How Many P2P Users Are RIAA Agents?
For years there has been concern over just who has been using peer to peer networks that offer illicit copies of copyrighted material. Not all of those concerns come from copyright holders or their agents.
In fact it seems that there is, and has been, a large concern from those using P2P networks. It might seem strange on the surface for alleged pirates to be worried about spies in their midst, but there are lots of people who claim to have reasons to want to use P2P networks that seem reasonable such as: backups for lost discs, etc.
Here's the scoop:
“For years, P2P communities have suspected that affiliates of the RIAA, the MPAA, and others have been haunting P2P networks to look for those who might be swapping copyrighted files. It's more than a hunch; it's well documented that companies like SafeNet (formerly Media Sentry) engage in this sort of work, and that their testimony is routinely produced at trials. It helped to bring down Jammie Thomas, in fact.
But identifying these organizations is hard. The nature of their business is to remain shadowy, but P2P advocates have spent years compiling "blocklists" of IP ranges that are suspected of belonging to such companies. Connect to a "user" who has an IP address in one of the blocklists and bam: you've just been tracked swapping a file.”
It seems a bit strange to consider that police and other government officials that operate undercover in order to catch criminals have a lot of rules and oversight that are meant to protect potential criminals from entrapment.
It sure would be interesting to find out what rules and regulations these so-called agents have and whether or not they're actually distributing even partial files even with copyright owner consent. That would certainly make for an interesting counter-suit.
In fact it seems that there is, and has been, a large concern from those using P2P networks. It might seem strange on the surface for alleged pirates to be worried about spies in their midst, but there are lots of people who claim to have reasons to want to use P2P networks that seem reasonable such as: backups for lost discs, etc.
Here's the scoop:
“For years, P2P communities have suspected that affiliates of the RIAA, the MPAA, and others have been haunting P2P networks to look for those who might be swapping copyrighted files. It's more than a hunch; it's well documented that companies like SafeNet (formerly Media Sentry) engage in this sort of work, and that their testimony is routinely produced at trials. It helped to bring down Jammie Thomas, in fact.
But identifying these organizations is hard. The nature of their business is to remain shadowy, but P2P advocates have spent years compiling "blocklists" of IP ranges that are suspected of belonging to such companies. Connect to a "user" who has an IP address in one of the blocklists and bam: you've just been tracked swapping a file.”
It seems a bit strange to consider that police and other government officials that operate undercover in order to catch criminals have a lot of rules and oversight that are meant to protect potential criminals from entrapment.
It sure would be interesting to find out what rules and regulations these so-called agents have and whether or not they're actually distributing even partial files even with copyright owner consent. That would certainly make for an interesting counter-suit.
