Copyright holders can legally hack - MPAA Requests Immunity to Commit Cyber-Crimes

[Phantasm66]

MPAA Requests Immunity to Commit Cyber-Crimes
Posted by michael on Thursday July 25, @03:30PM

The news has been buzzing around for the last couple of days that Representative Berman, whose palm has been crossed with silver by the entertainment industry, http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00008094&cycle=2002 would introduce a bill permitting copyright holders to hack or DoS people allegedly distributing their works without permission. Well, the bill has been introduced http://politechbot.com/p-03795.html read it and weep . http://www.politechbot.com/docs/berman.coble.p2p.final.072502.pdf Although the bill wouldn't allow copyright owners to alter or delete files on your machine, they would be allowed to DoS you in essentially any other way. Let me restate that: the MPAA and RIAA are asking that they be allowed to perform what would otherwise be federal and state criminal acts and civil torts, and you will have essentially no remedy against them under any laws of the United States.

source: http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/02/07/25/190235.shtml?tid=123


What exactly this will materialise into meaning is hard to see at this time, and I am no legal expert, but it looks like certain parties could be legally entitled to commit DoS attacks, hacking, etc on media content servers that they believed contained their copyrighted material.

This all sounds a little 1984 to be.

And again, we see how just far some record companies are willing to go to make sure that you don't download an mp3 of a record that they sell. I've made my disgust at the sheer ridiculousness and fundamental unfairness of the whole thing already, but it seems every time I hear about this whole argument its getting more and more silly and more and more right infringing....

 

[Phantasm66]

Let me restate that: the MPAA and RIAA are asking that they be allowed to perform what would otherwise be federal and state criminal acts and civil torts, and you will have essentially no remedy against them under any laws of the United States.

 

[RustyZip]

Hmm, sound like bad news to me

Does that count over here in dear ol' blighty too. Can their law stretch that far?? I hope not...

 

[StormBringer]

Rick and I were discussing that yesterday. I read about it on the Register. It will be very bad for everyone if it goes through.

 

[JAV]

Interesting.

I wonder what the AG's stance on this is since enforcement/investigation resides with that Office.

It is very poorly written, IMHO & I can see many lawsuits by both sides. The Courts aren't going to like that or the AG.

It appears the copyright holder or agent must notify the Attorney General of intended actions & also the 'file sharer' a minimum of a week ahead of taking action. "Proof of service" isn't even mentioned. W/o proof of legal notice, any action taken is a violation & therefore affords no immunity. In my learned opinion.

I hope it will be seen as the can of worms it is. Both by the Senate & the House. :grinthumb

 

[PHATMAN5050]

hm...i suggest we start a counter-attack soon... Just kidding of course, unless there are people willing to stand behind me, and in that case, GO US! WE SHALL PREVAIL! :grinthumb

 

[Rick]

Originally posted by StormBringer
Rick and I were discussing that yesterday. I read about it on the Register. It will be very bad for everyone if it goes through.

I believe Storm made a good point that America recently declared certain forms of computer hacking as an act of terrorism.. But now this will be legalized if it is well justified...?

Maybe Osama Bin Laden felt he was justified too...

Terrorism in America is punishable by death by the way, since it can be considered a "war crime" and held in a military court upon Presidential request.

This is rediculous.... How contradictive.

 

[StormBringer]

Here is an interesting new development. It seems that Valenti(Motion Picture ***. of America President) Has a problem with the wording of the bill and wants some changes made to it.

The statements below are quoted from the full story here

The bee in Valenti's bonnet is most likely the loose language in Berman's bill.

"A copyright owner shall not be liable in any criminal or civil action for disabling, interfering with, blocking, diverting, or otherwise impairing the unauthorized distribution, display, performance, or reproduction of his or her copyrighted work on a publicly accessible peer-to-peer file trading network, if such impairment does not, without authorization, alter, delete, or otherwise impair the integrity of any computer file or data residing on the computer of a file trader."

That can't be good. It means that anyone with a copyright will be allowed to hack the daylights out of anyone, including MPAA Headquarters, so long as they have a 'reasonable suspicion' of infringement and notify the DoJ of their intent at least seven days before commencing the attack.

Somehow, Valenti failed to impress on the over-eager Berman's mind that this legislation is for media giants only.

Hmm, everything was fine until the MPAA figured out that they could also be affected by it. guess they don't want anyone snooping around their stuff either.

 

[Rick]

A copyright owner shall not be liable in any criminal or civil action for disabling, interfering with, blocking, diverting, or otherwise impairing the unauthorized distribution

Do you suppose I'll be able to kill the guy spreading my copyrighted work around and call it "self defense"? Muder is a criminal activity and that would certain stop unauthorized distribution.

Perhaps I'll be covered by the "Good sumeritan law"? heh.

 

[PHATMAN5050]

Originally posted by Rick


Do you suppose I'll be able to kill the guy spreading my copyrighted work around and call it "self defense"? Muder is a criminal activity and that would certain stop unauthorized distribution.

Perhaps I'll be covered by the "Good sumeritan law"? heh.

nicely said.

 

[cabrone]

maybe im just retarded, but i dont understand anything you guys say, its like spanish to me

 

[Rick]

Originally posted by cabrone
maybe im just retarded, but i dont understand anything you guys say, its like spanish to me

Mi Español es muy horribles, so let's not get into that angle...

Did I mention the entire entertainment world is corrupt? This is a good example of how these billion dollar losers are trying to subvert the American goverment to serve its own perverse desires.

Pretty soon, we'll be referring to each other by our phone and/or license numbers courtesy of the RIAA.

 

[Phantasm66]

nicely said 10304-239595-04030-202004-3030204

 

[PHATMAN5050]

Originally posted by Phantasm66
nicely said 10304-239595-04030-202004-3030204

Um...where are all those numbers from?

 

[StormBringer]

Originally posted by PHATMAN5050


Um...where are all those numbers from?

I believe that would be Ricks name in the Post Entertainment-
Apocalyptic Society. :grinthumb

 

[PHATMAN5050]

Originally posted by StormBringer


I believe that would be Ricks name in the Post Entertainment-
Apocalyptic Society. :grinthumb

And mine would be 1337