Slashdot Mirror
MediaFire Restores Virus Researcher's Account But Not Individual Files
chicksdaddy writes "The cloud-based hosting firm MediaFire has reversed a decision to suspend the account of virus researcher Mila Parkour after Naked Security raised questions about copyright violation complaints made against her by the mysterious firm LeakID. In an email to Parkour on Friday, MediaFire's director of customer support, Daniel Goebel, said that the company was restoring Parkour's access to her MediaFire account and apologized for the interruption in service. MediaFire also said it was asking LeakID, the Paris-based firm that accused Parkour of sharing copyrighted material, to 'confirm the status of the counterclaim [Parkour] submitted.' However, the firm is still blocking access to files that LeakID alleged were violating the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a strict copyright enforcement law in the U.S."
When you're being accused of violating one of the draconian MAFIAA laws, you are guilty as charged - until, of course, you are proven innocent
That researcher, although having the account restored, still being blocked of accessing any of the disputed materials
And the worst of all is, an American law, is dictating the behavior of the Internet, a worldwide structure.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
A virus researcher is, of course, sufficiently wise to have local copies of all files because relying on a "cloud" provider is as sound as relying on that kid down the road who promises to keep all your personal documents safe in his dad's filing cabinet for a handful of sweets.
There really is only two ways this case should EVER be allowed to go:
1) LeakID admits they don't actually have any kind of ownership over the malware. LeakID gets sued for knowingly sending false C&D notices under DMCA (or equivalent, not a lawyer).
2) LeakID claims to have ownership of the malware. LeakID gets sued to oblivion for creation and distribution of malware.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
"Cloud computing is the future", or at least that's what's being shoved down your throat. See how fun cloud computing is? By all means, put all your data "on the cloud".
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
That girl sounds cool. I wonder why she keeps her picture private!
hemi
1 - The cloud is a liability.
2 - Companies in the US occupied territories are liabilities.
3 - The cloud host was spying on user files and reporting to 3rd parties.
On the off-chance that this blows up into some high-tech conspiracy-theory spy thriller, Mila Parkour has the perfect name for the protagonist of said thriller. I assume the whole thing will culminate in a white-knuckle chase across the rooftops of Paris as Ms Parkour skilfully evades MediaFire's hired goons.
Why on earth would a virus researcher use cloud storage instead of his/her own server?
I can see how the average person would find services like mediafire and dropbox useful, because they don't have the knowledge to setup their own server. But as soon as you are awarded (or awarded yourself) the researcher title in any field of computing, you should not hand your files over to someone else for storage. But if you do, and something happens, you should suffer the consequences and not make it onto the front page of slashdot, other than for public shaming.
I've had to deal with this guy before when Mediafire took out my entire account instead of the single file that was reported. Even with the company who filed the DMCA notice getting involved, he still wouldn't reinstate the files. Don't bother complaining to Mediafire about him either, because he's the one that gets your complaints. And his reaction to them is to close your support ticket and suspend your account.
"Daniel G", as he shows up on the support site, is a power tripping dick.
My thoughts would be take out an ad in the public notices sections of the classifieds in a couple of the larger newspapers (or maybe just craigslist, at least a couple of people would read that): "Had YOUR computer infected with virus X, Y or Z, or know someone who has? Lost days/weeks/months worth of work/porn/lolcat pics? We've found the guys who wrote that virus" and give LeakID's contact details. Might only be one or two people who see the note, have been affected and bother sending LeakID mail, but at least they won't be friendly letters.
Just like the MegaUpload scandal, this just proves that storing any data in "the cloud" is really under somebody elses control, to do with as THEY like.
If your dumb enough to use "the cloud" then you deserve what you get.
I'm not sure they really want to mess with a Parkour girl...
They're acting like this person kept the one and only copy of certain things on a file sharing site. How unbelievably stupid is that?! If that is the case, anyone deserves and FBI raid or copyright notice or random account closure or company bankruptcy so they can learn how unsafe that is. Now that their account is back online, just re-upload all the files.
Leakid v. Blogger
Leakid v. Grub
Leakid v. Weird TV
AccountKiller
The blog says LeakID is using bots to crawl Hotfile links. Wouldn't their copyright search algorithms be easily defeated by packing files into password protected RAR files before uploading them to a file hosting site?
"Trust us" so sez the cloud service.
In all the years of using computers, remote or local, the one thing that's guaranteed is that you/we will lose the data at at least one location. Who do you trust? What do you trust? Nuthin' and nobody.
This researcher depended on a service that depended on bots to determine DMCA compliance. She should have done more research into the klowd service before handing hers over to them. Were her files encrypted???
This calls for a "They Done Me Wrong..." song posted on YouTube AND BitTorrent.
It's just recently trying to be, but it's entire business model was previously built on piracy. They just changed the layout of their website to reflect a more legitimate business. If they used DropBox (now with 2 factor authentication) with BoxCryptor encryption, and you wouldn't of had this problem.