The MPAA wants the legal authority to infect your computer

  • 28 May 2013
  • 9 replies
  • 3370 views

Userlevel 6

We all know about the FBI Ransomware that has been going around the web lately, right?  Well, we all know that is fake. But what if that ransomware was legally allowed to be placed on your computer because the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) suspects you of downloading pirated films?  That is exactly what they are asking the US Congress to allow them to do, all in the name of protecting their property.  The idea, coming from what can only be assumed to be a lucid dream in a George Orwellian world similar to 1984, would allow the MPAA to infect your computer with rootkits, spyware, and ransomware, holding your files hostage until you turn yourself in to the proper authorities, all while under the guise of protection.  Beyond the infection, an even more concerning aspect is that the MPAA wants to infect suspected computer users even if evidence is minimal or incorrect, and based off their recent high volume of misused DCMA takedowns, and with no due-process in place.
 
My personal opinion finds this all ironic, as a recent study found the government computers, including some at the White House, and even the MPAA computers themselves, have been used to download illegal media from the internet.  Would they infect themselves or the government?
 
Read more about this proposal here: http://boingboing.net/2013/05/26/us-entertainment-industry-to-c.html
 
What do you think of all this?  Chime in with your thoughts below.

9 replies

Userlevel 7
Interesting read. This is totally crazy. :@  It's coming to a point where there will be no more privacy . 😞
Userlevel 7
Badge +56
They better not or it's going to be hell to pay as when Sony BMG started adding rootkits to there CD's.
 

Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal

 
Daniel
Userlevel 7
I have seen suggestions of putting this kind of thing into practice before.. the first time quite a number of years ago.  It just plain is a bad ides, and I hope that cooler heads will once again prevail.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
And if someone else gets a hold of the keys to control that..... god ____ this is unsettling... 
Userlevel 7
Badge +56
Not only in the US but it sounds worse in Canada. :@
 

Canada's business groups wants to hack your computer even more than the creeps at the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property

 
Cory Doctorow at 3:09 pm Tue, May 28, 2013
 
The Internet is buzzing over a new report from the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property that recommends using spyware and ransomware to combat online infringement. The recommendations are shocking as they represent next-generation digital locks that could lock down computers and even "retrieve" files from personal computers:
"Software can be written that will allow only authorized users to open files containing valuable information. If an unauthorized person accesses the information, a range of actions might then occur. For example, the file could be rendered inaccessible and the unauthorized user's computer could be locked down, with instructions on how to contact law enforcement to get the password needed to unlock the account."
 
Full Article
 
TH
Userlevel 5
((Cross-Posted from Business forum))
 
To be honest I don't think it will happen. The MPAA has no authority outside of the US even if they got this to stick, so one wrong move and it will open up totally different can of worms. Jurisdiction on the Internet is too gray to apply these localized efforts to. While I'm not a legal expert, but I think they will be in trouble in a lot of countries outside of the US if they were found infecting machines there.
Userlevel 7
Agreed I really doubt the EU commission would allow it considering how hard they have been on other US companies of late.
Userlevel 7
Badge +35
Here is the actual report: The IP Commission Report
 
Information about the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property and it's Mission
 
I don't agree with the suggestions made in the report, but I also don't see how you get from protecting "proprietary information in a specific network belonging to a specific government agency or private company" to "US entertainment industry to Congress: make it legal for us to deploy rootkits, spyware, ransomware and trojans to attack pirates!"
 
(Not that I don't think the entertainment industry might interpret it that way.)
 
-Dan
 
Userlevel 7
The following is a on going issue with MPAA
"Quote" MPAA, meet the Streisand effect: Picture ass. slaps Reddit with takedown
 
By/ By Iain Thomson, 27 Jun 2014
 
The Motion Picture Ass. of America has shot itself in the foot by issuing a copyright takedown notice against a corner of Reddit – and promptly turned a virtually unused subredit into a popular forum.
The discussion board, /r/FullLengthFilms, is a place for Redditors to post links to films available for streaming or download, and typically scores about 2,500 unique visitors a day. While some of the linked films could be legally downloaded, there's also a contingent of movies that can be streamed or downloaded illegally.
  Some bright spark at the MPAA got wind of this and issued a takedown notice – obtained by Torrentfreak – against the subreddit after a link appeared to a copy of the 2010 film Edge of Darkness, which was adapted from the British TV series of the same name.
 
The Register/ full read here/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/27/mpaa_takedown_order_on_reddit_forum_causes_massive_streisand_effect/

Reply