RIAA tries using Grokster as a fright tactic

1/3/2006 4:13:24 PM, by Eric Bangeman


After the media industry prevailed over Grokster in MGM v. Grokster, we knew it was a matter of time before Grokster ceased to be a going concern. That came to pass in November, when Grokster gave up the ghost as part of the settlement in the case. Although the company claimed to have grandiose plans to recast itself as a legitimate service (where have we heard that before?), visitors to its webpage were greeted with the following bit of recording industry propaganda.

The United States Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that using this service to trade copyrighted material is illegal. Copying copyrighted motion picture and music files using unauthorized peer-to-peer services is illegal and is prosecuted by copyright owners...

Since an admonition from the Supreme Court apparently hasn't been enough to put the fear of God into the black hearts of file sharers, the RIAA is ratcheting up the scare tactics. Visitors to grokster.com are now greeted with the same message along with their IP address. They are told that the IP address has been logged and are left with the ominous-sounding threat:

Don't think you can't get caught. You are not anonymous.

By way of refresher, RIAA has relied almost exclusively on records of IP addresses subpoenaed from ISPs. Naturally, using IPs as a means for positive identification has its limitations, as by themselves, they don't provide substantive clues about the identity of the person behind the IP address. This has led to the now-familiar mistakes involving a 66-year-old Mac-owning sculptor and a deceased grandmother.

By now, most people realize that surfing the web is not an anonymous endeavor. Indeed, web servers log IP addresses by default. Many are even aware of the RIAA's use of IP addresses. Apparently, the hope is that the Grokster page will function as an abbreviated Scared Straight, where would-be IP criminals are confronted with incontrovertible evidence that they can and will be hunted down by the minions of the media industry.

The problem with that approach is twofold. First, there's no evidence that the IP address displayed at grokster.com is actually being sent anywhere. Secondly, even if the IPs are, all the RIAA is going to end up with is a giant list of IP addresses pointing to places like Yahoo, Microsoft, and just about every other company that doesn't filter out sites like Grokster. The IPs have been logged all along, so if the RIAA was going to do something with the list of IP addresses, it has had plenty of time to take action. The fact of the matter is that an IP address alone doesn't amount to much, and we may see that issue addressed soon in court.

Seeing your IP address in 16-point Arial bold might scare off the occasional 13-year-old looking for the latest from Linkin Park, but it seems to me that pursuing a strategy of trying to scare your target market into buying your products is a strategy of debatable wisdom.

Then I guess it's time to add all IPs associated with Grokster.com to our blocklists.

What I don't get is, what is the point of logging everyone's IP address? Lots of sites log IP addresses.

Then again, they're probably not actually logging the addresses.

so what happens if your ip changes frequently or if you are surfing through proxies?

Kewl, let me give it a shot using a high anonymity proxy...hehe...this is going to be fun.

im a software engineer.
it's very likely just a browser side script showing you your own ip address without the server actually doing anything much less logging anyhing. it is known as a remote address.

however, a web server CAN log your ip but so what?
accessing a web site is not illegal...for those who are less tech savvy..it can appear intimidating. for every millions of user accessing the site would require some maintenance that serves no purpose anyway.
that's the whole point. SCARE the uninformed. just like a CD with DRM can be compromised very easily by a more tech savvy user but frustrating and frightening to those who are not.

I've seen the raw log data from my site. The IP addresses are there. My stats program resolves them so I can see where the traffic comes from (the ISP). Most of it is pretty non-specific, like cox.net or ask.com. But I can see which schools visit (mit.edu) or government agencies (dhs.gov).
More than 1/3 of it comes from anonymous sources or proxies, and are collectively listed as "no entry".

"where would-be IP criminals are confronted with incontrovertible evidence "

IP criminals? just what the fuck does that mean?

incontrovertible? perhaps these asshats haven't heard of proxies or open unsecured wifi
APs.

jerks.

Let's correct the RIAA propaganda on Grokster.com, shall we? (From my post on /.

The U. S Supreme Court has not declared the use of file-sharing services illegal, nor the trade of files that do not violate copyright laws to be illegal, only that the promotion of file-sharing products for copyright infringement, or violating copyright laws by sharing copyrighted works without permission to be illegal. Copying copyrighted motion picture and music files in a way that does not constitute fair use is what is illegal, and using peer-to-peer services is not illegal in itself. Unless it is being used illegally, the legal usage of P2P can not by any means be prosecuted by copyright owners in this context. You people really think we are dumb? There are legal services for downloading music and movies. These services are one of them for independent artists.

Well, there are "legal" services for downloading music, but, so far, I've not seen one single service for "legally" downloading movies, only those (iTunes) offering TV show downloads. So the labels can't even get that one right either.

"These services are one of them for independent artists".

Good point, MP3user. I think at this juncture it will be a good thing if P2P sites actually start to filter out RIAA music. That way, the P2P sites will be for Indie and small label music. If folks want RIAA music, they can jolly well pay for it. If they want non-RIAA music, they can get it from P2P sites (and, by so doing, will be more likely to attend concerts by Indie & small label groups).

very good points made, indeed

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28671
Long Live Swedish people !!! They afre forming the Pirate Party, (Piratparteit) that officially challenges the copyright laws. I don't know, what are their chances in the incoming elections, but in Europe, a small party can gain much attention and introduce few percent to the national parliament (an example: UK Independence Party with ca. 10% in British Parliament). American friends, it's really a sad thing that you have this tyrannical BIPARTISANSHIP ... Your life would be much better if you had a multipartisan, pluralist democracy...

In Liberty,
Critto
liberter.webpark.pl

i agree; the two-party system here in the U.S. is counterproductive to concerned citizens who care about having a better representative democracy.