gobbles?? p2p virus??? wha

As thejrc said, the part about being hired by the RIAA was not true, but there is an underlying problem.

Wired article: http://www.wired.com/news/infostruct...,57229,00.html

Quote:

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In an e-mail interview, Gobbles representatives admitted that they fabricated the RIAA claim to get attention.

"The only excuse we can offer for our immaturity is that we like the fame," they said.

An RIAA spokesperson also said Gobbles' claim that it's working for the trade association was a hoax, but the representative declined to comment on RIAA's technology-based antipiracy efforts.

However, a security flaw described in the Gobbles warning was very real, according to Michael Hipp, developer of mpg123, a Unix-based MP3 player cited in the advisory.

Included with the Gobbles advisory was source code to a hacking program that exploits the security bug. The use of mpg123 to play special MP3 files created by the hacking program will delete files on the user's computer with the Unix command "rm -rf," Gobbles acknowledged.

"If anyone was dumb enough to lose data because of this, they deserved it," wrote Gobbles representatives in an e-mail, which also noted that the program warned users before deleting their files.

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It's only a matter of time before something serious happens to illegal p2p swapping. At the moment, file sharing piracy is at an alarming and unprecidented scale. If it isn't the RIAA, MPAA, the feds, sting operation (honeypot anybody?), and a host of other things to gather evidence and build a case against illegitimate users.

My guess they will focus on the bigger illegal swppers out there and theoretically eliminate the leechers. The only problem is, finding everybody. There are literally thousands of "nodes" and millions of users. This will cost millions of dollars and many man hours to even scratch the surface. I guess we have to wait and see.

As for the story, there will be many haoxes, claims and scare tactics to help dissuade swappers. This is cheaper, but maybe not as effective.

cheers,

albn

hypothetically speaking, if you were arrested for being in posession of a gun and days/months later guns were made legal, would you not have to complete your sentence and upon release, would you not still be a convict in the eyes of the law. so would all the files that users downloaded before the result of the napster case be legally theirs? or would they be liable, for not deleting them?

and why don't companies put bugs in radios and vcrs, because they must be losing "millions" due to "pirates" illegally recording copyrighted materials.

reminding you that prevention is always better than cure,
(V)e.