US entertainment industry wants Congress to give them permission to install rootkits, spyware, ransomware and trojans to consumers' PCs to 'attack pirates'

US entertainment industry is pushing Congress to do some shocking things.

Published
Updated
57 seconds read time

If you want to read an 84-page report from the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, then check it out here. There's something that is quite shocking in this report, which is the proposal to legalize the use of malware for the goal of punishing people believed to be copying illegally.

US entertainment industry wants Congress to give them permission to install rootkits, spyware, ransomware and trojans to consumers' PCs to 'attack pirates' | TweakTown.com

The 84-page report also proposes that software would be installed into the systems of people that would somehow (feel free to tell us) tell if you were a pirate, and if it found out that you were, lock your system up and take your files hostage until you call the police and confess your crimes. This is actually used right now by shifty people online, when they deploy ransomware. If this even gets considered by Congress, it could be a scary future for the US and the world, if the below quote was to happen:

While not currently permitted under U.S. law, there are increasing calls for creating a more permissive environment for active network defense that allows companies not only to stabilize a situation but to take further steps, including actively retrieving stolen information, altering it within the intruder's networks, or even destroying the information within an unauthorized network. Additional measures go further, including photographing the hacker using his own system's camera, implanting malware in the hacker's network, or even physically disabling or destroying the hacker's own computer or network.

NEWS SOURCE:boingboing.net

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

Newsletter Subscription

Related Tags