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PRESS RELEASE
June 27, 2001
MUSIC 'VIRUS' TO ATTACK SONG THIEVES VIA NAPSTER & OTHER SWAPPING
PROGRAMS
JULY 4
Embedded code since late 2000 now ready to emerge on US Independence Day in
top 500 downloaded songs
Music fans around the planet will receive a shocking surprise on their
computers on American Independence Day-July 4-but only if they have
downloaded unauthorised songs from Napster, Gnutella or other file swapping
applications on the Internet. On that day, those who have downloaded any of
500 most popular songs planted on the Internet with an imbedded hybrid
'virus' will find their illicit music unusable and their computers frozen
due to the timed release of this bomb.
MusicPanel is a new hybrid computer code that goes beyond what viruses can
do and is hidden as imbedded bits of information that can not be detected by
virus checkers. It affects both Macs and PCs as well as computers running
Linux Unix and even Personal Digital Assistants that can download music.
It's the answer to the 'sonic stealing' of legitimate music without Payment
to the creators and was developed by a group of musician-programmers to
redress the grievances of recorded artists who find their music being
swapped and lifted from the Internet.
The program was developed last year following a meeting of disgruntled
musicians and their managers at a Fourth of July American concert where the
plan was hatched to determine more than 100 of the top songs illicitly
traded on the Internet through Napster. Over the US autumn school term, the
program was perfected and made invisible with an increase in the number of
songs to 500 that were loaded with this application before Christmas.
Placed in easily accessible computers on the Internet where unsuspecting
users could obtain copies of the music, the songs play as if they are normal
downloaded music but a ticking time bomb within the files has been awaiting
the Independence Day when it will be full unleashed across the Internet. So
for those who have used Napster since last November and a number of other
file swapping protocols that have accessed the computers where the
MusicPanel embedded files have resided initially or been placed into other
computers once swapped, fireworks will begin.
The program is only loaded into songs that are protected by copyright and
only those people who have downloaded these 500 infected songs from the
computers on the Internet in which they were planted or computers that have
accessed the files and allowed them to be shared by others. Those users who
have the infected files will find that accessing their computers on July 4
anywhere in the world will cause a crash that will erase all music files
from their computers and any file sharing or MP3 applications. Once the
computer is restarted, these songs and applications will have disappeared
and the computer will load a 'message skin' called MusicPanel that will warn
them off accessing unauthorised music in the future.
In a statement of intent, the producers of MusicPanel explain, "As Creators
of music, we are deprived of income from our music by those companies that
proliferate free file-swapping of songs and the users who blithely shoplift
songs via the Internet who do not pay for our creations. This global weapon
is designed to not only help eliminate this illegal and unfair practice but
also to bring awareness of the loss to legitimate and hardworking musicians,
their record companies, publishers and support systems. It was not developed
in conjunction with any record labels or publishers nor with the Recording
Industry Association of America or any other organization. We do not wish to
cause destruction or other damage to computers or other programs but have
tailored this application attached to frequently downloaded copyrighted
music to attack those who steal songs."
"Since there is no anti-virus protection that will detect or block this
application imbedded in what appear to be otherwise working downloads, only
removal of the illicit songs from hard drives can prevent it from activating
on July 4. If songs have been burned to CDs or are transferred to other
devices that contain music download programs, those devices will also crash
and remove all music files. A further statement will be made after the
MusicPanel activates July 4."