Infowar skirmish as armies circle.e-armageddon looms.

[Matthew X]

By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer

NEW YORK (August 21, 2002 6:34 a.m. EDT) - Upset by legislation that would 
give the entertainment industry broad technical powers to smother online 
copyright infringement, a small Internet service provider has decided to 
fight back.
Omachonu Ogali, owner of Information Wave Technologies, said he would use 
techniques similar to a honeypot meant to attract pests.
The method would involve placing fake music files on the Gnutella 
file-sharing network to identify computers that attempt to disrupt that 
network.
Those computers, presumably working on behalf of the movie and music 
industries, would later be blocked from reaching the Information Wave 
Technologies network.
Ogali also began blocking customers Monday from accessing the Recording 
Industry Association of America's Web site.
The effect will be mostly symbolic.
Information Wave has only about 25 customers, mostly business, in New York, 
New Jersey and Connecticut, and it's unlikely any blocks to his network 
would stop the industry's efforts elsewhere.
A bill proposed by Rep. Howard L. Berman, D-Calif., would give the 
entertainment industry broad new powers - including deliberately 
interfering with only file-sharing programs - to try to stop people from 
swapping pirated music and movies.
Berman has said the bill would not allow industry to spread viruses across 
file-trading networks or destroy files. But Ogali said mistakes could occur 
and if a customer is pirating music, "it's up to the ISP to terminate the 
customer's access, not the RIAA to come in as the law-enforcement agency."
In a statement on Ogali's initiative, the RIAA said "games like this 
neither serve the interests of music fans nor protect Internet service 
providers from their legal obligations."
ISPs lose exemption from copyright lawsuits if they actively or knowingly 
contribute to violations or fail to stop them upon notice, such as by 
terminating a customer's account.
On Friday, several recording companies sued four Internet service providers 
- Ogali's was not one of them - seeking an immediate court order forcing 
them to block access to a Chinese Web site accused of distributing pirated 
music.
Ogali said the lawsuit, for him, was the last straw.END
Don't shoot till you see the pinkrim of their eyes."