MediaDefender Internal Email Leak Confirms Plans To Launch Honeypot File Sharing Network

from the oops dept

Mon, Sep 17th 2007 12:46am — Mike Masnick

Back in July, there was a report that MediaDefender, a company that works for the MPAA and RIAA polluting file sharing networks with fake files, was working on a fake file sharing network that would trick users into downloading some spyware that could then be used to send details back to the entertainment industry for use in various lawsuits. After the news broke, MediaDefender denied that this was the intended purpose of the project, and said it was just an internal project that was accidentally made public. Speaking of internal stuff accidentally made public, late Friday the news began to spread that a bunch of MediaDefender's internal emails were now available on file sharing systems, and looking through them seems to indicate not only that MediaDefender was spending an awful lot of time on this fake site (called MiiVi.com) but even after it was exposed, the company was still working on it, while trying to find a new name that wouldn't be connected to MediaDefender. Of course, we should point out that hacking MediaDefender to get its internal emails (and phone calls, apparently) is not very smart. It makes MediaDefender start to look like the victim and opens up a very real (and reasonable) possibility of a lawsuit against whoever got (and then leaked) the emails. MediaDefender was a company that would have collapsed on itself eventually anyway. There's no reason to help push them over the edge -- especially using illegal or unethical means.

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Filed Under: data leak, email, p2p
Companies: mediadefender

21 Comments

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AC, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:16am

Juicy!
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Anarchy_Creator, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:21am

MPAA and RIAA?
What are these things of which you speak?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:30am

Re: MPAA and RIAA?
its the MAFIAA
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GoblinJuice, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:56am

Re: MPAA and RIAA?
Mr. Hands is worse than TubGirl. =P
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GoblinJuice, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:57am

Re: MPAA and RIAA?
Mr. Hands is worse than TubGirl. =P
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John, 17 Sep 2007 @ 3:05am

MediaBlunder
Fake files are bad enough (back when I used Kazaa, the ones I hated the most were ones where the chorus section of a song loops repeatedly so that you have to spend a minute trying to figure out if it's the real song or not!), but a fake file sharing site is pretty weak and won't last more than a few days if it ever gets online! In any case, file-sharing between millions of strangers is on it's way out as people discover the merits of private and encrypted file-sharing between friends (ex: GigaTribe)...
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matt, 17 Sep 2007 @ 3:18am

they can't do much for torrents
also, if you read the emails, you'll note that they can't do that much about torrents since poisoning/bad seeds are easy to get around. Also notice that they don't even attempt to stop piratebay (because bad seeds are found there very quickly)
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Overcast, 17 Sep 2007 @ 6:26am

Just now...

I thought for a long time that a few of them already were, LOL. Especially Limewire. Dang, too bad I was wrong!
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citizenj, 17 Sep 2007 @ 8:20am

dang
If you go through the emails, you see just how frickin' bad this is for MediaDefender. I do so hope the mainstream news gets ahold of this one.
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LB USNavy, 17 Sep 2007 @ 8:41am

Legallity?
This almost sounds illegal. I could lawsuit after lawsuit on this. So to put it this in real terms...If someone were to do something illegsl like break into my house, I could then go break into his house and get away with it? Eye for an eye? I think not. Mediadefender definitely went the wrong direction with trying to stop piracy. These companies pay software engineers big bucks to come up with theft prevention techniques. Couldnt they have come up with something a ittle more creative? I mean really?
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james Brown, 17 Sep 2007 @ 10:16am

Fight Fire with Napalm
I say screw the ethics, cheers to whoever leaked the emails, and keep at it. Don't give these bastards an inch.
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Ricky Clinch, 17 Sep 2007 @ 10:56am

Entrapment
Clear and simple case of entrapment. Someone better at it than i am should write a virus that sniffs out one of these fakes and tracks back with the data to infect the MediaDefender computers.

Maybe even detect and publish the Ports being used by MD to the greater web, I am sure there are lots of folks that can find something to do with them.
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scroter, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:16pm

Virus
naw - let them set up the website to download alleged "Illegal" content. This way the public can go after them for copyrighted materials. Either that or someone needs to write a virus that will download something from their site secretly on everyones computers around the world. Could you imagine the traffic and court cases that they would have to pay for for false accusations? Either that or someone needs to write a virus that just downloads illegal crap silently and do the same thing, that would in turn shut everything down I think.
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4ensic, 17 Sep 2007 @ 4:33pm

Made the WSJ
Page 1B of the 9-17-07 Wall Street Journal had a good size article on MediaDefender’s leak. Looks like more than just the tech community will know about MD’s problem...
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Unka Bullshyte, 17 Sep 2007 @ 6:02pm

What a joke!
The Media defender people decide to launch a fake filesharing site and call it...

MiiVi.com??

Mii = me
Vi = #4 = D
-----------------
MeeDee

Oh, suuuuuure! No one will ever figure out who MeeDee is...
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Sep 2007 @ 7:29pm

"Vi = #4 = D"

Roman numerals aren't your strong point, eh?
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2007 @ 4:03pm

Awesome.
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Anarchy_Creator, 19 Sep 2007 @ 1:57am

Re:
LoL seriously.
You were off by 1 digit.
I'll let you guess if it's +/-
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Anonymous, 20 Sep 2007 @ 5:39pm

MediaDefender
phuck with da b3st di3 lik3 th3 r3st.

da ball iz in ur c0urt.
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Lifeisdeath, 22 Sep 2007 @ 12:15pm

Re: Re:
off by one digit? try 2. VI is 6.
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tom, 1 Dec 2008 @ 4:57am

Re: Re: Re:
I could then go break into his house and get away with it? Eye for an eye? I think not. Mediadefender definitely went the wrong direction with trying to stop piracy. These companies pay software engineers laptop AC adapters big bucks to come up with theft prevention techniques. Couldnt they have come up with something a ittle more creative? I mean really?
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