Comments on: Music, movie lobbyists push to spy on your Net traffic

Recording and motion picture industries continue efforts to persuade broadband providers to detect users' piracy.

[Norman Moore]

If we really want to stop this we need to not buy any of their music or videos in any form through any means. We need to make it clear why we are not making any purchases.

On the other hand we need to be absolutely certain that OUR houses are in order. This means not making a copy for cousin Millie of that new hot album. This means not buying obviously counterfeit DVDs at the swap meet or on a street corner someplace. Also it means never downloading anything unless we are sure that the content provider has the rights to allow it to be accessed and copied.

[TheTitan]

Uhhh ... it's called PRIVACY. Although it is not a big deal overseas, it is in the top 10 rights in the US. It IS a RIGHT not a previlage.

I know that RIAA and MPAA do not understand the basics of life in the US, but for their benefit, privacy is defined as:

1 a: the quality or state of being apart from company or observation : seclusion b: freedom from unauthorized intrusion <one's right to privacy
2 archaic : a place of seclusion
3 a: secrecy b: a private matter : secret

If you did not understand the definition, read it over and over and over and over and over until you get it.

The constitution might need some minor updates, to compensate for modern times, i.e. technology, it is nearly perfect, without a doubt. "People" <<< very, very important word. It's the people not the IP. It sounds to me that these entities need the definition of the word "people" as well. Then maybe after long exercises they might be able to put " people" and "privacy" in the same sentence.

It appears that it is time to switch from partial to fully encrypted transition. root secured!

[renGek]

So if other countries jump off a bridge, we should as well? Other countries do some very un-american things. I guess thats what the riaa and mpaa would like us to do as well. It won't be long until some over zealous ceo decides he's the czar of america and police everything you view online and he himself will decide whether or not you can go to a specific site.

[sagecast]

Sorry to report huntwithmojo but most users in the US have a choice of only one or another high-speed Internet service -- and most of the dominant providers have stated their interest in inspecting web "packets" to "manage " your communications. So if you leave one ISP in protest, your other choice is another ISP inclined to do the same thing. Until we have real choice (I'd like to see from 12-20 broadband providers in any given market) we're going to need baseline consumer protections that prevent this sort of Web snooping and discrimination.

[sjsobol]

Gotta love it. The jerkoffs are working with Internet providers because a law that sanctioned such activities would be illegal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

[sagecast]

Sorry to report huntwithmojo but most users in the US have a choice of only one or another high-speed Internet service -- and most of the dominant providers have stated their interest in inspecting web "packets" to "manage " your communications. So if you leave one ISP in protest, your other choice is another ISP inclined to do the same thing. Until we have real choice (I'd like to see from 12-20 broadband providers in any given market) we're going to need baseline consumer protections that prevent this sort of Web snooping and discrimination.

[Dr_Zinj]

If someone steals something from you, and you have incontrovertable proof of ownership, there is absolutely no legal reason why you can't go and retrieve your property on your own. Of course that removes usable evidence of a crime against you making prosecution of the offenders difficult to impossible, plus you run the possiblitly of physical danger to yourself during retrieval; which is why it's usually better to call the cops.

The deal is, it's NOT legal for you to bug your neighbor's phone line to listen for evidence that he stole your propertly. That can only legally be done by the cops, and only with a warrant for it. As noted, the RIAA and MPAA are NOT legally deputized entities for the enforcement of copyright law; and will never be ethically or morally entitled to do so as that would be a gross conflict of interest.

[jskrenes]

They should go after UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS demanding to open up our mail to make sure we're not shipping pirated copies of music and movies.

[jerone23]

These Music, movie lobbyists don't seem to realize that it is the ISP customers that pay the ISP bills, if they want them to monitor then start paying them to do so. Else it will be the customers that win. You would think they would have figured that out by now. Just goes to show money can't buy intelligence.

[veruslite]

Take a minute and try looking at the bigger picture here. If you actually think that these people are seriously out to go after Joe Schmoe for some pirated DVD or an unathorized copy of Britneys latest album your kidding yourselves. They want to know the who, what , when, where , how of any and everything you look at, but obviously cant find any legitimate way to incorporate such a thing into law so they go after obscure intelectual property rights in order to give then the "foot in the door" so to speak to peek-a-boo everything you do. Do you guys think its a coincidence that cell phones all of a sudden are touting GPS as the new must have option of all current and future cellphones. Suuuurrrreeee... find out where you are and where you want to go in an instant. Works both ways you know. so when everybody and their mother has a GPS enabled cellphone its just like as good as having all those under skin monitoring tags they want to have implanted in your kids, plus its legal and completely up to your discretion to have one. I mean why wouldnt you want one its the UBER HOTTEST THING EVER!!!! RIIIIIIIGHT.

[tech_junky48]

Viva La Tor!

Seriously, though, who knew the US government would allow communists to spy on its citizens? How could this happen? If it goes through, we need to grab our guns and some supporters and march to our representative's office.

[iconoclastt]

The RIAA and MPAA just can't fathom the concept that they cannot make "perpetual profits" from old songs and old shows that they have well made enough money already!!!! Greedy !!! It sure would be nice if i could put a pay meter on the building i designed and everyone that enters would have to pay me a fee. It's design was my intellectual property? wasn't it? Why should i only be paid once??? Why can't i have my perpetual payments like the RIAA and MPAA $$$ I want my share too!!! I think the architects that designed office buildings for the RIAA and MPAA should band together and put pay turnstiles in those buildings and cameras to make sure people are paying for every use of the buildings. OH, I WONDER, How long would they put up with that "business model"???

[hblauer]

First off, RIAA and MPAA don't deserve a dime, the artists do. Am I missing something; nobody has mentioned about going after the people who upload the "illegal content"! How does this stuff get to the web anyways? I wonder if its secretly "allowed" so RIAA and MPAA and others would be able to claim "intellectual property violations" as an excuse to spy on our web usage!

[rkinne01]

The music and movie industries don't get it. The people pirating media content are going to find a way to break, evade, or ignore what ever monitors are in place. The only people who , as per usual, get tripped up this are honest people. Screw the Motion Picture Association, screw the RIAA, screw DRM, and screw this newest scheme.

[Lerianis]

Exactly right. The fact is that DRM of any form and internet monitoring of any form WILL BE BROKEN OR EVADED SOONER OR LATER. It's just a 'period and done with' thing here.
They simply need to stop trying to keep on making money with products that they made nearly 50 years ago (which should have dropped into the public realm 40 years ago).

[Renegade Knight]

No problem as long as I can also request that everone montitor RIAA MPAA etc. corporate and personal traffice for copyright infringment of my own works and the works of the parties I represent as well as other law infringing behavior.

[stevehj]

As outrageous an invasion of privacy this might seem, ISP's could be construed as being middlemen of illegal transactions if they knowingly allow their service to be used for piracy. Could they possibly be targeted for legal action by the movie and music industries if they don't play ball.
<br><br><br>
<a href = "http://hiddenwallsafes.blogspot.com/2008/12/hidden-wall-safes-1-guide.html">Steve</a>

[anandsuppiah]

I doubt that they can actually enforce this. There are simply too many backdoors to this. Anyway, internet screening has already started in my country, malaysia. Bandwiths for p2p networks are limited.

<a href="http://dog-dogs-dog.blogspot.com/">Anand Suppiah</a>

[ssaliba]

I don't like the idea of my internet activity eing tracked. It just seems creepy.



<a href="http://www.ambitenergycorporation.com/">Ambit Energy</a>

[ssaliba]

I found a great way to avoid being tracked online.

http://www.ambitenergycorporation.com/

[jw32181]

I can't believe that this is happening! It is such an invasion of privacy. Would using a proxy be effective in preventing broadband providers from monitoring your activity online?

<a href="http://www.how-to-stop-aggressive-dog-behavior.com">Julia</a>