TorrentSpy Must Preserve Data In RAM For MPAA

Transient writes "Reaffirming a magistrate's earlier decision, a federal judge has ordered TorrentSpy to begin keeping server logs as it defends itself against an MPAA lawsuit. In her opinion, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper interpreted federal discovery rules broadly. ' Judge Cooper took issue with TorrentSpy's argument that data in RAM is not "stored." She noted RAM's function as primary storage and that the storage of data in RAM — even if not permanently archived — makes it electronically stored information governed by federal discovery rules.' Given that TorrentSpy has limited access for users in the US, the ruling may be moot. But it does set a precedent for other, similar cases. 'Under this interpretation, any data stored in RAM could be subject to a subpoena, as at a basic level it is a "medium from which information can be obtained" just like a hard drive. '"

so hand them a stick of RAM

[jollyreaper]

"Funny, the data was in there before I pulled it out of the server."

hehe

[chuckymonkey]

tail -f /dev/mem > memlogs.txt I say have fun with that one.

Wait, what?!

[Anonymous Coward]

If RAM can be subject to subpoenas, and it's illegal to destroy information that may later be subpoenaed, which is my understanding is true thanks to Sarbanes-Oxley, that means that all computers used by all companies must keep a permanent record of the contents of computer RAM at any given time.

I guess it's time to buy stock in storage companies. I wonder if this also applies to cache RAM? There could be an infinite loop in there somewhere...

Re:so hand them a stick of RAM

[jellomizer]

When they install the software to read the full content of the RAM, the OS Requires a reboot before it can run for the first time.

Re:Need more disk space now?

[Anonymous Coward]

I want to to write down every single thought you have for the next 10 weeks...

Boobies.

C coding standards need a rewrite

[circletimessquare]

malloc command: can only be called with copyright permission from a mafiaa member

free command: illegal under the dmcaa

memory leaks: standard operating procedure

dangling pointers: stool pigeons

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:What I want to know...

[guinness_duck]

She probably called and asked the Geek Squad.

Bah, move the servers offshore.

[DaedalusHKX]

This happened to an E-Gold broker recently, which the government robbed of several heavy 6-7 figure accounts. If memory serves me well, the account holders were not guilty of anything merely "suspected" and were not convicted of anything, but their "assets" were seized and liquidated.

The reason? The broker in question is one of the few who has not yet fled to the free market of international waters. They kept their servers in the US. Lesson 1. Globalism is not just for the big boys. In fact its friendlier for little players. You, me, mom and pop downtown, we're all the ones who should incorporate abroad if we do it at all.

Lesson 2. Torrentspy should work actively with friends from abroad, preferably from some nordic country or some place not friendly to the gestapo tactics of the EU, and US, China, etc. Right now, for the time being, South America seems allright, as would a drilling platform in the middle of the ocean (or close to shore, your preference). If you choose such a path and have money, hire good security, if you don't then you'd best be a good shot, and a great swimmer, you may need to defend such a place, especially if you declare it a separate independent nation or sovereign territory. After that, with a policy of neutrality and free trade with ALL who come to you, there is a fairly good chance you may even draw some of the Linux "community" to you, especially those who seek a place to host that is not "restricted" by either the East or the West.

Re:so hand them a stick of RAM

[DavidTC]

That sounds like a job for SELinux. Lock the system down so hard it doesn't allow root logins at all, and logins under the id that the servers are running under. Have all that become enabled, say, five minutes after boot, or that it starts enabled and must be disabled from the boot command line during boot.

Make sure the system responds with an error message that explains all this if you try to login as one of the protected accounts...that to login you have to reboot the server.

Re:Whoops!

[daeg]

What? No, that switch I hit by the door as you were dragging me out in cuffs didn't turn off the power. I have no idea what that switch does. Oh, it did kill the power? They must have installed a kill-switch by accident! What kind of dumbass builders put in a kill switch in residential buildings?

Re:Wait, what?!

[Anonymous Coward]

The flip side is that when the RIAA actually asks for 'the RAM' you can send them a 10 trillion page printout. And they have to pay reasonable discovery costs to generate this.

"Sir I direct your attention to page 0x1A86FB2 of the memory dump. Do you or do you not recognize writing the bits 101100011010111101?"

Re:Soo....

[MMC Monster]

How about if they have the contents of ram printed to paper every time the ram is refreshed.

The cost of paper may build up to something considerable after the first couple seconds...

Re:If I understand correctly...

[Daychilde]

"Wouldn't that apply to streams also?"

Just as long as you don't cross them.

(sorry, had to) ;-)

Re:Soo....

[john_is_war]

Technically they're not destroying it, but electricity is (or the lack thereof). I say they should sue Zeus.

This Just In

[AnalogDiehard]

TorrentSpy has announced that to comply with the MPAA Puppet^W^W impartial judge orders, all of its servers' RAM cards will be replaced by WOM cards. WOM, or Write Only Memory, is the latest cutting edge technology designed to ease the learning curve of geek challenged courts and remain compliant with discovery demands. All digital access information to their website will be safely stored in the WOM cards, readily surrendered to the courts. TorrentSpy has also announced implementation of the Fair Use Circumvention Kit at a later date but has declined to provide further details, despite curious snickering under their breaths.

RAM log

[noidentity]

Your honor, a tiny portion RAM log of the time in question

2007.08.28 15:40 set bit 1243434
2007.08.28 15:40 set bit 1243435
2007.08.28 15:40 cleared bit 1243436
2007.08.28 15:40 set bit 1243437 ...

Obviously guilty!

Re:Soo....

[JrOldPhart]

Maybe the judge owns stock in Seagate, WD and Hitachi?

Re:What I want to know...

[pla]

is what the Judge actually did to learn what RAM does and the suitable means to archive it.

Simple answer - The MPAA asked for it (no doubt doing their best not to burst out laughing), describing it as absolutely critical to making their case, with probably a snipe about how those damned pirates would try to get out of it by claiming they couldn't realistically get to it.

As for the suitable means to archive it, we don't really need to ask that here on Slashdot, because we already know the answer - You can't, in practice. In theory, you could set up a system with some sort of virtual memory transaction log, but it would run so slowly as to make subpoena-ing its contents irrelevant ("well, after a two week boot time, we've finally gotten to the login screen. We expect to have a shell session by Saturday...").

Re:Bah, move the servers offshore.

[Skillet5151]

any new attempts at creating a new nation will have to be based on a natural land mass.

I think a combination of tubes and big trucks could solve this problem.

Re:Soo....

[Opportunist]

Newsflash 2008, the Amazon is being deforested to keep up with the sudden increase in demand for paper.

Re:Soo....

[Opportunist]

Who said they didn't code it in ASM? Nobody can dictate what language I am to use when writing a program. And nobody says I have to use variable names. Too bad my ASM can't do fancy stuff like macros...

Re:Whoops!

[Opportunist]

Could it be the same guy that wired that extra-heavy-duty electromagnet to get powered when the rest of the house goes black due to the kill switch?

Re:Typical

[nomadic]

People that don't know anything about a certain subject are making rules and precedents about it.

Slashdot's always been like that, though...

Re:Soo....

[surprise_audit]

No, no, no... Save paper and email it to them. Each byte in a separate email. So, 11010011 would be "on on off on off off on on". Send them a 8Gb memory dump and tell them "it's in there somewhere".

man mem

[Anonymous Coward]

`cat /dev/mem` of course. They might even still be around, depending upon your OS.

Re:Evidence destruction ?

[Anonymous Coward]

where on the disk did the contents of buf get stored (assuming we have no virtual memory)?

It's impossible to say because your seven line program contains at least one bug. (I'm assuming that the presented program is C and not some imaginary language).

Firstly, although you've correctly specified that main() should return an "int" you are actually returning a value of "size_t" which may or may not be defined as "int", depending on the platform. Secondly, you haven't checked the return value of fgets(). On error, fgets() returns NULL. This isn't necessarily the same as the nul character so depending on the platform, strlen() may fail (possibly even catastrophically on certain machines, such as the DeathStation 5000).

You've used the strlen() function without including its proper header.

Lastly, although this isn't really an error but it does demonstrate your inexperience, you have enclosed "buf" in parenthesis in the sizeof expression. Remember, sizeof is an operator not a function. The only reason you would ever use parenthesis in conjunction with sizeof is if you were asking for the size of a datatype. For example "sizeof(int)" or "sizeof(*char)". Using parenthesis any other time would be equivalent to expressing a simple sum as "(1) + (2) == (3)". Not incorrect, but pointless.

A more correct program might be...

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
 
int main(void)
{
        char buf[255];
        int n
 
        n = puts("Enter something:");
        if ( EOF == n )
          exit(10);
 
        n = fgets(buf, sizeof buf, stdin);
        if ( NULL == n )
          exit(20);
 
        return (int) strlen(buf);
}

Remember, C isn't for amateurs. That's why high-level languages were invented. To demonstrate how difficult it is to effectively program in C, I've deliberately left a bug in of my own as well as a potentially confusing design issue. See if you can find them.

every highschool student knows

[Anonymous Coward]

>>The cost of paper may build up to something considerable after the first couple seconds...

that depends entirely on the font and the size of the font being used ;-P

Re:Bah, move the servers offshore.

[mcpkaaos]

You would drown. That's why so many of us live on land.

Re:Bah, move the servers offshore.

[mcpkaaos]

http://www.google.ca/search?q=define%3Aon+the+surf ace+of+the+sea+floor [google.ca]

Re:Hippie FUD

[Opportunist]

I will not make funny comments on /., lest someone takes it serious and writes a rant.
I will not make funny comments on /., lest someone takes it serious and writes a rant.
I will not make funny comments on /., lest someone takes it serious and writes a rant.
I will not make funny comments on /., lest someone takes it serious and writes a rant.
I will not make funny comments on /., lest someone takes it serious and writes a rant.
I will not make funny comments on /., lest someone takes it serious and writes a rant.
I will not make funny comments on /., lest someone takes it serious and writes a rant.
I will not make funny comments on /., lest someone takes it serious and writes a rant.
I will not make funny comments on /., lest someone takes it serious and writes a rant. ...