One of their favored techniques: blocking the IP addresses of computers that the RIAA uses to hunt for words like “Madonna” on people’s machines. Techies have taken to posting lists of these addresses–they’re a computer’s fingerprint–on Web logs, tacking on new ones to keep them current. (Even the less tech-savvy have ways of keeping out of sight. Mainstream file-sharing programs such as Morpheus 3.2 let users blacklist suspicious IP addresses, and Kazaa’s upgrade, Kazaa Lite K??, has similar blocking measures.)
But even downloaders admit the tactic isn’t foolproof, acknowledging that the RIAA could easily change its computers’ IP addresses before they can say “MP3.” “People really think we’re that dumb. Please! Come on. I mean, really,” says Matt Oppenheim, RIAA senior vice president for business and legal affairs. Still, says one 19-year-old blocker, Neil, “I wouldn’t call it futile.”
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