The Most Dangerous Software on the Internet!

(From Wikipedia): The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type any given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. In fact, the monkey would almost surely type every possible finite text an infinite number of times. However, the probability that monkeys filling the observable universe would type a complete work such as Shakespeare's Hamlet is so tiny that the chance of it occurring during a period of time hundreds of thousands of orders of magnitude longer than the age of the universe is extremely low (but technically not zero).

Recently in the news, their have been articles regarding "Reverse Class Action Lawsuits". In a typical class action law suit a group of people get "ban" together to sue a large company.  The 'reverse' class action lawsuit is a tool being used by movie companies, to target individual users downloading of copyrighted material.  It is a real thing, and if you receive a legitimate notice, you will need to 'lawyer' up.

I imagine this will be particular problematic to people using 'VPN' protection, or systems like "TOR" which aim to protect your privacy online, by 'masking' your IP Address.  In order for the class action to be effective, the "plaintiff" THEM needs to somehow identify YOU (the defendant). Everything you do on the Internet is traceable not to you specifically but to the IP Address that is used in your household, which you basically pay your Internet Service Provider (ISP) for so they know (in theory at least) who is using that IP at any given point in time.  In reality, it's a bit more complicated, you hold a 'lease' for the IP Address, and every once in a while the IP Address expires and you get a new one.

Systems like 'TOR' work by "sharing" your IP Address with others, so while you are browsing sites, and downloading files with someone else's IP Address, someone else maybe downloading files with yours.  So it is anonymous..To be fair it's a bit more complicated then that under the hood, but the basic premise is that 'exit nodes' leave the final  trace of the IP Address used for the particular connection. (You can read more here: See Jordon Wrights blog for more technical details)

Even if your NOT using TOR, you could just be having some friends over, and you (being the gracious host you are), let them onto you Wifi.  They download the latest avengers movie, and POP! You get the lawsuit.

Now, my point is this. Your computer is a series of ones (1) and zeros (0). All of the programs, data, everything on your machine is nothing but specific arrangements of those 2 digits.  Interestingly enough, we (programmer types) can easily create programs which randomly generate these digits.  So I present to you THE MOST DANGEROUS PROGRAM EVER INVENTED !

Yes, my friends, this program when run, will continuously generate nothing but random files fully of random digits on your disk(s)...Now if the infinite monkey theorem hold true, eventually one combination of these digits COULD JUST BE a copyrighted MOVIE. This is what makes this program so dangerous, running this program could potentially get you in serious legal problems. Don't download it, don't use it...You have been warned !!!


If you are particularly interested in learning more, you may also want to check out. http://libraryofbabel.info/browse.cgi which in theory contains every possible combination of books that could ever possibly be written ever. In theory, they are probably in a lot of danger of violating all sorts of copyrights.  Using their search system, you can take any quote from any movie, book, video game, and it will show you the book and the page that contains that copyrighted material!

One final parting thought from one of my all time favorite bloggers - How to bootleg movies and software online-

Something to keep in mind...the next time your feeling too cheap to shell out $5.99 or to lazy to walk to your local library... :-)

Video: Amanda Lang: Suing internet pirates harsh, but it's the right thing to do

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