Confessions of a dangerous person or "I was a hacker for MPAA"

This story begins in the summer of 2005 in Vancouver. Light drizzle remained on immaculately ironed suits and polished shoes of two men of inconspicuous appearance, slowly heading for the doors of a small house in one of the sleeping districts of the city. His master was at home, he was waiting for them, they were sure of this beforehand and prepared very thoroughly for the meeting with him. Calling themselves representatives of an influential Hollywood organization, they went into the living room and immediately got down to business. “We need a man like you, Mr. Anderson. We will give you a dust-free job with a good salary, a car, everything you need ... if you save Hollywood for us, you can become rich and powerful! ”The camera switches to their interlocutor, who struggles with the remnants of doubt, but then nods. Blackout…

In an exclusive interview with Wired magazine, one Robert Anderson, 25, said that two years ago he fulfilled an order from the American Filmmakers Association ( MPAA ) to obtain confidential insider information about the owners of the TorrentSpy website for a promised reward of $ 15,000. The Association later used this information as the basis for a lawsuit against this popular tracker. Its founder, Justin Bunnell, filed a counterclaim, arguing that the data on his project were obtained by the MPAA illegally, but it was not possible to prove it at that time.

Responding to questions from Wired, MPAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman (Elizabeth Kaltman) refused to discuss whether Hollywood lobbyists paid the hacker, but assured journalists that the Association did not even suspect that Anderson had stolen the information transferred to her. However, the documents submitted by Robert, signed by him and the current executive vice-president, and at that time MPAA legal director Dean Garfield (Dean Garfield), did not leave the editorial office of the journal doubt in the veracity of his story. Garfield's refusal to answer any questions on this topic only reinforced confidence.

A great deal depends on whether Bannel’s lawyers succeed, based on Anderson’s testimony, to file and win an appeal to the court, which decided in favor of the MPAA. Based on that decision, the court ordered TorrentSpy to keep data on the activity of American users, which at any time can be used by MPAA for lawsuits against ordinary citizens of P2P networks. However, catching the Association of illegal activities is unlikely to increase its chances of success in these lawsuits.