p2pnet - rss feed: Jesuit school’s RIAA p2p ‘filter’
p2pnet.net News:- A Jesuit secondary school in California has the distinction of being the first educational institution to trust the RIAA’s doubtful p2p ‘filter’ on its school network.
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is an enforcement-cum-PR unit owned by the Big Five record labels although only one of them - Warner Bros - is actually based in America.
RIAA boss Mitch Bainwol has been strenuously marketing Audible Magic’s CopySense Network Appliance to congress and the mainstream media, saying it’s the answer to p2p file sharing which, he and the labels claim, is devastating their multi-billion-dollar business and exposing their artists to terrible financial hardship.
Now Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, founded in 1851, is apparently looking to it to keep out of trouble with the RIAA, Audible Magic’s ipso facto partner, in a variation of the Napster II Ploy under which a download service channels product made by the RIAA’s owners to university students on the grounds it’ll help to keep them from being sued ———— by the RIAA.
Other US universities developed their own anti-p2p systems which enable them to act as RIAA enforcers to keep out of trouble with the RIAA.
Florida’ ICARUS was the first, with Arizona reportedly seeking help from Florida. The University of California at Los Angeles uses its own in-house app to disconnect students accused of trading unauthorised songs or movies on the campus network.
Nor is Hollywood leaving it to the schools to come up with computerized pseudo-cop systems. The Automated Copyright Notice System (ACNS) was developed by Universal Music Group and Vivendi Universal Entertainment.
“With the CopySense appliance, I have the flexibility to either block all P2P traffic, log all P2P traffic, or block only that P2P traffic which is considered to be illegal by lawmaking bodies,” says Chris Cary, IT administrator at Bellarmine, quoted by Audible Magic.
“This device saves me a lot of time and energy as a system administrator since I no longer have to worry about illegal activities through P2P applications on our campus network.”
Don’t count on it, Cary. This is somewhat like the faith BMG, the German Big Five cartel member, has in SunnComm copy protection software it (and EMI, a third cartel member in the UK) are using to stop people from copying CDs.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. What one person can create, another can put asunder, is about the size of it.
On the Audible Magic app, P2P United, the lobby group for commercial p2p operators, hand-delivered a letter to Bainwol demanding access to the ’song-recognition software’.
More than a week after it was at the RIAA’s HQ, trade group members BearShare, Blubster, e-Donkey, Grokster and Morpeus still hadn’t been able to conduct a hands-on trial although Bainwol disingenuously told CNET News he “would be delighted for them to do so”.
That was quite a while back. They still haven’t been seen it and as far as p2pnet is aware, there’s been no public demonstration of the software in action (not one where knowledgeable people have been able to ask questions, at least) and nor has there been an independent review backing RIAA and/or Audible Magic claims.
Moreover, CopyNonSense apparently gives up when confronted by encrypted systems, with all that implies.
Whether it works or not, however, it’s an excellent tool for discrediting legitimate US companies - such as those represented by P2P United.
June 28th, 2004 at 8:15 pm
It would be interesting to know if this school went to the RIAA because the RIAA was on its case, and the RIAA then told them to get this Audible Magic thing.
June 28th, 2004 at 10:13 pm
“what you spend millions to create, i can crack for pennies”
June 28th, 2004 at 10:56 pm
How about for nothing - hehe
June 29th, 2004 at 12:00 am
You’re getting two separate things crossed in this story.
The Automated Copyright Notice System (ACNS) is a standard XML format so that when a copyright holder sends email notices of copyright infringement to an ISP or university, that ISP or university could automatically process that notice into a database or otherwise follow whatever their procedures are for responding to notices. Basically, this lets a script replace an overworked human being with a dull job, which is what scripts are for.
Audible Magic’s CopySense is a technology that fingerprints files being transferred and matches the fingerprints against a list of known copyrighted material, blocking transfer of copyrighted material. Audible Magic’s technology is widely used already (i.e. anyone can see it in action fairly easily by calling Audible Magic’s sales people, who I am sure would be delighted at the opportunity to do a demo). The only new thing in the p2p demo is that the technology is integrated into a p2p client so that it blocks the download of copyrighted material. Whether or not you think that Audible Magic’s fingerprinting works well, the demonstration makes the point that it’s entirely possible for p2p file sharing networks to attempt to control their contents.
June 29th, 2004 at 1:28 am
Hi, Audible Magic. Or is it RIAA?
Anyway, thanks for the input.
June 29th, 2004 at 7:27 am
I’m sure these folks have discovered that they don’t need p2p. Newsgroups are the same deal. Like a brilliant band once said…
‘Tell me what you want, what you really really want’.
Young folks figure that out pretty easy. Newsgroups are free from all that RIAA crapola!
June 29th, 2004 at 6:06 pm
Hello,
I am trying to notify Mr. Newton, and anyone being prosecuted for file sharing in California, that the Calfiornia District Attorneys Assocation is accepting money from the RIAA. Please check their web site , then click to 2004 conference, then scroll to end of page to see who is paying for their banquet dinner, the big, expensive event.
Accepting this gift may mean they can not prosecute, because of conflict of interest. Need to get the word out to all charged with file sharing in Calif.
www.cdaa.org
July 1st, 2004 at 9:07 pm
Not only that, but ssl based ftp sessions also work wonders.
And if ssl isn’t your cup of tea, many crypto apps are available to do the deed. Rar the album, crypto it, pass it along. So much for AudioMagic bs… Hrmpf