[IP] final on Is the RIAA "hacking you back"?

[David Farber <farber@tmail.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Wong, Brian <brianwong@dwt.com>
To: 'dave@farber.net' <dave@farber.net>
Subject: RE: [IP] Is the RIAA "hacking you back"?
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 11:01:12 -0800

Dave, here is a follow up to the Register article.

- Brian -


RIAA calls hacking claim a hoax

By Robert Lemos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 14, 2003, 5:14 PM PT

Claims that the music industry hired a group of hackers to create a worm 
to
infect peer-to-peer networks are being dismissed by security experts.

In an advisory posted to security mailing lists, a group called 
Gobbles
Security delivered its latest vulnerability--a real one found in a
relatively unknown MP3 player--wrapped in an apparent joke aimed at 
the
Recording Industry Association of America. The main part of the 
advisory
consisted of Gobbles' claims that its programmers had created a 
"hydra"--a
worm capable of spreading in a variety of ways--that infects all major 
music
software.

The RIAA, the organization that represents major music publishers, 
wasn't
amused. "It's a complete hoax," said an RIAA spokesman, who asked that 
his
name not be used. "It's not true."

Security experts agreed. Steve Manzuik, moderator of vulnerability
information site VulnWatch, received the advisory on Sunday. But because 
of
the apparent joke, he held the document until the vulnerability was 
verified
a day later.

"This is typical Gobbles, is it not?" Manzuik said. "Cause a stir, but 
also
release useful information."

<snip>

The music industry isn't hacking back, but someday it might. A bill
sponsored by Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Howard Coble, R-N.C., 
would
allow copyright owners and such groups as the RIAA and the Motion 
Picture
Association of America to disable, block or otherwise impair a 
"publicly
accessible peer-to-peer file-trading network." Nowadays, that's called
hacking.

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-980649.html?tag=lh
-- Dave

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