They're at it again: MPAA Hires Hacker To Break Into TorrentSpy

[nightflier]

Did The MPAA Hire A Hacker To Break Into TorrentSpy?

I guess since the entertainment industry is building up their own police force while also getting the FBI to do its dirty work, it's no surprise that movie industry execs might believe they're above the law. TorrentSpy, the torrent search engine (not file sharing platform) was sued by the MPAA recently. As we noted at the time, TorrentSpy has wisely decided to fight back, as it appears they have a pretty strong case that they've done nothing illegal. However, TorrentSpy is now claiming that the MPAA is playing dirty -- and that they hired a hacker to break into TorrentSpy's corporate network to get whatever internal information possible for the sake of the lawsuit. The hacker ended up scoring financial information, internal emails and details about the company's technology. However, after all of this, the hacker felt bad and 'fessed up to TorrentSpy, who has now sued the MPAA for these actions. If this is proven true, it's a new low for the MPAA. Perhaps when you're used to treating your customers like criminals you start assuming that criminal activity is fine.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060525/0143202.shtml

[noddin0ff]

Did The MPAA Hire A Hacker To Break Into TorrentSpy?
...

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060525/0143202.shtml

Sounds like a fun story to keep following!

[emorphien]

Incredible. I hope they get burned bad for doing that.

[EdwardGein]

What ticks me off about these people is that as long as they're paying no talents like Sandra Bullock tens of millions, I couldn't give a rats ass off any of these industry- record, movie, etc.
While I personally won't download movies & recordings, it ain't because I feel its immoral but it just isn't worth the trouble & hassle. But I laugh when I see these public service announcements made by movie stars, etc. You think they give a damn about me? If Brad Pitt makes 1 million instead of 20 million, you think I'm losing sleep?

[noddin0ff]

So, Ed, what I hear you saying is...you don't care.

[nightflier]

Maybe some of those movie stars who are making public service announcements are doing this because they got caught downloading an Avril Lavigne track.... Kind of like the Christian Slater's PSAs about cocaine addiction.

Now I would love for the RIAA or Sony to have to make a PSA during the superbowl about hacking being an act of terrorism. One can only dream.... Naw, I'd rather see them dragged through the legal system for half a decade until they are financially exhausted.

Now that's a dream worth having.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I hope the RIAA and the MPAA piss the public off so bad that they begin to feel the pain in their collective wallets.

I am not a big fan of piracy as I am both a musician and a songwriter. However they way they are pursuing their cases is really turning me off. The real problem is not in America, it is in China and Asia in general. I do not see them taking any Chinese music or video pirate to court, I see them selling DVD's for $2.00. There is absolutely no evidence that music or video trading is hurting their business, but I could imagine that what is happening in Asia is. Why are they rewarding the major pirating criminals, but spying and dragging music and video traders to court?

Their incosistant policy between how they treat American traders, and Asian pirates is very confusing to me.

[kexodusc]

Good points, Sir T. Russia's flooding the international markets with a ton of pirated music and movies, too. This is just another case of keeping honest people honest, I think.
It's a simple cost/reward decision for the RIAA/MPAA. Fighting piracy in North America will deter enough consumers to at least make it a positive economic venture. I doubt they really believe they can stop it or they'd be dumping way more time and money into it.

But I think spending the money they do on these stupid strategies must be showing some results for them. Probably lowers the expected loss of sales.

Fighting piracy in a foreign country where the underground economy rules and the governments let it go is probably too much of a wasted effort in their eyes.

[emorphien]

There is absolutely no evidence that music or video trading is hurting their business, but I could imagine that what is happening in Asia is.

Absolutely true and probably the biggest thing about this situation that angers me. If they want to go after pirates, be honest and say why. Tell us that they're doing it as a matter of principle, simply because pirating is against the law. If they tell us they're doing it because they're losing money, the earn no sympathy or respect from me because they're starting their holy war on a bed of lies.

[nightflier]

(Kexo, my comments aren't contradicting your post, I'm just emphasizing some of your points with my own.)

...It's a simple cost/reward decision for the RIAA/MPAA. Fighting piracy in North America will deter enough consumers to at least make it a positive economic venture.

If they wanted to really make this enforcement work, they wouldn't fine little welfare grandmothers hundreds of tousands of dollars that they can't pay anyhow. This drags each case out in the courts, criminalizes grandmothers and young teens, pisses off the general public, ruins their image, wastes public service funds, and wastes the time of public employees. Instead they should fine people a manageable fee (3-5 times the cost of the music?) and automate the process (sort of like using cameras and automated ticketing systems for people who run red lights). You want to talk money? Just look at the 1000+% incrase in trafic ticket revenues that are being reported by cities that have implemented these. As it is right now, they are not recouping anything from their lawsuits because the prosecuted "criminals" cannot afford the fines and the rest goes to the lawyers.

I doubt they really believe they can stop it or they'd be dumping way more time and money into it.

Kind of like the "war on terror" or the "war on drugs." It's interesting how similar these wars are: no end in sight, no effective strategy, no identifyable enemy leaders, no tangible results, and it only affects the lower & middle classes. Almost makes you believe that these wars exist simply for the sake of waging them - it keeps people busy and distracted. I think the biggest winners are the lawyers. Doesn't anybody read Orwell, Macchiavelli, and Chomsky anymore?

Fighting piracy in a foreign country where the underground economy rules and the governments let it go is probably too much of a wasted effort in their eyes.

Nobody wants to talk about it, but our ability to negotiate copyright agreements has severely deteriorated in the last decade and a half. Coincidentally, this decline has an inverse relationship to our growing paternalistic & unilateral approach to foreign policy. If we want to bring them to the table, then maybe we shouldn't piss them off so much and we should invite their neighbors. I would also argue that the draconian crackdowns by the RIAA here in the US, only accellerate piracy abroad. Unfortunately for them, as those markets become available to US consumers via the internet (eBay-China comes to mind), US-based distributors will not be able to compete against this influx of cheaper products (pirated or not). The RIAA's posturing is nothing short of protectionism supported by brute force. Economically, this is a position of weakness that only becomes more & more expensive to maintain. In the global economy and on the internet, the US is not an island.

If US courts do not prosecute corporations and corporate-based organizations such as Sony and the RIAA, then we continue to loose respect to the rest of the world. This makes it that much harder to get them to sign treaties with us.