MPAA gives two printers take-down notices

I knew that printers could copy documents but can they really copy Iron Man? Researchers at the University of Washington were doing some tests to suss out BitTorrent traffic on their local network when they found a way to spoof traffic from certain IP addresses. After spoofing two printers on their network, the printers received DMCA notices from the MPAA for sharing files like Iron Man and the new Indy movie.

Their goal was to force the MPAA to open up their search systems to scrutiny, something they will never, ever do.

“Our study scientifically shows that flaws exists,” said Mr. Kohno, an assistant professor in the university’s Computer Science and Engineering department. “It’s impossible to prove that other flaws don’t exist, especially since current industry practices are so shrouded in mystery. Ultimately, we think that our results should provide a wake-up call for more openness on the parts of content enforcers.”