We Don't Want Netflix To Have Any Excuse': Hackers Expose Sony's War On Pirates

[steven36]

We Don't Want Netflix To Have Any Excuse': Hackers Expose Sony's War On Pirates

It’s perhaps little surprise the takedown of the Pirate Bay this week was linked to the Sony Pictures breach. The site was hosting links to stolen films and files that the Guardians of Peace (GOP) nabbed. Then there’s Sony ’s obsession with copyright.

The leaks from the attack have revealed the kinds of tactics Sony has employed to stop people pirating its movies, from venting fury at online content giants like the BBC and Netflix to battling with partners over concerns around breaches of data protection law and how best to protect copyright in the digital age.

One of the Sony files, dated 16 September 2014, reveals a research project that took place this summer around “geofiltering”, the process of limiting distribution of content on the internet to customers in particular territories, preventing UK users of Netflix, for instance, getting access to films only open to the US. Many use VPN software or proxies in different countries to make it appear they are in a particular territory. And, according to the study, most online content providers aren’t doing a good enough job of stopping them.

Indeed, the document, entitled ‘Geofiltering results sharing policy’, is damning of most firms’ responses to geofiltering. Of Netflix, the report said: “We don’t want NFLX [Netflix] to have any excuse to not consider the results. They were fully informed of the study and tacitly agreed with the methodology.” Akamai, a networking company that provides the technology that allows Netflix to serve different regions with faster streaming content, were “doing a very bad job as a vendor”.

As for Hulu, its “geofiltering performance has gone down since April 2014 and they need to step up”. Amazon was one of the better performers. “Amazon are keen to work with us and see if they can get better. They actually have equal best results at the moment, but no need to share that with them.” But the BBC, CBS and NBC were all “not doing very well and they need to know this”. In searching through the files, I could find no details on the methodology of the research, but it appeared Sony had simply tested the various services, most likely using proxies to see whether they could get access to content from different countries.

Amongst the Sony files there are reams of contracts with such content providers. Many of their immigration applications and job descriptions also show how concerted an effort the firm has made to stop piracy. Earlier this year, the company signed on Eric Diehl, a digital rights management guru from France. Sony notes in its application that Diehl is the owner of more than 90 patents, adding that he would be given a budget of $200,000 for a handful of projects, including work on “advanced content protection systems”.

Another document, which appears to be from 2013, has indicated problems with partners over “fingerprinting” – where content is checked against a database to see if it has the correct “fingerprint”; if it doesn’t it’s likely an illegal copy. One slide points to discussions with Vodafone and Deutsche Telecom, who both expressed concern about breaches of German data protection law by looking at content to determine its authenticity. The slide indicates Sony told them not to worry, they only need look for the fingerprint not at the content itself.

Sony slide on ‘fingerprinting’

There were evidently struggles in convincing others for the need for more innovative forms of copyright protection prime for the digital age. In the lead up to the formation of Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), which is working on a “digital locker” for protecting content, the then Sony Pictures chief of digital strategy and president of DECE, Mitch Singer, sent a letter, ostensibly to Universal, Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros. In it, he asks them not to quit the body before it had even launched – it seems they’d threatened to do so. It’s actually a remarkably sensible letter, in which Singer explains how watermarking – the addition of unique marks to content – is not fit for a digital age.

“I understand that Universal, Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros. plan to announce to DECE’s Management Committee this evening that they will leave DECE if it does not adopt mandatory watermark detection. I believe this is a huge mistake,” Singer wrote. “Watermarks in DECE do not stop the flow of pirated content, and abandoning DECE over the watermark issue runs counter to the growth of a market for digital distribution that, to date, has been largely stagnant.”

He goes onto explain the various ways users can bypass watermarks online by simply not using DECE-approved media players. “There will always be those with more time than money that will be able to circumvent any content protection technologies we adopt. But these are a small minority of consumers, and DECE focuses on the much larger group of consumers that will adopt an easy and legitimate method of consuming content—in other words, an experience that is better than free.

“This single issue of watermarks should not render all of DECE’s work for nothing, and we should not fool ourselves into thinking that it will be easy to pick up this banner again.” From this list of DECE members, Universal doesn’t seem to be on board anymore. Fox and Paramount stuck around.

In a number of the leaked emails, there are also a number of requests from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), a trade body that has aggressively sought to stamp out piracy. One, from November, discusses a planned action to initiate action to have Swedish ISP TeliaSonera to block websites, though it doesn’t name which. Another talks of bringing in a technician from Comcast for a “confab” on site blocking. Sony agreed to both.

Sony Pictures declined to comment on these documents. For now, it’s probably safe to assume they are legitimate, given everything that’s been revealed to date.

Looking at the files, though, it’s evident Sony is continuing to beef up its anti-piracy efforts in earnest (why wouldn’t it?), but has come unstuck on numerous occasions. If Sony was involved in the Pirate Bay closure, it shows just how far the company is willing to go, on top of all the industry battles it’s currently embroiled in.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2014/12/11/inside-sony-pictures-war-on-pirates/

[LeetPirate]

Remember Cinavia? :lol: I like Sony but they are stupid. Lashing out on everyone else because of their own failures. :mellow: