From the Viruslist.com Newsletter by Kaspersky Labs:
Yesterday, August 29, the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) had its Web site defaced and was forced to take it offline for
repairs.
The RIAA refused to admit that its site had been entered and defaced but
acknowledged their site is offline and will be back soon.
With its protectionist stance towards P2P file sharing sites such as
Napster, Morpheus, KaZaA etc., the RIAA is not a popular organization
among many Internet users and has therefore become a favorite target for
hackers. Reportedly the RIAA site is well protected and presents a
formidable challenge to anyone trying to hack it. The successful hack
and defacement of the site has drawn largely positive reactions on
weblogs such as Fark.com (
http://www.fark.com).
The RIAA's legal stance that online music sharing violates copyright
law, and is therefore illegal, is a position that irks many Internet
users who see believe it is their right to share files.
The RIAA reported this week that Music industry sales are down 7% in the
first half of this year, a decline that the RIAA attributes directly to
on-line music trading. A 7% decline represents a decline in U.S. dollars
to the tune of $280 million. Such figures suggest that the fight between
content owners such as the RIAA and file sharing sites and their users
will be a long and nasty one.