Recording industry lawyers have claimed that detailed analysis of the data in MP3 music files can prove the files were downloaded illegally from an online file-sharing network.
The revelation came with the release of court documents relating to a case against a New York woman. She is accused of sharing 1000 songs through a peer-to-peer file network, using the online pseudonym "nycfashiongirl". She claims to have made the MP3 files found on her computer from CDs that she owned.
But lawyers for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents the world's largest record companies, write in a court document: "The source for nycfashiongirl's sound recordings was not her own personal CDs."
The RIAA says the username of another computer user was found in the header of one of the MP3s. Headers are routinely used to store a song's title and length, but some MP3 compression software may also add information such as the username of the person who created the file.
The RIAA said that it also examined the digital fingerprints, or "hashes'', of the MP3s and found that some matched those of files previously see on file-sharing networks.
Markus Kuhn, a computer researcher at Cambridge University, UK, says the process of MP3 encoding involves variables that can create tell-tale differences between two files of the same song.
News source: Newscientist - Music industry claims MP3s are traceable
The revelation came with the release of court documents relating to a case against a New York woman. She is accused of sharing 1000 songs through a peer-to-peer file network, using the online pseudonym "nycfashiongirl". She claims to have made the MP3 files found on her computer from CDs that she owned.
But lawyers for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents the world's largest record companies, write in a court document: "The source for nycfashiongirl's sound recordings was not her own personal CDs."
The RIAA says the username of another computer user was found in the header of one of the MP3s. Headers are routinely used to store a song's title and length, but some MP3 compression software may also add information such as the username of the person who created the file.
The RIAA said that it also examined the digital fingerprints, or "hashes'', of the MP3s and found that some matched those of files previously see on file-sharing networks.
Markus Kuhn, a computer researcher at Cambridge University, UK, says the process of MP3 encoding involves variables that can create tell-tale differences between two files of the same song.
News source: Newscientist - Music industry claims MP3s are traceable
According to Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler, the company has yet to make any firm decision on how it may alter IE in reaction to the court decision. He said Microsoft is waiting to see what occurs during the ongoing post-trial process, during which a judge will decide what sort of injunction could be imposed on the company, based on the ruling. Desler said Microsoft is preparing to appeal a court injunction, if necessary.
"We still feel there's a chance the judge may recognize Microsoft's claim that Eolas involved itself in inequitable conduct, as we believe Eolas had knowledge of...existing Microsoft technology before submitting its patent application," he said. "This discussion was excluded from the jury trial, and we think it's a powerful argument."
Desler confirmed that Microsoft is considering taking some precautionary steps with IE to bring it into accord with any potential injunction from the courts. At this point, the company is "reaching out to the industry and standards bodies to inform people what our thinking is and to get feedback regarding any possible changes," he said.
Desler said Microsoft is already considering potential workarounds for IE if the company is indeed served with an injunction that it cannot appeal.
I know a lot of mp3's have information in the ID3 tags about who created the file. Could it be this they are on about?
Yep, since that's basically the only metadata in an mp3 file, that's probably it.
The chances of two different people ripping the same song resulting in the same hash are VERY VERY low.
Try it if you dont believe me..
???
Have you ever seen any? Have anyone in the world ever seen any? I doubt that, although there's a small theoretical chance. But the same goes for DNA evidence which has some chance in a million of giving the wrong indication. Still it's commonly used in court. (which I agree they should continue with too)
No, users on Slashdot recently tried this since they believed it too, but the same track from the same album was different depending on at least the CD-ROM drive.
They also mentioned ID3 tags as another way to tell who made the file, a much easier process.
So when is someone goign to come out with a program that erases all the ID3 tags, and randomly edits the files hash code?
However, since this would generate a new hash and p2p networks are based on identical hashes to group of sources, it would completely wreck p2p sharing. You'd see stuff like this:
Madonna - Like A Virgin.mp3 (1 source)
Madonna - Like A Virgin.mp3 (1 source)
Madonna - Like A Virgin.mp3 (1 source)
+ hundreds more
And picking one would only look for exactly THAT one which probably only one user in the world has. I.e. no particular transfer speeds to speak of.
It's RIAA lawyers not the gov't
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