MPAA University 'Toolkit' Raises Privacy Concerns

The Motion Picture of Association of America is urging some of the nation's largest universities to deploy custom software designed to pinpoint students who may be using the schools' networks to illegally download pirated movies. A closer look at the MPAA's software, however, raises some serious privacy and security concerns for both the entertainment industry and the schools that choose to deploy the technology.

On Oct. 24, MPAA sent a letter to the presidents of 25 universities that the association has identified as top locations for the downloading of pirated movies over online file-sharing networks. In the letter, the group said it "has developed the University Toolkit, an application which can produce a report that is strictly internal and therefore confidential to illustrate the level of file sharing on [your school's] network. In addition, we will send a hard copy in the near future to your university's Chief Information Officer."

Security Fix downloaded the University Toolkit and studied it, with the help of David Taylor, a senior information security specialist with the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.