IP: an eye for an eye -- ISP Bans RIAA From Accessing Its Network

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
Organization: INFOWARRIOR.ORG
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 10:36:50 -0400
To: <farber () cis upenn edu>
Subject: ISP Bans RIAA From Accessing Its Network

(A small action, but nice to see corporate protests starting to crop
up.....interesting honeypot approach......rf)

http://www.informationwave.net/news/20020819riaa.php

IWT Bans RIAA From Accessing Its Network
August 19, 2002

Information Wave Technologies has announced it will actively deny the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) from accessing the contents
of its network. Earlier this year, the RIAA announced its new plan to access
computers without owner's consent for the sake of protecting its assets.
Information Wave believes this policy puts its customers at risk of
unintentional damage, corporate espionage, and invasion of privacy to say
the least.

Due to the nature of this matter and RIAA's previous history, we feel the
RIAA will abuse software vulerabilities in a client's browser after the
browser accesses its site, potentially allowing the RIAA to access and/or
tamper with your data. Starting at midnight on August 19, 2002, Information
Wave customers will no longer be able to reach the RIAA's web site.
Information Wave will also actively seek out attempts by the RIAA to thwart
this policy and apply additional filters to protect our customers' data.

Information Wave will also deploy peer-to-peer clients on the Gnutella
network from its security research and development network (honeynet) which
will offer files with popular song titles derived from the Billboard Top 100
maintained by VNU eMedia. No copyright violations will take place, these
files will merely have arbitrary sizes similar to the length of a 3 to 4
minute MP3 audio file encoded at 128kbps. Clients which connect to our
peer-to-peer clients, and then afterwards attempt to illegally access the
network will be immediately blacklisted from Information Wave's network. The
data collected will be actively maintained and distributed from our network
operations site.

The placement of this policy is not intended to hamper the RIAA's piracy
elimination agenda or advocate Internet piracy, but to ensure the safety of
our customers' data attached to our network from hackers or corporate
espionage hidden by the veil of RIAA copyright enforcement.

If you have questions, comments, or concerns regarding this policy, please
e-mail riaa () informationwave net


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