According to information obtained by Aardvark, a piece of software called "Media Tracker" was commissioned by the IFPI and used to track the flow of files across Napster. Further more, this same software, it has been said, can tap into almost any similar file sharing network.

Right now the recording industry is fuming mad. Mad that they have been unable to stem the growing rate at which their music is being "stolen" by an enthusiastic online community who object to the outrageous prices being charged for CDs and tapes.

Readers Say (updated hourly) Record Industry Spies On Net Users?... - Craig Sony and Napster... - Keith Sony... - bede Have Your Say

It has taken the RIAA many months to get the courts to back its demands that Napster stop aiding the illegal trading of its music and it knows that the only tool in its arsenal to fight piracy is legal action.

While there have been numerous copy-protection and encryption schemes mooted by the RIAA and others, the cracking of what was supposed to be the very secure protection guarding DVDs from unauthorized duplication has highlighted the ultimate futility of such systems.

In the meantime, anyone who has used Napster, Gnutela or other file-sharing services to swap copyrighted music had better hope that they aren't one of the unlucky ones who the recording industry choose to prosecute. Chances are that the recording industry will go out of their way to seek the maximum possible damages and costs in such prosecutions in an attempt to scare off other would-be offenders.

However, the mere fact that Sony has been able to tap into the activities of so many Napster users must give the online community cause for alarm.

What other interested parties are covertly monitoring your online activities and, perhaps, compiling a file of information that could ultimately come back to haunt you?

Are we about to see the dawn of a whole new industry in secretly monitoring, filing and then selling information on Net users? Could wives, suspicious of their husband's online activities, recruit the services of such operations to buy a report detailing at least some of the websites they've visited and messages they've exchanged with others?

Certainly there is plenty of software available which can be secretly installed on a user's PC by way of innocent looking email attachments, as part of other apparently genuine programs, or even by a suspicious employer or partner. This software, which includes products like Back Orifice and the Sub7 Trojan, allows every piece of information entered into or stored on a PC to be relayed to another computer where it can be compiled into a comprehensive dossier of a user's activities.

In recent times even some applications from otherwise respectable companies such as Real Networks and Netscape have included "snooping" functions that relay information about a user's activities back to their own computers.

So, perhaps the recording industry has discovered a technology-based solution to the problem of music piracy - they'll simply continue electronically snoop across the Net for signs of illegal activity and then sue the pants of those they catch infringing their copyrights.

As always, your feedback is welcomed.

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