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Posts from — February 2007
RIAA Wants U.S. ISPs to Offer Discounted Settlements to Alleged P2P Users
Text of RIAA Letter to ISPs (February 2007)
Following the receipt of applicable subpoenas, U.S. ISPs currently provide the RIAA with personally identifying information about alleged P2P users with sufficient detail to bring legal proceedings against them.
The Recording Industry vs The People has obtained the letter linked-to above allegedly used by the RIAA in an attempt to obtain further voluntary assistance from ISPs. The RIAA is asking ISPs to retain log files for at least 180 days and to send out letters to users offering $1,000 settlement discounts if alleged infringers settle before the RIAA has to initiate costly court proceedings.
Dale's Comment: One wonders why U.S. ISPs would comply with such a request given that they fought (and won) at least one court case in the past where the RIAA sought to compel their assistance without subpoenas. Such voluntary assistance would certainly assist the RIAA.
Source: Recording Industry vs The People |Ars Technica | TechDirt | Wired | P2PNet | Digital Citizen
Related Posts:
- RIAA Wants U.S. ISPs to Offer Discounted Settlements to Alleged P2P Users (February 14, 2007)
- Lawyer who Fights the RIAA Speaks Out (July 21, 2006)
- Dutch Court Rules ISPs Need Not Disclose File Swapper IDs (July 17, 2006)
- British ISP, Tiscali, Refuses BPI Request to Disconnect 17 Users (July 12, 2006)
- RIAA to Students: 'Drop out of College to Pay Settlement'
- Gonzales Calls for 'Reasonable' Data Retention (April 21, 2006)
- Warner/RIAA vs. The John Does Trial to Start May 19 (April 20, 2006)
- One Man's First Hand Account of Being Put Through Hell by the RIAA (April 14, 2006)
- How the RIAA Litigation Process Works (April 5, 2006)
- Canadian Federal Court of Appeal Reaches a Stalemate as to Whether and How Discovery of P2P Users' Identity can be compelled (May 19, 2005)
- Canadian Federal Court Rejects CRIA Motion to Disclose IP Addresses of P2P Users (March 31, 2004)
Categories: BigMedia v. P2P Users
Digg 
Del.icio.us Arnezami Hacks HD-DVD/Blu-ray - Discovers the One “Processing Key” to Rule them All
A hacker known as Arnezami has gone a giant step further than Muslix64 in hacking AACS. Arnezami has discovered and published the cryptographic key (known as the "processing key") that can be used to circumvent AACS copy restrictions on any Blu-ray or HD-DVD movie (the "one key to rule them all" 
). He did so by using an Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive and studying all changes (comparing hex-dumps) to a key part of memory during startup of the movie King Kong.
Previously, Muslix64 had discovered the "volume keys" for individual HD-DVD movies (and subsequently Blu-ray titles) which, when used with his BackupHDDVD software, allowed technically adept users to decrypt and copy individual HD titles protected by AACS. Since then, volume keys for more than 100 HD titles have circulated on the Internet. The processing key discovered by Arnezami can, until revoked, be used to easily determine the volume key needed to decrypt and copy any HD title.
Categories: DRM Arms Race, DRM Circumvention, HD-DVD/Blu-ray
Steve Jobs Calls for the End of DRM for Online Music Sales
Steve Jobs has posted an open letter entitled "Thoughts on Music" on the Apple website and, in doing so, joins Yahoo! Music in calling upon the major record labels to abandon DRM for online music sales. He rightly points out that while 90% of music sales are on CD's without DRM, the growth of online music sales is inhibited by the saddling of electronically distributes music with consumer unfriendly DRM. In his open letter Steve discusses the status quo, the problems associated with licensing its "FairPlay" DRM system and, ultimately, concludes that DRM-free music sales is the best way forward.
Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.
Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.
Categories: Big Media Makes Progress, DRM Restricting Use, DRM-Free Services, New Business Models
