RIAA Cracks Down on Internet2 File Sharing 633
Daverd writes "Hundreds of students at 18 universities nation-wide have had lawsuits filed against them by the RIAA for filesharing over Internet2." The official RIAA Press Release and commentary at MSNBC is also available. From the article: "i2Hub has been seen as a safe haven, and what we wanted to do was puncture that misconception," said Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA. "This has been a subversion of the research purposes for which Internet2 was developed."
true (Score:3, Interesting)
I agree (Score:2, Interesting)
I agree that this has been a subversion. What the heck was the RIAA doing on I2 in the first place! Find out how they gained access to it an remove thier hind end! I2 should be the sole domain of students and teachers and not accessable by industry.
Re:Who didn't see it coming? (Score:3, Interesting)
TO: RIT Students
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is sending notices to
RIT of its intention to subpoena the identity of specific RIT computer
users. This intention is a significant ramp up of the RIAA's efforts to
stop illegal file sharing. RIAA has targeted specific computer accounts used
to access and transmit such files, and issued subpoenas to the service
providers in order to obtain the names and contact information of those
responsible for the file-sharing.
The notices RIT receives are associated with students living in RIT
residences or using the wireless network at RIT. Such notices are in
preparation for a lawsuit against the individuals RIAA believes have
violated copyright law by illegally downloading and uploading music via
file-sharing programs.
RIT policy is not to release the names or contact information of our
computer users unless required to do so by law. Should RIAA pursue legal
action, RIT may be compelled to release the identities of these individuals.
To avoid legal action over inappropriate file-sharing, it is important you
understand the proper use of RIT computing resources. While some
file-sharing is lawful, some file-sharing is not. Some programs used to
download files from the Internet often, unbeknownst to the recipient, turn
the individual's computer into a file-sharing (uploading) server. Even
unknowingly uploading copyrighted works may subject you to legal risk.
Let I2 look out for itself (Score:5, Interesting)
Doubtless from on of the instutions (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What I'd like to know is... (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh yes, I noticed.
Re:Queue "They Have no Right" posts (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously, if I had "Internet2" at my disposal, I could most certainly find something more productive (6 CD Linux install in a few seconds? Yes please.)or at the very least more illegal to do with it than download a lot of crappy music!
RIAA Internet2 access (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Queue "They Have no Right" posts (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah right. Aside from using it to test some pretty fancy high speed protocols [home.cern.ch], the Internet2 in general is really nothing more than a fast pipe for college students to download music on, insulated from the original Internet by BGP. You never see an academic conference requiring "tests on the Internet2" because its geographic concentration is entirely in North America [internet2.edu] and its speed is totally beyond anything you see in the real Internet; that is why everyone wants PlanetLab [planet-lab.org] instead.
- sm
Re:true (Score:5, Interesting)
Not necessarily. I don't see any reason why i2 couldn't be used to develop secure, anonymous, and impervious to lawsuit P2P networks, a lá freenet (but maybe with a more "gnutellish" interface). But then, architectural issues aside, I'm sure that no publicly funded research is undertaken for the sole purpose of copyright infringement. Here's hoping that there is other stuff on that hub that (legally) justifies its existence.
On a related note, anyone who hasn't read Lawrence Lessig's "Free Culture" and has strong oppinions on the topic of filesharing and copyrights owes it to themselves to read this wonderful book. It really gives alot of background to the debate, and puts to rest alot of myths that the major copyright owners would have you buy into. More info at Lessig.org [lessig.org].
Re:Queue "They Have no Right" posts (Score:5, Interesting)
I2hub is used extensively here, and there has been no issues with bandwidth that I am aware of. If it was an issue, the university has shown they have the capabilities to put restrictions in place. Personally, I use i2hub to get legal files (such as Linux ISO images or the TV show that aired last night that I missed, though this is controversial) because the download speed is so fast.
This is not abusing the research network; rather, it is using a network with extreme amounts of bandwidth that would otherwise go unused.
Re:What I'd like to know is... (Score:3, Interesting)
The Problem Is Solved (Score:5, Interesting)
Music, unlike diamonds, does not rely on a natural resource. I've yet to figure out why the hell people just don't switch to independent music. You'd be amazed at how good this type of music really is. You can go to a show for $0.00 to $10.00, RECORD it if you want, TRADE it at will usually, and the MAJORITY of the money goes to the artists!
The key here is that the MUSIC INDUSTRY is SUING the people IN COLLEGE who should simply REVOLUTIONIZE the industry! Go to your local jam band concerts, frequent the college shows, screw the big labels, use your own mind and broaden it. If the money goes independent, then so will the artists. And the artists who want to keep making sixty cents for every ten bucks their parent company makes can go right ahead. They're done getting my money.
Sneaker net? (Score:5, Interesting)
If I take a Maxtor [tinyurl.com] 300GB portable usb drive, plugs it into my pc, loads up with movies, and ships of to a friend? Huge capcity, overnight, or in a few days at least. And besides, ??AA has no real chance of uncovering such transfers.
Well, realistically. What about VPN? Having hard [pgp.com] encryption [gnupg.org] easily obtainable, it should be trivial to share files with friends. If a key is signed by a large enough number of friends, trust it. Otherwise, discard. If a p2p net included strong cryptographi, and trust levels and/or ratings to users, it would be far more difficult for ??AA to eavesdrop those connections. At very least, they'd have to build up a trust, which would probably mean sharing...
Re:Queue.insert(this); (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Queue.insert(this); (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Who didn't see it coming? (Score:3, Interesting)
There was a really good comment in there about how some guy who was an admin on I2 kept getting bogus threat letters from the **AA's, to IPs that had never even existed. A mod up (next time I get points) to the person who finds it!
MPAA "sniffing" is a laughingstock (repost) (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not doing all the work for you, click the link.
Re:The Problem Is Solved (Score:2, Interesting)
Don't you understand that no one is winning? We are not only getting the music taken away and sued, but lobbyists are pushing for new laws, things are even included in the patriot act that help the RIAA get your information! We're losing our rights as Americans (whats left of them after 9-11 anyway). Do you consider these kids in college terrorists? It's just stupid, and the longer we sit here and take it the more its going to hurt when they pull out and we look at the damage done to our rights, freedom and the music industry.
Paid Informants? (Score:3, Interesting)
blocking *AA Ip addresses.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sneaker net? (Score:4, Interesting)
IIRC, the idea is that a file must either be spoofed or not. If Alice reports accurately as to which are and which are not, then you'd trust her ratings. If Bob reports inaccurately (i.e. claiming that spoofed files are not spoofed) then not only can you ignore him, you may even be able to assume that he always lies, which can provide useful information.
You could make multiple users, to avoid building up a bad history, but this would mean that you'd also fail to build up a good history, and if people only trust ratings from people with a good history, this might not be practical.
Similarly, you could try to make an attack by only lying sometimes, but since you're still mostly providing good information, you're still generally providing a benefit to other users.
If you poke around, I'm sure you can find a better description of this general idea.
Re:No Cal-Tech?? (Score:5, Interesting)
What will happen is probably more like:
Judge: Motion denied, and here is an 11(c)(1)(B) motion [cornell.edu] for you to show cause why I shouldn't smack your ass around for causing unnecessary delay [cornell.edu].
Yes, I know you were making a joke, but I'm taking Civil Procedure, and we just covered sanctions.
Completely OT: the Supreme Court declared the tomato a vegetable in Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893) [findlaw.com], in response to a dispute over the Tariff Act of 1883, which taxed vegetables but not fruits.
Re:Queue.insert(this); (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:true (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The Problem Is Solved (Score:5, Interesting)
Exactly. I've tried listening to some stuff on cdbaby.com and some other places, but just haven't heard anything I really like. It doesn't help that I don't seem to like any kind of newer American music: most of my favorite stuff is 70's-80's rock and heavy metal, and a large amount of European heavy metal. Of course, I don't like much RIAA stuff either, but my favorite bands are all 15+ years old, so they're well established and of course, RIAA signed, so if I want copies of their new albums, I either have to download them illegally or buy them at RIAA prices.
If I do buy any CDs, I always get them used, so at least I'm not directly supporting the RIAA (except by helping maintain the value of CDs after first sale), but I absolutely refuse to buy any CDs that have copy protection.
Re:Queue.insert(this); (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Queue "They Have no Right" posts (Score:3, Interesting)
Why is this NOT a legitimate use of I2? Sure, copyright violations are illegal either way, but, if I2 is not very efficient for me to snag Slackware via torrents, then perhaps bittorrent could be improved to function better over higher-bandwidth connections.
Re:Wait a sec... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd think
a) you're complying with the licence terms, as the
GPL doesn't require you to publish the source as you're not distributing outside your company
b) good on you for using open source to improve the lot of your employees
c) it's a bad example, anyway - because:
copying music is not stealing, it's not theft, it's copyright infringement. Different laws, different penalties, different circumstances. Calling it theft won't make it so.
The goal of Free software is to spread knowledge rather than restricting it, using copyright to increase the public good rather than diminish it.
Sharing music is much the same principle - new music comes from a vast pool of existing melodies, riffs and lyrics, and I'd rather it was shared into the public domain than locked up with DRM for at least 100 years. Imagine if those who profited so much from selling other people's work had to give 49% to the artist, another 49% into the public domain (charity, maybe) and only got to keep 2%. Would they consider that fair? So why should we consider them constantly changing the copyright bargain to suit themselves fair?
Sharing music is arguably unethical, but so is charging students $15,000 a track (a penalty designed for commercial infringement) with no chance of them being able to afford to fight.
The RIAA are a private police force using the court system to extort money from people for the benefit of corporations. In addition, they've sued a 12 year old girl, a grandmother who couldn't have infringed, and someone who was dead. Personally, I hope someone accused by error goes to court, wins, and countersues the RIAA's members for a massive amount.
Ah, but laws for VCRs . . . (Score:3, Interesting)
There are strong legal arguments to be made on either side; of course, our current society being corporate-minded and money-fuelled, it probably would end up falling on the side of Big Business. (Call me a left-wing liberal if you will, but try disputing that current law and judicial decisions tend to heavily favor corporations over individual consumers' rights -- whether you think that's okay or not is another question, naturally, as was noted in reverse of sorts by parent).
Re:Queue.insert(this); (Score:2, Interesting)
Isn't that exactly what Overpeer is doing?
Re:Sneaker net? (Score:2, Interesting)
ipv6 (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Nope (Score:4, Interesting)
>illegal.
Not being american, I have to ask, is possession really a copyright infringement? I can understand that the copying in it self of course is illegal. I can understand that a specific copy can have been made in a non legal way, but is possession of that copy an infringemen? Any use of such a copy, as long as it is not a copyright infringement itself, should be legal no? And if not so, do you know were in the law it is said so?