RIAA hackers get their own back

A month after the record industry proposed a bill that would give it the power to use hacker tactics to take down file-sharing networks, the hackers have given the suits a taste of their own medicine.

A denial of service (DoS) attack knocked the Recording Industry Association of America's (Riaa) website off the net over the weekend.

As yet no one has come forward to claim responsibility, but the attack is thought to have been carried out by file-share sympathisers who oppose the record industry's attempts to silence the MP3 trade.

The attack started on Friday night and did not let up until the early hours of Monday, preventing all access to the website.

This time last month Howard Berman, a representative on the US House Judiciary Committee's intellectual property and internet panel, outlined a proposal to minimise the effects of illegal trading of copyrighted material.

Berman's proposal features techno tricks to block and redirect pirates from accessing copyrighted material, but some of his suggestions are thought to be bordering on illegal.

Some suggestions even lean towards the use of DoS attacks - much like that experienced by the Riaa website this weekend - to knock illicit file-share networks out of action.