[FYI] Software Bullet Is Sought to Kill Musical Piracy

["Axel H Horns" <axel.h.horns@gmx.net>]

<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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