Ben Grubb has a somewhat mind-boggling news story about how the film industry has hired firms to, well, engage in cybercrime:
The film industry is using pirate tactics to beat the pirates – by employing “cyber hitmen” to launch attacks that take out websites hosting illegal movies.
Girish Kumar, managing director of Aiplex Software, a firm in India, told this website that his company, which works for the film industry, was being hired – effectively as hitmen – to launch cyber attacks on sites hosting pirated movies that don’t respond to copyright infringement notices sent to them by the film industry.
Read the whole story in The Age. For this particular company, most of their work is in India, but some of his contracts are reportedly with American firms:
Kumar said that at the moment most of the payment for his company’s services came from the film industry in India.
“We are tied up with more than 30 companies in Bollywood. They are the major production houses.”
As for Hollywood films, he said they, too, used his services.
“We are tied up with Fox STAR Studios – Star TV and 20th Century Fox – who are a joint venture company in India.”
So let’s get this straight — they complain of infringement of copyright, and when they don’t get results, they resort to criminal behavior?
Have any of these companies responded to his statements?