Circumventing IMSLP copyright review through re-uploading
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:58 pm
It occurred to me that one (if one were so deviously inclined) could circumvent our copyright review process as follows:
1. Upload a file, and submit it properly to a work page.
2. The file is reviewed, and found to be PD by reviewer, who changes its status to "verified".
3. Upload a new file - one that's not PD - over the file you uploaded before. No one on IMSLP does anything (unless they're already suspicious) because the file has already been "verified".
I just tested this to be sure, and it works from a technical standpoint. Whether or not we would catch it in progress is another matter, but as IMSLP becomes more popular, it seems less likely we'd catch it.
I don't think this is an immediate problem, but we might want to figure out a way to defuse this before it is. (Maybe a re-upload causes the reviewed status to revert to 'new'?)
1. Upload a file, and submit it properly to a work page.
2. The file is reviewed, and found to be PD by reviewer, who changes its status to "verified".
3. Upload a new file - one that's not PD - over the file you uploaded before. No one on IMSLP does anything (unless they're already suspicious) because the file has already been "verified".
I just tested this to be sure, and it works from a technical standpoint. Whether or not we would catch it in progress is another matter, but as IMSLP becomes more popular, it seems less likely we'd catch it.
I don't think this is an immediate problem, but we might want to figure out a way to defuse this before it is. (Maybe a re-upload causes the reviewed status to revert to 'new'?)
