LA based anti-piracy firm MediaDefender, which works for content owners – including several major labels - and employs various tactics to tackle illegal file sharing, including swamping P2P networks with fake files so that the file sharing system collapses, has been reported to the FBI after they accidentally brought a legit content distribution network to a halt.
US based niche-programme web-TV service Revision3, which uses the 'BitTorrent protocol' to distribute some of its programming, say that their system collapsed recently after MediaDefender flooded their network with fake files. Revision3 boss Jim Louderback explains: "A torrential flood of SYN packets rained down on Revision3's network over Memorial Day weekend. Those packets – up to 8,000 a second – came primarily from computers controlled by MediaDefender, who is in the business of shutting down illegal torrent sites". I'm not sure I understood much of that. I mean, what's Memorial Day?
Anyway, MediaDefender claim Revision3 had been inadvertently tracking illegal content sources and that that had led to their fake-file-attack being launched. But Louderback says that, given he runs a legitimate online content provider, MediaDefender should have alerted him if they thought there was anything awry with his system, rather than just attacking it. To that end he says he has reported the anti-piracy agency to the FBI, claiming MediaDefender acted illegally under the Economic Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud And Abuse Act, among others.