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MediaDefender and the Streisand Effect

Posted by kdawson on Thu Sep 20, 2007 07:41 AM
from the making-it-ever-so-much-worse dept.
Censorship
Foldarn writes "It looks like MediaDefender, in an effort to quell the explosion of negative publicity over its leaked email archive, has instead done the opposite (also known as the Streisand Effect) and spread it even more widely. Ars Technica is reporting that MediaDefender has sent scary-lawyer letters to two popular BitTorrent sites, MegaNova and IsoHunt, demanding that they remove the offending content. Both sites have responded with derision. Also, Ars notes that MediaDefender seems to be behind a DDoS attack against the site that originally leaked its email." Final word to Ars's Ryan Paul: "MediaDefender's entire business model has been based on recognition of the inescapable fact that litigation cannot stop the spread of content on the Internet, so it is ironic that the company has turned to legal threats."
+ -
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Related Stories

[+] Leaks Prove MediaDefender's Deception 230 comments
Who will defend the defenders? writes "Ars Technica has posted the first installment in their analysis of the leaked MediaDefender emails and found some very interesting things. Apparently, the New York Attorney General's office is working on a big anti-piracy sting and they were working on finding viable targets. It also discusses how some of the emails show MediaDefender trying to spy on their competitors, sanitize their own Wikipedia entry, deal with the hackers targeting their systems, and to quash the MiiVi story even while they were rebuilding it as Viide. Oh yes, they definitely read "techie, geek web sites where everybody already hates us" like Slashdot, too."
Submission: MediaDefender and the Streisand Effect by Foldarn (1152051)
[+] MediaDefender's BitTorrent-Based DOS Takes Down Revision3 426 comments
Sandman1971 writes "Over the long Memorial Day weekend, Revision3 was the target of a malicious Denial Of Service Attack which brought R3 to its knees. After investigating the matter, it was discovered that the source of the attacks came from MediaDefender, the famed company hired by the MPAA and RIAA to try and stop the spread of illegal file sharing. The kicker? Revision3 was taken down for running a bittorent tracker to distribute its own legal content."
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  • As the proverb goes (Score:4, Funny)

    by tygerstripes (832644) on Thursday September 20 2007, @07:46AM (#20679349)
    He who lives by the sword, dies by the questionable business model.

    • New leak! (Score:5, Informative)

      by xtracto (837672) on Thursday September 20 2007, @08:11AM (#20679541) Journal
      There is a new leak now! it is the source code of some of the MD applications in Piratebay [thepiratebay.org].

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        There are also some interesting statistics [mediadefen...enders.com] created from the leaked tracking databases. The statistics include what times of the day and week are most popular for P2P pirates and which fake files have been uploaded the most.

        More updates, leaks and news at:
        http://mediadefender-defenders.com/ [mediadefen...enders.com]

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by Shining Celebi (853093)

            Can someone explain why the IP addresses are showing up as belonging in weird countries such as Algeria and the Philippines?

            So they aren't as easily identified. If you read through their emails, you find a lot of talk about them getting hold of a lot of different IPs from all around the world.

      • Screw the source code! (Score:5, Informative)

        by Khyber (864651) <khyberkitsune@gmail.com> on Thursday September 20 2007, @01:38PM (#20685297) Journal
        Check their emails. What're they protected with? Their e-mail messages are protected by the free version of AVG -- copyrighted software that, for business use, requires a purchase to use. THEY ARE COPYRIGHT INFRINGERS, THEMSELVES! Hypocrites, every last one of them!

        • Re:Screw the source code! (Score:5, Informative)

          by fafalone (633739) on Thursday September 20 2007, @02:39PM (#20686419)
          They steal source code too, example:

          MovieMakerModule.cpp Line 497: // Stolen code, begin
          Line 560: // Stolen code - end

          If you're going to steal code, it's not a good idea to put in comments announcing it's stolen. Of course scumbag crap is what they're about, so they probably are just fine with copy/pasting code.
  • Well maybe someone should turn them in to the FBI for violating federal computer crime statutes.

    • Re:They wanna play the legal game huh? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by betterunixthanunix (980855) on Thursday September 20 2007, @07:49AM (#20679373)
      Oh not, the FBI isn't interested in big companies that break computer laws. They are interested in teenagers and organized crime. But flash your corporate charter, and suddenly, you aren't a hacker, you are defending the profits of a major content studio from hackers who are using deCSS.
      • The FBI goes after anyone who breaks laws. If MediaDefender broke the law, then, yeah, they should be prosecuted.

        The question is, what law did they break? It's not illegal to post fake versions of Universal's music when Universal gives you the legal rights to do exactly that. The only thing would be, if they did do denial of service attacks. However, if the target site is outside of American jurisdiction, it is not entirely clear that this is a crime.

  • Torrents... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2007, @07:48AM (#20679359)
    ...for those of you haven't already downloaded them.
    http://thepiratebay.org/search/mediadefender/0/3/0 [thepiratebay.org]

    And the unofficial MediaDefender-Defender website.
    http://www.mediadefender-defenders.com/ [mediadefen...enders.com]

    #MediaDefender-Defenders @ EFNet

  • people never learn (Score:3, Insightful)

    by randuev (1032770) on Thursday September 20 2007, @07:49AM (#20679369)
    censorship is not possible on P2P. speaking of mediadefender, if they do in fact execute DDOS attacks, they are breaking more rules than they are trying to protect.

    • Re:people never learn (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Billosaur (927319) * <wgrotherNO@SPAMoptonline.net> on Thursday September 20 2007, @08:23AM (#20679645) Journal

      Censorship is not possible on the Internet, period. Once information gets out into the wild, it will be copied and recopied (not to mention indexed by the major search engines) to the point that eliminating all copies would take inordinately large amounts of time and effort. Imagine if MediaDefender had to sue everyone who had a copy of even part of one of their emails on a server? Even Bill Gates doesn't have that kind of money! Not to mention, with so many of these copies being overseas, there's no guarantee they would win in any foreign court.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by dougmc (70836)

        Censorship is not possible on the Internet, period.

        Censorship of certain things is not easy on the Internet, but it's not impossible. If there is something that has a severe penalty for having, and few people want anyways, and even having it has a really strong stigma against it, it's effectively censored even for those who do want it. Case in point? Child pornography. Yes, there's some on the Internet, but it's very effectively censored. And the few cases where it can be found on the Internet, it's generally either 1) very carefully hidden and prot

          • That's why Antigua and Barbuda has asked the WTO to impose penal tariffs on U.S. products in retailiation, namely allowing all citizens of A&B to copy and redistribute Hollywood content for free.
            Which side do you think that punishes more?
  • "They are shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted."

    Always liked that phrase.
  • You want to bet that they (MediaDefender) should be more worried about what their clients make of the emails about them? 'Cuz you know they have a copy, and they ARE reading them. Can't unscramble an egg.

  • Ironic (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ilex (261136) on Thursday September 20 2007, @08:09AM (#20679527)
    Ironic that MAFIAADefenders business model is based on stopping content leaking out onto P2P networks.

    When they can't even stop their own internal emails and phone calls from leaking you'd have to be pretty gullible to believe their claims. To make matters worse they resort to legal nasty grams and censorship to try and suppress the evidence of their incompetence which makes them look all the more the fool.
    To really put the cherry on the cake they're now resorting to illegal DDOS attacks, which for the most part have also failed.

    If they were in any other business it would already be over for them, sadly for us, fortunately for them their clients are just the sort of gullible people who will keep doing business because they can't face the real truth. Their business model has failed.

    Sadly we haven't heard the last of MAFIAADefender.

  • Try to put the toothpaste back in the tube. I dare ya.

    Pandora's box also comes immediately to mind.
  • all we could ask for would be they showed their true colors, and boy, are they doing a good job showing it !

  • These are no longer "Trade Secrets" (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kwandar (733439) on Thursday September 20 2007, @08:17AM (#20679595)
    I note with interest that Sheppard Mullin (generally a good law firm in my experience, irrespective of their current client) are claiming that the items are "trade secrets". They've lost the argument before they started. The cat was out of the bag, and those emails have been seen and distributed far and wide. As such, these are no longer "trade secrets" (like the formula to coke). Their only recourse is against the Media-Defender Defenders whoever they may be. Good luck ever finding them, and if they do then what? Odds are that their total net worth is far less than what Media-Defender are paying Sheppard Mullin (they aren't cheap!!) :)

    • Doesn't work that way... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Alaren (682568) on Thursday September 20 2007, @10:11AM (#20681205) Homepage

      I am not a lawyer, but I am in law school... and I actually just finished a unit on trade secrets in my IP class. The following is not legal advice. I evaluate the issue from an IT perspective here [kennethpike.com].

      Now, you're mostly right, but a few things need to be clarified. Trade secret protection does go away once the secret is readily available or general knowledge (depending on the state and whether they have adopted the Uniform Trade Secret Act, among other things). However, there is still recourse via legal means. Some courts will actually continue to afford legal protection to the secret for a period of time if the leak was through no fault of the company (which in this case is somewhat questionable; there may be a case for negligence on the part of the executive who violated company policy). Other courts will stop protecting the secret, but all courts will look to whoever misappropriated the secrets in assigning damages.

      Here's where your analysis gets back on track--the MediaDefender-Defenders (MD-D) crew are pretty plainly on the hook for everything they own, but I'd wager you're right that they don't own nearly enough to compensate for what increasingly looks like the total destruction of MediaDefender. This is actually a problem in all areas of law--namely, how do you deal with an insolvent defendant? The answer generally is, you can't. Their credit and their assets will be destroyed, but bankruptcy protection will probably allow them to keep their home, et cetera...

      This is why MediaDefender has the FBI involved. In misappropriating the trade secrets, MD-D probably broke several criminal laws, and the criminal trial system has always been the next step when looking to punish culpable, but insolvent, parties.

      But they're unlikely to be found, at least in the U.S., and if they are found, it still won't bring MD-D back into business. As for the C&D letters to other torrent sites, that's where MD-D are well and truly wasting what little time they have left.

      Frankly, if I worked for Sheppard Mullin (and I don't, and never have) I would have taken a long look at advising MD to cut their losses, file criminal reports, and hit Chapter 11 or Chapter 7 while they still have some assets worth liquidating. MD-D are chewing into MD's value more each passing day, and the most recent leak is probably the hardest hitting in terms of the company's IP value. But then, it's entirely possible that Sheppard Mullin did consider that option, and decided that there is still profit to be made defending a lost cause.

        • You may be right about the bankruptcy thing, I know a good deal less about bankruptcy proceedings than about IP (that class comes next year!). However, the most recent leak--of MediaDefender's proprietary code--makes me dubious about their future prospects, even under a different name. Their assets have been reduced to the hardware they own and the employees they can still trust and/or pay. As for debt, they probably don't have much at this point, but it will be interesting to see how their debt mounts a

  • SCO Merger? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Chapter80 (926879) on Thursday September 20 2007, @08:20AM (#20679619)
    This seems like a perfect time for Media Defender and SCO to announce a merger.

    Potential Nasdaq symbols: STNL, ASST, ASTNL

  • Political Filtering of Email by Hotmail and AOL [slashdot.org]. M$ seems to be better at suppressing the news here than the MAFIAA is at suppressing the Media Defender story, but it won't last long.

  • Torrentspy E-mails (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2007, @08:42AM (#20679833)

    The courts recently ruled that the MPAA did no wrong when obtaining Torrentspy private e-mails: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/31/1334245 [slashdot.org]

    How is this any different aside from the fact that it is now the torrent sites gaining access to "Big Business" e-mail? Oh, right...

  • Necessary Futurama quote (Score:3, Funny)

    by cpaalman (696554) on Thursday September 20 2007, @09:12AM (#20680207)
    Prof. Farnsworth: "This will not stand!" (people talking surprised together) "I'll take you on, you air balling bozos"
    Bubblegum: "You old man? Hu! Sweet Clive, laugh derisively at him."
    Sweet Clive: "Ahaha, ahaha, aahahaha."

  • US disrespected (Score:3, Interesting)

    by wytcld (179112) on Thursday September 20 2007, @09:51AM (#20680857) Homepage

    Meganova's response says. "In case you haven't noticed, this site is located in Europe (I hope you can point it out on a map) where your stupid copyright claims have no base."
    Can we see a connection between the official US government disregard of "silly" things like international treaties against torture, and now this disrespect by some Europeans of claims based in US law? Europeans just aren't following the US example any more. For instance, to the EU, Microsoft is officially an abusive monopoly; in the US they've been given a pass. So it's not just European individuals, but top government bodies which no longer respect US sensibilities and precedents.

    Between Media Defender and Media-Defender Defender, both sides are playing dirty. That's far worse for a "legitimate" corporation to do than for a loose confederation of mostly teen hackers, so in a sane world Media Defender would be stripped of its corporate charter and dissolved. But the US has tried to establish as its new norm that there is no law for corporations, no punishment for their harms to society or nature. The blowback from this, from regions of the world - especially the EU - that still have norms of law applying to all (except French leaders while in office, but that's another story), will be major.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by robbiethefett (1047640)
      It really bothers me when people refer to this policy as "new" as if the U.S. never had things like robber-barons and big-oil-controlled-government. The woes of the industrial revolution are coming back, just in time it seems, since most Americans don't seem to remember high school history class.

      Corporations and their umbrellas are the triangle shirtwaste's of our age. Instead of being chained to a sewing machine, we are chained to our electronic devices. Of course they aren't "ours" as we are only le

  • MediaDefender Anti-Piracy Tools Leaked (Score:5, Informative)

    by wwmedia (950346) on Thursday September 20 2007, @09:58AM (#20681001)
    just in

    MediaDefender Anti-Piracy Tools Leaked [torrentfreak.com]

  • Media Defender...it's a series of ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by bmo (77928) on Thursday September 20 2007, @11:57AM (#20683069)
    Asstunnels.

    FTFA: "Dearest little asstunnels"

    Is it a tunnel within an ass or is it a tunnel made of asses?

    "You are in a series of twisty little asstunnels, all alike. It is dark in here. You might be eaten by a gerbil"

    --
    BMO

  • Oh my god... they are stupid... (Score:3, Informative)

    by BlueParrot (965239) on Thursday September 20 2007, @01:51PM (#20685587)
    When the e-mails were leaked I called for them to DMCA it as that would effectively confirm the leaked information as authentic while doing nothing to prevent its spread. I sarcastically ended that comment with "you have to outdo your own incompetence somehow". Little did I know they were actually going to be that fucking stupid. There is a reason the military, NRC, CIA etc.. has a policy of never confirming or denying leaks. Doing so would essentially confirm/debunk the accuracy of the leaked information. Good job MD, you just made a mistake most people have known not to do for more than a century. Idiots...

    • Meganova:But fair is fair you guys did suffer over the past week so here's bit of advice to you guys: F*** you! F*** you again! F*** you again and again and again!"

      arstechnica:(I'm guessing that an "asstunnel" is what you get when a European whose first language isn't English tries to say "asshole." It seemed awkward when I first read the response, but the expression has since grown on me.)

      I guess it's more when a European thinks about an asshole that got "F*** you! F*** you again! F*** you again and ag

    • Re:"Asstunnel"... (Score:4, Funny)

      by elrous0 (869638) * on Thursday September 20 2007, @09:19AM (#20680327)
      Torrent fans to Mediadefender: "I've got two lots of news for you guys--one bad, the other worse. The bad news is that you're an asstunnel. The second is that we're all driving semis and buses."

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