SOPA Supporters Outed as Content Pirates on YouHaveDownloaded Database?
source: http://mashable.com/2011/12/15/you-have-downloaded-sopa/
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- Dagum
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As heat continues to build around the controversial and contentious Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), one site is taking matters into its own hands to out opponents of piracy as pirates themselves.
YouHaveDownloaded .com is a site that keeps track of everything you have downloaded from file-sharing sites and torrents. The site tracks IP addresses (an identifying number given to computers attached to the Internet) that use sites such as the BitTorrent network. It then matches these IP addresses with a list of files that have been downloaded.
Logging into YouHaveDownloaded .com will do a quick cross-check of your IP with the site’s database of potentially pirated downloads and show you your potentially criminal download history. More impressively, you can use the site to look up other IP addresses, torrent hashes or specific files.
At time of writing, the site has a database of nearly 54 million users (IP addresses), more than 118,000 torrents and more than 2 million files.
While this sounds like trouble for illegal downloaders, the site, designed as an open tool for anyone to use, is actually being used to bust people that support stricter online piracy laws.
SOPA is a bill designed to curb and punish online copyright violations. It has been supported by media companies, especially those in Hollywood and the film business. The bill, however, would impose tough penalties on websites for any kind of copyright infringement even if it was uploaded externally. The classic example is that a video on YouTube of Justin Bieber singing another artists song without permission would not only land Bieber in court but also put YouTube at risk of shut-down. The bill has turned into a fight between Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
YouHaveDownloaded .com, however, is showing that the bill’s supporters aren’t so innocent. TorrentFreak, a BitTorrent blog, recently revealed that IP addresses seemingly coming from Sony Pictures, Universal and Fox had been illegally downloading content, ZDNet reported
All three companies are members of AFACT, a coalition of companies fighting copyright infringements. Continued at....
Continued at http://mashable.com/2011/12/15/you-have-downloaded-sopa/
YouHaveDownloaded .com is a site that keeps track of everything you have downloaded from file-sharing sites and torrents. The site tracks IP addresses (an identifying number given to computers attached to the Internet) that use sites such as the BitTorrent network. It then matches these IP addresses with a list of files that have been downloaded.
Logging into YouHaveDownloaded .com will do a quick cross-check of your IP with the site’s database of potentially pirated downloads and show you your potentially criminal download history. More impressively, you can use the site to look up other IP addresses, torrent hashes or specific files.
At time of writing, the site has a database of nearly 54 million users (IP addresses), more than 118,000 torrents and more than 2 million files.
While this sounds like trouble for illegal downloaders, the site, designed as an open tool for anyone to use, is actually being used to bust people that support stricter online piracy laws.
SOPA is a bill designed to curb and punish online copyright violations. It has been supported by media companies, especially those in Hollywood and the film business. The bill, however, would impose tough penalties on websites for any kind of copyright infringement even if it was uploaded externally. The classic example is that a video on YouTube of Justin Bieber singing another artists song without permission would not only land Bieber in court but also put YouTube at risk of shut-down. The bill has turned into a fight between Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
YouHaveDownloaded .com, however, is showing that the bill’s supporters aren’t so innocent. TorrentFreak, a BitTorrent blog, recently revealed that IP addresses seemingly coming from Sony Pictures, Universal and Fox had been illegally downloading content, ZDNet reported
All three companies are members of AFACT, a coalition of companies fighting copyright infringements. Continued at....
Continued at http://mashable.com/2011/12/15/you-have-downloaded-sopa/
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- groups:
- Community, News and Politics, Tech, Privacy
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- tags:
- Anonymous, SOPA, RIAA, Stop Online Piracy Act, 1 more
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jubal
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Hint Hint.....anonymous....where are you?
- 6 months ago
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jubal
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Dagum
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On a side note, maybe anonymous might have a new target. "YouHaveDownloaded .com". Who gathers this information?
- 6 months ago
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Dagum
