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RIAA finds new way to fight college piracy

18 May 2008 12:24 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 11 comments

According to a new report, the content industry is ramping up its efforts to control piracy on college campuses and the RIAA is at the head of the effort.

Judging by the report however, it seems the new tactics are not all that sophisticated. The RIAA will give a list of files to keep on the look for, then hired mercenary Media Sentry searches for infringing materials on common P2P apps such as Limewire. Media Sentry usually uses the same clients as the users it is looking to bust, using the client's built-in facilities to note IP addresses and browse their shared folders.

Earlier this month, a few notable universities reported that they had received a 10-fold increase in DMCA copyright notices. RIAA president Cary Sherman noted that this was true, citing a �phenomenal jump� in Media Sentry�s "computing efficiency".

�It�s the same procedures, the same standards, the same list of copyrighted works that we�re using,� said Sherman. �The Internet is a huge place, and there are millions of people connected to it � The amount of resources you put into sending out requests for specific files makes a difference; the more requests you make, the more you�re going to find.�

�We don�t think there�s any more infringement going on,� Sherman added. �We just think there�s more detection of infringement.�

This increase in "computing efficiency" is thanks to new automated scripts. Media Sentry searches for the songs on the RIAA's list using the script which then jots down "each entry�s IP address and confirms the authenticity of the file in question." The script will then move onto those users shared folders searching for more infringing music.

It is also apparent that Media Sentry investigators �do not usually download suspect music files, instead, they will try to hash the file remotely; if a hash comparison fails, investigators will download the file and attempt to verify its contents using Audible Magic, a program that specializes in recognizing an audio file�s sonic characteristics. Investigator will only hear a file in only two cases: if the fails both the preceding checks, or if he or she is gathering evidence for litigation."

Permalink to this article

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Encryption chips to end PC game piracy? (25 May 2008)

EFF notes that Microsoft is complying with NBC broadcast flags (19 May 2008)

Jammie Thomas begins music sharing case appeal (17 May 2008)

Los Angeles thinks piracy is a �public nuisance� (10 May 2008)

RIAA representative forecasts a comeback for DRM (8 May 2008)

Andersen wants to end the RIAA (5 May 2008)

AOL, Real and Yahoo! could lose $100m to songwriters (1 May 2008)

Judge shuts down RIAA in music piracy case (30 April 2008)

Eircom stands against record companies (24 April 2008)

The MP3 player turns 10 (12 March 2008)

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Discuss this article!
Mik3h (AfterDawn Addict) 18 May 2008 13:11
So basically, make sure you're not downloading the latest pop songs from limewire and kazaa, stick to private trackers, and make sure to run PeerGuardian 2 with the latest blocklists to block any attempts from the RIAA/MediaSentry from connecting to you..? [ + quote]
faqman98 (Senior Member) 18 May 2008 14:06
yes but then again this is to catch the people that are too stupid to use bittorent and common sense [ + quote]
lilskater (Newbie) 18 May 2008 14:11
How about download through RapidShare and MegaUpload? Plus always keeping Peerguardian 2 running/updated. Do they track users through warez downloads? [ + quote]
iluvendo (AfterDawn Addict) 18 May 2008 14:26
*Originally posted by Mik3h:* So basically, make sure you're not downloading the latest pop songs from limewire and kazaa, stick to private trackers, and make sure to run PeerGuardian 2 with the latest blocklists to block any attempts from the RIAA/MediaSentry from connecting to you..? So true ! [ + quote]
nobrainer (Inactive) 18 May 2008 15:40
@ Mik3h + iluvendo if you have no choice but to download for whatever reason, just use pg2 and bittorrent and try to get into a private tracker or start a darknet with trusted friends, you could add the whole school/college and swap with your pals without ever being at risk of being figured by the RIAA or you can use newsgroups. The best way to stop the RIAA/MPAA is to boycott ALL their media and DRM'ed hardware and dry up their funds so they either change their business model or die a painful anti-consumer death. The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above! The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 18 May 2008 15:42
logan1957 (Newbie) 18 May 2008 17:35
If I remember correctly isn't Media Sentry being investigated by the Attorney General for illegally going after individuals? From what I can remember they are NOT a licensed detective agency in most of the US and are supposed to be used to investigate large companies not universities or individuals. So anything that they find would be suspect wouldn't it. To me this is just another tactic by the RIAA to try and squeeze money to support their dead business model, now that their "making available" defense has gone down the tubes they are starting to get desparate as they have to have physical evidence not just the word of a bunch of hackers that are in their employ. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 18 May 2008 19:59
Buy what you like but try and boyycott big media completely, save yourself money buy used! [ + quote]
7thsinger (Senior Member) 19 May 2008 8:37
*Quote:* investigators will download the file and attempt to verify its contents using Audible Magic, So...they'll attempt to hash the file remotely, if that doesn't work they will break the law to uphold it? Huh. Sounds kinda silly when you say it like that, doesn't it? [ + quote]
Pnub (Newbie) 19 May 2008 20:25
I'm glad they chose this route, because any evidence they collect this way will obviously get thrown out in court. [ + quote]
B33rdrnkr (Newbie) 19 May 2008 23:57
college servers are one of the easiest to hack, and asian law firms,LoL [ + quote]
FredBun (Senior Member) 11 June 2008 23:19
these tacticts are not new, and the riaa still sucks [ + quote]