The Story[q]
From News FactorThe Motion Picture Association of America has jumped full-force into the fight against illegal swapping of copyrighted material online, announcing an initial wave of lawsuits against people it accuses of trading pirated copies of films on peer-to-peer networks.
As an added measure, it is also getting ready to distribute, upon request, software that can identify whether a computer has P2P software on the hard drive and whether songs or films have been downloaded.
No Reporting Back
Aimed primarily at parents who wish to know what their children are up to online, the software does not report its findings back to the MPAA, MPAA spokesperson Matthew Grossman told NewsFactor.
"Anybody can use it, of course, but it is primarily for parents that might otherwise have a difficult time determining what is on the computer," he says. The software does not distinguish between songs and content that have been legally downloaded and those that may be illegal. The application will also guide the user in removing material or programs.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Designed by a Danish company, the product will be distributed free, probably by the end of the year, Grossman said.
Under the Copyright Act, an individual can be liable for as much as US$30,000 for each motion picture illegally traded over the Internet, and as much as $150,000 per motion picture if such infringement is proven to be willful, the MPAA says.
Borderline Legal Behavior
Despite the MPAA's assurances, there is considerable worry over the possibility that the application may be able to create a report and surreptitiously send it back to MPAA -- thus providing it with a roadmap to its next wave of lawsuits.
"Probably what they say is true and the program does not report back," Panda Software CTO Patrick Hinojosa tells NewsFactor. "But unless I saw the code, I would not trust it. Many of these organizations' past behavior has been borderline legal as they try to fight copyright infringement."
Hinojosa tells of blogs posted by people running P2P programs who realized that servers traced back to the RIAA Latest News about RIAA had been scanning their Web sites for user data through an open port. "It is doable," Hinojosa says.
However, this product does address a certain need; some parents are in fact not computer-savvy enough to scan their PCs for illicit materials. "I am all for enforcement of our laws and I agree with the stated intent of the software," Hinojosa says. "But I think there are some seriousprivacy Latest News about privacy issues with this."
Release the Code
Hinojosa says the best way to alleviate concerns would be for the MPAA to release the source code for the application. This should not be a financial hardship for the company, since it is giving the program away. "This is not a major trade secret; it is a simple type of software to write."
Also, he says, MPAA should be careful with the accompanying documentation. "Just because someone has P2P software on a computer doesn't mean he or she is engaging in illegal activity. The documentation should be clear on what to look for."
Another possibility that the documentation should cover, he adds, is spyware. "It can install all kinds of applications on a PC." [/q]
