'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."

More like a cracker with no brains

[WindBourne]

If they would give him anything, and he only got 15K?????? What an idiot.

Hm

[Kaitnieks]

If this is really true, it must mean that MPAA seriously believe they can close illegal interweb media distribution channels. Either they underestimate scale of the problem or overestimate their own power and influence, in any case they live in a dream world.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

"Didn't know"? Right.

[MoonFog]

The MPAA does not dispute it paid Anderson for the sensitive information, but insists that it had no idea that Anderson stole the data. "The MPAA obtains information from third parties only if it believes the evidence has been collected legally," says MPAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman.

Essentially, the MPAA said "we will give you anything if you rat these people out and obtain evidence for us", yet "didn't know" he was doing it illegally? Please, just shows how desperate they can be and what kind of morale these people have.

Re:"Didn't know"? Right.

[gsslay]

Is there not something deliciously ironic about one set of criminals complaining about the illegal, immoral activities of another?

Actually, the situation is just a bit too cloying for my tastes.

Re:obligatory

[mfh]

No, Neo would never work for the robots.

Re:MPAA losing money

[deftcoder]

You're forgetting that the overwhelming majority of people pirating those films would NOT pay to see them.

So, let's say about $100 USD per film and call it even.

Re:Hm

[Opportunist]

What do you expect? After creating dream worlds for decades, it's only logical that they start living in them, too.

Re:Oh Please

[BlueStrat]

"If you save Hollywood for us you can become rich and powerful"? Does anyone really think the MPAA's lawyers are dumb enough to give a quote like that?

Apparently, you've never had any dealings with talent scouts or record label A&R reps. They routinely promise the world to their prospects, but end up bending them over with no lube. This is entertainment industry SOP.

Cheers!

Strat

15k?

[langelgjm]

If Hollywood thinks that 15 grand makes you rich and powerful, I think they need to examine more than their business model.

Re:When hypocrites attack...

[Opportunist]

So if I resort to illegal practices to protect an outdated business model that's no longer viable it's all right and fine? So those hackney drivers should've been allowed to slice car tires and blow up trains? Workers of a Detroit car plant should pool their last cents and rent a sub to sink those carrier ships from Japan?

Interesting point of view.

You no longer consume mass media?

[Chas]

Yet you're on the Internet?

Riiight!

Re:"Didn't know"? Right.

[Red Flayer]

Essentially, the MPAA said "we will give you anything if you rat these people out and obtain evidence for us", yet "didn't know" he was doing it illegally? Please, just shows how desperate they can be and what kind of morale these people have.

Please, RTFA.

Anderson approached them, saying pretty much, "I can get you this info, how much is it worth to you?"

Then, when they met, he told them that he had "an informant" who had access to the info. Two degrees of separation? There's plausible deniability right there. Do I believe they knew the info was obtained illegally? No. Do I believe they made any kind of effort to find out? No as well. But it doesn't really matter, since they can plausibly deny that they had knowledge of how the info was obtained.

Re:"Didn't know"? Right.

[CmdrGravy]

To be fair if I instructed my minions to:

"Get this project finished to everyones satisfaction and I don't care how you do it"

I'd be a bit surprised if they came back to me the next day and said

"Hey boss, that project thing. It's all fixed up real nice now. Real nice"

And it turned out they'd done it by killing all the people who were waiting for it.

I think most rational people when told to use whatever means necessary take it for granted this means whatever means available within the law. Particulary if you've signed a contract specifically saying that.

This Anderson bloke is basically an idiot, the MPAA paid him peanuts, probably knew full well he was going to break the law to get them the information they wanted but let him go ahead with it anyway having insulated themselves as much as possible from any actions he sees fit to take upon himself.

Let me read your emails then

[emj]

It's easy to say that, but the right to privacy applies to criminals too. Perhaps we would have an easier time getting criminals caught if we wiretapped everybody, then they will have the same right as everyone else, and can't complain.

The reason you want criminals to get away, is because you don't want to be treated the same way. These rules apply whether you are an angry spouse, big company or the police.

Hmmm... so, this guy is a hero now?

[forestbrooke]

Isn't it ironic, that goodness is now "I did something evil before... but heyy, look at me now! am sorry and I am talking about it!" I think this guy would have been better off if he had refused MPAA and blew open the "bad intent" (well... one of them...) of the stupid execs all over the place! Kind of lame, to acknowledge now, after of course licking the green off the $$$. But, I guess that is the trend now...

Re:MPAA losing money

[saltydog56]

What a crock of shit. If the tired old "I would not have bought it anyways ..." tripe is the best logic you can come up with it is clear that you must have lost a bet with God and as a result, had to submit to a lobotomy. Clear and simple, you are pinching a service which you have not paid for.

Just because the jackasses in the entertainment industry are a bunch of slime maggots does not mean that you have the right to use whatever means you can find to circumvent their business model - the bottom line is that the movies and music you are stealing is their property, created at their expense, not yours. So of course they have the right to control the distribution of the fruits of their labors. No matter how screwed up they are.

If you were caught picking the lock on the back door of a concert hall in order to get into a concert for free would you expect the coppers to send you on your way after you explained that you really did not want to see the band anyways because their music sucks?

If you were caught jumping the door on a city bus to get a free ride would the judge turn you loose after you explained that there was no loss of profits because there were empty seats anyways? I think not.

How is this any different than taking your handi-cam into your local strip club and filming the goings on for your next "skanks gone wild" movie on the basis that the wench was going to be on the pole anyways?

All you are doing is making a lame attempt at justifying your lack of respect for the rights of others.

Re:MPAA losing money

[Technician]

How many of those downloads are the same as a lost sale? I doubt the quality is the same as the retail DVD and could fetch the same price. Was it a lost sale, or a lost rental? At full retail price, would the lack of a download make a retail purchase? The prices given are as always, shown as the MAX possible loss for the most impact. Many people who would never pay full retail would buy if the price was reasonable. I for one don't spend over $15 on DVD's. Most of the time, I spend under $10. Calling DVD's at twice that price a lost sale at $19.99 because it can be downloaded is a pipe dream. It's a lost sale because it is $19.99.

Re:obligatory

[Feyr]

patriot does not apply to true american companies and bush's cronies, especially if it prevents them from making money and/or protecting the True American Dream

If he had hacked Microsoft

[speaker of the truth]

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.

I guess the motto here at slashdot is "you must respect people's rights, unless we don't like them."

a rat is a rat anywhere in the world...

[goga_russian]

a rat is a rat anywhere in the world... and we all know what happens to rats. america promotes the culture of 'telling on someone', ratting on your friends to save ur ass, or make money. please dont admire a rat.

what bullshit

[cliffski]

"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"

outside of hollywood movies, nobody talks like this. this is all the ramblings of some deranged kid.

Re:obligatory

[Anonymous Coward]

This maybe a silly question but isn't hacking illegal in the usa as part of GW,Bush's anti terror laws?

Look, Wired can be forgiven, since they're clueless nerd wannabes*, but damn it man, this is slashdot. Look at the masthead. Then get your wannabe ass off my lawn and no, you can't have your balls back.

When I took transistor radios and turned them into guitar fuzzboxes as a teenager, that was hacking. When Delbert McGeekly quickly writes a few lines of code to get the server running again, that's hacking. When Joey Pimpleface finds some code on the internet that lets him sniff out some doofus' password, that is not hacking Goddamnit!!!!! That's cracking you clueless dweeb.

Only laymen refer to breaking into computer systems as "hacking". If you think breaking into computers is hacking, you don't belong at slashdot.

-mcgrew [mcgrew.info]

*The linked text is titled "What is a nerd?" When I was a teenager [kuro5hin.org], "nerd" and "geek" were insults. We were scorned, shunned, and made fun of. Who would have thought that some day we would actually be respected, to the point that the jocks and cheerleaders would actually try to pass themselves off as us?

Re:obligatory

[peterpi]

You're pissing into the wind.

Re:WTF?

[mosch]

"$15k to make people's lives miserable because they committed some minor IP violations? sweet deal!"

I would've expected people to want more money, but I guess it makes sense. There's always somebody who is sufficiently selfish to fuck everybody else over for a comically small sum of money.

Re:If he had hacked Microsoft

[pizzach]

I hate to tell you this, but laughing when an "evil" person (or company) has their karma come back to haunt them is a part of human nature. It's a bit like when the person who punched you in the face steps in some dog crap. It just kind of makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Re:obligatory

[ResidntGeek]

I want you to read this following line very carefully:

SHUT UP.

You're fighting a battle which was stupid even before it was lost, 10 years ago. To the general population, when Joey Pimpleface finds some code on the internet that lets him sniff out some doofus's password, that is hacking. That makes it the case, whether you like it or not. You're never, ever going to realign the definition of the term, not even if you did more than post on slashdot about it (which you won't). Do what you do with every other word in the damn language, and use it the same way everyone else does. Suddenly, magically, you'll find you can communicate with other lifeforms! Imagine that!

By the way,

Who would have thought that some day we would actually be respected, to the point that the jocks and cheerleaders would actually try to pass themselves off as us?

You're so naive I almost hate to burst your bubble on that one, but no. Leaving aside your high-school perception of the world, the thing that set nerds and geeks apart is lack of social skills. I can assure you "jocks and cheerleaders", as you so eloquently put it, do not try to imitate an inability to socialize. Geeks and nerds are respected once they learn how to socialize, to become like the "jocks and cheerleaders" in that sense.

Re:"Didn't know"? Right.

[Gumbercules!!]

Nonsense. They asked him to provide them with information he had no legal way to be in possession of, nor to transfer. They asked him to commit a crime. That's accessory, my friend.

Example:
If I tell you to provide me with Rio Tinto's secret environment impact analysis report on a Uranium mine and you cough it up, but I know full well you don't work for Rio Tinto public relations, then I also know full well it's a stolen report. Even if someone gave it to you, they & you have no permission to pass it on to me.

This is exactly the same.

Re:obligatory

[Psion]

To the general population, someone with multiple personalities has schizophrenia. Does that make them right? Of course not, they have multiple personality disorder or dissociative identity disorder. Facts aren't candidates in a popularity contest.

Re:obligatory

[Actually, I do RTFA]

You're never, ever going to realign the definition of the term, not even if you did more than post on slashdot about it (which you won't). Do what you do with every other word in the damn language, and use it the same way everyone else does.

Yes and no. Within the slashdot community, the word hacker has a different meaning. It is stupid to expect that meaning to apply outside slashdot, but inside one expects the word "hacker" not to get thrown around so much. Much like using "weight" at a physicists convention means something different (and more accurate) than in the locker room at your gym.

Re:obligatory

[Hatta]

That makes it the case, whether you like it or not. You're never, ever going to realign the definition of the term, not even if you did more than post on slashdot about it (which you won't). Do what you do with every other word in the damn language, and use it the same way everyone else does. Suddenly, magically, you'll find you can communicate with other lifeforms! Imagine that!

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.

Re:obligatory

[DanielJosphXhan]

Definitions and the meaning of words are, at least if you accept that definition of the meaning of a word.

Re:obligatory

[Independent Voter]

Actually, multiple personality disorder is a form of schizophrenia. So, people who say that those with multiple personality disorder have schizophrenia, they're not wrong, just inexact.

I started hacking and cracking in 1983, way before it was "cool". At the time, according to me and my friends who were much better hackers and crackers than I was (including one Pentagon computer hacker who eventually got caught), cracking is a subform of hacking.

Language evolves and meanings change. Happens every year with lots of words. During the transition, it creates confusion, but then the new meaning takes over and settles in and communication continues. take "hacking", for example. It used to just mean "beating something with a sharp object"...

Re:obligatory

[stonecypher]

For those of us who are programmers, a hacker was a status symbol

No it wasn't. There was nothing worse than to call yourself that. Please stop posing. You weren't around back when it was in use, and your quick read of TNHD hasn't given you the depth of context that you seem to believe you have. You weren't around back then, and you should stop pretending that you were. It's dishonest.

the sysadmin that could throw together some code and make that new system their IT manager bought actually work right.

"Hacker" was out of use long before the job "IT Manager" even existed.

I'm not going to change my vocabulary

It's not your vocabulary. It's something you heard from someone else. Just because one college teacher told you a story doesn't mean you've got the bead. It's slang. Move on.

So do me a favor, get off your high horse, get out of the basement, and get a life.

You're way further up on your own ire than the person to whom you're responding.

I want to be defined as a hacker

And you never, ever will be. Let it go. You're not Mel.

Re:obligatory

[pclminion]

Much like using "weight" at a physicists convention means something different (and more accurate) than in the locker room at your gym.

Physicists are just as sloppy, terminologically, as anyone else. I've heard mass referred to as "weight" in plenty of informal discussions. It is not a problem because the context is always clear. Hell, we still have the term "atomic weight" which has been wrong for over 100 years, and yet continues to be used.

In a publication, the correct terms are always used. And of course, there are scientists who are anal about terminology even in informal settings. But I would hope that the human race has enough intelligence to account for CONTEXT in discussions in order to disambiguate terms.

The old hacker/cracker debate is tiresome, pointless, and indicates that the poster has nothing USEFUL to say.

You've never seen German, have you?

[Sycraft-fu]

They have a word for everything. The language likes compound words like no other. One of these situations of "Hmmm, we don't have a word for that, well let's just jam together some existing words that describe it and call it a new word." For example: Suppose we need a form to calculate the additional costs on a transaction. That would be a Zusatzkostenberechnungsschein. If one could transliterate that to English it would be something along the lines of Additionalcostcalculationform.

So sure, they probably have a word for "Catch the thief, he has my knife in his back!" as well :D.

Gaa!

[Romicron]

Actually, multiple personality disorder is a form of schizophrenia. So, people who say that those with multiple personality disorder have schizophrenia, they're not wrong, just inexact.

No, no, no, no, no! Good Lord, NO!

Please. Nothing against you, but every time I hear the words "MPD" and "Schizophrenia" in the same sentence, I cringe. Disclaimer: IANAP (I am not a psychiatrist).

Understanding Dissociative Disorders [mind.org.uk] (Multiple Personality Disorder is an outdated term.)
DID's Wiki Page [wikipedia.org]

Diagnostic Information for Schizophrenia [behavenet.com]
Schizophrenia's Wiki Page [wikipedia.org]

Please take the time to read at least enough to see the differences between the two. It's a common misconception, but it IS a misconception. The two are in separate categories under the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria (DID being 300.14, Schizophrenia being 295.x, there are different types). "MPD" (Dissociative Identity Disorder) is NOT schizophrenia, nor a form of it. They are distinct.

Back on topic... You'd think that they'd find some poor hacker kid with a bunch of their ripped merchandise on his drive and blackmail him or her into doing their bidding, and then hold a lawsuit / charges over their head unless they comply. They save 15K less the cost of the generic white van and black-clothed goons to pick him up.