CopySense by Audible Magic

November 2006

Help From a Digital Piracy Appliance

Vance Ikezoye is both inspired and frustrated by the efforts of the MPAA and the RIAA - two entertainment industry associations hot on the trail of copyright violations and illegal file sharing. Mr. Ikezoye is CEO of Audible Magic, a technology company with copyright management solutions.

"At universities a few people with loud voices are speaking out. But there are many other views, a spectrum in fact," says Ikezoye. "My frustration is that only one side gets heard."

Ikezoye authored a report that divides colleges and universities into four groups based on their response to copyright violations. Group one does nothing -- or very little. Group two curtails or limits file sharing. Group three filters out illegal transactions. Group four filters file sharing and offers alternatives. The groupings emerged from conversations among 80 schools that use the company's CopySense appliance.

CopySense can identify offending copyrighted files on a peer-to-peer network. It works from a publisher 'signature' registry that is part of its database. When the appliance recognizes one of its signature works being downloaded, action is taken based on filter settings controlled by the network administrator. The downloading session may be disconnected, for example.

"It operates like an anti-virus product," Ikezoye explains. "Instead of registered viruses, we have a registry of copyrighted works. The appliance stops transfer of that file. Other downloads continue unaffected."

"I wanted a balanced approach that would use a technology but would not prevent legitimate use of peer-to-peer or interfere with academic freedom and other rights," explains Bryon Fessler, chief information officer at the University of Portland, who installed the appliance in 2004.

Policy first, then procedure

The first thing Fessler did when he became CIO was rewrite the university's 'acceptable use' policy. "The one-page policy I authored was specific to peer-to-peer. Our position is that we are going to respect copyright laws and actually employ devices to enforce them."

Next, he installed the CopySense appliance, initially letting it run without blocking content. "I wanted to get an order of the magnitude of the problem. That was helpful to my blitzkrieg to get the word out to university," he explains.

Fessler then began an education campaign. He provided statistics to the student newspaper detailing the illegal downloading taking place on campus. He sent mass e-mails, hung fliers and targeted the residence halls.

CopySense ran in reporting mode (that is, without blocking any content) through the end of December. When the next semester began in January 2005, he began blocking illegal downloads.

"The product works as advertised," Fessler says. "Audible Magic updates an ever growing database. It's amazing how fast people can watch a movie and bootleg a copy of it. It's amazing how fast that movie can be on the internet and widely copied."

Ikezoye says CopySense can educate the person who is downloading illegally about copyright, why it's important, and why what he or she did was a violation. "We've gotten a lot of response from schools about that feature," Ikezoye says. "You start to affect behaviors and teach as well as enforce."

Note: Article reprinted from September 2006 magazine.