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Hackers have obtained a copy of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and are threatening to release portions of it unless Disney pays a Bitcoin ransom:
Although Iger did not mention the movie by name during the meeting, Deadline reports that it's a copy of 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.'
[...] The "ransom" demand from the hacker is reminiscent of another prominent entertainment industry leak, where the requested amount of Bitcoin was not paid. Just a few weeks ago a group calling itself TheDarkOverlord (TDO) published the premiere episode of the fifth season of Netflix's Orange is The New Black, followed by nine more episodes a few hours later.
[...] There is no indication that the previous and threatened leaks are related in any way. TorrentFreak has seen a list of movies and TV-shows TDO said they have in their possession, but the upcoming 'Pirates' movie isn't among them.
Disney has refused to pay a ransom and is cooperating with the FBI.
Previously: Claim: Hackers Leak 'Orange is the New Black' after Netflix Did Not Pay Ransom
(Score: 2) by gringer on Tuesday May 16 2017, @07:42PM (6 children)
Ten years ago, it seemed that early-release movies were all over the place, and the people releasing them tried hard to preserve their anonymity from people outside the scene. What changed that meant these people feel that an early release is so valuable and harmful that the movie studios would pay them directly to stop it?
Ask me about Sequencing DNA in front of Linus Torvalds [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday May 16 2017, @07:55PM
Bitcoin is good for semi-anonymous extortion. Or the criminals involved are well beyond the reach of the MPAA (Russia, anyone?).
"Pirated" movies and TV are a lot more accessible than they were 5 or 10 years ago. Popcorn Time, Kodi with tvaddons.ag, and other streaming sites have made it easy to get content for free with essentially zero legal risk in most countries (I wouldn't be surprised if the UK was the first domino to fall).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Tuesday May 16 2017, @09:33PM
Nothing changed - except a vulnerable/hackable middle man on the way to distribution. I'm not sure these guys have made one bitcoin yet from their extortion attempt. I'm guessing these are the same people who did Netflix.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Tuesday May 16 2017, @10:54PM (2 children)
Culture. I'm not sure anyone here is old enough to remember Razor, Fairlight, and others. Piracy existed on 2400 baud modems well before the Internet, and I personally pirated Star Control II over a phone line. There was a code that many adhered to, almost a form of honor amongst thieves. We can debate the ethics of it of course, but back then, it was honor. Who released something first, in acceptable quality, was the goal. It was never about money, and when you read the pirates "tags" at the bottom of their nfo files you often found manifesto like prose espousing the virtues of sharing, as well as the virtues of giving back the authors if you like the game/program. I took that to heart and bought the video games I loved the most, while still being able to enjoy them on my terms, and my terms alone with the pirated version.
This isn't piracy, and it doesn't represent the "piracy scene". Nobody gained honor through this, no "firsts" were awarded, and nothing was actually released. While it may seem childish like children tagging walls with spray paint, that is the scene.
What happened here was that hackers penetrated a network, which piracy groups don't actually do, copied out data, and are now ransoming the owners. None of this is in accordance with the pirate culture that I've known since it started.
That's why I won't touch Netflix's Orange Is The New Black. I'll be helping these black hats ransom somebody. Likewise, I won't download this but wait to see it in theaters with my family. I don't like Disney all that much, but I like participating in ransoms even less. We can all disagree of course, but pirates leaking it out for free and just for lulz is what piracy was always about, with a few exceptions of those who really just disagreed with IP law and being controlled by any laws in general.
This is actual crime.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday May 17 2017, @12:09AM (1 child)
Exactly this. I used to pirate games nearly 100% of the time in the early days. The only exception being perhaps some cheap shareware games. Everything came from my friend with a modem (my father didn't believe in having a modem at the time). Around 1996/97 when I was able to work and make my own money, I actually bought games AFTER I pirated them and deemed them worthy. If not, no loss to either the publisher/studio or myself as a crap game was deleted/uninstalled.
I completely stopped pirating around 2001 with the last game I ever pirated being Max Payne. By then I had the internet and there were plenty of review sites and other resources such as forums in which to judge games before bothering with a purchase. I knew what I liked and when something interesting was released I would read up on it and make my decision that way. And demos were also popular allowing a sample of game play as well.
As for film and TV, I haven't pirated anything in at least ten years. Mostly because I don't care for much TV or films. Though, I do have a Hulu account and trying out Netflix. I find everything I need on them for a few bucks a month. Piracy and even kody et al arent much use for me these days.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday May 17 2017, @08:28AM
Electronic Arts games on the Commodore-64 was my first entry into reversing code, as their copy protection mechanism involved banging the head against the stop over and over and over again, knocking my drive out of alignment.
It was not the cost of the game that was the motivator, rather it was in running the code without ruining my drive.
Now, its still not the cost of the item that maintains my interest in bypassing various lockouts, rather it is in how to avoid nuisances, unwelcome interruptions, and loss of control of things I now consider mine ( as the money I paid for the thing obviously is no longer mine ).
So, we now have a conundrum.... businesses put irritants into stuff because they can, and people learn how to bypass those irritants, leaving business lobbyists headed for Congress, hand out for a shake, wanting Congress to pass law saying they can frustrate the hell out of people, but keep the people from removing those frustrations.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 17 2017, @01:14PM
Possibly a 5th sequel is a stinker (um... maybe?) so if word gets out AFTER the first box office weekend thats OK, but if word gets out before the first box office weekend then they're pretty much screwed.