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R.I.A.A. Plans To Freeze Music Downloaders P.C.'s
May 4, 2003
Cory Higgins
Do you download MP3’s? If so the R.I.A.A. may have a nasty surprise up it’s sleeve for you. They have hired several software companies to come up with ways to effect swappers computers. Tactics could include attacks that slow or even halt a computers internet connection, and drastically increasing the flood of fake files on P2P networks. Also in the works maybe MP3’s that when played open a users internet browser and send them to a web page selling digital media, or a page that informs them of the laws they are breaking.
The most alarming of the new assaults on P2P is the “lock up” plan. This would somehow embed code into digital media that would lock up a users P.C. for a period of time. This could be a few minutes, a few days or even weeks. Restarting the machine could cause loss of data.
The R.I.A.A. could really cause damage to an already tarnished image, if they go ahead with this plan. Biting the hand that feeds you has long been considered a risky business move at best. Many of these plans on the drawing board would require changes in the law that allow organizations like the R.I.A.A. and M.P.A.A. to attack file swappers computers without risk of breaking the law. Many feel that the next move in this online copyright cyber war will be these firms going after users. Since last month a California judge ruled that file-sharing services Grokster and Morpheus were not guilty of copyright infringement.
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Hacker Group Helping RIAA Hack P2P Users?
Monday, January 13 2003 @ 07:38 PM CST
Contributed by: Admin
Prolific hacker group Gobbles have posted some disturbing claims on the Bugtraq security mailing list - namely, that they were recruited by the RIAA to develop a virus/worm hybrid for combating music piracy. According to Gobbles, their specially crafted media files can infect P2P-connected systems when played. All MP3s present on an infected computer are then indexed, and the information surreptitiously sent back to the RIAA. The exploit is then propagated to other nodes on file sharing networks.
A buffer overflow for Linux MP3 player mpg123 accompanies Gobbles' post to help bolster their claims, and similar exploits have surfaced in the past which used MP3s and other media file types. However, the group's statements are uncorroborated at this point, so take it all with a grain of salt. The Register has full coverage of the story, and you can check out the original Bugtraq post here.
Even though the RIAA denies hiring said hackers, the first article really makes me wonder how low the RIAA is willing to sink to stop P2P users. Is the RIAA willing to hire hackers to stop P2P users and deny doing it?