TorrentSpy Ordered By Federal Judge to Become MPAA Spy
Written by enigmax on June 09, 2007TorrentSpy, one of the world’s largest torrent dump sites, has been ordered by a federal judge to monitor its users in order to create detailed logs of their activities which must then be handed over to the MPAA.
According to CNET News.com. federal judge Jacqueline Chooljian requested that Torrentspy (what’s in a name) must start creating logs detailing their user’s activities. This, despite the site’s privacy policy which states they will never monitor their visitors without consent.
Understandably, this is a worrying move by the court - even more so when one considers these logs must then be turned over to the MPAA. This is believed to be the first time a judge has ordered a defendant to log visitor activity and then hand over the information to the plaintiff. The decision - arrived at last month but under seal - could force sites that are defendants in a law suit to track the actions of their visitors.
The owners have been granted a stay of the order in order to make an appeal, which must be filed by June 12, says Ira Rothken, TorrentSpy’s attorney.
“It is likely that TorrentSpy would turn off access to the U.S. before tracking its users,” said Rothken. “If this order were allowed to stand, it would mean that Web sites can be required by discovery judges to track what their users do even if their privacy policy says otherwise.”
This action follows MPAA action in 2006 against several BitTorrent sites, TorrentSpy included. According to the MPAA, Torrentspy helps others commit copyright infringement by directing people to sites which enable them to download copyright material, an offense claims the MPAA, of secondary copyright infringement.
At the time, Rothken said “It [TorrentSpy] cannot be held ‘tertiary’ liable for visitors’ conduct that occurs away from its web search engine”. TorrentSpy claims it did nothing illegal and suggested the MPAA should sue Google.
An attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation referred to the order to demand a defendant log visitor activity and then hand over the information to the plaintiff as “unprecedented.” He continued “In general, a defendant is not required to create new records to hand over in discovery. We shouldn’t let Web site logging policies be set by litigation”
One way or another, it seems that the MPAA is determined to obtain information about TorrentSpy and its users. A complaint issued by TorrentSpy suggests the MPAA paid a hacker $15,000 to steal e-mail correspondence and trade secrets. The hacker admitted that this was true.
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81 Responses
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I bet 100 bucks the judge doesn*t know shit about bittorrent.
And what should the logs be used for?
“Look, that user leeched a torrent-file.”
Big deal, dozens of checksums and one announce-url, what sentence would I face? Erm, none?
A note on English grammar: “it’s” with an apostrophe is always a contraction; “its” without an apostrophe is the possessive pronoun.
a note on who cares about grammar in a casual atmosphere: no one
[quote comment="112125"]Big deal, dozens of checksums and one announce-url, what sentence would I face? Erm, none?[/quote]
For you, I agree 100%, absolutely none.
The data will be used in the case against TorrentSpy, if the MPAA can get it. Maybe they’re lucky and the appeal succeeds?
UH OH,..the grammar police have should up as well. We’re really in for it now! MUHA
If the order isn’t for readable logs, an encrypted log, or bit shifted log should suffice. Of course, TOR works to get around that too.
ToR is aweful For pirating and a pain in The rear to set up. not to Mention it slows down the people who are trying to browse…
Ok so how in the hell can thay do TS for this with logs?
Yes TS has users that upload torrents but TS is a dump site meening that other torrent sites have code in them that will upload a torrent to TS when it is uploaded to that torrent site.
TS will not have logs for this.
Allso how in the hell is it TS’s folt if the users and the users of other torrent sites dont have copyright to the files thay are leaching.
I think this judge is full of shit and as someone said probly dont know what a torrent is or how it works. And if that is the case then that judge shuld not be dealing with this case.
Wait a second? isnt like the 5th amendment playable here? i thought it was a person, or entitys, right to not incriminate itself
Forcing TS to log its users and hand the info over sounds like they’re trying to do just that
Except you made all this up……
Torrentspy.com is hosted in the Netherlands.
US Laws don’t apply…..US Judges have ZERO jurisdiction.
You’re a retard.
5th amendment only applies to criminal prosecutions. this is civil.
Not necessarily. While this particular matter is civil, pirating can be a criminal offense when you look at the possibility of copyright infringement and up to 5 years in prison. Being that the data they would record would only help the MPAA and Prosecuting Attorney with such a case does in fact fall under the 5th Amendment. If TorrentSpy operates out of the Netherlands than this point is mute.
wow. gay. bout it. and why doesn’t the world get that hacking is good? put cracker. damn.
anyways, thank God demonoid is safe.
[quote comment="112201"]If the order isn’t for readable logs, an encrypted log, or bit shifted log should suffice. Of course, TOR works to get around that too.[/quote]
Well, order isn’t for logs - but for particular information aggregation of which we used to call logs.
To me, from Europe, it looks like police state order: MPAA used legal system to force TorrentSpy to denounce its users to police. Or rather MPAA would like to establish precedent where all proxies would be liable to inform against their customers.
So if they are tracking their users does that mean registered users only? or are anonymous users tracked as well? If so I would just use a proxy to download the .torrent file. Then I would go on my way to download normally.
Also random question….Does that mean they would only be looking for people who download their movies (since its the MPAA)? and not say, someone downloading music or anime or something like that.
I can’t imagine them watching EVERYTHING they have to be focused on certain files.
@Billy:
TorrentSpy may be hosted in .nl, the company (Valence Media) is US-based. Check your sources before you call people retards…
Goodbye torrentspy, yet another good torrent site goes evil =\
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