MPAA updates Universitytoolkit site

Now the site seems to be a bit more professional looking and provides main information about the toolkit and motives right on the front page. The actual toolkit remains unavailable at this time but they say to check back soon. I imagine they still need to make sure they are complying with all the licensing issues.

They do have a few problems, however. Even though they appear to be addressing some of the earlier issues that were brought up in this article they are still being a little sloppy. They should seriously consider putting an 'under construction page' on the main site until they really go through everything with a fine-toothed comb. It is like we are looking at the development site where it is still being worked on. You should really only use development servers to host sites that are not ready to actually be published into production.

For instance, some of their documentation is a bit contradictory.

In the two page summary and the Admin guide they have these bullets listed. The first line is from the summary document and the second line is from the admin document.



#1
1)The University Toolkit is a free software application to analyze the traffic on campus local networks
2)The University Toolkit is a free software application designed to analyze the traffic on campus local networks

#2
1) Creates a simple graphical report on the extent of file sharing occurring within the campus network
2) Creates a simple graphical report on the extent of file sharing occurring within the campus network

#3
1) The University toolkit does not identify infringements
2) The University toolkit does not identify copyright infringements

#4
1) No privacy issues - the content of traffic is never examined or displayed
2) No privacy issues - the content of traffic is never displayed

#5
1) It does not communicate results to the MPA
2) It does not communicate results to the MPA

#6
1) It is offered for free to all universities on CD and as a download on
UniversityToolkit.com.
2) It is offered for free to all universities on CD and as a download on
UniversityToolkit.com.

#7
1) Requires minimal effort from IT staff.
2) Requires minimal effort from IT staff.

#8
1)Access to NTop and Snort data for detailed analysis.
2 Provides access to NTop and Snort data for detailed analysis.


Looking at #4 about the privacy issues. They seemed to have brought over the old version into the two page summary. This statement is still not correct. Snort does in fact examine the contents. They properly worded it in the admin document.

#4
1) No privacy issues - the content of traffic is never examined or displayed
2) No privacy issues - the content of traffic is never displayed

I think it would really help them if they brought in a project management team to help them finish this. If the MPAA wants Universities to seriously consider using this tool they need to be serious themselves and do it right. Personally I would like to see more useful links including describing the background on why this toolkit was provided, a detailed blurb about what they are hoping will come from this endeavor. What the real expectations are if sysadmins look at a report from the toolkit. Does the MPAA expect IT staff to investigate? What steps will be needed to make this tool useful in curbing illegal file sharing. A FAQ would be nice as well.

They also need to investigate Beta software and follow the way the rest of us Interneters deal with Beta. Beta means you pretty much have an application that is almost ready for production but still needs to be tested to work out all of the bugs. Allowing people to signup for testing and give them the ability to provide feedback directly to the MPAA or possibly a discussion forum.

They are still not there yet but this can be remedied. I think they did lot of damage to themselves when they hastily slung this toolkit onto the web without really looking at it. Their reputation in software development is now somewhat tarnished.

MPAA accused of violating Ubunutu's GPL

It appears that Matthew Garrett from the Ubuntu development team has had the MPAA toolkit removed. Matthew posted a very short journal entry showing the before and after snapshot of the toolkit's home page.

"MPAA don't fuck with my shit.

(And yes, I did attempt to contact them by email and phone before resorting to the more obnoxious behaviour of contacting the ISP. No reply to my email, and the series of friendly receptionists I got bounced between had no idea who would be responsible but promised me someone would call back. No joy there, either.)"

If you click the "context" link it will take you to the Washington Post article that Brian Krebs and I worked on.

Then Slashdot picks it up last night and there are already 188 comments from readers.

"Ubuntu developer Matthew Garrett has succeeded in getting the MPAA to remove their 'University Toolkit' after claims it violated the GNU GPL. After several unsuccessful attempts to contact the MPAA directly, Garrett eventually emailed the group's ISP and the violating software was taken down."

Stay tuned....