Security Lab Seminar

Dimitri DeFigueiredo
Wed., Oct. 29, 2003
11 a.m.
room #1131, Kemper Hall

Title: MagicThanks - Linking Musicians to their Songs

Abstract:
There is strong motivation to provide a viable economic model in which it is legal for anyone to freely use, copy and redistribute songs. For such a new model to become a feasible alternative to the current system, a way for music fans to transfer money to musicians over the Internet is needed. There is no widespread system right now that is able to perform this task. A convenient
electronic payment system capable of performing a large number of small donations is necessary for this new business model to become viable. Moreover, it should be possible to locate authors of songs in MP3 files. This text describes and analyzes the security of MagicThanks, a simple protocol that links musicians to their songs and enables the transfer of funds through the use of the existing Internet infrastructure.