Episode 498

== 800-pound guerrillas==
Yes, it's going to be one of those days. We discuss Yahoo, gorillas, guerrillas, secret DSL plans, and the oldest EULA we've ever seen. plus a call from josh who thinks tom is tired
 VOICE MAIL:
Jason from Victoria
Why not talk about the Archos?
Anonymous router guy
Lawful intercept can redirect packets, but it doesn't store them.
Joshua from Israel
You sound tired.
 E-MAIL:
Mouse is to cat, Roomba is to riding vacuum cleaner...
Hilarious--looks fun though!
--Shalin
Blockbuster online
Hey BOL,
Ha ha! My first "well actually!" Just listening to episode #497 and I heard you say that Blockbuster would not carry HD DVD. I was just wondering if this is going to be applied at some date in the future. Because I remember renting Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow online, and they sent it to me in HD, so I couldn't watch it. Unfortunately I did rent it again in SD and had to suffer through that garbage beside the point. So I just checked my blockbuster online account and yep, you can still get Sky Captain in HD DVD and Blu-ray DVD.
Alex in Las Vegas
Eye on the iPhone
Hey all,
Hey I try to catch BOL podcast two to three times a week, and I've heard you guys mention a few times that Veronica is going to do an iPhone countdown feed or blog or something-or-other for CNET? Just poking around the CNET mothership and can't immediately find it--can you point me to the right Web site? Is this a special show or column, or podcast, or what?
Thanks, great show. It's scary--I'm beginning to predict how each BOL host is going to react to certain news stories. Personality and strong opinions makes the show!
Matt MacQueen in Chicago
Lawful Intercept and privacy
Hello Tom, Veronica, and Molly,
In episode 497, an anonymous listener suggested that AT&T could carry out its plans to inspect packets to prevent the transmission of pirated content by utilizing the Lawful Intercept feature built into some Cisco routers. The listener is correct in that the feature is present and could be used for that purpose. Depending on how they (AT&T) decide to do it, the question is whether AT&T can legally do it.
AT&T and other telecos in the U.S have a legal obligation not to intrude on their users' privacy (see the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 18 U.S.C. Section 2510) unless compelled to do so by law. The ECPA defines an intercept as "the aural or other acquisition of the contents of any wire, electronic, or oral communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device" and criminalizes anyone that "intentionally intercepts, endeavors to intercept, or procures any other person to intercept or endeavor to intercept, any wire, oral, or electronic communication." I am not a lawyer, but that would seem to apply to the deep packet inspection necessary to carry out this plan of theirs.
As for encryption, even the RC4 encryption used in BitTorrent protocol encryption would represent a sizable barrier for them and at least many hours of work to crack. If their goal is to filter copyrighted content from illegally being distributed, they would have to stop the packet, and either drop it if failed their check or pass it on. They wouldn't have the luxury of inspecting it later; it would need to be real time. They couldn't just pass the information on to the copyright holder when they detected piracy, as that would be a wiretap and illegal.
Sorry for the length--love the show,
Patrick
498