Law Firm Facing Investigation After Details of 5,000 Broadband Users are Leaked

[Netherscourge]

Yea - I'm not liking how this is turning out. It's getting ugly. Soon nothing will be private and every single keystroke you make will be logged and made available to the public. These types of pranks only lead to government intervention and more regulations/less freedom.

IMO - 4chan should just chill out. Fight this stuff in the courts with arguements, not on the internet by crashing websites and exposing innocent people's private lives.

 

[goodsyntax]

[citation][nom]Netherscourge[/nom]These types of pranks only lead to government intervention and more regulations/less freedom.[/citation]

Not for nothing but we vote in the lawmakers. If the public doesn't raise holy hell when bills are presented that limit freedoms (internet or otherwise), then it really doesn't matter in the end.

Are we obligated to simply follow where told? If you don't take a stand on something that you feel strongly against, then don't complain when you find yourself under the thumb of "the man."

Resistance in all forms send a message. Yes, 4chan is being childish, but good for them. They are putting a spotlight on the unscrupulous tactics of RIAA/MPAA and their hired guns. Would anyone be hearing the news, and would an investigation be pending if 4chan didn't step in and release the information? Constant pressure and media attention means that illegal/immoral tactics cannot be simply glossed over by some PR folks at XYZ Company.

These lawfirms, PR folk and copyright groups cannot say "yes, we hacked some accounts, setup a bot network, seeded torrents with viruses, trojans and rootkits, phished thousands of users, threatened, blackmailed and bullied, but that's completely different than what 4chan did to us!"

Keep up the pressure 4chan, you're doing great work!

 

[tommysch]

[citation][nom]puscifer919[/nom]Will people please stop breaking rules 1 and 2. I know it sounds stupid, but there is no reason not to obey these simple rules.[/citation]

The article broke it first. Its not like this site is public.

[citation][nom]ssddx[/nom]Knowing the group that runs on TH... you will not like this, but it does have some truth to it. marking it down will only prove my point.I hope that you all realize that by encouraging 4chan's methods you are only kicking yourself in the ass. Do not fool yourself into thinking that "Operation Payback is a Bitch" is anything other than a bunch individuals who want to pirate/hack/etc to their hearts content.I am 100% for freedom on the internet, however, this is not the way to accomplish such. If this keeps up logging/tracking/censoring will only get worse. The trouble is that the government and corporations can not trust the public which in turn entered us into this situation.it all boils down to this:Hiding behind a computer is easy. Creating a movement that can prove your point in court & through deliberation takes real cajones. 4chan's response is more akin to a child throwing a tantrum instead of an adult posing a valid counterpoint.[/citation]

I dont see anything wrong with ''a bunch individuals who want to pirate/hack/etc to their hearts content''.

If you cant make money with your business model, well chapter 11 is there for you. No I wont miss any record label or Hollywood studio and the gaming industry is just fine thanks to steam.

You do know that governments are elected right? If being loose on piracy rack in the votes, they wont care about it. Politicians care only about one thing, getting reelected.

I think that everybody should stick together, stop buying legit stuff!

 

[jellico]

[citation][nom]cp8427[/nom]Bless your heart 4Chan.[/citation]
[citation][nom]TheWhiteRose000[/nom]I Love 4chan even more now.[/citation]
I was just thinking the exact same thing. I guess those 4chan peeps, even with their prurient interests, ain't so bad afterall!

 

[Darkerson]

Word of advice: DO NOT PISS OFF 4CHAN.

 

[Dirtman73]

I can appreciate some of 4chan's pranks, but not bothering to filter out the list of Sky customers was just highly irresponsible. Why drag them further into the fight?

 

[Graham_71]

They should be fined half a million pounds for every name leaked.

 

[zak_mckraken]

[citation][nom]soundping[/nom]Pirate Porn.[/citation]
... because ninjas are hard to film.

 

[Conner Macleod]

Umm, this "4Chan" posted the names and addresses of 5,000 potentially innocent civilians to a hacking site and several of you people are applauding this? This doesn't hurt the law firm as much as it hurts the people whose anonymity has been exposed, who now could very well be subject to identity fraud. And with crackers having access to that information, you know that this will happen.

If this happened to your personal info, you wouldn't be cheering on this "4Chan" filth. Think about it.

 

[borisof007]

[citation][nom]puscifer919[/nom]Will people please stop breaking rules 1 and 2. I know it sounds stupid, but there is no reason not to obey these simple rules.[/citation]

You're an idiot. 4chan is more than just an underground joke now, it's very widely known amongst the internet, no need for secrecy anymore.

Also, @Conner, this isn't any more damaging than someone grabbing a phone book and posting the names and addresses of people in there online. It's public information for the most part anyway. 4chan did this because a Law Firm had it that's been tied to going after people for pirating stuff online, for which most of the defendants have claimed that they never did anything wrong.

 

[Conner Macleod]

[citation][nom]borisof007[/nom]You're an idiot. 4chan is more than just an underground joke now, it's very widely known amongst the internet, no need for secrecy anymore.Also, @Conner, this isn't any more damaging than someone grabbing a phone book and posting the names and addresses of people in there online. It's public information for the most part anyway. 4chan did this because a Law Firm had it that's been tied to going after people for pirating stuff online, for which most of the defendants have claimed that they never did anything wrong.[/citation]

Borisof007, it is though, 'cause they're not just random people in a phone book, they're linked to an adult porn video sharing service and that can be very damaging to their personal and public life, especially if it's not true, but regardless, even if it is, their privacy has been breached, something which is protected by law, and the fallout can be very damaging. The fact that the information was encrypted tells you that it was not public information.

I know why they did this, but it doesn't make any sense to out innocent bystanders, this is hurting the 5,000 civilians more than the law firm, thanks to 4Chan. If they're supposed to be some type of modern day Robin Hood, they're failing, 'cause they just hurt the villagers, not the sheriff and the rich. In other words, they just stuck it to the people instead of the man.

 

[warezme]

Pirates FTW!

 

[g-thor]

"I have far more concern over the fact of my train turning up 10 minutes late or having to queue for a coffee than them wasting my time with this sort of rubbish."

Translation - "I'm not responsible for company IT, someone else is. If he can't get the bloody website back up and running in good order, I'll have him sacked. Now, excuse me while I go get my coffee."

 

[gm0n3y]

This still fits with my statement that 4chan is the source of all that is good or evil on the internet. In this case, good.

 

[borisof007]

Can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs?

Here's the real ringer though, HOW did this law firm get this information in the first place? Isn't that the actual problem here? If you're going to complain about user privacy, wouldn't the Law Firm be more important to target as they're the ones getting that information in the first place?

Besides, say 4chan never brought that information to light, and say that everyone on that list was guilty of online piracy of whatever content. IF they were sued, that information would then be public anyway, and a huge story, and we're no better off. Considering this Law Firm has a track history of going after people who did nothing wrong, I'd say that this Law Firm should be the focus on an investigation, as it is right now, rather than the efforts of a few online.

 

[borisof007]

And also, if they're linked to an online porn service, how are they innocent bystanders? If they are innocent, they have nothing to hide, thus their PUBLIC information being released PUBLIC means absolutely zero. If they're guilty, and they're information is released public, well maybe they shouldn't be breaking the law in the first place.

 

[tommysch]

[citation][nom]borisof007[/nom]And also, if they're linked to an online porn service, how are they innocent bystanders? If they are innocent, they have nothing to hide, thus their PUBLIC information being released PUBLIC means absolutely zero. If they're guilty, and they're information is released public, well maybe they shouldn't be breaking the law in the first place.[/citation]

I bet you have nothing against me wiretapping your phone then? People who bring the I-have-nothing-to-hide doctrine should just take a step back and stfu.

 

[puscifer919]

[citation][nom]borisof007[/nom]You're an idiot. 4chan is more than just an underground joke now, it's very widely known amongst the internet, no need for secrecy anymore.[/citation]
Name calling is the most blatant form of idiocy, so thank you for that bit of irony. Aside from that, mentioning 4chan is fine. Read the rules again.

Also, it doesn't matter if it's widely known or not. Don't talk about it.

[citation][nom]TommySch[/nom]The article broke it first. Its not like this site is public.[/citation]
No it did not.

 

[puscifer919]

Oh, and also, 4chan's users do not care about what anyone thinks, nor are they trying to do good (or evil, for that matter) with this operation. It is about what they believe it, beit right or wrong. You think they care about anyones privacy?

 

[cmd-x3m]

Men want money and politicians are men. They will try to get more money and therefor get re-elected so they can milk the budget more. How can they be re-electing? Getting votes, which means not angering the public too much.
If the public would have been smart enough it would think like "This is cheap and cool. Imma buy it and sponsor the dude. That thing is good but is 9999999$. I need it but I cant buy it or it's just not worth it. What am I going to do? Get a pirated version or code myself one app like that? Hmmm.... I cant code so guess what imma do." but the problem is that there are f**kt***s that think like "they pirates. they bad. i buy an ice cream for 99999999$ when I can haz ice cream for free. I smart!" and those people do get to vote.
Therefor you cant count on the public oppinion.
Now what if X is asked: "with or against piracy? If against, you get 1.000.000.000$", what do you think X would choose?
Therefor getting it to the justice is NOT a solution. What the 4chan dudes do, even if childish, is better, because:
"Ok. You are spying on me, and that's legal because I'm acused of pirating BUT you are doing it by seeding torrents, most of them with VIRUSES and therefor you are a hacker, not to mention that you would have to also have the files in your comp. do you have license for these files; a lincese given before the list was made public? no. then you **** are also a pirate so leave me alone or imma sue you for pirating and hacking of other's computers, attending the freedom of private life since you ain't just monitoring my activity on torrents with the viruses and rootkits. these viruses slow down my pc, and usualy get me to lose money. why are you stealing from me? yet this is the third crime you've commited and then said that you are innocent and came and acused me."

 

[Gin Fushicho]

The Legion always wins. As long as one of them is left, they are legion.

 

[haze4peace]

That isn't exactly what happened. I've been following the story on Torrent Freak which have done much more in depth articles. After anon finished their ddos attack the website came back online, although it was showing their root. From there everything was available from ACS:Laws servers, including 350MB of internal emails. So technically ACS:Law leaked their own emails to the public on accident. And no, they were not encrypted. Somebody downloaded them and put them up on pirate bay.
Whoever their IT guy is doesn't have a job anymore.

 

[dstigue]

check out arstechnica's write up on this guy. Pretty interesting stuff.

 

[elbert]

Think the 5000 should start a class action law suit against this law firm. Collecting private information without their knowledge is bad enough but not protecting this information from falling into questionable hands is outrageous.

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]Conner Macleod[/nom]The fact that the information was encrypted tells you that it was not public information.[/citation]
The information was not encrypted and was made publicly by ACS: Law. When their website was taken down by 4chan the administrator moved all the information to a new server. He copied the backup to the root directory of the website. Having just the backup file in the directory anyone that tried to access the ACS: Law webpage was greeted with a default directory list that showed the backup file. Anyone could have download it. Since the none of the files were encrypted anyone could access it. It was ACS: Law that screw up.