Unfair Use - Speculations on the Future of Piracy

Presented at DEF CON 17 (2009), Aug. 1, 2009, 1 p.m. (50 minutes)

Piracy has always been a sophisticated, if not chaotically organized effort - from acquisition, packaging, distribution, risk analysis and managing criminal volunteers. Piracy has moved from software, to all mediums - books, comic books, knitting patterns, video medium of all kinds. Despite distinctions in types of piracy, there are evolutionary measures that need to take place to address a number of challenges. Between malware codecs, root-kitted software, attempts to flood distribution networks with bad information, and other attacks, there are problems to be solved. The future will involve distributed architectures, data integrity measures, reputation management via digital signatures, and standardization of metadata. I will discuss the state of piracy, and touch as need on its past, then discussing future technologies to address current and upcoming challenges. This talk will not spend time discussing the law or ethics, although the distinction between piracy and bootlegging will be made. Eye patches optional.

Presenters:

  • Dead Addict
    Dead Addict gave a talk at Defcon 2 about the future of piracy and predicted the obvious; music piracy was about to explode and become ubiquitous. When he gave his first speech his in-depth knowledge of piracy was fresh - he had been a senior member in a piracy group and understood the world intimately. It's been several years since Dead Addict's last copyright infringement, so his current insight is gleaned through meticulous study and review of public papers and interviews with admitted pirates.

Links:

Similar Presentations: