France mulls extending piracy laws to include streaming and direct downloads

ISPs in the US are just getting around to enforcing a "six strikes" policy against illegal P2P sharing, but France is now contemplating a crackdown on the streaming and direct downloads of pirated content. Hadopi, the government organization behind the country's existing "three strikes" law, released a new report that proposes websites take a page from YouTube's book and actively monitor content by using recognition algorithms and the like to take down things that are presumed illegal. If a site weren't to cooperate after a round of warnings, it might face penalties including DNS and IP blocking, domain name seizures and even financial repercussions that involve having their accounts with "payment intermediaries" (think PayPal) suspended. As for enforcement of this potential government mandate, the dossier posits that it could lean on internet service providers instead of hosting services, which according to EU law, can't be forced to conduct widespread surveillance. For now, these suggestions aren't being made policy, but Hadopi is mulling them over.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Hadopi (1, translated), (2, PDF)

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By: Unknown On 10:58 PM

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Copyright Alert System gets started, ISPs ready to lay the smack down on P2P piracy

The fight against online piracy just gained a new weapon in the form of the Copyright Alert System (CAS) aka the "six strikes" policy. Starting today, participating ISPs like Verizon, Time Warner Cable, AT&T and Comcast will begin issuing warnings to customers suspected of using illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing services that violate copyright laws. Initial notifications will be used to educate and direct customers to legal alternative content sources. If the first set of notifications go avoided, the ISP may take further action, which includes: throttling internet connection speeds and redirecting users to websites requiring acknowledgment of CAS alerts.

If a person wishes to contest their ISP's findings, they will have 14 calendar days to request an independent review by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) for a fee of $35. If the investigation finds that no copyright violations have taken place, the alerts will be removed from the customer's account and they will receive a refund for the filing fee. However, should the organization's research rule otherwise, the internet service provider may proceed with taking action against its account holder. To get a closer look at the CAS and its inner workings, "redirect" your browser to the source links below.

Source: Center for Copyright Information (1), (2)

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By: Unknown On 5:03 PM

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Nokia engineer exposes Windows Store piracy problems

A Nokia engineer working on Windows Phone 8 has posted details on how Microsoft's Windows Store approach to security can be bypassed to avoid paying for games and in-app purchases. The process involves things like injecting code into the purchase process, altering a few lines for security checks, and changing files associated with games. That’s probably more than the average user is prepared to handle, but it does highlight a potential threat to developers who have submitted their creations to the Windows Store.

Justin Angel, the engineer in question, points out that there’s a fundamental problem with Microsoft storing game data locally -- including encrypted files alongside the algorithm and algorithm key/hash for decryption. “If it’s stored locally, we can find it, read it and modify it,” he says.

Angel explains the process using a handful of games as case studies. In Soulcraft, for example, he was able to decrypt and edit XML files to gain 1,000,000 of gold for his first level character (worth over a thousand dollar on Android and iOS), while in Meteor Madness he was able to modify another file to turn the trial game into the full $1.5 version. There's also an example that ditches ads in Minesweeper and a workaround to unlock levels in Cut The Rope. Basically, if there’s a way for developers to make money, there’s a way to bypass it.

Angel says his findings are meant to be educational with the hope that “both developers and Microsoft can benefit from an open exchange of knowledge,” and that Nokia had nothing to do with the research. Justin Angel’s website is currently offline for some reason but the article is available through Google Cache.

View the original article here

By: Dilusha On 1:11 PM

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