Law Firm Facing Investigation After Details of 5,000 Broadband Users are Leaked to Pirate Bay
Yesterday it emerged that the personal details, including full names and home addresses, of more than 5,000 Sky broadband customers had been posted online. The BBC's Daniel Emery reports that this list was compiled by law firm ACS:Law and also contains details about pornographic content the broadband users are accused of pirating. The list appeared online after 4Chan took down ACS:Law's website as part of its recent "Operation Payback is a Bitch" DDoS attacks.
Earlier this month, 4Chan targeted several organizations dedicated to putting an end to piracy. Though ACS:Law was among those hit with DDoS attacks orchestrated by 4Chan users -- TorrentFreak reports that the London-based law firm has been making money working to identify filesharers and recoup settlement money for copyright holders -- the head of ACS:Law, Andrew Crossley, was unperturbed by the DDoS attack and had no qualms about telling that to the media.
"It was only down for a few hours," Crossley told the Register. "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."
4Chan didn't take kindly to the fact that Mr. Crossley was so unaffected by their attempts to cause him some distress and late last week, a leak was posted to the Pirate Bay containing 1,000 confidential ACS:Law e-mails, along with the unencrypted list of Sky broadband users. Mr. Cossley told the BBC his firm had been "subject to a criminal attack to its systems" and that he had informed the police.
While having your name and home address included on a list of pirates supposedly in the business of sharing pornography is bad enough, it's probably worse if you're not even pirating pornography to begin with. An August investigation by the BBC discovered that many people on the receiving end of settlement demands from ACS:Law claimed they were wrongly accused of filesharing by the firm,. What's more, a UK consumer Watchdog said they had received a number of complaints from people saying the same thing.
Daniel Emery writes that though Mr. Cossley refused to comment on the leaked internal emails, he did confirm that those on the list might not have pirated any content.
"All our evidence does is identify an internet connection that has been utilized to share copyright work," he told BBC. "In relation to the individual names, these are just the names and addresses of the account owner and we make no claims that they themselves were sharing the files," he explained.
Early this morning, the Information Commissioner confirmed that it was investigating the matter.
"The question we will be asking is how secure was this information and how it was so easily accessed from outside," said Christopher Graham. "We'll be asking about the adequacy of encryption, the firewall, the training of staff and why that information was so public facing."
Graham said that his position as ICO allows him to impose a fine of up to half a million pounds (just under $790,000) if a company is found to have breached the Data Protection Act.
Further Reading
- ACS:Law ,
- 4Chan ,
- DDoS ,
- Sky-Broadband ,
- Porn
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"operation payback" is fitting and this is why companies shouldn't log peoples activities online.
its really starting to get hot now, the question is 'who is more determined to win?'
Hey we can trade porn via snail mAil now lol
Pirate Porn.
I m sure those Law Firm people using Pirate Bay more than anyone!!!!
I read this as "Law Firm Facing Investigation After Deaths of 5,000 Broadband Users are Linked to Pirate Bay"
I wonder what Andrew DLs while he is at home? Nobody is innocent, and the prosecutors of witch hunts are usually even more guilty than the people they try to burn. This guy is a scumbag of the first degree, and I hope that this is finally enough to put him down. After they snatch his license to practice, he'll be less concerned about how long he has to wait in line for coffee, and more concerned about how many people he has to server coffee to so he can pay his bills.
copyright holder of porn, what if your ex GF appeared online who hold that copyright?
I Love 4chan even more now.
He won't be worried about that coffee any more.
Hope it ends up that he beeing worried he can't afford that coffe. Having a "list of suspects" (judging by the "evidence" statement) so easiley accessed should be considered criminal! Bring out the Justice!
"or having to queue for a coffee"
Really? Are...are you seriously saying that? That's muhfuggin' PATHETIC.
YOU CAN WAIT FOR YOUR DAMN COFFEE, WOW.
lol, encryption and firewalls aren't any use against the "internet"
I wonder what Andrew DLs while he is at home? Nobody is innocent, and the prosecutors of witch hunts are usually even more guilty than the people they try to burn. This guy is a scumbag of the first degree, and I hope that this is finally enough to put him down. After they snatch his license to practice, he'll be less concerned about how long he has to wait in line for coffee, and more concerned about how many people he has to server coffee to so he can pay his bills.
Witch hunts are bad, mkay.
Some bigot burned one of my ancestors alive because she was accused of witchcraft (wonderful part of one of my uncles being a historian).
Unfortunately, many of these people participating are just doing it for the lulz, while the firms are doing it for money. Guess which usually wins?
Bless your heart 4Chan.
They deserve a lot worse then this for demanding 500 pounds from innocent people.
There is nothing that will secure there outlook mailboxes from a friendly social engineer that just happens to backup the content. No matter how well you train your staff the "guy" suddenly appearing to make sure the security works the or fixes that print to letter format in stead of A4 or vice versa or the flux capacitor runs at full speed for all i care will always talk a way inside and get what he needs.
I'm guessing NOT publishing the names and addresses of the porn pirates was probably their best leverage for getting people to pay up...wonder what plan B is...
USCG you are next morons.and it would be great to post their internal emails for the world to see.
Boycott Hollywood !!! Buy stuff used !!!
This just in: irresponsible Law firm keeps important and confidential data on computers with access to the internet.
this is rubbish...
God im starting to like the good folks from /b/ more and more over the time. Go 4chan!
God im starting to like the good folks from /b/ more and more over the time. Go 4chan!
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.
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.
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.
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.
The law systems around the world are created by the law people to make thme money and not to bring justice to you. I'm not a devout ed Christian but the ten commandments are pretty much enough laws. More laws are hardly needed to make peoples life better.
These types of pranks only lead to government intervention and more regulations/less freedom.
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!
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.
The article broke it first. Its not like this site is public.
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.
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!
Bless your heart 4Chan.
I Love 4chan even more now.
I was just thinking the exact same thing. I guess those 4chan peeps, even with their prurient interests, ain't so bad afterall!
Word of advice: DO NOT PISS OFF 4CHAN.
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?