MediaDefender Leaks Cost The Company $825,000
The anti-piracy organization MediaDefender lost $825,000 as a result of the leaked emails according to a recent filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It is beginning to look like they have to walk the plank to bankruptcy after all.
This September we were the first to report that nearly 700mb of MediaDefender’s emails leaked on BitTorrent. The leaked emails gave the world a unique insight into the workings and the effectiveness of their BitTorrent decoy operations and revealed much more sensitive information.
The leaked emails were published by a group that goes by the name “MediaDefender-Defenders” and they were soon followed by other leaks such as a tracking database, a phone call and several anti-piracy tools.
From a recent SEC filing by MediaDefender’s parent company ArtistDirect we now learn that these leaks have cost the anti-piracy company some serious cash, $825,000 to be exact. Most of the money, $600,000, was spent to compensate their customers and the rest of the money was used to cover legal expenses.
In the SEC filing we read: “MediaDefender recorded approximately $600,000 for service credits to customers, which were recorded as a reduction to revenues during the three months ended September 30, 2007. This amount was determined based on various factors, including discussions with customers, and is subject to adjustment in future periods based on additional information. MediaDefender also recorded approximately $225,000 of legal, consulting and other direct costs related to the breach during the three months ended September 30, 2007.”
Surprisingly, the company does not think that the leaks have hurt the goodwill of MediaDefender on the long run, well, I hope for them that future clients don’t use Google then.
(via P2P-Blog)
Previously: Anti-Piracy Lobby Urges Sweden To Take Down The Pirate Bay
Next: PickyPirate: Metacritic Meets BitTorrent
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im so unhappy reading it. lol.
take that! :D
“of the money, $600,00, wa”
These are good news for us !
In terms of lost business the company is pretty much finished. The damage wasn’t caused by the leak of trade secrets, but the revelation of how inept, amateur and (by thier own admission) useless they were.
“Take a moment to laugh to yourselves”
[quote]MediaDefender Leaks Cost The Company $825,000[/quote]
This is great news, I think a giant thanks to MediaDefenderDefenders is appropriate, as well as a celebration :)
Nice, go MDD !
Mr. Saaf and Mr. Herrera each earn a base salary of no less than $350,000 per annum during the initial term of the agreements, which continue until December 31, 2008, and are also entitled to receive performance bonuses of up to $350,000
In consideration [of the Non-Competition Agreements] Mr. Saaf and Mr. Herrera were each entitled to a cash payment of $525,000 from MediaDefender on December 31, 2006 (which payments were timely made).
heh owned….
Ah, music to my ears…
Well… at least they lost something…
“I hope for them that future clients don’t use Google then.” Huh? I just see the MD website as the first result. I was hoping for something funnier… or am I missing something.
so, 600 thousand dollars to placate their four bigwig customers (http://www.slyck.com/story1622_MediaDefender_Leak_Cost_Nearly_1_Million_Dollar)
; thats only 150 thousand to sony, 150 thousand to vivendi, etc - that’s nothing!!!
Take an arbitrary vanillacrap artist from them 50 cent = 33 mil/year, timberlake = 20 mil/year, etc etc etc - and you realize, MD thinks they can placate a Don Musico by paying them less than a twentieth of what the Dons pay ONE of their higher artists in ONE single year - crazy!
HEY MD - Yer these guys biggest and/or only gun; make’m pay through the nose, nobody in a multi-billion-dollar-profit market cares about a puny 150 thousand!!!
[quote comment="219434"]“I hope for them that future clients don’t use Google then.” Huh? I just see the MD website as the first result. I was hoping for something funnier… or am I missing something.[/quote]
lolz dude ur right but worong;
the first two are corporate links and the other one is a wikipedia entry - the next seven are variations of “media defender poison”, “media defender hacked” , “media defender banned and blocked”, and my personal fav, “Leaked Media Defender e-mails reveal secret government project”:)!!!!
Damn they survived it after all… but thats a good thing its not like they were the only once.
Prices will go up for the big corps. to make them do illegal things which means they’ll all bleed dry a lot faster in the long run.
Hope they all raise their prices by a few 100%…
also: The iPhone is a piece of shit, and so is your face. (ya its old but I felt like it)
WTF, only $825,000?
that’s not enough to teach them a lesson.
that last sentence in the article is hilarious =)
“dont use google” WTF!?
Guess they can’t afford a seedbox now to be on my game-related torrent tracker.
A good shot, and a warning to all those who oppose us.
Good for the cunts.
http://www.p2p-blog.com/index.php?itemid=418#nucleus_cf
ArtistDirect is a bulletin board (aka penny) stock company
their revenues are in the $25M dollar range, they have a market cap of ~$14M, they have about $5M in cash left and $34M in debt
they have a negative book value and in 3 years they have not had a profitable year (ie., they lose many millions each year):
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=ARTD.OB
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=ARTD.OB&annual
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=ARTD.OB&annual
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cf?s=ARTD.OB&annual
their stock chart looks pretty weak:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=ARTD.OB&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
and they have had insiders (the guys who started it)
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=ARTD.OB
doing a lot of selling at higher prices:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=ARTD.OB
their CFO just quit (a VERY bad sign for a publicly traded company):
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/070907/artd.ob8-k.html
and they have publicly expressed doubt about their ability to continue staying in business (this was WELL BEFORE the “leak”):
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/071114/artd.ob10qsb.html
“The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, which contemplate continuation of the Company as a going concern. As a result of the matters described herein, the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, in its report on the Company’s 2006 consolidated financial statements, expressed substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recoverability and classification of recorded asset amounts or the amounts and classification of liabilities that could result from the outcome of this uncertainty.”
This company is currently trading at $1.50 and could well be going to zero - which makes it a pretty attractive short.
;lkm’;;’w;cf ./lv ‘/;v,l.;sv xzdl,j/S”D/l.sdlds ds/lsdklsddx.,/d xzck,xzkljXZDl.sA
Too bad there aren’t a few more zero’s at the end of that number, huh?
Could you please tag all MediaDefender stories from here on in with “ha”, “haha”, “hahaha”, and “hahahaha”? It’ll make them much easier for me to find when I search your excellent site.
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