The big payback
The private emails of file sharing litigation specialists ACS:Law have been splashed all over the web after the firm's website was hacked.
ACS:Law has achieved notoriety from its actions taken on behalf of some copyright holders, and according to consumer publication Which? has sent out thousands of letters to individuals it suspected of illegal file sharing, allegedly "bullying" them into paying £500 in compensation.
The firm's actions have been highlighted by the BBC and Which? has referred the firm to disciplinary tribunal.
ACS:Law's website was taken down by a 4chan DDoS attack, while the firm's owner , Andrew Crossley received prank calls in the middle of the night earlier this week, according to TorrentFreak.
A fault in the website was reportedly exploited resulting in lots of private emails being uploaded to The Pirate Bay website for public scrutiny. The attack follows three others against the MPAA, RIAA and anti-piracy firm AiPlex.
While some people who have been singled out for illegal file sharing by the firm may be rubbing their hands with glee for the payback, it is believed the hackers are on a mission to ruin Crossley's professional reputation by releasing private emails, gained illegally.
One anonymous hacker told TorrentFreak: "Their site came back online [after the DDoS attack] and on their front page was accidentally a backup file of the whole website (default directory listing, their site was empty) including emails and passwords. The email contains billing passwords and some information that ACS:Law is having financial problems."
The source reportedly said they are still sorting through the stolen information, adding: "Payback is a bitch, isn't it Andrew?"
Emails now available online are said to reveal Crossley accusing Which? of ‘defamation' and boasting that he may snap up a Ferrari or Lamborghini. There are apparently also emails from lawyers of people who believe they have been wrongly accused of illegal file sharing, questioning ACS:Law's data gathering process.
Writing to a monitoring company, NG3Sys, it would appear one of Crossley's emails shows that the monitoring firm could expect to receive "on average about £1,000 per 150 letters sent" to people who are believed to have downloaded copyrighted material.
It reportedly goes on to say that as part of ‘Phase 3,' NG3Sys could reap an estimated revenue of £120,000 from every 18,000 letters sent, but the two companies are thought to have fallen out.
In an email to attract other potential monitoring companies, the firm reportedly said it has been collecting some 20,000 UK IP addresses per month and is also gathering ‘good figures' for Germany.
According to emails, it was also believed to be looking for a firm to continue actively monitoring 300 adult film titles and reportedly proposed to pay 10 percent of net revenues (excluding ISP and postage costs) to the data monitoring company, which it said equates to around £8,800 per 1,000 letters sent.
There are apparently also colourful emails floating around the web from Crossley to his ex wife.
