http://www.castlecops.com CastleCops News Copyright © 2002-2005 2008-08-21T02:02:20-05:00 http://www.castlecops.com/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.castlecops.com/article-6918-nested-0-0.html http://www.castlecops.com/article-6918-nested-0-0.html CastleCops 2008-07-19T04:59:12-05:00 http://www.castlecops.com/article-6917-nested-0-0.html http://www.castlecops.com/article-6917-nested-0-0.html CastleCops 2008-07-10T13:50:08-05:00
I have spent the day troubleshooting over 20 PCs and have found all installations to have the install date of 9 July 2008, which in my part of the world is tomorrow. I think that as of tomorrow it should work. If not then MS broke something again, but we are used to that.]]> http://www.castlecops.com/article-6916-nested-0-0.html http://www.castlecops.com/article-6916-nested-0-0.html Microsoft 2008-07-09T02:22:57-05:00
Copyright holders shouldn't have to prove that an unauthorized distribution of their work occurred in order to collect damages, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.Both sides realize that the stakes are high and are throwing everything they've got Judge Davis' way. At the time of the Jammie Thomas trial, Thomas was found liable for $9,250 in damages per song for a collection of 24 songs that she made available online, for a total of $222,000 in total damages. In May, however, Davis said that he may have made a manual error of law when instructing the jury.

In its filing, the MPAA says that the mere act of making available a copyrighted piece on a P2P network should serve as sufficient evidence of copyright infringement. Therefore, anyone who makes files available over P2P networks should be deemed to have satisfied the requirements of actual distribution, even if proof of that actual distribution doesn't exist. It sees arguments to the contrary as mere technicalities designed to make it harder for rightsholders to prosecute infringers.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation shot back with its own amicus brief, arguing that the Copyright Act does not grant a making available right to copyright owners. It also said that trade groups shouldn't be allowed to claim that an actual distribution took place based solely on downloads from their own investigators.

According to the MPAA, providing this level of evidence is just too hard. It is often very difficult, and in some cases impossible, to provide such direct proof when confronting modern forms of copyright infringement, whether over P2P networks or otherwise, writes the group.

Another hearing on the case is scheduled for August, at which time Thomas may get the new trial that she has been asking for since last October. ]]> http://www.castlecops.com/article-6915-nested-0-0.html http://www.castlecops.com/article-6915-nested-0-0.html General News 2008-07-08T02:27:20-05:00 http://www.castlecops.com/article-6914-nested-0-0.html http://www.castlecops.com/article-6914-nested-0-0.html Web Site Defaced 2008-06-28T16:21:44-05:00
I really do not like failure, and being a scientist and being rather prone to introspection, I have often revisited a basic premise that my good friends and I shared in our endeavor to redefine Team CastleCops. That premise can be readily articulated: citizen participation can indeed contribute positively and substantively to the advancement of scientific research.]]> http://www.castlecops.com/article-6913-nested-0-0.html http://www.castlecops.com/article-6913-nested-0-0.html Team CastleCops 2008-06-26T17:04:45-05:00
The Electronic Frontier Foundation weighed in this week on the Jammie Thomas file-swapping case, where the judge has asked for public comment on whether just making a file available for download on a P2P network should count as copyright infringement. In its filing, the EFF goes for the jugular, seeking to show that the RIAA's entire approach to file-swapping cases is flawed.

Not only does the Copyright Act not grant a making available right, the EFF said, but trade groups also shouldn't be allowed to claim that an actual distribution took place based solely on downloads from their own investigators. Together, this two-part theory would effectively eviscerate the RIAA's current legal campaign by making it nearly impossible for copyright holders to show that infringing distributions to the public have taken place over P2P networks.

As published by Nate Anderson | June 22, 2008 - 09:03PM CT.
]]> http://www.castlecops.com/article-6912-nested-0-0.html http://www.castlecops.com/article-6912-nested-0-0.html General News 2008-06-25T12:59:52-05:00
Online media company Revision3 says that it is the victim of a cyberattack launched by MediaDefender, a company that fights illegal peer-to-peer distribution of media on behalf of major entertainment companies.

Revision3, the host of Internet shows such as Diggnation, was inaccessible over the weekend. Company CEO Jim Louderback blames the outage on a denial-of-service attack initiated by MediaDefender. Louderback says the FBI is investigating, and he is critical of MediaDefender\'s vigilante approach to fighting copyright piracy.]]> http://www.castlecops.com/article-6911-nested-0-0.html http://www.castlecops.com/article-6911-nested-0-0.html Cyber Security 2008-06-13T13:55:54-05:00
China today denied allegations from two U.S. congressmen that the nation had cracked their way into congressional computer systems. In fact, says China\'s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang, China doesn\'t even have the skills to do so.

That\'s right. In this news story, the AP quoted Gang as saying Is there any evidence? ... Do we have such advanced technology? Even I don\'t believe it.

We\'re supposed to believe that a nuclear-armed superpower, with a growing space program, who has more Internet users than the U.S. doesn\'t have the people with the necessary skills or technology needed to give cyber-snooping a whirl?]]> http://www.castlecops.com/article-6910-nested-0-0.html http://www.castlecops.com/article-6910-nested-0-0.html Gov't Security 2008-06-13T13:51:10-05:00
Kaspersky Lab is reporting that they have intercepted a new variant of a malicious virus that encrypts important files on an infected desktop and demands payment for a key to recover the data. they refer to it as Gpcode. But this time it is using the RSA encryption algorithm with a 1024-bit key! This makes it impossible to crack this Ransomware, without without the author’s key.

The author did bide his time, waiting almost two years before creating a new, improved variant of this file encryptor. Gpcode.ak does not repeat the errors found in previous versions of the virus. Back in 2006 when Kaspersky detected the first versions of Gpcode using RSA, it sounded an alarm: we warned that we wouldn't be able to help decrypt encrypted files if the virus writer implemented the RSA encryption algorithm correctly. It would be a case for law enforcement; encrypting files in this way is tantamount to a cybercriminal copying user files to his own machine, and deleting them from the users infected machine without consent – an illegal action.

Via WinVistaClub]]> http://www.castlecops.com/article-6909-nested-0-0.html http://www.castlecops.com/article-6909-nested-0-0.html Cyber Security 2008-06-11T04:55:09-05:00