I’m no fan of music or video piracy. I’m even less of a fan of the overly-heavy-handed tactics taken by the recording and movie industries to protect their intellectual property.
So, I was very amused to read that the over-breadth and sloppiness of RIAA/MPAA takedown practices was confirmed by accusations laid against HP Laserjet printers for infringing file downloads:
But the study, released today by Tadayoshi Kohno, an assistant professor, Michael Piatek a graduate student, and Arvind Krishnamurthy, a research assistant professor, all at the University of Washington, argues that perhaps those takedown notices should be viewed more skeptically.
The paper finds that there is a serious flaw in how these trade groups finger alleged file-sharers. It also suggests that some people might be getting improperly accused of sharing copyrighted content, and could even be purposely framed by other users.[...]
An inanimate object could also get the blame. The researchers rigged the software agents to implicate three laserjet printers, which were then accused in takedown letters by the M.P.A.A. of downloading copies of “Iron Man” and the latest Indiana Jones film.
I think that "pop" you heard was a few bittorrent piracy cases disappearing from legal dockets in various courtrooms countrywide.
