MediaDefender

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]

Leaked information

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

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. 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.[17]

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.[18] 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

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

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]

former name	Peer Media Technologies
type	Private
industry	Digital media; anti-piracy; copyright enforcement
founder	Randy Saaf
headquarters	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
area served	Worldwide
key people	Randy Saaf (CEO)
owner	ARTISTdirect
num employees	~60 (2007)
products	Anti-piracy tools; decoy file distribution systems
services	Copyright enforcement; P2P network monitoring

Miivi.com

Leaked information

Leaked e-mails

Leaked phone conversation

Leaked source code

Revision3 controversy

See also

External links

References