RIAA Attacks Sites Participating in Its Own Campaign

An anonymous reader writes "The RIAA is once again at their old tricks. The band Nine Inch Nails has intentionally 'leaked' songs via USB keys hidden at restrooms during their current European tour. Sites hosting the songs are now being sent cease and desist orders. 'Ironically, with its numerous pirated downloads available, the whole album has not leaked yet. According to a source, the only leaks are the ones Reznor approved himself. And whether he realizes it or not, Reznor may be building a new option for presenting music that augments the existing CD/tour scenario.'"

Huh?

How is the RIAA attacking sites "participating in it's own campaign"? The RIAA isn't an advertising or marketing body. Did anyone check if the USB keys had a distribution license that would permit the songs to be hosted on web sites? Trent Reznor putting music on USB keys is not in itself a blanket license to distribute the songs at will.

Zonk is missing on all cylinders today, why does he still get to be an editor?

Re:Huh?

who owns these songs? I rather suspect it isn't the artists any more.

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"who owns these songs? I rather suspect it isn't the artists any more."

I don't know the details of NIN's contract, but generally the people who wrote the words and music own the words and music, and the people who funded and produced the recording own

Re:Huh?

Current works are built of previous works as a matter of necessity. So calling music distributors thieves is not simply "hot headed". It's simply taking EVERYTHING into account. People build on the works of others and the expect exclusive ownership. Then they interfere with others trying to do the same thing they did (build on the work of others).

That is as much theft as anything that consumer pirates do.

Now the RIAA is trying to interfere with one of it's artists that has realized that pirates are a damn good distribution medium. This situation simply highlights the fact that artists have no real control over their work anymore. Those with the most valuable creative contribution are actually being exploited and abused by the very body that loudly proclaims to protect musicians.

There is also fair use and the actual artists intent to consider.

Re:

"Current works are built of previous works as a matter of necessity. So calling music distributors thieves is not simply "hot headed". It's simply taking EVERYTHING into account. People build on the works of others and the expect exclusive ownership."

T

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Well, delivering clean drinking water is, in fact, an important service, and needs to be paid for somehow, and it usually is. Now, if those North American companies were charging for the right to collect rainwater, then the same reductio ad absurdum applie

Re:Huh?

Exactly. Just because they authorized the distribution of some promo copies of an upcoming release doesn't mean that the people in possession of those promos are authorized to distribute them to others. Yes, it is stupid of them to be killing the buzz around the album by sending these takedown notices, but I don't think they have a choice but to go after the people violating copyright.

Re:Huh?

but I don't think they have a choice but to go after the people violating copyright

They sure do have a choice. Unlike trademarks, copyright does not become suddenly void because you did not prosecute infringements (except possibly in some fringe situations, but in this case there's definitely no danger of that happening).

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It's not even necessarily infringing. Case in point, open source. The authors of the work still hold the copyrights, but they've effectively granted a license to distribute it freely (GPL, BSD, etc).

Re:Huh?

This situation highlights why we need to roll the copyright act
back to 1970. Copyright registration needs to be made mandatory
again along with copyright notices. If something is not intended
for distribution, it should say so. Their should be no presumption
that the RIAA can come and bully you.

If a copy isn't sitting in the Library of Congress and copyable by
the Librarian of Congress, then it should be treated as public domain.

Re:Huh?

More importantly - who steals USB drives from bathrooms?

Re:Huh?

When lawsuits are brought against copyright violators, the plaintiff is oftentimes the label - NOT the RIAA. The RIAA is acting on behalf of the label. The label signed off on the promotion.

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"Trent Reznor putting music on USB keys is not in itself a blanket license to distribute the songs at will."

There is a legitimate question of ownership here so the parent is not off base. If Trent owned the songs, he can do as he wishes. But if the reco

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"The sad reality is that most bands have to give up their copyrights to the record company to get their first record deals. That's why some of the early Beatles songs are owned by Michael Jackson and not the Beatles themselves."

Not hardly. The Beatles

Re:I think you're the confused one

From another article I read, Trent obtained permission to conduct this campain from his label. The label had full knowledge, hope and expectation that the few songs on the USB drive would be widely distributed.

Re:

There's also a difference between "a USB key with a song or two on it", and a string of left behind songs on USB sticks that are part of a campaign that the label signed off on.

I think that once it's clear that the artist is doing it on purpose, on a digi

Re:I think you're the confused one

Let's discuss the following aspect: Assume that an USB stick was given to me by a stranger as a gift. Let's further assume that the USB stick contained an mp3, but no mention of the artist who created it, no copyright message, no license, and the stranger didn't say anything about it. Would I be allowed to publish the mp3 on the internet?

Similarly, if NIN intentionally lose USB sticks with some songs from their unreleased album, how could the finder be expected to know or verify that the mp3 is actually a real NIN mp3 and copyrighted? Call Trent?
At what stage does a song that is sung become a copyrighted song?

You keep using that word...

Ironically, with its numerous pirated downloads available, the whole album has not leaked yet.

Ironically? So the band deliberately released a few songs (albeit in an unconventional way), but the album hasn't yet been illegally leaked. How are these two facts remotely related?

Tool did it differently

Dang, I saw Tool a year ago and all I found on the bathroom floor was vomit.

Re:

Did you try inserting it into an USB port?

Security Standpoint

I just can't help but hope this doesn't catch on. Encouraging people to plug in randomly acquired USB keys is not going to be step forward in security. While I can't imagine it would be a viable option for widespread malware distribution, it could have a significant effect on social engineering one's way into closed networks. Want to infect corporation X? Put USB keys in the restrooms of places where their employees eat lunch. (Yes that could already happen and I think I've heard of it being done, and yes unneeded USB ports should be disabled, but one has to imagine that this would increase the chances of successful penetration significantly. )

Re:

been done already :)

check here http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/08/215 1222 [slashdot.org]

Re:

And what kind of OS will just blindlty starting excuting the code on the USB? Oh... nevermind.

But then again, its nothing new [schneier.com]

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The problem of course is USB keys that autorun on insertion (which shoudn't even be an option on a modern OS) and people clicking on "virus.exe".

Unfortunately, neither one of these is something that can be changed.

Re:Security Standpoint

Really? How many viruses can be transmitted through simply mounting a drive? Of those, how many are very dangerous? Of those, how many will go undetected by antivirus software?

I'm generally pretty cautious, but I think that I'd plug a USB drive into my computer without being sure what was on it. I wouldn't necessarily run any programs on that drive, but I'd be willing to risk plugging it in. You wouldn't?

It just doesn't seem like a great attach vector for spreading malware en masse.

RIAA

There's a special place in Hell for the RIAA. Right next to politicians and people who make reality shows.

Re:RIAA

There's a special place in Hell for the RIAA. Right next to politicians and people who make reality shows.

Is that anywhere near the special place reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theatre?

"found" USB keys

I frequently take things I've found in bathrooms and put them in corresponding ports.
Seriously, USB key, or, really, anything else, who is taking things they find lying around (in bathrooms!) and putting them in their computers?
This might just give script kiddies the idea of a brand new way to start spreading worms...

I'm not sure if i'm trying to be serious or gross, here, but i do know i would not be putting a found USB key in any box of mine (esp. if it is running windows...)
Similarly, what kind of format are these being left in? MP3? WMA? something with some nasty DRM?

Re:"found" USB keys

"Seriously, USB key, or, really, anything else, who is taking things they find lying around (in bathrooms!) and putting them in their computers?"

As if you wouldn't. You know, deep down, some little voice is in the back of your head saying "There might be something embarrasing for the owner of this key on here..." ;)

Re:"found" USB keys

Actually, I would try it out... In someone else's computer.

USB Flash Drive RISKS

When I first read the headline, it reminded me of a story that I saw on the RISKS list [ncl.ac.uk] (and if anyone can find the exact link please do so) In summary (and from memory only) it was:

1/ A security company was contracted to do a pentration test of a bank.
2/ The employees found out, so were being aware of typical social engineering type situations
3/ The security company loaded up some special USB keys that had had key logger and other software on them
4/ 15 to 20 of said keys were scattered around the door of the bank prior to opening hours
5/ With 3 days something like 75% of the keys had phoned home and were reporting that they were connected to computers inside the bank.

After reading this scenario I realised that if I saw a stray USB key I would just plug it in to see what was on it - and I would have fallen for the same trap as the bank employees

Another scenario I heard of (also on RISKS I think) was to go to the front desk of a company, ask to use the bathroom (or toilet for the rest of us), and leave a CD in a prominant location that was clearly labelled with something like "Staff reductions". It wouldn't take very long before that CD was inserted into someones computer at that company.

Re:USB Flash Drive RISKS

After reading this scenario I realised that if I saw a stray USB key I would just plug it in to see what was on it - and I would have fallen for the same trap as the bank employees

After reading this scenario I realized that if I plugged it into my Linux box, that I would see the contents of the filesystem, and not be infected unless there was a buffer overflow and the USB key's filesystem had been maliciously crafted as well. But that seems unlikely.

You could also disable autorun... But I never do, either. It's too handy. (I use Windows to run a couple programs.)

Re:

Yep, it's so much effort to hold down the shift key when inserting the drive. I get tired fingers too, so I feel your pain.

Re:

Hold the shift key to disable autorun.

Fixed.

Re:USB Flash Drive RISKS

This is why the non-windows using world can mount disks with permissions such as noexec (no execute) and other nice little flags and we can be sure it is safe first. I'm sorry to hear the windows users haven't discovered this yet. Someday the 1970's era technology of the un-security focused Unix guys will break through.

Re:

I actually looked this up a while ago. The short answer is yes, Windows will indeed auto-run a USB flash drive. The longer answer is that making it auto-run a flash drive involves some special setup of the USB drive, so if you just dump an autorun.inf file

Reminds me a rabid dog

RIAA reminds more of a rabid dog: Biting at friend and foe alike. An unreasoning animal with no clear objective.

I'm not sure what strategy they're pursuing, but it's not working. One wonders why member companies continue funding an organization that frequently acts against their membership's best interests and frequently paints them in a bad light. It's just astounding to me how poorly RIAA performs their task and how ineffective in achieving their objectives. And they don't seem to learn anything from past failures. It's like a corporate version of the Bush administration.

Don't sell Rez short - he knows his marketing...

According to a source, the only leaks are the ones Reznor approved himself. And whether he realizes it or not, Reznor may be building a new option for presenting music that augments the existing CD/tour scenario.

Um...you really think Rez's leaking songs for something other than to augment his gravy train (CD/tour)? No, like most people trying to make a living in entertainment, he's picked up some marketing savvy along the way, and is using the same "try before you buy" technique that also works when selling software, illegal drugs and laundry detergent.

The story about dropping USBs in the shitter is just a brilliant way to get even more free press: a band putting their B-sides on its web site is already quite common and won't get its story...

Nothing new

The Barenaked ladies did this in their last tour to support their "Barenaked for the Holidays" album.

USB + MP3 + concert.

Not to take away from Trent, big fan of his and the 'Ladies.

Any Publicity is Good Publicity

It seems like the marketing brilliance of this entire scenario is being missed by a lot of people here. How much publicity would NIN gotten without the RIAA enforcement? Would we be having this discussion, for instance? This seems like a well-orchestrated stunt, and color me impressed.

1. NIN scatter these songs around to their fans
2. Predictably, the fans post the songs
3. Somehow RIAA discovers this "infringement"
4. NIN looks like the good guy, RIAA makes the news
5. ...Profit!

How do you suppose the RIAA discovered this infringement?

If they didn't like the marketing campaign...

What do you think they'll make of this?

Trent Reznor has put the full album up on the official website for promotional purposes.
http://yearzero.nin.com/ [nin.com]

(no reg: http://yearzero.nin-thespiral.com/FLJoi4gjw2f/play er.html?reg=no [nin-thespiral.com])

This is the first RIAA-produced album I'm considering breaking my boycott for. First, because it's very good, and secondly, because even if they may get some profit from it, the message to them should be very clear.

Bad article

The article does a horrible job of explaining the campaign. Here are http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070402/music_nm/ninei nchnails_dc;_ylt=AgIXkKsEUNycFRi_5MtSiIeVEhkF [yahoo.com]two http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/20 07/02/22/year-zero-project-way-cooler-than-lost/ [rollingstone.com]si tes that do a better job. This "new thing" everyone is talking about has less to do with the fact that he's giving music away on USB keys and more to do with the series of sites that are linked together and help promote the album. The first site's address to be "discovered" by fans was given in highlighted letters on a tour t-shirt. From there, further "codes" were solved and those lead to other sites, all related to NIN and the album. The keys/songs are just bonus material for fans at the concerts. The sites, with the USB keys, with the tour, with the album is what they are buzzing about, not just the USB keys.

Ironically, the album did leak..

...(probably) between when this article was submitted and now (here [demonoid.com]).

But, because Trent GETS IT, it looks like they had a player already lined up, and you can legally listen to the album here [nin-thespiral.com] (I bet Rob can't wait to get slashdotted :)

Of course the album will leak before it hits the shops. The RI(fucking)AA haven't a clue how to use this to increase sales, so they run around like a headless chicken. Trent decided that since it was going to happen anyway, he might as well be in control as much as possible as to what gets released and when. Makes perfect sense to me from a marketing perspective.

Not only all that, but this album is the best in over a decade (IMHO) - look out for "Vessel" and "The Great Destroyer" (complete with a token nod to The Prophet's Song by Queen :) I think that TGD can best be summed up by (stolen from ETS [echoingthesound.org]), "I AM THE GREAT DESTOYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEER-BOOOM-ZOING-BOOOOM-ZOING- BOOOM, CUURr OAOOOOWWW TING TING BOW!" - yep, the noise is back :)

Re:

Since noone purchased the music they did not subsequently agree to any copyright agreement.

Actually, you don't have to agree to a copyright agreement to be bound by copyright law. The law serves as a sort of default set of rules that you must follow if, f

Re:This is a matter of point of view

Copyright doesn't depend on any kind of license agreement.

If I find a copy of a book, I can't distribute copies of it. If I find a CD, I can't distribute copies of the CD.

Copyright is coded into law and does not depend on any sort of contract.

Who modded this interesting??

Re:

If isn't clearly marked as being not copyrighted, then it is. In general, everything copyrightable is copyrighted by default, unless the author puts it into the public domain (or the author could attach a license to it (such as Creative Commons), but then

Re:This is a matter of point of view

Nonsense. Say I attend a convention (let's say it's a Linux convention) and hear a great presentation by a Linux guru, full of great tips and insights. At the end he gives me a signed free copy of his new book! Sweet! I did not buy this book. I did not enter into any contract in obtaining this book. Does this mean I can scan the book and put it up on my website? No, because the writer retains copyright and I'd be depriving him of sales. I guess what he was saying when he gave me his book was "Only those people at this convention get a publicity copy of my new book for free. It doesn't mean you can give it to everyone else a copy too so that I never make any money from it". Now, explain to me why music is different?

Re:

Granted nin has been downhill since downward spiral

That seems logical.

Re:was part of an alternate reality game

Yeah, for a few weeks my inbox was peppered with email from friends along the lines of "there's this weird NIN thing, I think it's computer hacker stuff, you're a nerd right?"

Much of it is actually fairly brilliant, the Wikipedia article [wikipedia.org] is worth a once-over if you haven't been following things. I'm especially impressed with the fact that they hid a picture in the spectrogram of one of the songs.

Which brings me back to this article.. NIN wasn't just leaking music tracks, they were distributing clues which were part of this whole ARG thing. As such, they were obivously counting on the tracks being further distributed, unless they really believed that the one person who picked up the USB stick in the bathroom would just happen to be a steganography buff or whatever. People were supposed to throw these tracks around and analyse the crap out of them.

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I want to buy the brand of socks you wear - are they made of Kevlar?