Peer-to-peer-based file-sharing beyond the dichotomy of 'downloading is theft' vs. 'information wants to be free': How Swedish file-sharers motivate their action

This thesis aims to offer a comprehensive analysis of peer-to-peer based file-sharing by focusing on the discourses about use, agency and motivation involved, and how they interrelate with the infrastructural properties of file-sharing. Peer-to-peer-based file-sharing is here defined as the unrestricted duplication of digitised media content between autonomous end nodes on the Internet. It has become an extremely popular pastime, largely involving music, film, games and other media which is copied without the permission of the copyright holders. Due to its illegality, the popular understanding of the phenomenon tends to overstate its conflictual elements, framing it within a legalistic 'copyfight'. This is most markedly manifested in the dichotomised image of file-sharers as 'pirates' allegedly opposed to the entertainment industry. The thesis is an attempt to counter this dichotomy by using a more heterodox synthesis of perspectives, aiming to assimilate the phenomenon's complex intermingling of technological, infrastructural, economic and political factors. The geographic context of this study is Sweden, a country characterised by early broadband penetration and subsequently widespread unrestricted file-sharing, paralleled by a lively and well-informed public debate. This gives geographic specificity and further context to the file sharers' own justificatory discourses, serving to highlight and problematise some principal assumptions about the phenomenon. The thesis thus serves as a geographically contained case study which will have analytical implications outside of its immediate local context, and as an inquiry into two aspects of file-sharer argumentation: the ontological understandings of digital technology and the notion of agency. These, in turn, relate to particular forms of sociality in late modernity. Although the agencies and normative forces involved are innumerable, controversies about agency tend to order themselves in a more comprehensive way, as they are appropriated discursively. The invocation to agency that is found in the justificatory discourses - both in the public debate and among individual respondents - thus allows for a more productive and critically attentive understanding of the phenomenon than previously

Command & Control: Understanding, Denying and Detecting - A review of malware C2 techniques, detection and defences

In this survey, we first briefly review the current state of cyber attacks, highlighting significant recent changes in how and why such attacks are performed. We then investigate the mechanics of malware command and control (C2) establishment: we provide a comprehensive review of the techniques used by attackers to set up such a channel and to hide its presence from the attacked parties and the security tools they use. We then switch to the defensive side of the problem, and review approaches that have been proposed for the detection and disruption of C2 channels. We also map such techniques to widely-adopted security controls, emphasizing gaps or limitations (and success stories) in current best practices.Comment: Work commissioned by CPNI, available at c2report.org. 38 pages. Listing abstract compressed from version appearing in repor

Copyright and shared networking technologies

PhDThe technological zeitgeist has transformed the social-cultural, legal and commercial aspects of society today. Networking technologies comprise one of the most influential factors in this. Although this transformation can be discounted as a mere historical phenomenon dating back to the advent of the printing press, empirical data concerning usage of these technologies shows that there has been a radical shift in the ability to control the dissemination of copyright works. Networking technologies allow, in an unprecedented manner, user-initiated activities including perfect replications, instantaneous dissemination, and abundant storage. They are immune to technological attempts to dismantle them, and impervious to legal attempts to control and harness them. They affect a global audience, which in turn, undermine at negligible costs, the legal and business parameters of copyright owners. The problem is whether it will now be possible to establish a copyright framework which balances the interests of the following groups: (a) copyright owners in their control of the dissemination of their works; (b) authors demanding remuneration for the exploitation of their works; (c) users wishing to consume works with clear immunity guidelines using networked technologies; (d) technologists striving to continuously innovate without legal and policy restrictions. Copyright law is not a mechanism for preserving the status quo or a particular business model. It is, as suggested above, a reflection of the needs and interests of authors, copyright owners, entertainment industries, users and technologists. This thesis examines whether the balance between these actors can be achieved and, if so, how it can be implemented within international, regional and national copyright laws. It finds that a balance can be struck; but that this balance should be aligned along three key concepts: user integrity; technological innovation; and authors‘ and owners‘ remuneration. The proposal is that the optimal method for achieving this triptych is the introduction and global implementation of a reasonable and unobtrusive system of remuneration

Online Media Piracy: Convergence, Culture, and the Problem of Media Change

This thesis proposes that there is a symbiotic relationship between the emergence of online media piracy and the industrial, economic and legal changes that have shaped contemporary popular media in the early 21st century. The Internet is at the heart of most recent transformations of the popular media environment, such as the emergence of video-on-demand formats for film and television consumption and the impact this has had on the nature of those media forms. This thesis discusses the powerful role played by online media piracy in shaping these developments, both through changing the expectations of consumers, and the options that are available for distributors of media content. As well as exploring the diverse forms and practices of online media piracy today, this thesis also explores theories of media change, considering how we might understand such piracy as a force underpinning media change, and how the changes it has helped shape might be placed in a broader historical context. To that end, the history and impact of online media piracy are considered alongside other examples, such as the arrival of video recording devices and the expansion of cable television in the 1980s and 90s, and the significance of international trade deals impacting access to media via “geoblocking” and other techniques of access management. Finally, this thesis also examines debates around copyright, and the potential political significance of piracy as a tool for accessing media and culture, viewing online media piracy as a crucial practice appearing at a nexus of industrial and popular interests, tied to technological, economic and legal developments, and to changing consumer behavior and expectations

New technologies of democracy: how the information and communication technologies are shaping new cultures of radical democratic politics.

What characterises contemporary democratic political struggles? According to the post-Marxist theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, it is their sheer unknowability, the fact that there can be no certainties, no fixed grounding. Drawing a distinction between the 'certainties' of classical Marxism (i. e. base/superstructure) and the more 'diffuse' nature of modem democratic demands (such as sexual and gender equality, environmentalism and the peace movements), the emergence of a post-Marxist perspective has endeavoured to engage the widening imaginaries of present-day democratic politics. In this thesis the central post-Marxist category of radical democracy, defined literally as the 'multiplication of public spaces of antagonism, is interrogated in relation to new modes and ideas of contemporary political struggle, particularly those associated with the expansion of the ICTs and networks. Arguing for the need to consider politics beyond the somewhat outmoded and uninspiring description of the 'new social movements', this thesis critically investigates the emerging practices of politics and activism enabled by the technologies like the Internet, using the ideas of post-Marxism as a basis for generating new theories of radical democracy. Looking in particular at the practices of Tactical Media and Culture Jamming, together with new methods of interaction and consumption, such as peer-to-peer file sharing and open publishing on the Internet, this study demonstrates how radical democracy contains as yet unthoughtout critical potentials through which to examine the ICTs in relation to these nascent cultures of politics. These emerging political cultures, this thesis suggests, entail the articulation of other ways of conceiving democracy, the political and politics more appropriate to the increasingly networked nature of contemporary society

Combination and context: exploring the process of technological innovation

[v. 1] [Main work] Combination and context: exploring the process of technological innovation -- [v. 2] [Case study] Portable digital music player: event history narrativeInnovation has long been described anecdotally as something that comes from individual genius. Successful innovators have often been heralded as a special class of people with rare talents and unique capacities to “think different” to deliver world changing innovation. This view is reflected in innovation literature, notably with the linear model, which more recently has been widely criticised on account of this almost exclusive focus on individual action and personality as the sole determinant of innovation success. The technological innovation systems literature is a response, describing the achievement of any technological innovation as a result of a ‘system’ made up of things like individuals, resources, culture, intellectual property, working in complex ways to collectively achieve a specific technological innovation. Whilst the theory of innovation systems is acknowledged as valuable, this thesis argues the systems theory is problematic as explanatory tool specifically for technological innovation. Primarily this is due to the strong boundary conditions required of systems theory- To recognise a system, there is a need to demarcate the system from its environment. These boundaries create a strong ‘inside’ - those individuals, technologies, resources identified to be within the system, working specifically on the technology, and ‘outside’-those technologies, people, resources and all other things viewed as external, not related or relevant. The limitation of technological innovation systems is that by necessity, research often becomes an almost exclusive investigation of those internal components as the source of innovation, leaving the wider environment largely ignored. In contrast to this, other important innovation theory, including viewing innovation as a ‘recombination’ process, and significantly the recent theory of ‘technological exaptation’ suggest that this wider environment ignored by technological innovation system theory is potentially critically important to the achievement of technological innovation itself. The theories of combination and exaptation suggest that it is precisely things in the environmentthe events, technologies or people that the technological innovation systems theory often exclude from analysis, that are important sources of innovation. The broad environment for a specific technological innovation is the focus of this research. Rather than use the term environment though, this research uses the expression of ‘lifeworld’ to describe the concept environment, with justification for this terminology offered in the thesis. This research then explores how lifeworld conditions change over time, and how these conditions impact the performance of those attempting to create a specific technological innovation. In doing so, the research uses the lifeworld concept to further explore and articulate innovation theories of combination, exaptation, uncertainty and accumulation. These issues were explored with an in-depth single qualitative case study of portable digital music players. The case utilised extensive archival and secondary data (over 4,000 articles) as well as primary interviews with expert protagonists (23 hours of interview data). This resulted in a detailed chronology of events for the development of digital music players over an extended time (60+ years). This event history was then used to explore the lifeworld concept, combination, exaptation, uncertainty and accumulation. The study finds that the lifeworld, representing the wider environment, is critical to the creation of technology as well as the achievement of innovation: Portable digital music player innovation did not emerge only from a designated system, or individuals working on portable digital music player technology, but instead, often new events would spring from wider sources in the lifeworld, from domains previously unrelated to the specific pursuit of portable digital music player innovation. The lifeworld appeared an important tool to capture this detail, with recognition those working on the technology were often constrained or enabled by the wider conditions of the lifeworld in which the where placed. As the lifeworld changed, so too did the performance of those seeking to achieve portable digital music technology innovation. This was further expressed by Jon Rubinstein who described Apple’s method for creating the iPod as principally one of combination, drawing quickly from common available conditions and technologies. With these insights, the study provides a number of theoretical contributions, ranging from refining the theories of technological exaptation and combination, exploring the trajectory of the lifeworld and the stages of a development of a technological innovation, as well as recognition of the role of uncertainty and accumulation that makes possible technological innovation at one time and not another. From a practical perspective, the study offers a range of insights for individuals in respect to innovation timing, and how to look beyond ideas for technological innovation but instead to look for conditions that make technological innovation impossible at one time and likely at another.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Entrepreneurship Commercialisation and Innovation Centre, 201

File Sharing, Copyright and Freedom of Speech

The article explores the relationship between copyright and freedom of speech in the Internet environment. After highlighting the constitutional dimension of these conflicting rights, the phenomenon of file sharing and the role of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the author analyzes the debate surrounding a particular sanction used in certain jurisdictions to punish unauthorized on line sharing of copyrighted material, i.e. the disconnection of Internet access. The increasingly important role played by private agreements between copyright holders and ISPs is also highlighted. A set of proposals aiming at identifying possible areas of freedom for unauthorized file sharers are then analyzed. In particular, the author believes that file sharing technologies may boost the exchange of information, opinions and ideas amongst Internet users and foster a number of values underpinning the very protection of free speech. It is for this reason – the author argues - that copyright rules might be relaxed when it comes to file sharing technologies, e.g. by transforming copyright from a “proprietary” to a “compensation” right

Cross-layer RaCM design for vertically integrated wireless networks

Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-74).Wireless local and metropolitan area network (WLAN/WMAN) technologies, more specifically IEEE 802.11 (or wireless fidelity, WiFi) and IEEE 802.16 (or wireless interoperability for microwave access, WiMAX), are well-suited to enterprise networking since wireless offers the advantages of rapid deployment in places that are difficult to wire. However, these networking standards are relatively young with respect to their traditional mature high-speed low-latency fixed-line networking counterparts. It is more challenging for the network provider to supply the necessary quality of service (QoS) to support the variety of existing multimedia services over wireless technology. Wireless communication is also unreliable in nature, making the provisioning of agreed QoS even more challenging. Considering the advantages and disadvantages, wireless networks prove well-suited to connecting rural areas to the Internet or as a networking solution for areas that are difficult to wire. The focus of this study specifically pertains to IEEE 802.16 and the part it plays in an IEEE vertically integrated wireless Internet (WIN): IEEE 802.16 is a wireless broadband backhaul technology, capable of connecting local area networks (LANs), wireless or fixed-line, to the Internet via a high-speed fixed-line link

Wired for sound : on the digitalisation of music and music culture

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