EFF Supports TorrentSpy in Electronic Privacy Case
Written by enigmax on August 06, 2008After it was ruled that a hacker who obtained unauthorized emails from TorrentSpy on behalf of the MPAA did not technically intercept them under the WireTap Act, the EFF has filed a friend-of-the-court brief. EFF describes the recent decision as a “dangerous attempt to circumvent privacy laws,” and wants to see it overturned.
The case, Bunnell v. Motion Picture Association of America, was brought against the MPAA by Justin Bunnell, the owner of TorrentSpy, who found out that the MPAA had intercepted his email communication.
In 2005, an associate of TorrentSpy, Robert Anderson, ‘changed sides’ after an internal dispute and decided to work with the MPAA instead, gathering evidence against the BitTorrent site.
The man configured the TorrentSpy mail server to copy and forward all of the site’s email to his own Gmail account. He later sold the 34 pages of information to the MPAA for around $15,000 but later relented and went back to work with the torrent site, telling them what he knew. The same man also spied on The Pirate Bay.
The EFF had filed a brief with the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that federal wiretap laws protect emails from interception while they are stored on the mail servers that work to transmit them. However, the federal district court ruled that because the emails were momentarily stored on the server during the delivery process, under the Wiretap Act they were not technically intercepted. The ruling itself only applies to the 9th District, but could have relevance at other courts in the US.
In its friend-of-the-court brief, the EFF states this ruling is incorrect and must be reviewed, since it could allow the government to spy on other people’s emails in the future, without the need for a court order.
“The district court’s decision, if upheld, would have dangerous repercussions far beyond this single case,” Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston at the EFF said. “That court opinion — holding that the secret and unauthorized copying and forwarding of emails while they pass through an email server is not an illegal interception of those emails — threatens to wholly eviscerate federal privacy protections against Internet wiretapping and to authorize the government to conduct similar email surveillance without getting a wiretapping order from a judge.”
It appears that, as long as emails aren’t actually intercepted en-route, it could be legal for the government to request that an ISP copies an individual’s emails after they arrive on the mail server. This would not be classed as a breach of wiretap laws, which is a worryingly easy circumvention of vital privacy laws according to the EFF.
The EFF asks the Court to vacate the district court decision, and and rule that the MPAA hacker did “intercept” email communication from TorrentSpy owner Justin Bunnell. The full amicus brief can be viewed here.
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22 Responses
WTF
Nice…
Things are so f*cked up right now that even if the EFF win their side of the arguement, all the MPAA are going to (probably) get is a slap on the wrist (like Comcast)… on the other hand, if something like this was done by “the other side” (ie. you and me), the hacker and the people behind the hacker would be looking at some serious jail time.
But I guess something is better than nothing..
Cheers!
http://www.ezee.se
guys you must see it from the other side too
thanks to this judge
-that seems to be greased by MAFIAA to rule so outrageous that it is OK for MAFIAA and the minions working for them-
the FBI of course must now close its case that they have likely opened against the MDD guy that rerrouted some to gmail forwarded mails from the stupid MD guys gmail account.
If rerouting and/or retransmitting emails from others is not illegal anymore…
owned yourself again mpaa.
and I wouldnt call that douchenozzle a ‘hacker’. Sounds like he did some very basic things abusing his privileges that torrentspy may have gave him. Go fuck yourself noob, your pathetic.
what the hell was that article about.
Dude, the EFF like totally ROCKS.
JT
i hope that next time the mpaa uses a hacker to steal emails they manage to wiretap an email virus.
Sure if this is the case all we need to do is get our own hackers to pull of a simular trick on the MPAA?
Bring them down in the same way Media Defender got burned, having all there dirty secrets out in the public.
Like the saying goes, can’t beat, join em =D
If a regualr guy did this it would be called ‘hacking’ but when the MPAA and government do it, it’s called ‘wiretapping’ What a load of crap!
“Dude, the EFF like totally ROCKS.”
Yep. They’ve been doing great things for a while now.
Go Torrentspy, F**K MPAA Deeply :)
Glad to see the EFF sticking up for everyone again.
How shocked am I? There are two legal standards, you say, one for them and one for us? Imagine if the roles were reversed here, the MPAA’s multi-million team of bribed lawyers would certainly see to it that someone hacking into their system was punished as severely as possible.
If you guys like the EFF and what they do you should donate to them. They are a non-profit dedicated to protecting OUR freedom on the Internet.
https://secure.eff.org/site/Donation?ACTION=SHOW_DONATION_OPTIONS&CAMPAIGN_ID=1741
Any info on the shitbag (Robert Anderson) that sold out TorrentSpy to the MPAA?
I’m sure many would like to have an up close and personal, um….”discussion” with him about his activities. :P
@ 15 - Info please!
In all fairness the guy is now against helping the anti-pirates. Ok so he’s made a mistake a pretty big one at that but he was looking to make money, a fair amount at that.
Plus if he didn’t do it, chances are someone else would have and not given all the info away. In theory he’s helped to expose the MPAA types in a more public setting with the EFF backing TorrentSpy.
Why is it that the FBI chooses to pursue the MediaDefender email breech but REFUSES the TorrentSpy one?
If anything, it should be the other way around, since additional criminal conspiracy and crime-for-hire charges against the MPAA could be made in the TorrentSpy case - but not in the MediaDefender case since that hacker acted alone and no money changed hands.
Wow, You must admit the EFF is like totally Way Cool. Seems to me the FEDs have WAY too much spare time on their hands!
JT
http://www.Privacy-Center.Net
you should probably say exactly what EFF stands for in the article for those of us who aren’t familiar with who they are or what they do.
we don’t all read this site religiously, and we don’t all have this alphabet soup fully digested
All i can say is, WOW! What just happened here? the epic execution of MAFIAA’s dark practices being exposed or this hacker deciding to throw them away like a piece of garbage.
Bless the EFF! They are one of the few places ill actually send money to.
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