Editing MediaDefender (section)

{{short description|Defunct anti-infringement company}}

'''MediaDefender, Inc.''' (now [[Peer Media Technologies]]) was a company that fought copyright infringement<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120001282486582581|title = Showdown Looms over Pirated-Media Directory|newspaper = Wall Street Journal|date = 11 January 2008}}</ref> that offered services designed to prevent alleged [[copyright infringement]] using [[peer-to-peer]] distribution. They used unusual tactics such as flooding peer-to-peer networks with decoy files that tie up users' computers and bandwidth.<ref>Holahan, Catherine (March 5, 2007). "[http://www.americasnetwork.com/americasnetwork/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=408804 Advertising to the File-Sharing Crowd]" ''[[BusinessWeek]]''. Retrieved on September 16, 2007.</ref> MediaDefender was based in [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], [[California]] in the United States. As of March 2007, the company had approximately 60 employees<ref name="ArsTechnica3-18-2007">{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=Nate |date=2007-03-19 |title=Peer-to-peer poisoners: A tour of MediaDefender |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2007/03/mediadefender/ |access-date=16 September 2007 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us}}</ref> and used 2,000 [[server (computing)|server]]s hosted in California with contracts for 9 [[Gbit/s]] of bandwidth.<ref name="ArsTechnica3-18-2007"/>

These types of organizations are being hired to attempt to stymie peer-to-peer (P2P) traders through a variety of methods including posting fake files online and recording individuals who contribute copyrighted material, but also [[marketing]] to individuals using P2P networks.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Angwin |first1=Julia |last2=McBride |first2=Sarah |last3=Smith |first3=Ethan |date=18 October 2006 |title=Record Labels Turn Piracy Into a Marketing Opportunity |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116113611429796022 |access-date=16 September 2007 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref> Clients include [[Universal Pictures]], [[20th Century Fox]], [[Virgin Records]], [[HBO]], [[Paramount Pictures]], and [[Bertelsmann Music Group|BMG]]{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}. On August 1, 2005, the digital media entertainment company [[ARTISTdirect]] announced that it had acquired MediaDefender for $42.5 million in cash.

In May 2008, MediaDefender performed a [[Denial-of-service attack|distributed-denial-of-service]] attack on [[Revision3]], despite the fact that they were not hosting unauthorized materials. Jim Louderback, Revision3's CEO, charged that these attacks violated the [[Economic Espionage Act]] and the [[Computer Fraud and Abuse Act]]. As of May 2008, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] was investigating the incident.<ref>
{{cite web |last=Paul |first=Ryan |date=30 May 2008 |title=Revision3 CEO: Blackout caused by MediaDefender attack |url=https://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080529-revision3-ceo-blackout-caused-by-mediadefender-attack.html |accessdate=2008-05-30 |publisher=arstechnica.com}}
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In August 2009, [[ARTISTdirect]] restructured '''MediaDefender''' and [[MediaSentry]], creating [[Peer Media Technologies]].