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defrogITEM: The Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property submits a report to the US Congress summarizing the state of online piracy (essentially, it is horrible and costing the US economy "hundreds of billions of dollars per year") and recommending a solution: secretly use spyware and ransomware to catch infringers.
Quote:
The best part is the bit that goes: “While not currently permitted under US law…”
That means they admit their suggestion is currently illegal, but it would be awesome if Congress could look into making it legal (pending “further work and research”, of course).
And as we’ve seen, Congress always seems up for cooking up a badly written Internet governance/copyright bill that will do more harm than good.
That said, they’ve generally failed at actually passing them. So the report’s recommendations may not go anywhere.
Still it’s worth knowing that the RIAA and MPAA – who have been advocating a spyware option for several years now – still have managed to keep that option on the table.
Watch yr ass,
This is dF
Quote:
Additionally, 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. Such measures do not violate existing laws on the use of the Internet, yet they serve to blunt attacks and stabilize a cyber incident to provide both time and evidence for law enforcement to become involved.
While not currently permitted under US law, there are increasing calls for creating a more permissive environment for active network defence that allows companies not only to stabilise a situation, but to take further steps, including actively retrieving stolen information, altering it within the intruder's networks or even destroying the information within an unauthorised network. Additional measures go further, including photographing the hacker using his own system's camera, implanting malware in the hacker's network, or even physically disabling or destroying the hacker's own computer or network.
While not currently permitted under US law, there are increasing calls for creating a more permissive environment for active network defence that allows companies not only to stabilise a situation, but to take further steps, including actively retrieving stolen information, altering it within the intruder's networks or even destroying the information within an unauthorised network. Additional measures go further, including photographing the hacker using his own system's camera, implanting malware in the hacker's network, or even physically disabling or destroying the hacker's own computer or network.
The best part is the bit that goes: “While not currently permitted under US law…”
That means they admit their suggestion is currently illegal, but it would be awesome if Congress could look into making it legal (pending “further work and research”, of course).
And as we’ve seen, Congress always seems up for cooking up a badly written Internet governance/copyright bill that will do more harm than good.
That said, they’ve generally failed at actually passing them. So the report’s recommendations may not go anywhere.
Still it’s worth knowing that the RIAA and MPAA – who have been advocating a spyware option for several years now – still have managed to keep that option on the table.
Watch yr ass,
This is dF
