Member Avatar for John A

TorrentFreak has reported that the anti-piracy watchdog group MPAA has been uploading false torrents in the hopes of logging IP addresses of pirates to bring them to court. They do claim to have methods of detecting the fake torrents, but don't give away all the hints, saying, "we wont reveal all the tricks because they could take counter measures."

Obviously this is a shock to some, and especially to the pirates. Now although the fake torrents can most likely be eliminated, it's likely that the threat of it happening again won't.

I think that this fake torrent business is actually benefitting MPAA when this kind of exposure on the internet is present. The MPAA isn't stupid or crazy. They're not out to make every single pirate repay every single cent that they stole by downloading illegal media; they're out to stop it. But since the pirates won't listen, that's when they start prosecuting (which happens quite rarely). Anyways, if everyone is made aware of the possibility of fake torrents on the internet, they may stop and think twice about downloading that latest movie.

That's exactly what MPAA wants. If no one knew about it, it's highly unlikely that a few court battles are going to stop all the other pirates. But when blogs like this one report on it, it will likely do the project some good.

The pure idea of downloading movies is kind of stupid. Why would I want to download Pirates of the Carribean when I can go the theatre, see it live with full sound effects? I admit that I rarely watch movies anyway, so it's rather infrequent when I view movies in the theatre. But you sure can't beat the sound-surround, and the incredibly massive screen. When you download hte movie, it's likely you're going to get a timecode on it, crappy resolution, bugs, glitches, etc..

Ah well. I applaud the presence of this project, and hopefully the rate of downloading will go down in the future. The key is to make the pirates not want to download, not to force them. Music stores are perfect examples; it would be pretty safe to say that iTunes Store has reduced the piracy rate. ;)

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A few clarifying points that build on the thread: is right that industry actors have used decoy or “honeypot” torrents as a deterrent and to gather connection logs; several news outlets documented those tactics in the 2000s and anti‑piracy vendors have been publicly tied to similar campaigns. (See reporting on the practice and on industry contractors.) (Wired, background on industry contractors: MediaDefender/efforts summary).

On the law: downloading or redistributing copyrighted works without authorization is still copyright infringement under U.S. law and can carry substantial statutory damages; the U.S. Copyright Office explains that uploading or downloading protected works without permission is an infringing act. (U.S. Copyright Office FAQ). High‑profile cases (for example, the Sony BMG/Tenenbaum litigation) show that courts may award large statutory damages when infringement is proved. (Sony BMG v. Tenenbaum).

On evidence and privacy: an IP address by itself is a noisy identifier — shared Wi‑Fi, guests, NAT, proxies, dynamic addressing and compromised machines all create ambiguity. Courts have rejected pleadings that rely solely on IP logs without additional, case‑specific facts. (See the opinion dismissing claims that relied only on IP evidence in the Elf‑Man matter.) (Order, Elf‑Man case). The Electronic Frontier Foundation documents how rights‑holders used subpoenas and mass “John Doe” suits to convert IP logs into identities — a practice that courts and advocates have repeatedly scrutinized. (EFF summary).

Practical takeaways: ’s spyware concern is sensible — passively logging connections is common, but surreptitious installation of code that exfiltrates data would raise distinct legal and criminal issues. For ordinary users the safest course is to rely on licensed services; for network owners, lock down Wi‑Fi, enforce strong router credentials and keep devices patched; if contacted by a rights‑holder or served a subpoena, seek legal advice rather than responding alone.

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Member Avatar for Chaky

I have to say 2 things:

1. As far as I know, you have to USE the software like cracks and stuff to break the law. Downloading them is not illegal. I think that same goes for torrents. (movies, music, games... law is the same for all) You cant watch fake movie, or listen to the silence (fake music) and be in the breach of the law that doesn't apply to the non-existent movie/game/music.

2. Obtaining IP address via fake torrents spells "SPYWARE", and that is questionable way to enforce the law. I'm sure that there is a law against spyware, and to enforce one law by breaking another, spells "case lost" in the court of law.

I think that the whole "fake torrents" story is nothing more than a delusion fueled by the MPAA's lack of resources to fight the piracy.

Member Avatar for jwenting

posession of stolen goods is a crime in most countries, once you have downloaded pirated software/movies/music you are in posession of stolen goods.
The "fake" stuff isn't in itself enough to convict you, but can be used as an indicator to get a search warrant to find out if you have stolen goods.

It's certainly not spyware. All they do is log the IP addresses of people accessing their machines. Every website does the same.

Member Avatar for Chaky

Law affecting the movies is the copyright law (emphases on the "copy"). If there is a movie torrent, and it is downloaded by someone else than the original owner, then the original owner and the person downloading it are in breach of that law.

I stand corrected regarding the spyware. We're talking about P2P. But, IP addresses are changeable stuff, so it is not much of an evidence. And for it to be an evidence the fake torrent must be real, and if it is real then the MPAA is in breach of the same law they try to enforce, or the law becomes bypassed, since they are the copyright holders.

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