Back in January, Seán reported that Macrovision showcased 'Hawkeye' , their new weapon the ever raging war on P2P. Now they have released information about how their product will work. According to Macrovision, they have the ability to insert two types of files into a P2P network; 'Sinkholes' and just plain fake files. The 'Sinkholes' seem to be the correct file but never downloads, hanging "for eternity". While the fake files just hold white noise, nothing at all or even an advent to purchase what the user tried to download. They will be targeting the major networks like FastTrack and eDonkey, but supriseingly not the BitTorrent protocol.
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In order to find movies, games and music, many P2P users rely on the search facility built into many P2P clients. The Hawkeye system tries to hamper this by flooding networks with false information and Macrovision claims that it also has the ability to halt downloads or provide files that contain nothing but random noise or silence. Apparently, Hawkeye protects video content via 'a combination of Macrovision software and operations personnel who constantly monitor and block attempts at piracy on file-sharing networks worldwide." |
In my opinion this could cause some disruption to P2P networks but It's nothing I havn't seen before. Users that find these files will learn to avoid them in the end. Does this mean Macrovision will pass your IP onto the MPAA/RIAA for attempting to download copyrighted material? You can read the full article here and as always you can discuss this in our Music Download, Peer to Peer (P2P) & Legal Issues forum.
Source: Slyck.com
