 You can click, you can hide, but can you sanitize your DNS records? (Source: MPAA)
Anti-piracy company's decoy betrayed by WHOIS records
Several days ago, anti-piracy watchdog MediaDefender launched MiiVi.com, a decoy piracy site claiming to offer "fast and easy video downloading." It displayed copyright by "MiiVi, Inc," and mentioned no affiliation with MediaDefender, the movie industry, or Hollywood in general. The site's spartan layout enticed users to download a special MiiVi client, which would supposedly unlock access to the site's cache of full-length movies.
ZeroPaid.com, acting on a tip from The Pirate Bay, called MiiVi out late last Tuesday. The proof behind their accusations lies in archived WHOIS records, showing that MediaDefender registered MiiVi.net and MiiVi.com in February and March of this year.
Soon after the callout, MediaDefender took MiiVi down and updated their domain registration records. Currently, MiiVi.com is a parked page at GoDaddy, and the site's WHOIS records are now cloaked by a privacy service. However, MiiVi.net's WHOIS records point to MiiVi, Inc. and include an address that is the same as the address listed on MediaDefender's contact page.
According to "soulxtc" of ZeroPaid.com, in addition to baiting users to download illegal movies, the client also scans users' hard drives for downloaded content; a sharp contrast to MediaDefender's own stated policies and tactics, which in bold print claim the company only uses "non-invasive technological countermeasures."
MediaDefender's clients include the Motion Picture Association of America, record labels, and others in Hollywood. They are no stranger to these tactics and, together with other companies, have been responsible for providing bogus content to peer-to-peer networks in the past.
Update 07/10/2007: MediaDefender CEO Randy Saaf claims the accusations made by ZeroPaid and other outlets are completely false. His response to DailyTech can be read here.
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