'I Was a Hacker for the MPAA' 385
Wired has up an article with a man named Robert Anderson, who was recruited by the MPAA in 2005 to inform on people in the BitTorrent community. In a tell-all interview with the site, Anderson explains how the powerful media organization encouraged him to obtain the information they were looking for: "According to Anderson, the MPAA told him: 'We would need somebody like you. We would give you a nice paying job, a house, a car, anything you needed.... if you save Hollywood for us you can become rich and powerful.' In 2005, the MPAA paid Anderson $15,000 for inside information about TorrentSpy -- information at the heart of a copyright-infringement lawsuit brought by the MPAA against TorrentSpy of Los Angeles. The material is also the subject of a wiretapping countersuit against the MPAA brought by TorrentSpy's founder, Justin Bunnell, who alleges the information was obtained illegally."
obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
Wow. Dark Side ahoy! (Score:5, Funny)
"...and we will rule the Galaxy together!"
"Noooooooooooo!"
Cheapskates (Score:3, Funny)
Mr. Anderson (Score:5, Funny)
Re:MPAA losing money (Score:4, Funny)
MPAA Lose: Total: (5182 + 7394) * 19.99dlls = $251,394.24dlls/qhote>
Who would have thought dynamic libraries were so popular on p2p networks. I wonder what people do with them.
Re:Oh Please (Score:2, Funny)
Promises, promises (Score:5, Funny)
Where does Anderson live, Lesotho?
Was a dark and stormy night (Score:5, Funny)
Re:15k? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hm (Score:5, Funny)
In unrelated news, NASA has hired New Jersey laundrymat owner Marco Delgrepio to create a permanent lunar colony. For now, they're only offering him $15,000, but if he just beats some invading space aliens by uploading a virus from his apple powerbook, he'll get a car. It's a really nice car.
Re:I'm glad that I no longer consume mass media. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:More like a cracker with no brains (Score:3, Funny)
The article misspoke . . . (Score:5, Funny)
Jesus, please read the article before writing summaries!
Quotes from his diary... (Score:5, Funny)
Number Two: [clears throat] Sir, strictly speaking, fifteen hundred dollars will not go very far these days. My butler alone makes over fifteen hundred dollars a week.
Anderson: Really? Okay then... we hold the RIAA ransom for 15... THOUSAND dollars!
Re:I'm glad that I no longer consume mass media. (Score:5, Funny)
MAFIAA hacker? (Score:4, Funny)
Wait, what's that? He's not going to jail? *throws down hat, stomps on it* What the hell is this country coming to?
Re:More like a cracker with no brains (Score:5, Funny)
Selling your soul is one thing, but selling it cheap is unconscionable.
Remember, though, when it comes to the buying and selling of souls: You get what you pay for.
Re:More like a cracker with no brains (Score:5, Funny)
He probably asked for $10 million and they probably agreed. After deduxcting various ancilliary expenses, office rental, studio time, roadies, electrical power factor multiplier, candy bars, in office Jolt delivery, the deposit on his office key, and various other miscellaneous Usual & Customary Fees, and taxes, his check was about $15k.
I can see how they recruited him (Score:5, Funny)
Hollywood uses that method a lot.
Re:More like a cracker with no brains (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe he signed the same contract most as most RIAA artists (there doesn't seem to be much between RIAA and MPAA).
Re:If he had hacked Microsoft (Score:4, Funny)
If this person had hacked Microsoft and posted the Windows source code online you would all be heralding him as a true freedom fighter. However because he hacked someone you like you say what he did was wrong.
Not really. There is nothing valuable in the Windows Source Code./P>
Re:"Didn't know"? Right. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'm glad that I no longer consume mass media. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
Fixed it for you!
Re:You no longer consume mass media? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You no longer consume mass media? (Score:3, Funny)
(1) No, I don't have to retract the parent post;
(2) I have a quick-heat soldering iron with which to stab out my eyes.
Later!
Re:"Didn't know"? Right. (Score:4, Funny)
Funny article! Rich + powerful = $15K (Score:3, Funny)
"Anything you want" vs $15,000 (Score:3, Funny)
I'm sure his $15million check was cut due to various fees. His final cut was $15,000.
Re:obligatory (Score:4, Funny)
Reporting on people for MPAA? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:obligatory (Score:1, Funny)
Re:obligatory (Score:4, Funny)
"Roses are Red,
Violets are Blue,
I'm schizophrenic,
And so am I..."
Re:obligatory (Score:3, Funny)
So I take it you call your monitor your "computer", your tower your "CPU", and the whole thing your "hard drive"? That's what the general population does, so you should too.
Silly generalizations on hundreds of millions of people do not make an argument.
Re:"Didn't know"? Right. (Score:3, Funny)
hawk
Re:"Didn't know"? Right. (Score:3, Funny)
Wow! German must be an amazing language if that can be translated into a single word!!
German: proudly turning sentences into words and words into sentences.
Re:obligatory (Score:2, Funny)
Try NyQuil.