More downloading/lawsuits news

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New Worm Targets File-Sharing Nets
Thu Sep 18, 6:00 PM ET

Paul Roberts, IDG News Service

Antivirus companies are warning Internet users about W32.Swen, a new worm that spreads using e-mail messages, vulnerable network connections, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), and peer-to-peer networks.

F-Secure, Network Associates, and Symantec all have issued warnings about Swen, indicating that the worm is spreading on the Internet. Customers are being advised to update their antivirus definitions to detect and nullify Swen.

Finding a Flaw

First detected on Thursday, Swen exploits a security hole in Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser. It affects all supported versions of the Windows operating system, according to security products vendor F-Secure of Helsinki.


The worm poses as a software security update from Microsoft. Its message prompts users with "Yes" or "No" buttons to agree to install the update, and even provides an installation "progress" bar if they do agree.

However, the worm code is installed regardless of what users select. Once it has infected a system, Swen alters the configuration of Windows so the worm is launched whenever Windows is started. The worm also detects and disables antivirus software or other Windows features that could be used to disable it, according to F-Secure.

Like other mass mailing worms, Swen scans an infected machine's hard drive for e-mail addresses and uses those to send out more copies of itself, skimming SMTP server addresses and user names from Windows.

Infected e-mail messages are formatted to look like official correspondence from Microsoft. The messages appear to come from one of a variety of randomly generated senders like "MS Technical Assistance" and advertise a "cumulative patch" for Internet Explorer to patch "three newly discovered vulnerabilities," F-Secure says.

Other Routes

The worm also can detect the presence of IRC clients or the Kazaa peer-to-peer file-sharing client application, and then distribute itself on those networks. Swen places a specialized script file that sends a virus file to every computer on the same IRC channel as the infected computer.

For machines running Kazaa file-sharing software, Swen enables the file-sharing feature, if it is not already enabled. It places multiple copies of itself in the Kazaa shared files folder, disguised as Kazaa client software, pirated software, or other popular applications, F-Secure says.

More than one antivirus company notes the similarity between Swen and an earlier worm, W32.Gibe, which appeared in March. Like Swen, Gibe also attempted to spread by e-mail as well as Kazaa and IRC networks, while posing as a piece of legitimate Microsoft software when installed.

[tdallasw]

Makers of Kazaa Are Suing Record Labels

LOS ANGELES - Turning the tables on record labels, makers of the most popular file-sharing network are suing entertainment companies for copyright infringement.

Sharman Networks, the company behind the Kazaa file-sharing software, filed a federal lawsuit on Monday accusing the entertainment companies of using unauthorized versions of its software in their efforts to snoop out users.

Sharman said the companies used Kazaa Lite, an ad-less replica of its software, to get onto the network. The lawsuit also claims efforts to combat piracy on Kazaa violated terms for using the network. Entertainment companies have offered bogus versions of copyright works and sent online messages to users.

Sharman's lawsuit also revives its previous allegation that the entertainment companies violated antitrust laws by stopping Sharman and its partner from distributing authorized copies of music and movies through Kazaa.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson rejected those claims in July but last week allowed Sharman to try again.

The Recording Industry Association of America called Sharman's "newfound admiration for the importance of copyright law" ironic and "self-serving."

Uniersal Music Group and Warner Music Group declined comment on Sharman's latest lawsuit.

Earlier this month, recording companies sued 261 music fans, claiming they were illegally distributing hundreds of digital song files apiece over the Internet. The industry trolled file-sharing networks such as Kazaa and downloaded song files from users' computers.

Once the industry determined a downloaded song file was a copyright work, they issued subpoenas to Internet access providers to find out who was behind the account used to log onto the file-sharing network.

[Cadeho]

Tue Sep 23, 6:42 AM ET

By Mike Snider USA TODAY

In his new album, Coming From Where I'm From, Anthony Hamilton reflects on his roots and the directions in which they have led him. His CD, meanwhile, offers a glimpse of the direction the music industry is taking to prevent rampant piracy.


The soulful singer's Arista debut, which arrives in stores today, may look like a traditional CD. But it's the first of an expected wave of CDs intended to keep listeners from swapping songs on the Net.


The disc has two sets of music tracks: one set of "encrypted" songs that can be handled by CD players but cannot be ripped on computers, and a duplicate set of tracks in the Windows Media format. These can be downloaded from the CD to a computer and then transferred to portable devices or recorded to home CDs.


But these "secure digital" tracks cannot be played on another computer should they be uploaded to the Net. "The whole concept was to create a legally licensed structure" for computer use of recorded music, says William Whitmore of SunnComm, which designed the anti-copy technology.


The company two years ago released the first protected CD, Charley Pride's A Tribute to Jim Reeves.That disc, which simply encrypted the tracks so they couldn't be copied by PCs, and other early efforts met stiff consumer resistance.


Record labels are hoping this CD will prove more acceptable because it lets fans use music with their own devices and share with friends, but not with millions of others, says Nathaniel Brown of BMG, which distributes albums on the Arista label. "This is the first generation that allows the kind of personal use that we have deemed appropriate," he says.


In CD players, the disc plays normally. When put into a Macintosh (news - web sites) or Windows PC, the disc installs software to keep the music secure, and an interactive menu pops up with several links, including one to copy some or all of the Windows Media tracks to your hard drive.


Another link allows you to send e-mail to friends so they can download a copy of the song playable for 10 days. "You're sharing music, but you are not giving it away forever," Whitmore says.


Sunncomm is talking to other music labels, as is competitor Macrovision. BMG plans to release more protected CDs this year, though it's making no further announcements yet, Brown says.


Many Net swappers "think it is their God-given right to steal music," Whitmore says. "They don't know any better. We have to teach them."

[iratherlikeme]

I got Comin From Where I'm From a few weeks ago, and I started to get a couple more from his album. He can sing and all, but I have to hear more than one track if I'm going to buy it.