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MediaDefender

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MediaDefender is a company which offers services designed to prevent and stop people who engage in alleged copyright infringement using peer-to-peer distribution, using unusual tactics such as flooding peer-to-peer networks with decoy files that tie up a user's computer.^[1] MediaDefender is based in Los Angeles, California in the United States, and its chief executive is Randy Saaf. As of March 2007, the company has approximately 60 employees,^[2] and uses 2,000 servers hosted in California with contracts for 9 Gb/s of bandwidth.^[2] Increasingly, these types of organizations are being hired to stymie peer-to-peer (P2P) traders through a variety of methods including: posting fake files online, recording individuals who contribute copyrighted material, but also marketing to individuals using P2P networks.^[3] Clients include Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Virgin Records, HBO, Paramount Pictures, and BMG. On August 1, 2005, the digital media entertainment company ARTISTdirect announced that it had acquired MediaDefender for $42.5 million in cash.

1 Miivi.com
2 Leaked Information
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Miivi.com

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.^[4]^[5] The site's origins were discovered by a blogger who looked up Miivi.com domain registration information.^[6] After the allegation was re-posted throughout the blogosphere, Miivi.com was shut down on July 4, 2007.^[7] 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".^[8] MediaDefender blamed file-sharing groups such as The Pirate Bay for starting the story.^[8] Following MediaDefender's subsequent email leak, TorrentFreak alleged that MediaDefender's statement was revealed to be a deliberate falsehood.^[9] 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."^[10] The MPAA denied any involvement with MediaDefender.^[8] 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.^[4]

Leaked Information

Beginning on September 14, 2007, MediaDefender experienced a security breach that, according to an SEC filing, ultimately cost parent company ARTISTdirect at least $825,000.^[11] The breach included emails, a phone conversation, and a number of internal anti-piracy tools, including some source code.

Leaked e-mails

On September 14, 2007, 6621 of the company's internal e-mails were leaked, containing information contradicting previous statements and details of strategies intended to deceive pirates. 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-piracy "honeypot" site.^[12]^[13] 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.^[14] As of September 15, 2007, there has been no official response from the company.^[9] However, evidence exists that MediaDefender has 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.^[15] 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 Wikipedia entry.^[14] Ebert responds in an email on the same day saying, "I will attempt to get all referenes [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."^[16]

Leaked phone conversation

On September 16, 2007, a 25 minute excerpt of a phone conversation between the New York Attorney General's office and MediaDefender was released as a torrent on The Pirate Bay by MediaDefender-Defenders, the same group behind the e-mail leak. MediaDefender-Defenders claims in information released with the phone conversation that they have infiltrated the "internals" of the company.^[17]

Leaked source code

On September 20, 2007, MediaDefender-Defenders released the source code of TrapperKeeper, MediaDefender's decoy systems on The Pirate Bay.^[18] A large chunk of MediaDefender's software appeared on Bittorrent.^[19]