Anti-piracy entrapment - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

braisler · 03-29-2010, 09:13 AM

Warner Bros. studios is recruiting students to work in their anti-piracy efforts as interns. I understand their idea in hiring students. The same students have come of age when file-sharing is fairly ubiquitous. And, while I don't agree with it, they do have the right to try to stop people from re-selling their work product.

For the record, I don't consider file sharing to be piracy. It is sharing. Piracy would be someone profiting from someone else's work. American courts have disagreed with me on this, some European courts have agreed. But I don't necessarily want this thread to devolve into a discussion of what is and isn't piracy.

One sentence of the original article stuck out for me, "the applicant will have to make trap purchases and maintain accounts at private file-sharing sites."

Most of the "private file-sharing sites" have user agreements that people have to accept on the way in stating that they do not work for law enforcement, RIIA/MPAA, etc. Trap purchases sounds an awful lot like entrapment to me. Have I read this wrong?

I can also imagine these Warner Bros. shills leaking WB content then tracking who DL's it to target them for future prosecution. Ethically shaky to be sure. Legal? I don't know.

Quote:

Warner Bros Entertainment UK is recruiting tech-savvy students to help the company with their anti-piracy efforts. During the 12 month internship the students will have to maintain accounts at private BitTorrent sites, develop link-scanning bots, make trap purchases and perform various other anti-piracy tasks.

warner brosThe people who work at the anti-piracy divisions of Warner Bros. and other large media companies have to be experts in file-sharing technology. It is therefore no surprise that Warner Bros. is actively recruiting students for a job as Anti-Piracy Intern, as most students have grown up sharing files.

Warner Bros Entertainment UK is currently offering an internship to “IT literate” students with knowledge of file-sharing networks to assist in the company’s ongoing anti-piracy efforts. The internship deals with both digital and physical piracy and among other things the applicant will have to make trap purchases and maintain accounts at private file-sharing sites.

The intern will further have to scour the Internet for illegally posted Warner Bros. and NBC Universal content and gather intelligence on the sites that offer these pirated goods. One of the more boring tasks listed in the job description is the sending of takedown requests and infringement notices to sites and users.

The full job description taken from the vacancy (pdf) at The University of Manchester reads as follows:

During the 12 month internship, duties will include: monitoring local Internet forums and IRC for pirated WB and NBCU content and in order to gather information on pirate sites, pirate groups and other pirate activities; finding new and maintaining existing accounts on private sites; scanning for links to hosted pirated WB and NBCU content and using tools to issue takedown requests; maintaining and developing bots for Internet link scanning system (training provided); preparing sending of infringement notices and logging feedback; performing trap purchases of pirated product and logging results; inputting pirate hard goods data and other intelligence into the forensics database; selecting local keywords and submitting local filenames for monitoring and countermeasure campaigns and periodically producing research documents on piracy related technological developments. Various training will be provided.

The lucky student who gets the job will receive a £17,500 salary for the 12 month internship that starts July 2010. Applicants are required to study a degree in a computing related discipline and programming experience with Java or JSP and PHP, Perl or Python is seen as a bonus.

We encourage all eligible TorrentFreak readers to apply for this exciting internship and provide us with regular updates on Warner Bros’ anti-piracy efforts. You have to be quick though, the vacancy closes on March 31.

Cynthetiq · 03-29-2010, 09:19 AM

So, if a drug dealer asks, "Are you a cop?" then everything is in the clear?

Not every state has entrapment laws, many are altering their penal code to deal with crimes of opportunity, where one is baited and if they take the unwatched wallet/purse drunk guy on the subway, they are then arrested.

Besides, NSA and FBI have been following this methodology for years, why not private corporations?

braisler · 03-29-2010, 09:25 AM

Private corporations have no authority to arrest me. I can't think of another instance where a private party can entrap another private party and then use that as evidence against them.

It would be more akin to me offering to sell you some pot, then when you buy it, turning you over to the cops, or somehow being able to use the fact that you bought it in court against you.

Cynthetiq · 03-29-2010, 09:27 AM

Private corporations have no right to arrest you but they can file civil suits against you in a court for damages. Heck, they can even take it to People's Court...

GreyWolf · 03-29-2010, 10:33 AM

What concerns me more about this whole thing is the "maintaining and developing bots for Internet link scanning system (training provided)".

I'm by no-means an expert in the field, but I'm not sure I want them training script-kiddies in the one of the main weapons of hackers and scammers. Maybe the one(s) they select will be honest, law-abiding citizens who will never do anything wrong with this training. And maybe I'll will the lottery the day I retire.

dksuddeth · 03-29-2010, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cynthetiq

So, if a drug dealer asks, "Are you a cop?" then everything is in the clear?

Not every state has entrapment laws, many are altering their penal code to deal with crimes of opportunity, where one is baited and if they take the unwatched wallet/purse drunk guy on the subway, they are then arrested.

Besides, NSA and FBI have been following this methodology for years, why not private corporations?

if possession of meth is illegal, how is it that cops can try to sell it?

ASU2003 · 03-29-2010, 04:33 PM

They are about 14 years too late. I wanted to do this job. The only way to stop Napster back in the 90s was to get a lot of computers sharing bogus songs. Instead, the way they went about it made a whole generation d/l as much music as they could get because it might not be there in the future.

Cynthetiq · 03-29-2010, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dksuddeth

if possession of meth is illegal, how is it that cops can try to sell it?

That works all the way up to the CIA since selling arms most insurgents is illegal.

03-29-2010, 09:19 AM	#2 (permalink)
Cynthetiq Tilted Cat Head Administrator Location: Manhattan, NY	So, if a drug dealer asks, "Are you a cop?" then everything is in the clear? Not every state has entrapment laws, many are altering their penal code to deal with crimes of opportunity, where one is baited and if they take the unwatched wallet/purse drunk guy on the subway, they are then arrested. Besides, NSA and FBI have been following this methodology for years, why not private corporations? __________________ I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. What's the best nation in the world? DO-NATION!

03-29-2010, 09:27 AM	#4 (permalink)
Cynthetiq Tilted Cat Head Administrator Location: Manhattan, NY	Private corporations have no right to arrest you but they can file civil suits against you in a court for damages. Heck, they can even take it to People's Court... __________________ I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. What's the best nation in the world? DO-NATION!

03-29-2010, 10:33 AM	#5 (permalink)
GreyWolf Sober Location: Eastern Canada	What concerns me more about this whole thing is the "maintaining and developing bots for Internet link scanning system (training provided)". I'm by no-means an expert in the field, but I'm not sure I want them training script-kiddies in the one of the main weapons of hackers and scammers. Maybe the one(s) they select will be honest, law-abiding citizens who will never do anything wrong with this training. And maybe I'll will the lottery the day I retire. __________________ *The secret to great marksmanship is deciding what the target was AFTER you've shot.*

03-29-2010, 09:25 AM	#3 (permalink)
braisler Addict Location: Midway, KY	Private corporations have no authority to arrest me. I can't think of another instance where a private party can entrap another private party and then use that as evidence against them. It would be more akin to me offering to sell you some pot, then when you buy it, turning you over to the cops, or somehow being able to use the fact that you bought it in court against you.

03-29-2010, 04:33 PM	#7 (permalink)
ASU2003 immoral minority Location: Back in Ohio	They are about 14 years too late. I wanted to do this job. The only way to stop Napster back in the 90s was to get a lot of computers sharing bogus songs. Instead, the way they went about it made a whole generation d/l as much music as they could get because it might not be there in the future.