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MPAA accuses TorrentSpy of withholding evidence

15 June 2007 11:24 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 20 comments

Yesterday, the MPAA accused the large torrent tracker site TorrentSpy of withholding evidence that was stored on the site's servers.

TorrentSpy is involved in a court battle with a few media companies over copyright infringements. According to CNET, a federal judge has decided that, for the first time in history, the electronic trail in a computer server's RAM must be turned over as evidence during litigation.

The judge ordered the site to begin logging user activity and IP addresses and turn the data over to the MPAA. The judge gave TorrentSpy until Tuesday to file an appeal as well as allowing the site to mask the IP addresses of its users for the time being.

TorrentSpy responded to the judges' decision by saying, "We have spent the last year challenging their relentless campaign against the 1st Amendment and personal privacy laws Worldwide. We have succeeded in delaying the court order to turn on logs while we appeal it. TorrentSpy will not create logs of what you do on the site without your consent."

TorrentSpy has also said they will not release any user information and have never tracked IP addresses.

Source:
Dailytech

Permalink to this article

MPAA awarded $110 million in TorrentSpy suit (8 May 2008)

MPAA hacker comes clean in interview (22 October 2007)

TorrentSpy no longer available to US users (27 August 2007)

TorrentSpy advertises torrent client with malware (4 August 2007)

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Discuss this article!
tefarko (Junior Member) 15 June 2007 11:32
does anybody know the current market price of a judge? [ + quote]
PeaInAPod (AfterDawn Addict) 15 June 2007 11:38
I don't know what the going price is, but the MPAA could tell you. [ + quote]
nonoitall (Member) 15 June 2007 12:39
Just to buy a judge is still fairly expensive, but when you have multiple court cases I heard you can get buy-one-get-one-free prices. Or for those who frequently need a biased judge you can pay a monthly subscription and get all the judges you want. [ + quote]
tucker001 (Member) 15 June 2007 13:22
FUCK THE MOTHER FUCKING MPAA [ + quote]
sdsunjay (Inactive) 15 June 2007 13:39
lol. nothings gonna come of this cuz torrentspy does not have anything tracked. the site is just a host, it doesnt keep any info. but MPAA is being stupid and costing torrent spy millions in legal fees. [ + quote]
ryan1515 (Member) 15 June 2007 14:28
MPAA BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [ + quote]
SSSJDanny (Junior Member) 15 June 2007 14:43
Damnit TorrentSpy was the only torrent site I ever liked!!! [ + quote]
flyingv (Member) 15 June 2007 15:59
Withholding names! OMG! What do they think they are doing? This is the MPAA we're chatting about! They are the great gods of the internet! They withhold the future of our existance in their almighty hands! They are not to be messed with! Just ask 'em, they will tell you. [ + quote]
spydah (Junior Member) 15 June 2007 17:15
Anybody got a quarter i think i wanna buy a judge. [ + quote]
PeaInAPod (AfterDawn Addict) 15 June 2007 18:00
Originally posted by spydah: Anybody got a quarter i think i wanna buy a judge. I'd lend it to you but its not good, you can't get a judge. Trust me I already tried, they said they were all being used by the MPAA :P [ + quote]
Tashammer (Newbie) 15 June 2007 19:28
there is a pattern happening all over the place where the corporates and their "associations" drain unfunded groups of any resources by taking them through the courts. One would have to wonder if the process was not vexatious litigation as the goal is less to achieve a court outcome as it is to use the process to drain opponents of money. [ + quote]
fgamer (Member) 15 June 2007 19:35
It's so easy for the MPAA to pay off a Judge it's not even funny. Same thing with alot of lawmakers out there, their paid off to help further ones cause. MPAA can kiss my ass...I bet you they won't be able to touch thepiratebay.org for a long while. [ + quote]
trigga71 (Member) 16 June 2007 22:24
Tashammer you have a great point. Maybe people might want to buy the movies that are made if they were good. Hell now if you've seen the trailer you have seen the movie and its "best parts" Disney Channel has better movies than major productions. [ + quote]
morguex (Inactive) 21 June 2007 12:32
MPAA, Please go off some some where and die quietly. Informed people are not scared of you and the longer you carry on with this crap, the more informed people there will be. Peace all [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 21 June 2007 15:55
The are on a non stop rampage trying to find the next one to take down. Sooner or later torrents will become acceptable like online music and then u have to pay for the torrent :) [ + quote]
madman91 (Junior Member) 23 June 2007 11:31
pfft... public trackers.. good riddance [ + quote]
jameslf (Inactive) 24 June 2007 3:46
Originally posted by tucker001: FUCK THE MOTHER FUCKING MPAA right on [ + quote]
MVS (Inactive) 26 June 2007 12:02
If the cost is low enough, it wouldn't be all that bad to have to pay for torrents. TorrentSpy is worthy of being be paid too. [ + quote]
Bob666 (Newbie) 26 June 2007 17:47
Quote: I bet you they won't be able to touch thepiratebay.org for a long while. Uh... dude I h8 2 break it 2 u but the piratebay server has already been seized for investigation there's more on: http://thepiratebay.org/blog [ + quote]
armorthis (Inactive) 27 June 2007 13:47
Quote: Bob666 (Newbie) 26. June 2007 @ 21:47 Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I bet you they won't be able to touch thepiratebay.org for a long while. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Uh... dude I h8 2 break it 2 u but the piratebay server has already been seized for investigation there's more on: http://thepiratebay.org/blog Thats BS, I just finished reading the article in their blog about how they are keeping their servers longer. Quote: Roswall gets an extension based on lies/stupidity As expected, the prosecutor H�kan Roswall got prolonged time to bring a legal action against The Pirate Bay until October 1st 2007. More unexpected is the reasons given and the grounds for the decision. - For a district court the reasons might seems sufficient, but for someone familiar with the case and the technique the arguments doesn't add up, says Magnus Eriksson of Piratbyr�n. Lets analyze the reasons given one by one: "That the analyzis of confiscated equipment are still under way and that the equipment to a large extent consist of servers, which makes the work much more time-consuming." - A server is not a multi-purpose machine like a regular computer. Contrary to what Roswall claims, it's often adapted to only one purpose. Therefore, the investigation of a server should be less time-consuming than that of a personal computer. Still Roswall claims that he can't return the servers even after a year of investigation. "That he awaits the opinion of the state crime lab regarding analyzis of scripts and documentation of the torrent database." - TPB consists of around 6000 lines of specially written code, or 16 lines of code to analyze each day. Up to three police officers have been dedicated to this for a year. What The Pirate Bay tracker and torrent site does should be obvious for everyone today. "That the investigation regarding economic exchange in the activity of the Pirate Bay is still going on." - If you haven't found anything illegal in an investigation of economic activity after a year, there is nothing there. No matter how much you wished it was! "That encrypted information has been encountered in some of the confiscated computers that hasn't been cracked." - This encrypted data does not belong to The Pirate Bay, but to the customers of Internet service providers PRQ. But only confiscation and investigation of equipment belonging to The Pirate Bay was allowed. Besides, a standard level encryption today takes about 40 years to crack. That's a lot of appeals for prolonged preliminary investigation! "A large number of people have been actualized in the investigation. These must be questioned before the investigation can be completed." - What is a "large number"? Two, five, a dozen? Who are they and why haven't they been actualized until now? The few people working with The Pirate Bay have been public and there are no army of secret co-workers! These reasons given to the district court was found sufficient to grant the prolonging of the investigation. As we can see they do not stand up to a closer examination. [ + quote]