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MediaDefender

January 01, 1970

MediaDefender, Inc. (now Peer Media Technologies) was a company that fought copyright infringement[1] that offered services designed to prevent alleged copyright infringement using peer-to-peer distribution. They used unusual tactics such as flooding peer-to-peer networks with decoy files that tie up users' computers and bandwidth.[2] MediaDefender was based in Los Angeles, California in the United States. As of March 2007, the company had approximately 60 employees[3] and used 2,000 servers hosted in California with contracts for 9 Gbit/s of bandwidth.[3]

These types of organizations are being hired to attempt to stymie peer-to-peer (P2P) traders through a variety of methods including posting fake files online and recording individuals who contribute copyrighted material, but also marketing to individuals using P2P networks.[4] Clients include Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Virgin Records, HBO, Paramount Pictures, and BMG[citation needed]. On August 1, 2005, the digital media entertainment company ARTISTdirect announced that it had acquired MediaDefender for $42.5 million in cash.

In May 2008, MediaDefender performed a distributed-denial-of-service attack on Revision3, despite the fact that they were not hosting unauthorized materials. Jim Louderback, Revision3's CEO, charged that these attacks violated the Economic Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. As of May 2008, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating the incident.[5]

In August 2009, ARTISTdirect restructured MediaDefender and MediaSentry, creating Peer Media Technologies.

Miivi.com edit

In February 2007, MediaDefender launched a video sharing site called Miivi.com. On July 4, 2007, file-sharing news site TorrentFreak alleged that Miivi.com was created to trap uploaders of copyrighted content.[6][7] The site's origins were discovered by a blogger who looked up Miivi.com domain registration information.[8][citation needed]

After the allegation was re-posted throughout the blogosphere, Miivi.com was shut down on July 4, 2007.[9] In an interview with Ars Technica, chief executive Randy Saaf stated that "MediaDefender was working on an internal project that involved video and didn't realize that people would be trying to go to it and so we didn't password-protect the site".[10] MediaDefender blamed file-sharing groups such as The Pirate Bay for starting the story.[10] Following MediaDefender's subsequent email leak, TorrentFreak alleged that MediaDefender's statement was revealed to be a deliberate falsehood. Saaf denied that MiiVi was "a devious product" and that the company aimed to entrap users, stating only that it was part of MediaDefender's "trade secrets."[11][12]

The MPAA denied any involvement with MediaDefender.[10] On September 14, 2007, internal emails from MediaDefender were leaked on to BitTorrent file sharing networks, which contradicted MediaDefender's claims of MiiVi being an "internal test site," revealing additional detailed information about the website and that the site was closed when the connection between it and MediaDefender became public knowledge. It was scheduled to be re-launched as www.viide.com, but has not yet been opened up to the public.[6]

Leaked information edit

Beginning on September 14, 2007, MediaDefender experienced a security breach caused by a group of hackers led by high school student "Ethan". This group called themselves MediaDefender-Defenders.[13] According to an SEC filing, this ultimately cost parent company ARTISTdirect at least $825,000.[14] The breach included emails, a phone conversation, and a number of internal anti-infringement tools, including some source code.

Leaked e-mails edit

On September 14, 2007, 6,621 of the company's internal e-mails were leaked, containing information contradicting previous statements and details of strategies intended to deceive copyright infringers. The emails link MediaDefender to projects that management previously denied involvement in. The Associated Press and other media outlets suggest that the leak may confirm speculation that MiiVi.com was an anti-copyright infringement "honeypot" site.[15][16] One e-mail suggests using the MiiVi client program to turn users' PCs into drones for MediaDefender's eMule spoofing activities. The leaked e-mails discuss responses to unexpected and negative press, and expose upcoming projects, problems in and around the office, Domino's pizza orders, and other personal information about employees. Beyond strategic information, the leak also exposed login information for FTP and MySQL servers, making available a large library of MP3 files likely including artists represented by MediaDefender's clients. The emails also revealed that MediaDefender probably was negotiating with the New York Attorney General's office to allow them access to information about users accessing pornographic material.[17] As of September 15, 2007, there had been no official response from the company.[12] However, evidence exists that MediaDefender had been employing both legal and illegal actions to remove copies of the leaked emails from their respective hosting sites. In addition to the usual cease-and-desist letters from their legal department, IP addresses that are owned by MediaDefender were found to have been used in denial-of-service attacks against sites hosting the leaked emails.[18]

The e-mails also revealed direction by MediaDefender founder Randy Saaf to have developer Ben Ebert attempt to eliminate the information about MiiVi from MediaDefender's English Wikipedia entry.[17] Ebert responds in an email on the same day saying, "I will attempt to get all References [sic] to miivi removed from wiki. I should easily be able to get It contested. We'll see if I can get rid of it."[19]

Leaked phone conversation edit

On September 16, 2007, MediaDefender-Defenders released a 25-minute excerpt of a phone conversation between the New York Attorney General's office and MediaDefender as a torrent on The Pirate Bay. MediaDefender-Defenders claims in information released with the phone conversation that they have infiltrated the "internals" of the company.[20]

Leaked source code edit

On September 20, 2007, MediaDefender-Defenders released the source code of TrapperKeeper, MediaDefender's decoy systems on The Pirate Bay.[21] A large chunk of MediaDefender's software was available by Bittorrent.[22]

Revision3 controversy edit

Revision3 is an Internet television network which distributes video content legally through various means, including the BitTorrent protocol. During the Memorial Day weekend in 2008, Revision3 came under a Denial of Service attack originating from MediaDefender IP addresses. The attack left the company's service inaccessible until mid-Tuesday the following week. Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback accused MediaDefender of injecting its decoy files into Revision3's BitTorrent service through a vulnerability, then automatically perpetrating the attack after Revision3 increased security.[23][24]

Randy Saaf defended MediaDefender's actions by stating "Our systems were targeting a tracker not even knowing it was Revision3's tracker", adding that the denial-of-service attack resulted when "Revision3 changed some configurations" to their BitTorrent tracker.[25]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Showdown Looms over Pirated-Media Directory". Wall Street Journal. 11 January 2008.
  2. ^ Holahan, Catherine (March 5, 2007). "Advertising to the File-Sharing Crowd" BusinessWeek. Retrieved on September 16, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Anderson, Nate (2007-03-19). "Peer-to-peer poisoners: A tour of MediaDefender". Ars Technica. Retrieved 16 September 2007.
  4. ^ Angwin, Julia; McBride, Sarah; Smith, Ethan (18 October 2006). "Record Labels Turn Piracy Into a Marketing Opportunity". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 September 2007.
  5. ^ Paul, Ryan (30 May 2008). "Revision3 CEO: Blackout caused by MediaDefender attack". arstechnica.com. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
  6. ^ a b Van der Sar, Ernesto (4 July 2007). "Anti-Piracy Gang Launches their own Video Download Site to Trap People". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 17 September 2007.
  7. ^ "MPAA Dummy Site Snares Pirates" 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine DigitalTrends.com [dead link]
  8. ^ "Domain Registration Information"
  9. ^ "Miivi.com goes down"
  10. ^ a b c Cheng, Jacqui (2007-07-06). "MediaDefender denies entrapment accusations with fake torrent site". Ars Technica. Retrieved 16 September 2007.
  11. ^ McBride, Sarah (September 17, 2007). "Antipiracy group suffers email leak". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on September 16, 2007.
  12. ^ a b Van der Sar, Ernesto (15 September 2007). "The Biggest Ever BitTorrent Leak: MediaDefender Internal Emails Go Public * TorrentFreak". Retrieved 16 September 2007.
  13. ^ Media Defenders Profile - National Business News - Print - Portfolio.com
  14. ^ ARTISTDIRECT INC (Form: 10QSB, Received: 11/14/2007 16:07:22) 2007-11-23 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Veiga, Alex (September 18, 2007). "Hackers leak anti-piracy firm's e-mails". Associated Press. Retrieved on September 19, 2007.
  16. ^ Carr, Jim (September 18, 2007). "Stolen emails reveal anti-copyright infringement company's 'honeypot' strategy 2007-10-16 at the Wayback Machine". SC Magazine US. Retrieved on September 19, 2007.
  17. ^ a b Leaked Media Defender e-mails reveal secret government project
  18. ^ P2P sites ridicule MediaDefender takedown notices in wake of e-mail leak arstechnica.com
  19. ^ Re: MiiVi got Dugg 2007-10-16 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Van der Sar, Ernesto (16 September 2007). "MediaDefender Phone Call and Gnutella Tracking Database Leaked". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 2024-02-02.
  21. ^ Van der Sar, Ernesto (20 September 2007). "MediaDefender Anti-Piracy Tools Leaked". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 2024-02-02.
  22. ^ . 2007-09-25. Archived from the original on 2007-09-25. Retrieved 2024-02-02.
  23. ^ Inside the Attack that Crippled Revision3 2013-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Anti-piracy misfire blamed for crash of popular online TV network
  25. ^ "MediaDefender Defends Revision3 SYN Attack". Wired. 2008-05-31. from the original on 2023-03-27.

External links edit

  • MediaDefender's Official Website
  • Net2EZ owned by Media Defender
  • "Leaked Media Defender e-mails reveal secret government project" - Arstechnica
  • "MPAA Caught Uploading Fake Torrents" — TorrentFreak (IP addresses of fake torrents traced back to MediaDefender)
  • "Anti-Piracy Gang Launches their own Video Download Site to Trap People" — TorrentFreak (The domain registration of a fake video upload/download service called miivi has been traced to MediaDefender.)
  • Torrent Freak article about the 9/14/2007 Media Defender internal email leak
  • P2P sites ridicule MediaDefender takedown notices in wake of e-mail leak
  • Post of a list of leaked Programs.
  • Torrentfreak's article on Media defender problems

January 01, 1970
mediadefender, peer, media, technologies, company, that, fought, copyright, infringement, that, offered, services, designed, prevent, alleged, copyright, infringement, using, peer, peer, distribution, they, used, unusual, tactics, such, flooding, peer, peer, n. MediaDefender Inc now Peer Media Technologies was a company that fought copyright infringement 1 that offered services designed to prevent alleged copyright infringement using peer to peer distribution They used unusual tactics such as flooding peer to peer networks with decoy files that tie up users computers and bandwidth 2 MediaDefender was based in Los Angeles California in the United States As of March 2007 the company had approximately 60 employees 3 and used 2 000 servers hosted in California with contracts for 9 Gbit s of bandwidth 3 These types of organizations are being hired to attempt to stymie peer to peer P2P traders through a variety of methods including posting fake files online and recording individuals who contribute copyrighted material but also marketing to individuals using P2P networks 4 Clients include Universal Pictures 20th Century Fox Virgin Records HBO Paramount Pictures and BMG citation needed On August 1 2005 the digital media entertainment company ARTISTdirect announced that it had acquired MediaDefender for 42 5 million in cash In May 2008 MediaDefender performed a distributed denial of service attack on Revision3 despite the fact that they were not hosting unauthorized materials Jim Louderback Revision3 s CEO charged that these attacks violated the Economic Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act As of May 2008 the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating the incident 5 In August 2009 ARTISTdirect restructured MediaDefender and MediaSentry creating Peer Media Technologies Contents 1 Miivi com 2 Leaked information 2 1 Leaked e mails 2 2 Leaked phone conversation 2 3 Leaked source code 3 Revision3 controversy 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksMiivi com editIn February 2007 MediaDefender launched a video sharing site called Miivi com On July 4 2007 file sharing news site TorrentFreak alleged that Miivi com was created to trap uploaders of copyrighted content 6 7 The site s origins were discovered by a blogger who looked up Miivi com domain registration information 8 citation needed After the allegation was re posted throughout the blogosphere Miivi com was shut down on July 4 2007 9 In an interview with Ars Technica chief executive Randy Saaf stated that MediaDefender was working on an internal project that involved video and didn t realize that people would be trying to go to it and so we didn t password protect the site 10 MediaDefender blamed file sharing groups such as The Pirate Bay for starting the story 10 Following MediaDefender s subsequent email leak TorrentFreak alleged that MediaDefender s statement was revealed to be a deliberate falsehood Saaf denied that MiiVi was a devious product and that the company aimed to entrap users stating only that it was part of MediaDefender s trade secrets 11 12 The MPAA denied any involvement with MediaDefender 10 On September 14 2007 internal emails from MediaDefender were leaked on to BitTorrent file sharing networks which contradicted MediaDefender s claims of MiiVi being an internal test site revealing additional detailed information about the website and that the site was closed when the connection between it and MediaDefender became public knowledge It was scheduled to be re launched as www viide com but has not yet been opened up to the public 6 Leaked information editBeginning on September 14 2007 MediaDefender experienced a security breach caused by a group of hackers led by high school student Ethan This group called themselves MediaDefender Defenders 13 According to an SEC filing this ultimately cost parent company ARTISTdirect at least 825 000 14 The breach included emails a phone conversation and a number of internal anti infringement tools including some source code Leaked e mails edit On September 14 2007 6 621 of the company s internal e mails were leaked containing information contradicting previous statements and details of strategies intended to deceive copyright infringers The emails link MediaDefender to projects that management previously denied involvement in The Associated Press and other media outlets suggest that the leak may confirm speculation that MiiVi com was an anti copyright infringement honeypot site 15 16 One e mail suggests using the MiiVi client program to turn users PCs into drones for MediaDefender s eMule spoofing activities The leaked e mails discuss responses to unexpected and negative press and expose upcoming projects problems in and around the office Domino s pizza orders and other personal information about employees Beyond strategic information the leak also exposed login information for FTP and MySQL servers making available a large library of MP3 files likely including artists represented by MediaDefender s clients The emails also revealed that MediaDefender probably was negotiating with the New York Attorney General s office to allow them access to information about users accessing pornographic material 17 As of September 15 2007 there had been no official response from the company 12 However evidence exists that MediaDefender had been employing both legal and illegal actions to remove copies of the leaked emails from their respective hosting sites In addition to the usual cease and desist letters from their legal department IP addresses that are owned by MediaDefender were found to have been used in denial of service attacks against sites hosting the leaked emails 18 The e mails also revealed direction by MediaDefender founder Randy Saaf to have developer Ben Ebert attempt to eliminate the information about MiiVi from MediaDefender s English Wikipedia entry 17 Ebert responds in an email on the same day saying I will attempt to get all References sic to miivi removed from wiki I should easily be able to get It contested We ll see if I can get rid of it 19 Leaked phone conversation edit On September 16 2007 MediaDefender Defenders released a 25 minute excerpt of a phone conversation between the New York Attorney General s office and MediaDefender as a torrent on The Pirate Bay MediaDefender Defenders claims in information released with the phone conversation that they have infiltrated the internals of the company 20 Leaked source code edit On September 20 2007 MediaDefender Defenders released the source code of TrapperKeeper MediaDefender s decoy systems on The Pirate Bay 21 A large chunk of MediaDefender s software was available by Bittorrent 22 Revision3 controversy editRevision3 is an Internet television network which distributes video content legally through various means including the BitTorrent protocol During the Memorial Day weekend in 2008 Revision3 came under a Denial of Service attack originating from MediaDefender IP addresses The attack left the company s service inaccessible until mid Tuesday the following week Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback accused MediaDefender of injecting its decoy files into Revision3 s BitTorrent service through a vulnerability then automatically perpetrating the attack after Revision3 increased security 23 24 Randy Saaf defended MediaDefender s actions by stating Our systems were targeting a tracker not even knowing it was Revision3 s tracker adding that the denial of service attack resulted when Revision3 changed some configurations to their BitTorrent tracker 25 See also editCopyright social conflict Cyberterrorism BayTSP Streisand effect Torrent poisoningReferences edit Showdown Looms over Pirated Media Directory Wall Street Journal 11 January 2008 Holahan Catherine March 5 2007 Advertising to the File Sharing Crowd BusinessWeek Retrieved on September 16 2007 a b Anderson Nate 2007 03 19 Peer to peer poisoners A tour of MediaDefender Ars Technica Retrieved 16 September 2007 Angwin Julia McBride Sarah Smith Ethan 18 October 2006 Record Labels Turn Piracy Into a Marketing Opportunity The Wall Street Journal Retrieved 16 September 2007 Paul Ryan 30 May 2008 Revision3 CEO Blackout caused by MediaDefender attack arstechnica com Retrieved 2008 05 30 a b Van der Sar Ernesto 4 July 2007 Anti Piracy Gang Launches their own Video Download Site to Trap People TorrentFreak Retrieved 17 September 2007 MPAA Dummy Site Snares Pirates Archived 2007 09 27 at the Wayback Machine DigitalTrends com dead link Domain Registration Information Miivi com goes down a b c Cheng Jacqui 2007 07 06 MediaDefender denies entrapment accusations with fake torrent site Ars Technica Retrieved 16 September 2007 McBride Sarah September 17 2007 Antipiracy group suffers email leak The Wall Street Journal Retrieved on September 16 2007 a b Van der Sar Ernesto 15 September 2007 The Biggest Ever BitTorrent Leak MediaDefender Internal Emails Go Public TorrentFreak Retrieved 16 September 2007 Media Defenders Profile National Business News Print Portfolio com ARTISTDIRECT INC Form 10QSB Received 11 14 2007 16 07 22 Archived 2007 11 23 at the Wayback Machine Veiga Alex September 18 2007 Hackers leak anti piracy firm s e mails Associated Press Retrieved on September 19 2007 Carr Jim September 18 2007 Stolen emails reveal anti copyright infringement company s honeypot strategy Archived 2007 10 16 at the Wayback Machine SC Magazine US Retrieved on September 19 2007 a b Leaked Media Defender e mails reveal secret government project P2P sites ridicule MediaDefender takedown notices in wake of e mail leak arstechnica com Re MiiVi got Dugg Archived 2007 10 16 at the Wayback Machine Van der Sar Ernesto 16 September 2007 MediaDefender Phone Call and Gnutella Tracking Database Leaked TorrentFreak Retrieved 2024 02 02 Van der Sar Ernesto 20 September 2007 MediaDefender Anti Piracy Tools Leaked TorrentFreak Retrieved 2024 02 02 MediaDefender source code leaked to wibble 2007 09 25 Archived from the original on 2007 09 25 Retrieved 2024 02 02 Inside the Attack that Crippled Revision3 Archived 2013 07 21 at the Wayback Machine Anti piracy misfire blamed for crash of popular online TV network MediaDefender Defends Revision3 SYN Attack Wired 2008 05 31 Archived from the original on 2023 03 27 External links editMediaDefender s Official Website Net2EZ owned by Media Defender Leaked Media Defender e mails reveal secret government project Arstechnica MPAA Caught Uploading Fake Torrents TorrentFreak IP addresses of fake torrents traced back to MediaDefender Anti Piracy Gang Launches their own Video Download Site to Trap People TorrentFreak The domain registration of a fake video upload download service called miivi has been traced to MediaDefender Torrent Freak article about the 9 14 2007 Media Defender internal email leak P2P sites ridicule MediaDefender takedown notices in wake of e mail leak Post of a list of leaked Programs Torrentfreak s article on Media defender problems Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title MediaDefender amp oldid 1223018957, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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