In February 2007, another in a list of new video hosting sites (a-la YouTube, MetaCafe etc.) came live. Its name was MiiVi. The big difference, was that MiiVi was erected by an anti-piracy company called MediaDefender Inc, from L.A. It was meant to serve as a honeypot - when someone would upload a copyrighted material, he'd be slapped with a law suite, courtesy of the MPAA.It took hackers several hours to realize that the IP of the new site belongs to MediaDefender and blow up the story. MediaDefender's CEO went on a circle of interviews denying the "conspiracy" concocted by rights-violating hackers. But the site went off the air immediately.
Jump to yesterday, September 14th 2007. A (disgruntled?) employee of MediaDefender leaks an entire mailbox (600MB) full of corporate emails, showing clearly how MiiVii was planned, designed and released; the tactics behind it and how pissed off were the CEO and VPs when their scheme was blown; How they intended to re-release the site (this time calling it "Viide.com") on an IP that can not be traced back to the company.
But most importantly, how they operate and entrap people in the service of their masters - the MPAA and the movie studios.
Since MediaDefender were actually involved in altering the original Wikipedia article on the subject, read this summary quickly before it changes. If you want the full story, including all the leaked emails, go here.
Conclusions:
- Do not submit anything to new sites - unless you're 100% sure who's behind them. Feel free to google them first.
- When writing a corporate email, think well before committing something to writing. What would happen if someone (competitor, general public) got hold of that email?
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