does the RIAA monitor IRC networks?

[Schadenfroh]

just curious as to how much they go after those guys, from what i hear, its worse than the filesharering apps. Is there any way for them to catch them? again, pure curiosity

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

again, pure curiosity

right 😀

It is by no means worse. How many people know about kazaa and how many people know about irc? Pretty huge difference - although there definitely is a decent number of people swapping files on irc.

If everyone said "no, the RIAA does not monitor irc," would you just trust that? Who knows? Certainly no one but the RIAA themselves.

 

[styrafoam]

The MPAA does, and they seem to be a few steps behind the RIAA.

 

[n0cmonkey]

I wonder how much monitoring they can do on IRC. Unless they setup the fileservs themself or hack the fileservs, how are they going to tell what is being downloaded? And if you download an mp3 from the RIAA, does that make it legal? 😛

 

[QueBert]

regardless of if they monitor IRC or not. A lot of the people are paranoid and have the channels set for invite or password.

I wouldn't doubt for a second they're on IRC, especially Effnet, Undernet and the bigger networks. I wouldn't worry about it though you can never download anything off IRC anywho seeing how ever fserver has like a 500 person que and it runnin off 128k upstream 🙂

 

[Cheetah8799]

The RIAA doesn't, they hire firms that do it for them.

 

[Looney]

regardless of if they monitor IRC or not. A lot of the people are paranoid and have the channels set for invite or password.

I have NEVER seen an mp3 channel that was invite or password protected. And i've been using IRC as my download source for over 5 years now.

 

[duhh]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I wonder how much monitoring they can do on IRC. Unless they setup the fileservs themself or hack the fileservs, how are they going to tell what is being downloaded? And if you download an mp3 from the RIAA, does that make it legal? 😛

Im not condoning piracy or anything, but lets face it. if you've been using IRC for a long time you know that not everyone is there just to chat. If u simply do a channel list on most networks, the largest 100+ channels are usually piracy related and even have the most common offers in their topic.

Anyway, I would like to point out that efnet, which is the most unmanaged of the large irc networks, even has an operspy command. This means, that any ircop can see whats going on in whatever channel they want. Therefore if the RIAA or MPAA asserts that one of these servers has a bot connected to it that is offering their content; they can bully their way into seeing things as operspy (Most irc servers aren't operated by any sort of professional staff, more of a voulenteer basis... RIAA and MPAA can usually flood those organizations with paperwork and legal documents). Granted any operspy traffic outside of your server is logged ... but the matter remains... they can get in easily if they want to.

 

[beatle]

Originally posted by: duhh

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I wonder how much monitoring they can do on IRC. Unless they setup the fileservs themself or hack the fileservs, how are they going to tell what is being downloaded? And if you download an mp3 from the RIAA, does that make it legal? 😛

Anyway, I would like to point out that efnet, which is the most unmanaged of the large irc networks, even has an operspy command. This means, that any ircop can see whats going on in whatever channel they want. Therefore if the RIAA or MPAA asserts that one of these servers has a bot connected to it that is offering their content; they can bully their way into seeing things as operspy (Most irc servers aren't operated by any sort of professional staff, more of a voulenteer basis... RIAA and MPAA can usually flood those organizations with paperwork and legal documents). Granted any operspy traffic outside of your server is logged ... but the matter remains... they can get in easily if they want to.

That still doesn't log individual Fserves and DCCs, which are the actual incriminating information.

I use IRC to get tv shows, which most people will say is not legal eagle, but it IS legal to record anything broadcast into your home, including PPV (as long as you paid for it) so I'm just having someone do me a favor. 😉

 

[EyeMWing]

EFnet, the armpit of IRC, sees a lot of that type of activity. Policy is g-line on sight (or report)

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: duhh

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I wonder how much monitoring they can do on IRC. Unless they setup the fileservs themself or hack the fileservs, how are they going to tell what is being downloaded? And if you download an mp3 from the RIAA, does that make it legal? 😛

Im not condoning piracy or anything, but lets face it. if you've been using IRC for a long time you know that not everyone is there just to chat. If u simply do a channel list on most networks, the largest 100+ channels are usually piracy related and even have the most common offers in their topic.

Anyway, I would like to point out that efnet, which is the most unmanaged of the large irc networks, even has an operspy command. This means, that any ircop can see whats going on in whatever channel they want. Therefore if the RIAA or MPAA asserts that one of these servers has a bot connected to it that is offering their content; they can bully their way into seeing things as operspy (Most irc servers aren't operated by any sort of professional staff, more of a voulenteer basis... RIAA and MPAA can usually flood those organizations with paperwork and legal documents). Granted any operspy traffic outside of your server is logged ... but the matter remains... they can get in easily if they want to.

As was already mentioned, it cannot see DCC information. DCC is a direct connection from client to client, and happens to be the important part of the transactions 😉

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: duhh

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I wonder how much monitoring they can do on IRC. Unless they setup the fileservs themself or hack the fileservs, how are they going to tell what is being downloaded? And if you download an mp3 from the RIAA, does that make it legal? 😛

Im not condoning piracy or anything, but lets face it. if you've been using IRC for a long time you know that not everyone is there just to chat. If u simply do a channel list on most networks, the largest 100+ channels are usually piracy related and even have the most common offers in their topic.

Anyway, I would like to point out that efnet, which is the most unmanaged of the large irc networks, even has an operspy command. This means, that any ircop can see whats going on in whatever channel they want. Therefore if the RIAA or MPAA asserts that one of these servers has a bot connected to it that is offering their content; they can bully their way into seeing things as operspy (Most irc servers aren't operated by any sort of professional staff, more of a voulenteer basis... RIAA and MPAA can usually flood those organizations with paperwork and legal documents). Granted any operspy traffic outside of your server is logged ... but the matter remains... they can get in easily if they want to.

EFnet IRCopers are the best people to have in those positions - they're among the most illegitimate IRC users EVER, hence their volatile stance towards any incursion by "investigators"

Most EFnet servers are operated on a volunteer basis by employees of a sponsoring ISP. These sponsoring ISPs know damn well what goes on and *DO NOT CARE* - they aren't goign to waste corporate resources on an unofficial service. irc.mindspring.com and irc.aol.com actually have some of the most active anti-anti-piracy opers.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: EyeMWing

Originally posted by: duhh

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I wonder how much monitoring they can do on IRC. Unless they setup the fileservs themself or hack the fileservs, how are they going to tell what is being downloaded? And if you download an mp3 from the RIAA, does that make it legal? 😛

Im not condoning piracy or anything, but lets face it. if you've been using IRC for a long time you know that not everyone is there just to chat. If u simply do a channel list on most networks, the largest 100+ channels are usually piracy related and even have the most common offers in their topic.

Anyway, I would like to point out that efnet, which is the most unmanaged of the large irc networks, even has an operspy command. This means, that any ircop can see whats going on in whatever channel they want. Therefore if the RIAA or MPAA asserts that one of these servers has a bot connected to it that is offering their content; they can bully their way into seeing things as operspy (Most irc servers aren't operated by any sort of professional staff, more of a voulenteer basis... RIAA and MPAA can usually flood those organizations with paperwork and legal documents). Granted any operspy traffic outside of your server is logged ... but the matter remains... they can get in easily if they want to.

EFnet IRCopers are the best people to have in those positions - they're among the most illegitimate IRC users EVER, hence their volatile stance towards any incursion by "investigators"

Most EFnet servers are operated on a volunteer basis by employees of a sponsoring ISP. These sponsoring ISPs know damn well what goes on and *DO NOT CARE* - they aren't goign to waste corporate resources on an unofficial service. irc.mindspring.com and irc.aol.com actually have some of the most active anti-anti-piracy opers.

Those servers are back? I thought they were discarded years ago. 😛

 

[duhh]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: duhh

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I wonder how much monitoring they can do on IRC. Unless they setup the fileservs themself or hack the fileservs, how are they going to tell what is being downloaded? And if you download an mp3 from the RIAA, does that make it legal? 😛

Im not condoning piracy or anything, but lets face it. if you've been using IRC for a long time you know that not everyone is there just to chat. If u simply do a channel list on most networks, the largest 100+ channels are usually piracy related and even have the most common offers in their topic.

Anyway, I would like to point out that efnet, which is the most unmanaged of the large irc networks, even has an operspy command. This means, that any ircop can see whats going on in whatever channel they want. Therefore if the RIAA or MPAA asserts that one of these servers has a bot connected to it that is offering their content; they can bully their way into seeing things as operspy (Most irc servers aren't operated by any sort of professional staff, more of a voulenteer basis... RIAA and MPAA can usually flood those organizations with paperwork and legal documents). Granted any operspy traffic outside of your server is logged ... but the matter remains... they can get in easily if they want to.

As was already mentioned, it cannot see DCC information. DCC is a direct connection from client to client, and happens to be the important part of the transactions 😉

Yes but the important part of that equation is that most file distribution done over IRC is handled by bots, and the command to queue files from those bots often occur in msg or in the open channels .... therefore it could still be seen .... Anyway, I'm not saying its happening, Im just saying that it is a possability.

And as far as the Efnet ops went, I ment no offense. I associate with a few of them on a regular basis and they are by far running one of the best networks for no personal gain, the only thing they get for it is headaches. I certainly didn't mean to imply that there was anything sneaking going on with them or the RIAA...

 

[beatle]

Originally posted by: duhh

Yes but the important part of that equation is that most file distribution done over IRC is handled by bots, and the command to queue files from those bots often occur in msg or in the open channels .... therefore it could still be seen .... Anyway, I'm not saying its happening, Im just saying that it is a possability.

The intent to download illegal files isn't illegal, just like the intent to buy drugs. I can type the correct trigger to get into an Fserve, but all of the really juicy transactions are done in DCC. Just like I can say "I can't wait until this weekend when I pikc up my pound of coke!" without being in violation of any laws. The worse that would happen would be flagging yourself that you COULD be up to no good.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

What about intent to deliver? That's against the law.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: Hardcore

regardless of if they monitor IRC or not. A lot of the people are paranoid and have the channels set for invite or password.

I have NEVER seen an mp3 channel that was invite or password protected. And i've been using IRC as my download source for over 5 years now.

Get out of the mainstream and into the real underground 😉

There are "good" channels that aren't listed when you list the channels.