.org] is speeding this process. Now, are these idiotic lawsuits a good thing? No.

        However, to turn the buck around, is expecting to get away with downloading perfectly good movies just to avoid paying for them a good thing either? No! The MPAA does make good movies. Over the last year I've seen lots of em (American Wedding being the latest). They were worth my cash, and if the MPAA went after users who were providing bootleg/P2P movies I think that would be great. Going after the programmers is dumb... but everyone else is trying to freeload a quality product.

        Come on people, you don't believe that anime [slashdot.org] should be "pirated", so why should movies? Want them to cost less, protest the huge f***ing wages going to bullsh*t actors or producers. Don't watch the movie. But if you go out and download Revelations insteading of paying to see/buy it... then you're no better them them... you're just being a greedy bastard.

        In summary. Nope, we don't have to pay for the crap. But the stuff being downloaded isn't crap, or at least it's in demand, or it wouldn't be downloaded. I won't be buying any RIAA music anytime soon, but I will be seeing Revelations in the theatre, as it shoudl be. How about you?
        • by Xerithane (13482) <xerithane.nerdfarm@org> on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:05AM (#6755317) Homepage Journal
          I don't agree with the Palestinian suicide bombings, but all the evidence that I've seen suggests that Israel poses a far more immediate threat to most Palestinians than Iraq ever posed to the US; so if we're going to complain about killing civilians, let's start at home.

          I'm pretty sure that Israelis wouldn't fuck with anybody if people stopped blowing them up. I've never lived there, but talked to quite a few people who have, and have family members and that seems to be a general consensus amongst them.

          That should be their new slogan, "Stop blowing us up and we'll stop taking your land."
          • by misterpies (632880) on Thursday August 21 2003, @11:38AM (#6755805)
            Israel has never once started one of the wars that it has participated in

            Sorry, I think you must have forgotten about the six day war in 1967 (OK so it was a "preemptive strike". Name a war where the first person to attack hasn't claimed that). You also seem to have overlooked the 1978 and 1982 invasions of Lebanon -- the last one being condemned even by the US. So by my counting Israel was invaded twice in the last 55 years: the 1947 independence war and the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Perhaps you were confusing Israel with Lebanon, which has never started a war but has been invaded three times in the last 30 years (by Syria in 1976, Israel in 1978 and 1982).

            However, it should be noted that there has never been a strike against an unimportant figure.

            I suppose that depends how you defined important figures. Even if you count any suspicious looking palestinian as "important", I don't see how you can include people like James Miller, a british reporter, or Iain Hook, a UN aid worker. Of course the Israeli army admits these were "mistakes", but does that exonerate them?

            Never do you see in the news: Israel kills busload of Palestinian schoolchildren. Why?

            Because the Palestinians don't have the option of sending in helicopter gunships to assassinate Israeli politicians. I'm not condoning suicide bombings, but your comparison is laughable. In a conflict, each side will naturally make use of the means at its disposal. Moreover israel's "targeted assassinations" invariably kill many more people than just those being targeted -- but obviously a 6-year-old girl who happens to live next door to a Hamas leader doesn't matter as much as a 6-year-old killed in a suicide bombing.