[DMCA-Activists] Hackers Have Field Day with Madonna Decoy

[Seth Johnson]

(Forwarded from Pho list)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: pho: Hackers Have Field Day with Madonna Decoy
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 18:22:08 -0700 (PDT)
From: John Parres <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden

I do love it so when the Pho list drives the reportage =)  

JP

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> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=638&ncid=762&e=3&u=/nm/20030427/en_nm/music_madonna_dc

Hackers Have Field Day with Madonna Decoy
Sun Apr 27, 3:55 PM ET 
 
By Chris Marlowe 

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Anyone who thinks they can control the
Internet received an object lesson during the past week. 


It all started when Madonna (news - web sites) literally lent her voice to a
popular antipiracy technique.  Warner Music Group had audio files purporting
to be her new songs uploaded onto peer-to-peer file-sharing services. Anyone
who downloaded the decoys, however, heard nothing but the pop star swearing
at them. But since then, the pithy profanity has taken on a life of its own. 


Some observers thought Madonna was smart to fight piracy with its own tools.
Others perceived a thrown gauntlet -- hackers soon defaced Madonna's Web
site with an equally profane retort along with several downloadable files of
the then-unreleased songs. The defacement also carried a marriage proposal
to Morgan Webb, an associate producer and on-air presenter at TechTV who had
nothing to do with the prank.


A third group saw a creative opportunity. "What the f--- do you think you're
doing," Madonna's now-infamous phrase, is turning up in dozens of remixes
and the computer-aided musical collages known as cutups or mashups. 


Independent music community DMusic is now hosting a competition for the best
Madonna-based track, with the first prize being a "boycott-riaa (news - web
sites)" T-shirt and stickers. 


Links to other related tracks are being put together at
http://www.iriXx.org/madonna/ and other sites. 


"Madonna was trying to put one over on the kids ... and they in turn wanted
to let her know that she's not in as much control as she thinks she is,"
Webb said, adding that "coke, anger and boredom" were also possible
motivators. 


Madonna's "American Life" was released Tuesday and is predicted to enter
Billboard's charts at No. 1, albeit with sales considerably lower than that
for her previous album "Music." 


Reuters/Hollywood Reporter 



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