ZeroPaid.com » winny

What Do We Really Know About Piracy?

Bruce Lidl — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 18:19:03 +0000

Despite years of debates over the morality, prevalence and impact of mass online copyright infringement, actual hard numbers, backed by statistically rigorous methods, are almost impossible to find. Most of what passes as “knowledge” about piracy is based far more on pre-conceived notions and anecdotal evidence. And that really should not surprise, since the fundamental questions about file-sharing generally have less to do with what has happened and more to do with what might have happened. That is, what purchases did not occur because of the existence of free alternatives, what sales did not take place if the pirate networks had not made sharing so easy. Speculative counter-factuals are really all we are left with, and such questions can never be answered with any sort of definitive confidence.

Nonetheless, researchers continue to put forth new studies of the file-sharing phenomenon and its possible effects, at least in limited test cases. The latest study to emerge comes from Japan and looks at one particular niche, Japanese TV animation programs. By examining how the uploading of the shows to YouTube and the popular Japanese sharing network Winny affected both sales and rentals, the researchers from The Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI) in Tokyo came to some tentative conclusions,

Estimated equations of 105 anime episodes show that (1) Youtube viewing does not negatively affect DVD rentals, and it appears to help raise DVD sales; and (2) although Winny file sharing negatively affects DVD rentals, it does not affect DVD sales. … YouTube can be interpreted as a promotion tool for DVD sales.

A clear statement in favor of broadening distribution channels and moving away from prosecuting file-sharers? Maybe, but as with any study of piracy, the questions raised end up overwhelming any attempt at generalization. Aside from the difficulty in linking statistical correlation with causation, we have no way of knowing how specific the dynamic the researchers see in this instance can be observed elsewhere. Do anime fans act differently than general TV or movie fans? Do Japanese fans act the same way as American or European fans? Are only specific kinds of anime or could it be applied to animation in general? And more broadly speaking, how does this kind of unauthorized distribution affect other forms of media, from music to movies to comic books? Ultimately, it seems to me, that no matter how rigorous and scientific any individual study about piracy may be, there will always exist far more questions and caveats than conclusions reached. Because so much is not, and cannot, be known about what might have happened had there not been any infringement, making generalizations both for or against piracy are more faith-based than anything else. The morality and ethics of file-sharing will continue to spark intense debates, but claims about its concrete indisputable effects should probably be taken with a rather large grain of salt.

Japanese Cops Arrest 10 File-Sharers

Jared Moya — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:09:56 +0000

Accused of using “Share” P2P application to illegally share copyrighted material, and for the first time a person is accused of illegally sharing Nintendo Wii games

Police in Hokkaido, Akita, Tokyo, Saitama, Mie, Kyoto, Hyogo, Tokushima, Okuyama and Saga, Japan have arrested (GOOGLE TRANSLATION) a total of 10 people for using the Share P2P application to illegally share copyrighted material online.

Share is a closed-source P2P application developed in Japan as a successor to the Winny P2P application after its author was arrested back in 2004 for developing a program that helped users commit copyright infringement.

Some of the pirated items include movies like “Death Note” and “Death Note: The Last Name,” as well as games including “Dragon Quest IX,” “Wii Music” and “Wii Sports Resort.”

According to the Anti-Counterfeiting Association which made the announcement, it is the first time a person has been accused of using file-sharing software to illegally share Nintendo Wii games.

The arrested include:

1. 40-year-old male company employee from Sapporo (Ranma ½ television series)

2. 23-year-old unemployed male from Toride (Dragon Quest IX: Hoshizora no Mamoribito)

3. 47-year-old male company employee from Nagano (8 musical tracks from Victor Entertainment, SME Records, Sony Music Records, Avex Entertainment)

4. 23-year-old male company contract employee from Sayama (music from Ai Otsuka and Kobukuro, Back to the Future Part III, Death Note, Death Note: The Last Name, others)

5. 37-year-old male local government employee from Tsu (Mobile Suit Gundam 00)

6. 44-year-old male company employee from Jōyō (Lorelei)

7. 37-year-old self-employed male from Yokohama (Wii Music, Wii Sports Resort)

8. 57-year-old unemployed male from Komatsushima (unspecified television anime)

9. 40-year-old unemployed male from Okayama (Dragon Ball Kai, Fresh Precure!, Fullmetal Alchemist)

10. 30-year-old male game center employee from Chikugo (unspecified anime)

The sad thing is that for all the money and effort wasted on the investigation and law enforcement by the ACA, Japanese police, and soon the country’s court system there will be no measurable decline in illegal file-sharing in that country. All that will happen is 10 mainly UNEMPLOYED individuals will have their lives ruined further ruined financially.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

Japanese P2P Trojan taunts users as it deletes all their PC’s files

Jared Moya — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:06:17 +0000

Instead of the proverbial “gotcha letter” via your ISP, a mysterious copyright holder has created a trojan that overwrites P2P users program files with popular comic book character images warning them not to use P2P.

An odd tale of “cat and mouse” is being reported from Japanese users of the Winny P2P file-sharing network, in that a particularly lethal form of malware is being distributed that overwrites their program files with a popular comic book star who scolds them for illegally downloading files.

One of the images, which oddly enough sings a song about fish-shaped pancakes filled with bean jam, includes a phone number, though it has yet to be checked to see if it belongs to the real malware author.

Apparently not content with the ubiquitous “Dear Mr. John Doe” letter, somebody has taken the fight against illegal file-sharing nuclear.

The Trojan poses as a harmless screensaver, though why anybody would want to download a screensaver in the first place is beyond me.

“This is one of the most bizarre pieces of malware we have seen in our labs for quite some time, but it’s data-destroying payload is no laughing matter,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. “But it acts as a timely reminder to companies that they may want to control users’ access to P2P file-sharing software not just because they can eat up bandwidth, but also because they can present a security risk to your corporate data.”

It reportedly targets programs, music files, and e-mail boxes, affecting files the following types of files:

EXE, BAT, CMD, INI, ASP, HTM, HTML, PHP, CLASS, JAVA, DBX, EML, MBX, TBB, WAB, HLP, TXT, MP3, XLS, LOG, BMP

The notion of somebody going to such extremes to target illegal file-sharers actually makes me kind of laugh but, I’m sure the poor fellows who are now staring at some creepy singing anime character aren’t laughing one bit as the PC files are slowly eaten away. Maybe that’s where the “pancakes filled with bean jam” song comes in, people’s files have become a digital breakfast.

Here’s one of the Trojan images below. It reads:

“Ah, I see you are using P2P again…if you don’t stop in 0.5 seconds, I’m going to kill you.” Talk about a threat boy, jeeze.

Say what? “I’m going to kill you?” That’s just plain wrong and borderline sadistic.

Here’s a few more (clockwise from left):

“This is a visit from the prevealant Piro virus! Stop P2P! If you don’t I’ll tell the police!”
“Even though Kaneko-San was found guilty, you’re still using Winny aren’t you. I really hate such people!”
“Ugu! It’s me, Ayu Tsukimaya! I think I might start destroying downloaded files and P2P software now…”
“Taiyaki, taiyaki, oh I’d liek to eat some…If you don’t bring me some, I’ll destroy your files…If you don’t stop using Winny, I’ll expose you to the police….My phone number is XXXXXXXX….”

So I think this Trojan is obviously part of some sort of plan to scare the dickens out of young, impressionable, Japanese schoolchildren, who are fans of these comic-book characters and are also likely to scare easily with threats of “I’m gonna kill you” or of “calling the police”

I’ll admit it may be effective with young kids, it might’ve even scared me straight I think but, in reality it will most certainly only backfire as parents have to soon start consoling their children over how their favorite comic book character is dancing on their PC screen, deleting all of their kids files,and threatening to “kill them” or “turn them in to the police.” I wonder how you say lawsuit in Japanese.

Threatening to kill P2P users is taking the war against illegal file-sharing to a hole new level. Have Japanese copyright-holders in fact gone “nuclear” in their fight?

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/Japanese_P2P_Trojan_taunts_users_as_it_deletes_all_their_PC_s_files’;

SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”