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[FYI] Software Bullet Is Sought to Kill Musical Piracy
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/04/business/04MUSI.html?pagewanted=pr
int&position=>
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May 4, 2003
Software Bullet Is Sought to Kill Musical Piracy
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
Some of the world's biggest record companies, facing rampant online
piracy, are quietly financing the development and testing of software
programs that would sabotage the computers and Internet connections
of people who download pirated music, according to industry
executives.
The record companies are exploring options on new countermeasures,
which some experts say have varying degrees of legality, to deter
online theft: from attacking personal Internet connections so as to
slow or halt downloads of pirated music to overwhelming the
distribution networks with potentially malicious programs that
masquerade as music files.
The covert campaign, parts of which may never be carried out because
they could be illegal under state and federal wiretap laws, is being
developed and tested by a cadre of small technology companies, the
executives said.
[...]
A more malicious program, dubbed "freeze," locks up a computer system
for a certain duration — minutes or possibly even hours — risking the
loss of data that was unsaved if the computer is restarted. It also
displays a warning about downloading pirated music. Another program
under development, called "silence," scans a computer's hard drive
for pirated music files and attempts to delete them. One of the
executives briefed on the silence program said that it did not work
properly and was being reworked because it was deleting legitimate
music files, too.
Other approaches that are being tested include launching an attack on
personal Internet connections, often called "interdiction," to
prevent a person from using a network while attempting to download
pirated music or offer it to others.
[...]
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30554.html
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RIAA attacking our culture, the American Mind
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 04/05/2003 at 04:16 GMT
The RIAA's president Cary Sherman is lamenting that there's a lack of
civility in the debate over sharing the music we love. He's
complaining that people object to his effort to plant bombs in your
computer. He says such people are irrational.
The New York Times reveals the record companies are preparing a
program called "silent", which "Locks up a computer system for a
certain duration - minutes or possibly even hours - risking the loss
of data that was unsaved if the computer is restarted," the Times
tells us. "It also displays a warning about downloading pirated
music."
[...]
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