Revision3 Denial Of Service Attack Traced To Anti-Piracy Company

Yahoo News/Information Week ^ | May 29, 2008 07:25 PM | Thomas Claburn

[Mad Dawgg]

By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
Thu May 29, 7:25 PM ET

Online media company Revision3 says that it is the victim of a cyberattack launched by MediaDefender, a company that fights illegal peer-to-peer distribution of media on behalf of major entertainment companies.

Revision3, the host of Internet shows such as Diggnation, was inaccessible over the weekend. Company CEO Jim Louderback blames the outage on a denial-of-service attack initiated by MediaDefender.

In a blog post, Louderback explains that with a bit of network sleuthing, his IT staff discovered the source of the attack.

"But instead of some shadowy underground criminal syndicate, the packets were coming from right in our home state of California," he wrote. "In fact, we traced the vast majority of those packets to a public company called ARTISTdirect. Once we were able to get their Internet provider on the line, they verified that yes, indeed, that Internet address belonged to a subsidiary of ARTISTdirect, called MediaDefender."

MediaDefender did not return a call seeking comment.

[Mad Dawgg]

Ahh Yes! More RIAA thug tactics using 3rd parties to run roughshod on those that don't toe the line.

I hope the RIAA suits take it up the wazoo on this one but I bet only the 3rd party takes the bullet.

[tobyhill]

If the RIAA is using third party software that attacks a legitimate companies services then the RIAA is liable.

[Mad Dawgg]

"If the RIAA is using third party software that attacks a legitimate companies services then the RIAA is liable."

I don't think the RIAA Uses third party software directly I believe the hire it done.

From the article: "MediaDefender, Louderback notes, gets paid to disrupt peer-to-peer networks by injecting fake media files."

[radioman]

I don't think the RIAA Uses third party software directly I believe the hire it done.

Denial of service attacks are a federal crime. If I hire someone to commit a crime for me I am guilty of committing that crime...that's the law.
The RIAA should be charged with operating an ongoing criminal enterprise under the RICO Act.

[Mad Dawgg]

"The RIAA should be charged with operating an ongoing criminal enterprise under the RICO Act."

Yeah, it would be nice. But since the RIAA bought Congress I don't think it will happen anytime soon.

[bamahead]

ping redux on the MediaDefender debacle!

[bamahead]

Also see:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023099/posts

Which includes a link to Revision3’s response.

They isn’t happy...

[ShadowAce]

[MichiganMan]

The RIAA should be charged with operating an ongoing criminal enterprise under the RICO Act.

Should be. Won't be. Our congressmen, including my own, Dave Camp who voted for the DMCA in 1998, vote consistently in favor of the RIAA. They return considerable financial support in kind. Nothing will come of this.