RSSMediaDefender attacks Revision3 site, FBI involved
By Tim Conneally | Published May 30, 2008, 2:05 PM
During Memorial Day weekend, Internet TV network Revision3 was brought down by a denial-of-service attack traced back to anti-P2P company MediaDefender.
Revision3 CEO and former PC Magazine editor-in-chief Jim Louderback provided a detailed report about the DoS attack on his P2P streaming program service, and the distinct trail of packets leading back to MediaDefender.
The security company claims on its site that it uses "non-invasive technological countermeasures" on P2P hosts to discourage attempts to access files, but the actions against Revision3, a legitimate content owner, appear to have gone beyond invasive, and may have pierced the realm of the downright illegal.
Hard facts presented by Louderback are as follows: Memorial Day weekend saw an explosion of SYN packets hitting Revision3's network where it, among other things, hosts Torrents of its videos. These packets (up to 8,000 a second) came from MediaDefender, which advertises itself as an anti-piracy/anti-P2P company. This type of attack is illegal, according to numerous US statutes.
The FBI has been called in to investigate the attacks, and Revision3 looks to have plenty of evidence for investigators.
MediaDefender apparently admits willingly to abusing Revision3's network, but denies that the DoS attack was intentional. Their claim is that the BitTorrent tracking server they had targeted had an open backdoor which allowed MediaDefender to host torrents pointing to non-Revision3 servers. When Revision3 discovered and promptly de-authorized these torrents, MediaDefender servers, according to the company, repeatedly tried to access them.
This explanation, however, does not account for the sheer volume of attempts.
Adding to MediaDefender's culpability is its history of duplicitous practices. The company, working under the auspices of the MPAA last year, opened a fake BitTorrent site called MiiVi to trap users by providing copyright-infringing movies infected with Trojan horse viruses. The service's entire concept is based upon using piratical solutions to curb piracy.
"We're simply in the business of delivering entertainment and information -- that's not life or death stuff," wrote Louderback yesterday. "But what if MediaDefender discovers a tracker inside a hospital, fire department or 911 center? If it happened to us, it could happen to them too."
I don't care how noble your cause is or who works for your company--performing a DoS attack on another company's website (or whatever) is not the right thing to do. MediaDefender needs to be punished for this recklessly irresponsible behavior.
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|Nothing will happen to MediaDefender in this case because MediaDefender is backed by companies who pay millions of dollars each year to lobbyists in Washington DC to make sure that consumer's rights are violated in exchange for golf outings, free dinners, and scholarships to Congressmen's children.
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|BINGO!
Although, I'm going with the slighty edited version that says the name MediaDefender gets trashed, but quietly replaced with a new version of the same thing, and using the lessons learned.
Think of this as a way to publicly kill MediaDefender, and replace it with the newer, more underground MediaDefender v2
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|Maybe they are actually backed by "companies who pay millions of dollars each year to lobbyists in Washington DC", but if that's the case they should be able to afford a better web designer ... :)
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|Although the DoS is enough to put MediaDefender in its place, I am interested to see what happens to them for exploiting a hole in the servers to place their own torrents.
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|It is hypocritical to break the law in order to say that you're defending it. Its like raping to protect virginity. But than again what does big business ever care about morality or really the law as long as they can use it to their advantage?
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|Since when is RIAA or anyone connected to them defending the law? Those ****ers have been suing innocent people since day one. I really hope MediaDefender gets ****ed hard for this!
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|I hope that Revision3 will get medieval on MediaDefender's a*s.
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|100% support that
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|Marsellus Wallace couldn't have said it better
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|BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
So now we see what is REALLY going on at the RIAA and MPAA!
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|Did anyone have any doubts about those ****heads?
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|Once again we see who the real black hats are - Sony, RIAA, MPAA..
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|I'm hoping Revision3 takes them down, wouldn't that be ironic, a story for the ages. :D
but then Kevin Rose can claim he killed MediaDefender, ah well we'll all deal with it right?
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|exactly.
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|Some one breaks in to my house I shoot them. Too bad Louderback and crew did not go to MediaDefender's office and shoot them all dead.
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|Not only would I sue Media Defender, but also the companies that pay them to do what they do. That means sueing the MPAA and the RIAA, after all, they are the ones that are paying to have these DoS attacks done.
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|Amen brother.
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|They have been stealing money from us for years, might as well take some back from those ****ers.
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|stealing money from us
Wow. Do you often suffer from delusions, or is this a new thing?
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|I know Revision3 is a legal P2P network... however, hearing the FBI is helping a P2P network fight against an anti-P2P company is just awesome music to my ears :)
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|Oh yeah!
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