Prototype Anti-Piracy Tool Revealed and Taken Offline
The existence of a prototype management system for anti-piracy company ‘Logistep’ was revealed at the weekend. The online system called ‘Logistep Data Management Tool’, was located at eparken.com but since the revelations the site has been taken down. It is still available in limited form via Google’s cache.
The P2P community is becoming more aware of the anti-piracy tracking company Logistep. Infamous for working with lawyers across Europe gathering information about many thousands of alleged copyright infringements, Logistep is quickly becoming a household name in the anti-P2P world. It has been declared to operate illegally in Italy and has fallen foul of Swiss privacy laws, but it carries on operating regardless.
Now, thanks to a Gulli investigation, the existence of a prototype anti-p2p management system has been revealed, which seems to be being developed for Logistep to more effectively manage its growing offensive against alleged file-sharers. Gulli received a tipoff to visit the site at eparken.com which although appeared incomplete, seemed to be fairly operational.
Headed with a Logistep banner and entitled ‘Logistep Data Management Tool’, one could be forgiven for linking the tool with the anti-piracy company of the same name. However, just to be certain, Gulli dug a little deeper, checking the WHOIS record of the site which revealed the registrant as Joly Nkondo Zacharie, at ‘Händelstraße 25′ in Karlsruhe. A German subsidiary of the Swiss-based Logistep is reported at the same address. Searches on ‘Händelstraße 25′ connect to both Logistep and Joly Nkondo Zacharie, who has his name present in the eparken.com WHOIS. The connection to Logistep seems unavoidable.
The site, since taken down but available in limited form via Google’s cache, appears to offer management facilities for those chasing alleged copyright infringers, including accommodation to reduce ‘fines’ and payment periods if the accused digs in his heels when confronted.
Additional features of the system include being able to sort alleged infringers in the database by location and their corresponding ISPs. It is also possible to sort by the number of users who have actually paid up following threats. In the ‘Call Center’ section could be found receipts for payment of ‘fines’ and the ability to change the terms of the compensation demands.
Logistep is absolutely adamant that it runs its operations in a completely flawless manner, using systems that produce 100% perfect results so it is of some interest that this online system has been developed with WYSIWYG Web Builder, which will be seen as some as a very unprofessional way to create a website.
Calls to the administrators of eparken.com for clarification have gone unanswered.
