mistagitar
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Hi all,
I work for a University, and we have frequent problems with students downloading illegal music files. Then we a complaint from the DMCA, we slap the student on the wrist, and revoke their internet access until we can verify that all illegal content is removed from their machine. It's kind of hopeless, given the infinite ways to save their content before we come inspect their system, but hey, what can you do.
So here's my question:
I noticed that MP3 files begin with the two ASCII charactors ÿû (at least those that I've inspected) when viewed in Notepad. Is there a way to search all files on the system to see if any begin with those 2 ASCII charactors? The idea is to find ILLEGAL_SONG.MP3 that has been renamed to HARMLESS_PHOTO.JPG
Any raw ASCII/binary search utility that can do this for me.... or suggestions on some code I could compile (I imagine it would be a lot)?
Thanks,
Ross
I work for a University, and we have frequent problems with students downloading illegal music files. Then we a complaint from the DMCA, we slap the student on the wrist, and revoke their internet access until we can verify that all illegal content is removed from their machine. It's kind of hopeless, given the infinite ways to save their content before we come inspect their system, but hey, what can you do.
So here's my question:
I noticed that MP3 files begin with the two ASCII charactors ÿû (at least those that I've inspected) when viewed in Notepad. Is there a way to search all files on the system to see if any begin with those 2 ASCII charactors? The idea is to find ILLEGAL_SONG.MP3 that has been renamed to HARMLESS_PHOTO.JPG
Any raw ASCII/binary search utility that can do this for me.... or suggestions on some code I could compile (I imagine it would be a lot)?
Thanks,
Ross
rindi
I'd setup the firewall not to allow P2P software getting getting data from the internet. Also make sure plain users can't install software (use Group policy if your using a Win2k server environment), that will prevent them from isntalling P2P software.
best you go to any Unix, better Linux, system and see the /etc/magic file
there're dozents of MPx file formats defined
there're dozents of MPx file formats defined
Well in a University environment, in most cases, you can't kepe users (the students) from installing software or being admins on their machines because the students own the machines. Atleast this is the case in the University I work for :)
I would research the firewall option as you have more control over your network and what goes thru your network then you have over the student's actual computers.
I would research the firewall option as you have more control over your network and what goes thru your network then you have over the student's actual computers.
a (traditional) firewall does not stop any downloads
If the PCs are the personal property of those stundents, I'd say it is their responsibilty what they do with it and if they download illegal content or not, not yours.
ahoffmann, true, but you can prevent P2P software from getting active, and that is where most "illegal" mp3 files are getting downloaded from (websites that provide illegal mp3s won't last long as they can be traced easily, but on a true p2p network most users aren't even aware they are providing files for download, it is also more difficult to get hold of the providers as many users share the same file).
.. and how many do not know how to tunnel p2p over http or https?
:-D
:-D
ASKER
Thanks for all the replies, but prevention is not my worry.
We don't like to close ports (and that's not my department anyway)... we know students download from PTP. BitTorrent accounts for over 60% of our inbound pipe traffic! We know about it but we let the students do it at their own risk. We then get about 30-40 DMCA (Digital Millenium Coppyright Act) violation complaints per year. Fortunately, no students have peen prosecuted.
I just have to go in and make sure they're all clean. Like I said, 95% of them probably burn their music before deleting it, but we have to at least look like we're making the effort.
I'm interested in ahoffmann's comment about "the /etc/magic file." Is this a map of common file types or somthing? We use CD-bootable Knoppix for data retrieval on systems with a botched OS (Knoppix can read but not write to NTFS partitions), so that could be a solution somehow....
Ross
We don't like to close ports (and that's not my department anyway)... we know students download from PTP. BitTorrent accounts for over 60% of our inbound pipe traffic! We know about it but we let the students do it at their own risk. We then get about 30-40 DMCA (Digital Millenium Coppyright Act) violation complaints per year. Fortunately, no students have peen prosecuted.
I just have to go in and make sure they're all clean. Like I said, 95% of them probably burn their music before deleting it, but we have to at least look like we're making the effort.
I'm interested in ahoffmann's comment about "the /etc/magic file." Is this a map of common file types or somthing? We use CD-bootable Knoppix for data retrieval on systems with a botched OS (Knoppix can read but not write to NTFS partitions), so that could be a solution somehow....
Ross
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