File-Sharing Site Was A Year-Long Pirate Honeypot

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What is the world coming to when you can't even trust pirates these days? ;)

A site founded by a former moderator of one of the most popular file-hosting and uploader hangouts has admitted today that his site was a honeypot setup to capture data on pirate activity. WDF, a former senior staff member at popular discussion forum WJunction, says that in the 12 months since his site went online he’s been grabbing information about uploaders and file-hosts. “I suckered sh*tloads of you,” he said today as he announced the acquisition of his site by a U.S.-based anti-piracy company.
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What is an "anti-piracy company"? Is that an alias for "Lawsuit factory"?
 
Isn't that pretty much the definition of fraud? Someone should sue him.
 
So he just made himself a giant bullseye for every hacker in the world that wants to stick it to the man and the people that help him...good luck with that.
 
pcjunkie said:
So he just made himself a giant bullseye for every hacker in the world that wants to stick it to the man and the people that help him...good luck with that.
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This. Giving out his company name wasn't a good idea. Someone will be able to put together who he is with that information. This won't end well.
 
Viper87227 said:
This. Giving out his company name wasn't a good idea. Someone will be able to put together who he is with that information. This won't end well.
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Hell even knowing his username on the website is enough info to trace someone down unless they're incredibly careful....and most are not.
 
This isn't what you usually think of when you think of a pirate site. From the article:

"WDF, real name unknown, is the founder of UploaderTalk.com, a web forum designed to attract individuals who like to make money from uploading files to file-hosting sites. Part of the idea is that they join the site and interact with others with similar aims, such as representatives from file-hosting sites touting their affiliate schemes."

I have no sympathy for the leeches he suckered.
 
So he just made himself a giant bullseye for every hacker in the world that wants to stick it to the man and the people that help him...good luck with that.
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Well, the company assets that were really worth something is the info on the "customers". He sold the company so the "intellectual property" now belongs to the anti-piracy company that bought him out. All he has to do is go retire somewhere quiet and disappear. Fruity flavored umbrella drinks on a beach in the sun.
 
lcpiper said:
Well, the company assets that were really worth something is the info on the "customers". He sold the company so the "intellectual property" now belongs to the anti-piracy company that bought him out. All he has to do is go retire somewhere quiet and disappear. Fruity flavored umbrella drinks on a beach in the sun.
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Disappearing when you have a mass of angry computer geeks ain't easy.

Hell, think back to computer "security" firm HBGary. CEO comes out claims to have a way of tracking down anonymous via social networking....within hours, all his firms top-secret email and contracts are on bittorrent sites, his corporate website destroyed, his person iPad was remote wiped, and his WoW account played with. To highlight a few things.


If the man had any brains, this guy would've quietly vanished rather than give the bird to the internet and his former users and telling them what he did. Odds are the retribution on him will be quick, and colorful.,..and highly creative.
 
I don't understand how this is legal if he wasn't working for the government. Does this mean I can start a credit card fraud forum as long as I sell it to an anti credit card fraud company?
 
Skripka said:
Disappearing when you have a mass of angry computer geeks ain't easy.

Hell, think back to computer "security" firm HBGary. CEO comes out claims to have a way of tracking down anonymous via social networking....within hours, all his firms top-secret email and contracts are on bittorrent sites, his corporate website destroyed, his person iPad was remote wiped, and his WoW account played with. To highlight a few things.


If the man had any brains, this guy would've quietly vanished rather than give the bird to the internet and his former users and telling them what he did. Odds are the retribution on him will be quick, and colorful.,..and highly creative.
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Well, that only really matters if the company had top secret emails that you don't want getting out. If someone paid me a few million dollars, I'd happily be a scape goat and let all the hackers of the world peruse my emails, have my ipad wiped and have my nonexistent WoW accound played with :cool:

Money and angry nerds vs no money and no angry nerds, I'll take the money :D
 
So this random douchebag, working on the sly for an anti-piracy group, was basically complicit in piracy of materials his business had no right to distribute?

Simply drop a dime to major content holders and these guys will go away too.
 
From the end of the article:

“So what happens now? I am already working with a different ID, a new persona, and still collecting data. You never know who I will be or where I will turn up. I work for Nuke Piracy now, this is very bad for anyone profiting from piracy,” WDF concludes.
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Who profits from piracy? I mean unless you count downloading free stuff "profit".

The site he ran seems to be more about people trying to upload/download files on some sort of organized level and perhaps for "profit", rather than normal users just downloading stuff.
 
he said today as he announced the acquisition of his site by a U.S.-based anti-piracy company.
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Translation: Me running a file-hosting site really doesn't pay the bills, however I can now cash out and sell all the data that I've collected over the years to a lawfirm who will start suing people.
 
Chas said:
So this random douchebag, working on the sly for an anti-piracy group, was basically complicit in piracy of materials his business had no right to distribute?
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I think this is the wrong conclusion. He may have set it up as a honeypot to get info, but I doubt he was working for an anti-piracy group. He eventually got paid for his data by an anti-piracy group but I doubt it went beyond that in his "slyness"
 
sfsuphysics said:
I think this is the wrong conclusion. He may have set it up as a honeypot to get info, but I doubt he was working for an anti-piracy group. He eventually got paid for his data by an anti-piracy group but I doubt it went beyond that in his "slyness"
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But how was it legal?
 
DarkStar02 said:
I don't understand how this is legal if he wasn't working for the government. Does this mean I can start a credit card fraud forum as long as I sell it to an anti credit card fraud company?
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That's what I'm wondering. His handling of data has to be violating some privacy laws.
 
You know the law really doesn't have to charge people for violations. There are times when they look at the situation as a whole and decide some things are best left alone. I suppose these people can try suing the guy but I doubt a civil action will get very far.
 
Oh, and if it was actually a site owned by a company, it takes a lot to get a DA or Grand Jury to indict a business with criminal charges. Usually it just comes down to fines and law suites.

In the mean times these people are going to be up to their eyeballs in litigation from the RIAA and/or MPAA.
 
DarkStar02 said:
I don't understand how this is legal if he wasn't working for the government. Does this mean I can start a credit card fraud forum as long as I sell it to an anti credit card fraud company?
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If you have the lobbying power of the industries, yes.
 
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