What To Do About This....

[screwthemusicindustry]

To Law Students,

I received a letter today from a network monitoring group on behalf of Warner Bros. informing me that a computer on my network had recently transmitted an unauthorized digital copy of a Warner Bros. movie via a file sharing service known as KaZaA. The letter threatened legal action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act if I did not terminate the violator's account and disable their access to the network.

It took me less than 15 minutes to track down the computer user in question and verify the complaint.

This is a reminder and a plea: do NOT run file sharing software on your computer while it is connected to the Law School's network. Even if you don't explicitly load files to share, others can use your computer as a server and swap files using you as a "middle man" without your knowledge.

If you currently have such software running, REMOVE IT IMMEDIATELY. Our firewall blocks most of the functionality of these programs, but there are still ways for the programs to act as servers "in the background."

As you may have heard, the Recording Industry Association of America has recently been filing suit against college students who share music via these services. Sharing movie files is likewise under scrutiny.

It is REALLY EASY for them (and me) to find you if you share copyrighted information. Please don't do it.

Thanks,
********
Director of Technology

[screwthemusicindustry]

Hey guys, is this an idle threat or is there a way around this???

Please lemme know so i can keep the downloads flowing, thankz!!!

[grey]

You are the law student . . .

You tell us.

[screwthemusicindustry]

Originally posted by grey@23 May 2003 - 16:52
You are the law student . . .

You tell us.

haha, yeah i'm a law student, but i'm not a lawyer...so i would'nt know yet.

....nor am i computer savvy, i wanted to know if it is possible for the guy to hunt me down, and if so, is there a way to keep him from doing so.

[grey]

I think you could maybe hide from the network admin using personal firewall technology. You would have to understand how it worked, stay on top of it and constantly watch your traffic.

Technologically, it is doable, but perhaps it is not practical for you.

Maybe instead of constantly watching your back, you should constantly cracking those books? If you get caught, I don't think the dean will be thrilled with you. after all, you have been given notice, a fact that you confirmed in public right here.

Depending on how much he gets upset, he could tell the Bar. If he really wanted to nail you, he could wait until you graduated and then tell the Bar. That way he gets your money first.

Or did you forget that you are supposed to be on your best behavior now?

I am not an attorney either, but I know many of them.

[screwthemusicindustry]

Originally posted by grey@23 May 2003 - 17:14
Or did you forget that you are supposed to be on your best behavior now?

this is law school...we are trying to become lawyers. best behavior went out the door the first day of class!!

thanks for your advice about the firewall, even though it may be not be feasible for me to do this.

[junkyardking]

Install Peer Gurdian http://www.methlabs.org/ it blocks lists of ip's that file sharing enemys use, also keep the list updated from pgp ip database there a link in the progam under help.

Also check back here as there constanly being updated and we have our own lists, for instance someone has just released an updated list here


None of this will guarateer anominty, but you could use some other p2p programs like http://www.earthstation5.com

http://www.filetopia.com

But they do lack users, as this also means they lack files.

[clocker]

Unless you are technically savvy enough to outfox your Director of Technology (doubtful), why take the risk. Run your p2p on your own personal computer.
After you become a lawyer you will be able to afford a T3 line to make up for lost time...

[Switeck]

Originally posted by screwthemusicindustry@23 May 2003 - 11:11
This is a reminder and a plea: do NOT run file sharing software on your computer while it is connected to the Law School's network.  Even if you don't explicitly load files to share, others can use your computer as a server and swap files using you as a "middle man" without your knowledge.

If you currently have such software running, REMOVE IT IMMEDIATELY. Our firewall blocks most of the functionality of these programs, but there are still ways for the programs to act as servers "in the background."

As you may have heard, the Recording Industry Association of America has recently been filing suit against college students who share music via these services. Sharing movie files is likewise under scrutiny.

It is REALLY EASY for them (and me) to find you if you share copyrighted information. Please don't do it.

Thanks,
********
Director of Technology

Boy, the bullshit lawyers say nowdays is unbelieveable!

Firstly, Kazaa can ONLY act as a 'middle man' sharer of files you don't know about if SOMEONE physically gets access to your computer and downloads/puts them on your computer. If you never download movies and nobody/only very trusted people can get access to your computer without your explicit permission, then you never need to worry about accidentally sharing a movie even for an instant so long as you don't accidentally toss a movie file into your shared directory/s. To claim others could use your computer to share huge movie files without your knowledge implies incompetance of YOU. (Although there ARE Kazaa Viruses that are able to share themselves in very clever ways, their presence is better hidden by their tiny size and ways they screw directly with the Windows operating system, NOT due to how Kazaa works...)

Secondly, they say their 'firewall blocks most of the functionality of those programs' (IE:Kazaa) -- but if you can run Kazaa at all, what they REALLY mean is they PROBABLY blocked ip port 1214 and/or throttled all traffic on ip port 1214 to a tiny amount -- but KL++ is able to use a different ip port and work just fine. It is remotely possible they're throttling by packet info, but that skirts dangerously close to a privacy invasion -- like reading someone's mail.

Thirdly, the 'ways for the programs to act as servers "in the background." ' could also apply 100% to stuff like email, MSN, ICQ, Mirc, and AIM -- perhaps they should start blocking/throttling/restricting them to be in consistant compliance with RIAA/MPAA/BSA's every whim. Much of these defensive measures are not required by law, as (SOME) file sharing networks have been ruled legal.

Fourthly, it is true that RIAA and MPAA are randomly suing college students for sharing movies and music -- but it's not really easy for them to find you if you're using a router + Peer Guardian (with latest blocklist updates).