There's a new weapon in the fight against pirated music: Bogus or decoy MP3s planted to keep people from having too much fun when they download music. Tonight's "Tech Live" reports.
Defective songs are to be expected when navigating the Net in search of free music, but who would have thought the recording industry would be to blame?
If you've ever encountered squawks, squeaks, static, snaps, crackles, and pops when you try to download free music off the Net, you might be messing with a decoy MP3.
These decoys are deliberately planted to frustrate music fans in their quest for free music. The likeliest culprit could be the music industry itself, say proponents of free file swapping.
Although no one in the industry has admitted to the practice, the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has endorsed it.
Anti-piracy tool or attack on consumers?
RIAA president Cary Sherman told TechTV that planting bogus MP3 tracks on free download sites such as
KaZaA and
Morpheus is a "reasonable strategy" and that it is "appropriate to do it."
But representatives from Streamcast Networks, which created Morpheus, say the practice is unethical and an attack on consumers.
"We are more and more concerned that there is an organized effort already about," said Ellen Stroud, government affairs representative for Streamcast.
The RIAA claims the bogus tracks are legal, and they have the political backing of Congressman
Howard Berman (D-California), whose district includes Hollywood.
In June, Berman announced he is
preparing a bill that would allow copyright owners such as record labels or movie studios to launch high tech attacks against file-swapping networks without violating anti-hacking laws.
The bill would provide a legal shield against liability for copyright owners who used high tech attack methods to stop file swapping. However, it wouldn't give them the right to damage swappers' computers or spread viruses.
"Congress should free copyright creators and owners to develop and deploy technological tools for addressing P2P piracy," he said in his announcement. "We could do this by creating a safe harbor from liability for copyright owners that use technological means to prevent the unauthorized distribution of their copyright works via P2P networks."
