http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/08/technology/08music.html?th

From NYtimes.com by John Schwartz

I have to wonder in reading some of the comments in this article, when did the rights of citizens become second to copyright?
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The record industry is hoping that a little magic will solve its problems with online piracy by file sharers.
The Recording Industry Association of America has been talking up a company named Audible Magic to lawmakers and regulators in Washington in recent weeks in an attempt to show that file-sharing networks can be tamed.

The company, based in Los Gatos, Calif., has developed a technology that it says can spot copyrighted materials while they are being passed from computer to computer and block the transfer.

Audible Magic executives say that their software can be used in devices that attach to computer networks, or it can be written into the file-sharing software from companies like Kazaa and Grokster.

"We think the technology is extraordinarily promising," said Mitch Bainwol, the chairman of the music industry group. "We said from the start that technology may pose some risks, but it offers the solution."

File-sharing companies have argued that they cannot control copyright infringement on their networks.

"I think it does change the game," said Josh Bernoff, a principal analyst with Forrester Research. "Now if you're a legislator, you're going to have to make a decision about whether you're going to protect the rights of downloaders, or of the people who own the copyrights to the music."

Record industry executives, who have said that they are against government-ordered technology fixes for copyright problems, said that they are not asking Congress to act, at least at this time. Instead, Mr. Bainwol said, his industry would like to see the "peer-to-peer" companies add the software to their wares.

"It really puts the P2P community to the test," he said. "Are they serious about becoming legitimate, or are they not serious?"

As the RIAA has yet to explain to anyone how you tell the difference between an authorized and an unauthorized file, I welcome the Audible Magic lame attempt.

They want to build a wall around their music to keep it away from us, the thieves who might wish to listen to it. It's for the protection of the artists, they will say.

And they keep building the wall. Soon, all of the beloved artists that have kept the industry alive for so long will find themselves trapped inside this wall, if they are not already. They can't get out.

The RIAA is making a prison for themselves, walling themselves in and hoping the rest of us won't peek over the top of the wall.

I say let them build it -- tall and strong.

Don't ever let us in.

"It really puts the P2P community to the test. Are they serious about becoming legitimate, or are they not serious?"

We're very serious. We'll bring cement mixers to help you build the wall. Would you like an airtight dome, too? KoolAid dispensers?

Personally, I'm very serious about asking people to remove all RIAA music from the Internet. I like to repeat it on a daily basis, if possible.

And I would seriously like to know how to tell the difference so that I never download an RIAA song. Ever.

PLease copy the whole NY times article next time because NY Times takes down their articles after a few days and you can't access them on their site.

"The company, based in Los Gatos, Calif., has developed a technology that it says can spot copyrighted materials while they are being passed from computer to computer and block the transfer.

Audible Magic executives say that their software can be used in devices that attach to computer networks, or it can be written into the file-sharing software from companies like Kazaa and Grokster."


This is pretty disturbing. They are talking about packet sniffing. It is illegal. It is analagus to them tapping your phone line and listening to every word for terrorist activity. It is defently an invasion of privacy and it wont fix anything anyway. Just because they can recognize a stream of data doesn't mean they will get everything. Even if they use a learning system that updates its recognition data every fraction of a second it would not help. Real geeks are smart enough to get through. I would not mind so much seeing something like this implemented in some of the big p2p networks. They probably wouldn't be big for long. It would be a death sentence for kazaa because the RIAA has already managed to label them illegal and replace them with their own technology. That is wrong, but it would be better than having little black boxes scanning every byte you transmit. The potential for such a system to be hacked and exploited by some hacker or worse yet, some sicko with an obsession. Defently disturbing.

1) The technology isn't even developed yet, they admitted this in another article, but of course they won't advertise that

2) In order to successfully scan and identify it would have to be integrated either into the software or the network

...2a) It's very foolish to integrate it into the software, because sooner or later it will be hacked, a crack will come out, or people will just use the earlier versions without it. That and I don't know how much memory and space it would take on your hard drive to have the streams for 500,000 songs to be IDed, if they did, they you would actually have a legit encrypted copy on your computer already thanks to them.

...2b) If it's on the network, it would have to be centralized to have any effect. These days, p2p doesn't go through a central server or hub, or any other place they would stash the scanning utility for. Regardless, it would have to connect to your computer, a connection which can easily be blocked.

3) They decided to expand their money dump from DRM to other worthless pits and black holes in their vain attempt to control sound waves.

I await the day these people wake up and actually have a clue.

Let's see.. 1 + 2 = 3...

If RIAA song a is 3... Transfer 1, then transfer 2, then add together to get 3...

They have no copyright on 1 or 2, so... There is nothing to find.

Now. 2 + 1 + 3 = 6...

song b is 6... 6 is a public domain song. But can be calculated from 2 + 1 + 3.

If I download or upload 2, there is no way to know if the result will be 3 (song a) or 6 (song b).

Understand?

However, interesting tech stuff aside, I totally agree with gdZiemann. let them lock it all away. In a few years, MP3 players will hold over 400,000 songs. (2+ Terrabyte) and cost about a hundred dollars. Noone will want their crap at 99 Cents, period.

i already have a manual put together and ready to code into html "the simple and non 1337 methods to defeat audible magic's filter-ware"

bring em on.. let em put it on there and think theyve won.. =) theyll leave the issue alone for a year and lose ground ^___^

well... a little secret.. unlike windows, apple doesnt slap DRM tags on all their AAC files, only their itunes store files, so if you rip your own cds to aac and share them you get uber 1337 high fi sound with 1/3 the size.. of course you would have to wait for the technology to catch up.. and of course not many companies release firmware updates for mp3 players to let them play new codecs =(

let them build a wall it'll only push the Indies forward hahahahaha take that RIAA suckers

these would.. of course.. be cds such as Green Legend Ran OST =) (published in japan in 1992, taken out of print before the turn of the millennium, never touched by the riaa )

The file checking would probably be on a dedicated Audio Magic server, where the database resides. Barring that, it could be at the RIAA, which is a little scary.

Another problem with this is, everytime a check is performed, the owners of the server could log the IP of who is transmitting the file, and the IP who is receiving the file.

If the logging wasn't performed, I would welcome this. Like comments made already, don't upload or download ANY RIAA MUSIC!!

If KaZaA or other P2P vendors could magically impliment this today, the RIAA would expect people will go out and buy CDs tomorrow, there crazy. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.

O_o.. i always thought since i worked a job in a vet department you could trank the horse, put a tube down its throat, and funnel the water in