Music fans swapping songs online are fighting industry efforts to watch and police what they do.
Reading Festival crowd, BBC
Music downloaders are trying to hide what they are doing

In recent weeks, the US music industry has stepped up attempts to stop piracy on peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa and Grokster.

The industry's trade body has started suing individual file swappers, has sent warning messages to millions of peer-to-peer users and is thought to be developing programs that hijack the computers of suspected pirates.

But users are fighting back by creating tools that help people avoid the attention of anti-pirate groups and block attempts to limit what they can do online.

Address unknown

In late April, the RIAA used the messaging systems built in to the Kazaa and Grokster peer-to-peer file swapping systems to remind people that it is illegal to distribute copyrighted pop without permission.

Companies working on behalf of the music industry are known to watch peer-to-peer networks to find people pirating pop music and to plant fake files that look authentic but when played are recordings of white noise.

But net savvy file swappers are fighting back and creating tools that help people avoid the attentions of the piracy police as well as spot the bogus files.

Peer-to-peer news sites, such as Zeropaid, regularly provide lists of net addresses known to be used by the music industry and its proxies.
Close up of CD eject button, BBC
PC users could find their machines are hijacked

Net users with a personal firewall can tell the software to block these addresses so their files cannot be downloaded by people using them. This makes it much harder for the music industry to find out if a particular track being offered is pirated.

One of the most popular lists, called ZeroData Bad IP Block List, is prepared in a format for a popular firewall.

Also available is a program called PeerGuardian that was originally written to block the spyware inside some peer-to-peer programs but has been updated to block particular net addresses too.

Blocking the addresses stops users downloading files from the locations and should help them avoid fake files.

Currently, some of the net address-blocking tools are not perfect as the range of addresses they knock out can be very wide and stop some people using popular sites.

Other users are turning to the Kazaa Lite program which is a version of Kazaa with the spyware and adware stripped out. This program has tools built in that let people restrict who can see their list of files that want to share.

Online net technology magazine Security Focus was among the first to break the news about the peer-to-peer fightback.

I think the creators of Kazaa and the other P2P programs should add an EULA implicitly stating: Users of this software are not allowed to use it, alone or in combination with any other software (i.e. spybots, etc.), to spy on or collect data about other users.

That way, the software companies can sue the RIAA when they continue snoop through peoples computers. If they find a way in without using the P2P program, it would be considered hacking. Even if the EULA is not sufficient to sue the RIAA, it would at least provide an additional tool that could be used in defense of file-swappers that are sued in the future.

Microsoft uses EULAs all the time to set unreasonable rules regarding it's software.

I just think it's such a waste that the hackers, obviously the cutting edge of technology, are spending their time and effort on the record industry's lame attempt to prove a point.

I'd bet some saavy hacker could organize their group into the world's most powerful anti-terrorism unit, provided there was an incentive and amnesty on any hacking they hadn't already been nailed for doing.

If our government and smartest commercial programmers can't stop them, neither can anyone else.

Reality. What a concept.

"But net savvy file swappers are fighting back and creating tools that help people avoid the attentions of the piracy police as well as spot the bogus files."

Another strong reason why I gave up my P2P program this week.

But, bogus files are easy enough to spot. Just becareful of what file size you are downloading.

I don't even use P2P. Gave it up when iTMS came out and I went indie for pretty much everything else. I STILL install peer-guardian anyway. It just makes sense. Even if they get a "false positive" - I can't prove I own all the music I actually own. CDs get lost or damaged. (Well, not anymore, since I keep them in the same place I'm keeping my software licences.)

Point is, I don't want these guys on my computer no matter WHAT I've got on there - legal or no. So that's why I block the addresses. I'm writing up an opinion piece that I'm going to send to my workplace, and to universities, reccomending they do the same. The Prof. Usher case proves the harm the RIAA can do in it's crusade.

Im thinking of going the indie route myself. Maybe in the near future. Better music. Im just a casual music listen anyway. I dl the old stuff. Burned a few disks and leave it at that. The RIAA's got to go though. Too bad they can't be dismantled forever.

Napster, the now-defunct music file-swapping service, may be catching a second wind soon, according to reports that first surfaced on Friday. The Los Angeles Times wrote that "sources said Friday that Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment were nearing a deal to sell Pressplay, their 3-year-old online music venture, to the software company that bought Napster Inc.'s name and technology at a bankruptcy auction last year. Roxio Inc. is expected to dump the Pressplay brand and rename it after the pioneering online song-sharing service. ... The deal, which could be announced as early as Monday, would have the ironic outcome of teaming Universal and Sony with the man who personifies the pirated music revolution: Napster founder Shawn Fanning, whom Roxio hired as a part-time advisor in February."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9809-2003May19_2.html

Instant confusion. Using the name of the most famous free music service to sell music. The customers wont know what to expect.

Now THAT's going to turn some heads, George.

As long as Shawn Fanning doesn't let his uncle ruin this go around. They had several chances to go legit, but his uncle blew it.

Booooooo. Fanning IS a sellout. Dont go praising this loser.

Hi,

I'm on a Mac and use Limewire and Drumbeat. I'm just learning P2P and trying to get the gist of what's going on.
If anyone has time to answer some questions ,I have regarding comments made on this page, please read on. thks

"But, bogus files are easy enough to spot. Just becareful of what file size you are downloading."

Can you elaborate on this..and about the size?

"I don't even use P2P. Gave it up when iTMS came out and I went indie for pretty much everything else."

What is iTMS and indie?


"But net savvy file swappers are fighting back and creating tools that help people avoid the attentions of the piracy police as well as spot the bogus files."


Is there any software / tools out there for Macintosh protection?

Are these priacy police on Gnutella and Drumbeat?

"In late April, the RIAA used the messaging systems built in to the Kazaa and Grokster peer-to-peer file swapping systems to remind people that it is illegal to distribute copyrighted pop without permission"

Who or what is the Kazaa and Grokster peer-to-peer file swapping systems?

Thank you in advance,

Nas =^.,.^=

Nas, I can answer a couple of your questions.

Indies = Independent artists, not affiliated with a major recording label.

Software/tools for Macinstosh protection = the Mac OS. You've already got it.

The music police are everywhere, or at least they'd like you to believe so. But the hackers are twice as smart and always two steps ahead.

Kazaa and Grokster are software that enable file-sharing. Kind of like the File Sharing extension that's in your Mac Control Panels folder. It's been there for 10 years, if not longer. Part of the OS. Has been since System 7.

People are just now figuring out what it's for.

Wait till they realize OS X has a built in web server.

Of course we will fight back against the RIAA.

Shawn Fanning is a traitor to our cause. Using Napster's name, indeed. Well, they'll have to work hard to beat KaZaA.

Would be interesting to see if some hacker developes a program that will not only identify the music police, but will also carry a virus back to them when they search your computer to extract information.

Pressplay by another name is still pressplay. Calling it napster will not change the fact that its DRMed to uselessness, inconvenient and has a limited selection.

So Napster tries to go legit a second time and some people don't like it. They blew it on the first go around. They had several chances, but Shawn's uncle drove the company into the dirt.

Like I've been saying, it's difficult to compete with free. It will never be good enough for freeloaders.

It's only difficult to compete with 'free' if your product isn't good enough to be paid for.

RIAA Radar

http://www.magnetbox.com/riaa/

I would pay $0.99 for a 320Kb download, but I have broadband. You have to remember not everyone has access to high speed connections. 320 mp3s can be as big as 10Mb that's a 45 minute download on a 56k modem. If someone lacks the patience and they just want to hear the song they have to pay $0.99 for a piece of crap 128Kb mp3. Free vs pay is a big reason few will come, but it's not the only one.

With regards to pressplay/"napster", I guess mr. fanning needed the income. You can't blame the guy, everybody has to make a living one way or the other.