Leaked Media Defender e-mails reveal secret government project

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: September 17, 2007 1:45:28 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Leaked Media Defender e-mails reveal secret  
government project

Leaked Media Defender e-mails reveal secret government project
By Ryan Paul | Published: September 16, 2007 - 10:01PM CT

<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070916-leaked-media-defender- 
e-mails-reveal-secret-government-project.html>

Peer-to-peer (P2P) poisoning company MediaDefender suffered an  
embarrassing leak this weekend, when almost 700MB of internal company  
e-mail was distributed on the Internet via BitTorrent. The e-mails  
reveal many aspects of MediaDefender's elaborate P2P disruption  
strategies, illuminate previously undisclosed details about the MiiVi  
scandal, and bring to light details regarding MediaDefender's  
collaboration with the New York Attorney General's office on a secret  
law enforcement project. We have been reviewing the data for days and  
will have multiple reports on the topic.

MediaDefender specializes in file-sharing mitigation—practices that  
disrupt and deter infringing uses of P2P file-sharing networks. Music  
labels and movie studios pay the company millions of dollars to  
temporarily impede the propagation of new releases in order to compel  
consumers to pursue legitimate commercial distribution channels.  
MediaDefender accomplishes this task by using its array of 2,000  
servers and a 9GBps dedicated connection to propagate fake files and  
launch denial of service attacks against distributors.

The e-mail was leaked to the public by a group that calls itself  
MediaDefender-Defenders. In a text file distributed with the mail,  
the group explains how the e-mails were obtained and why they are  
being distributed. Apparently, MediaDefender employee Jay Mairs  
forwarded all of his company e-mails to a Gmail account, which was  
eventually infiltrated. "By releasing these e-mails we hope to secure  
the privacy and personal integrity of all peer-to-peer users," writes  
the group behind the disclosure. "So here it is; we hope this is  
enough to create a viable defense to the tactics used by these  
companies."

It's not surprising that MediaDefender was targeted in this manner.  
The company was accused of using shady tactics earlier this year when  
BitTorrent community site TorrentFreak revealed that the anti-piracy  
company was surreptitiously operating a video upload service called  
MiiVi that offered high speed downloads of copyright-protected  
content. Critics accused MediaDefender of using the site to  
perpetrate an entrapment scheme, an allegation that the company has  
vigorously denied. MediaDefender founder Randy Saaf personally  
assured Ars that MiiVi was an internal project that was never  
intended for public use. Back in July when we covered the MiiVi  
scandal, we knew Saaf's story didn't quite add up, and now the  
general public has evidence that blows holes in Saaf's claims.

The MediaDefender e-mails leaked this weekend confirm beyond doubt  
that the company intentionally attempted to draw traffic to MiiVi  
while obscuring its own affiliation with the site. The e-mails also  
show that MediaDefender immediately began to recreate the site under  
a different name and corporate identity soon after the original plan  
was exposed.

[snip]



-------------------------------------------
Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com