RSSMPAA Accused of Hiring a Hacker
By Ed Oswald | Published May 25, 2006, 2:43 PM
Valance Media, the company which runs Torrentspy.com, has accused the Motion Picture Association of America of hiring a hacker to attempt to collect private information about the Web site. According to the complaint, the group paid a man $15,000 to steal e-mail and trade secrets.
A suit has been filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
"The Motion Picture Association of America willfully and intentionally obtained without authority, conspired to obtain without authority, purchased, procured, used and disclosed private information that it knew was unlawfully obtained through unauthorized access to Plaintiffs' computer servers and private email accounts," the suit reads.
Information allegedly obtained includes a spreadsheet with income and expenses for the first half of 2005, e-mails between employees, server and billing information.
The man who participated in the plan has since admitted his involvement, and is now working with Valance on the case. The MPAA had sued the site, along with other newsgroup and torrent services in February.
A spokesperson for the MPAA has denied the allegations, accusing Torrentspy of attempting to divert attention away from its allegedly illegal activities. Saying the "law is on our side," the group is confident that its suit would be successful.
However, the MPAA may be caught red-handed. Torrentspy claims it has documents that prove the group's involvement, including signed contracts. If true, such a revelation could damage the industry's anti-piracy efforts, say some analysts.
Torrentspy has asked the court to hold a jury trial, and award its parent company unspecified damages.
no should be surprise that these facist organizations would hire hackers. Thank god my grandmother is dead or they might sue her.
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|If proven I would love to see the MPAA, as an organization, be charged, severly fined, and banned by the court from engaging in any future attempts to gather information in this fashion. They should also be banned from owning or using any computer for a specified number of years. I realize this is not going to happen but this is what they do to hackers. Isn't turnabout fair play?
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|I agree completely. They should be banned and seriously fined.
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|One could only hope this defangs MPAA and RIAA and their attitude that every video and music user is a thief. (Which IS their attitude)
And don't think it's just the MPAA that has hired a hacker, there's no reason to think that the RIAA wouldn't do exactly the same.
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|This kind of thing has been going on for years.
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|Why does this surpise any one?
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|Probably not. But this news is vindicating in a way.
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|I heard all about the new Ebay/Yahoo partnership on the news; but not a word about the MPAA's criminal activity. That's the price we must pay because CNN and FOX are owned by conglonerates that also control two big Hollywood movie studios. Aren't Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. card carrying members of the MPAA mafia...
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|that's why i'm thankful for the internet, you just have to be a little more careful what you read on here sometimes. But anyway, i really do hope they have something on them. Somehow though, i don't know it - seems doubtful, but really i hope they got something.
Arrrg.
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|These folks have a Thug mindset both in this sort of thing and in the suing of users (both MPAA and RIAA). They are no better than a mugger on the street. They are the first to insist on their rights being protected by whatever tactics necessary, yet refuse to recognize that anyone else has any.
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|C'mon, I think that's a real insult to muggers all over the world. How would you like it if some one said you were no better that than the MPAA and RIAA? We all agree that muggers are low but they're not that low... lol
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|Hey all, don't forget that the MPAA lost a price-fixing suit not too long ago, too. What happened there? Lack of enforcement?
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|Well, well, well how the tables have turned. Isn't breaking the law to bring others to justice considered...I don't know!, uhmm... ILLEGAL!!!
I think I see a possible lawsuit in the making. lol;-)
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|What was Ghandi's quote..
"An Eye for an Eye makes the whole world blind."
...or some such.
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|I cant help thinking of the South Park episode where the asian guy keeps saying:
"I am above the law!"
DIE and DIE painfully MPAA & RIAA
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|Wow quoting a cartoon that quotes a movie, that about illustrates your level of competence right there.
you do realize south park spoofs movies, right?
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|LOL!
I knew you were too slow to even get the joke!
immo of an immo
ROTFLMAO
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|Uh. I think that you and the MPAA share being caught red-handed with lame conduct.
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|what do you know. The MPAA will stop at nothing to kill a good idea, and get us back on there overpriced, hdvd crap.
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|Hypocricy personified.
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|mmm that's a juicy one! And I don't think the MPAA can win it's suit because all their evidence was obtained illegally. HA
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|I don't know though - it wasn't obtained by law enforcement, so there may be a little wiggle room there.
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|There is no wiggle room there. A normal citizen can't hire a hacker to hack into something. That makes them an accomplice.
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|the above the law mentality continues
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|Well that's true!
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|Oh my goodness...I bet betanews was the first to get this story, too--the BN guys eat this stuff up :)
Not much of an intelligent discussion will happen in this forum I predict, therefore I need not waste any more of my time here...cya guys!
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|Well, news stories such as these, Ed must get from CNN and Yahoo, because they show up AFTER the other news sites.
Don't give too much credit to this guy..
As far as wasting your time, well that's your perogative, we won't waste any sleep over it.
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|Ars had it about an hour or two before.
I'll never be guilty of calling Betanews my first source for information (That's generally only true concerning betas...which kinds makes sense).
As for intelligent discussion, yeah, uh...
Try slashdot, and set your filter to 5. :D
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|We'll waste plenty of time *for* him, though. :P
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|I hope they get fined so much money. I hope they go bankrupt dealing with this crap. :)
They suck.
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|ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
i hope they throw the book at them!
:-)
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|Seriously, the irony is thick. Whats funny is the MPAA will probably win their judgement against Torrentspy for illegal downloading but have to give them the money right back when Torrentspy wins their suit.
Sounds to me like the MPAA could be in serious jeopardy here, and this may show cause to reevaluate past judgements as to how information was obtained. Classic.
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|hmmmm..interesting...
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|Torrentspy.com removes downloads at the copyright holder's requests. Last I checked, it also prevented copyrighted software from being distributed. As of about 6 months ago, it was only shows/movies that they felt should be public domain.
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|Accused? ACCUSED? Who are they kidding? Its pretty much a GURANTEE they are hiring hackers...
You know I don't like the MPAA myself, but attempting to hack a website to show security weaknesses isn't a bad thing.. Is it?
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|They weren't hacking to show security weaknesses, they were hacking to get information about the company to file suit against them. BIG DIFFERENCE!
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|ah! Well ok then!
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|Luckily, their continued obsession with having written contracts has let them down, allowing a paper trail.
How 20th century of them! :-)
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|I love reading stuff like this due to one thing. The MPAA loves to throw the book at everything else but the TRUE reason for piracy is people in the movie business. Members of the MPAA themselves have given out copies of movies when they shouldnt have. The MPAA will never admit that they are wrong or any person undewr them is. You want to stop piracy? stop it at the source!!
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|hmmm, I put a server on the internet. That server is my property. I put it there to allow you to view my web site. And that's it! I don't what you to try and hack my server anymore than I want you to come to my house and try to kick down my front door to show the security weakness of my door lock. I'm using the concept of property here for the analogy. If it's not your server and you don't have permission, leave it alone. Tresspassing is tresspassing whether physically or electronically. Like phone tapping. OK, I'll shut up now. This gives me an idea though, maybe I should put a sign on my web site; "This server protected by Smith & Wesson". ;)
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|Thats' a good point. I remember seeing bootlegs back in the day that you could tell were from the cutting room floor. Of course, there were a fair share that were movies videotaped inside the theatre (lame) but I always laughed at the ones that came from the inside. Maybe if the studios started paying the underlings who have access to this type of stuff more money they wouldn't need to pirate the movies. Like the poor set builder who is in the anti-piracy commercials during the previews of movies. "It's not the company thats affected, its guys like me"...haha.
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|@catfish182 : That would ideed be more effecient. However they would be rendered absolete and go out of buisness as a result.
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