A flaw critics have warned of in the RIAA's series of lawsuits against consumers — the possibility that "innocent" file-sharers could appear "guilty" — is the subject of a newly released anonymous paper. "Entrapment: Incriminating Peer to Peer Network Users," was posted this week on a free Australian webhost service. Excerpt from the document:
If a user of peer to peer (P2P) networks is allegedly caught searching for, downloading, sharing
or uploading contraband files such as copyright-protected music .mp3 files, they might
mistakenly believe that their only option is to plea bargain with authorities. However the P2P user, who the authorities are all too quick to brand as an offender, may
actually be an innocent victim. It is possible for an attacker to exploit both the underlying design
of P2P networks as well as implementation flaws in P2P applications in order to implicate
another P2P user in behaviour deemed unacceptable by the authorities.In the worst case scenario, an attacker can anonymously trick an innocent P2P user into
downloading a contraband file from another user on the P2P network. If authorities participate
in P2P networks in order to identify offenders, the innocent P2P user may have downloaded a
contraband file from an authority.This article will describe how a P2P user allegedly caught committing an offence relating to
copyright violation, such as sharing/uploading/downloading/searching for contraband files, might
not have been knowingly involved, or might not have been involved at all.
Link to New Scientist article, Link to "Entrapment" paper (Adobe PDF)
