eWeek: Motion Picture Association Accused of Hacking
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Valence and its owners have filed their own suit claiming that the MPAA, which represents the interests of the U.S. film industry, paid a known hacker to infiltrate the company’s IT systems looking for potential evidence.
If brought to court, the suit will represent one of the most high-profile accusations of industrial espionage carried out via the use of paid hackers ever heard in the U.S. legal system.
According to the suit, filed specifically in the names of Valence executives Justin Bunnell, Forrest Parker and Wes Parker, contends that the MPAA “willfully and intentionally” purchased, procured, used and disclosed private information that it unlawfully obtained via a break into the company’s computing systems.
The filing further claims that the MPAA paid its hacker $15,000 to steal e-mails and screen prints from Valence’s servers, including client bills and the documents related to the firm’s technology infrastructure. [full.article]