'I Was a Hacker for the MPAA'

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."

Re:"Didn't know"? Right.

[blake1]

Sure it's a questionable practise, but it's no different to what any number of corporations would do in a similar circumstance. If they don't ask how he got the information, they don't know, their hands don't need to be cleaned.

You find this suprising?

MPAA losing money

[carlosap]

From Piratebay Top Torrent Movies ...

I.Now.Pronounce.You.Chuck.And.Larry[2007]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo SE 5257 LE 11556
MPAA Lose: Total: (5257 + 11556)* $19.99dlls = $336,091.87dlls

Pirates.Of.The.Caribbean-At.World's.End[2007]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo 10-17 19:11 Decargar 900.29 MiB 5182 7394
MPAA Lose: Total: (5182 + 7394) * 19.99dlls = $251,394.24dlls

1/2 Million Dollars just in 2 movies, so yes!, they have to do something.

Re:"Didn't know"? Right.

[MoonFog]

Surprising? Not really, expected more like it, but this is an organisation that constantly calls entire P2P networks into question because there MIGHT be illegitimate content on them. They even slam the protocol itself, claiming it is illegal, and are caught red handed doing illegal deeds themselves. Schadenfreude more than surprise I'd say.

Re:MPAA losing money

[dave420]

And if those people aren't actually going to buy the movie:

I.Now.Pronounce.You.Chuck.And.Larry[2007]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo SE 5257 LE 11556
MPAA Lose: Total: (5257 + 11556)* $0 = $0

Pirates.Of.The.Caribbean-At.World's.End[2007]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo 10-17 19:11 Decargar 900.29 MiB 5182 7394
MPAA Lose: Total: (5182 + 7394) * $0 = $0

Or, if the people who download it will buy it on DVD or go to see it at the cinema, then there is no correlation between those who download and lost revenue. None at all.

internet != mass media

[weighn]

Re:You no longer consume mass media?
Yet you're on the Internet?

Riiight!

Mass media [wikipedia.org] is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state.
Mainstream [wikipedia.org] is, generally, the common current of thought of the majority.

So, if AC just reads /. as opposed to, say, Digg he/she does not consume mass media. Objection overruled.

Re:obligatory

[obergfellja]

well, the term "Hacking" is not illegal, but if you are referring to the illegally breaking an entry into another's computer for any reason, yes. But please say the right term... CRACKING

Re:obligatory

[morgan_greywolf]

Yes. 1030. Fraud and related activity in connection with computers [usdoj.gov] states that:

[Anyone who] ...knowingly and with intent to defraud, accesses a protected computer without authorization, or exceeds authorized access, and by means of such conduct furthers the intended fraud and obtains anything of value, unless the object of the fraud and the thing obtained consists only of the use of the computer and the value of such use is not more than $5,000 in any 1-year period;

The term "protected computer" is defined as:

(B) which is used in interstate or foreign commerce or communication, including a computer located outside the United States that is used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce or communication of the United States;

(i) the offense was committed for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;

(ii) the offense was committed in furtherance of any criminal or tortious act in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States or of any State Hello, Mr. Federal Prosecutor? Where are you?

According to the Article...

[spydabyte]

Someone might want to RTFA:

Looking to profit in other ways, Anderson approached the MPAA with an e-mail offering to help the movie studios' lobbying arm beat piracy [...] Among other things, Anderson proposed to implement an anti-piracy marketing campaign for the MPAA.

But he says he also offered to provide inside information on TorrentSpy

"It was an opportunity to make money, because I knew how these networks operated," he says.

So he got pissed because he wasn't making advertising money, and took some illegal information to the MPAA himself.

On June 8, 2005, [...] Anderson says he told Garfield that he had "an informant that can intercept any e-mail communication."

Once again, he went to the MPAA...

Anderson didn't tell Garfield he was the "informant," and that he'd already hacked into TorrentSpy's systems.

So the MPAA didn't know...

The hacker, then 23 and living in Vancouver, British Columbia, claims he had cracked TorrentSpy's servers by simply guessing an administrative password.

Besides my beef with him being called a hacker (instead of cracker), how is this cracking at all?

He knew the password was weak -- a combination of a name and some numbers. [...] "I just kept changing the numbers until it fit," he says. "I guess you can call it luck. It took a little more than 30 tries."

Yea, not hacking. Social engineering if anything...

Once inside, he programmed TorrentSpy's mail system to relay e-mail to a newly created external account he could access. There's a trace of pride in his voice as he details the hack.

cracking the Gibson baby. If he's so proud to be leaking this information, that's not elite (see the jargon file) C'mon /. work on the misinforming summaries! Starting to sound like FOX

Re:MPAA losing money

[Immerial]

There is a correlation between those who download and lost revenue. It's not zero but it's also far from the $19.99 DVD they would claim.

Just for the ease of calculation, says you pay $28/month ($1/day) for your connection and it takes you an hour to download... that's about $.04, and that's on the cheap side. Even if you triple it (takes longer to download, more expensive connection) and burn it to a blank DVD, $.30 to play on the player downstairs (maybe you don't have some mo-funky fresh system that can handle a digital file). So it more like it's worth $.42 :-)

Re:When hypocrites attack...

[Technician]

Nah, I just rip them and remove the macrovision.

DVD's don't have Macrovision. They have a Macrovision flag. A legal player adds Macrovision to the player output. Rippers never bothered with the flag and don't have a Macrovision license to use the encoder.

If you paid extra for a ripper that "Removes Macrovision" you got ripped off. You would have to pay extra for a ripper that adds Macrovision.

Re:If he had hacked Microsoft

[Draek]

you're new here aren't you? because it already happened [slashdot.org] and no, they weren't regarded as "true freedom fighters".

but please don't let facts get in the way of a good troll.

Re:obligatory

[DeadManCoding]

Normally, I'm the one getting flamed, instead of flaming, but I really feel some bile coming up and after that post, I'm going to spew it at you. For those of us who are programmers, a hacker was a status symbol, the sysadmin that could throw together some code and make that new system their IT manager bought actually work right. While the English language will always allow for evolution, there are some things that have been misconstrued, such as "hacking". I may not be the 60s-70s era programmer, but my instructors in college were. They also found their word so utterly changed by the media to be insulting. I'm not going to change my vocabulary for the mass population because some other asshole decided the definition needed to be sensationalized. So do me a favor, get off your high horse, get out of the basement, and get a life. I want to be defined as a hacker, because I'm a coder, and for me, that's a worthy goal.