The recording racket has a
new weapon: a program named Media Tracker. It is a web-based system
which imitates clients on Napster and IRC, monitors newsgroups and
checks search engines, finding copyrighted sound files; it can allegedly
identify individual machines and ISPs and send legal nastygrams.
The strategy may be to bog down ISPs with demands and legal threats until they
decide to pre-emptively block file sharing/auto-delete users' MP3s (as some
ISPs already do), or ultimately install "indemnity filters" that block
potential copyright violations preemptively. Remember, kids, if it's not in
a RIAA-approved secure format, it's probably illegal; Just Say No.