Busted Movie Site Pleads For Cash To Fight Feds

[Vuze-Sbi]

At the end of June this year, nine sites connected to movie streaming were targeted by the U.S. Government. The operator of one of those sites, NinjaVideo, has now issued a plea for funds to fight back against what is undoubtedly a formidable force. “We are looking at six to seven digits and it’s going to be pure hell,” she explains. “We have nothing. Nothing at all. They took… everything.”

By now, you know the background. Last month “Operation In Our Sites” targeted nine domains connected to the offering of first-run movies without consent from the copyright holders.

The authorities moved to seize several domains including TVShack.net, Movies-Links.TV, FilesPump.com, Now-Movies.com, PlanetMoviez.com, ThePirateCity.org and ZML.com. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) also seized assets from 15 bank, PayPal, investment and advertising accounts.

The operators of two other domains were also targeted – NinjaVideo.net and NinjaThis.net. According to authorities the site had been subjected to a months-long operation. This is something TorrentFreak can confirm. Following a tipoff from a very reliable source, we informed NinjaVideo months ago that they were being watched and their hardware was being interfered with. It’s almost certain that they were powerless to do anything about it.

Now, the charismatic and somewhat larger-than-life leader of NinjaVideo, a young woman by the name of Phara, has returned to the spotlight. Never one to understate an issue, Phara is known for her forceful leadership style and colorful, often dramatic writing on various site issues from the small, to the very large.

The seriousness of the situation she currently finds herself, however, is off the scale.

“We need you. Our lives, our very freedom depends on this. We can’t do it alone,” pleads Phara. “We have nothing. Nothing at all. They took… everything.”

“Precedents are being made upon our heads. Never before has a site like ours been targeted in this way. We ask you… if you are vested in this case, this landmark case on the future of Internet Sharing and Internet Rights, that you speak to your friends, your family, your co-workers, your bosses,” she continues.

The gravity of the situation is clear. There can be little doubt that the U.S. Government will seek to make a very large example of NinjaVideo’s operators – a likelihood which doesn’t escape Phara. To this end she is calling for heavyweight help.

“Perhaps you are affiliated with the ACLU, Google, Youtube, MegaUpload, Rapidshare, The Pirate Parties around the world. Perhaps you are financially comfortable and you feel passionately about the issue at hand. We need… NEED… legal sponsorship in addition to legal donation,” she pleads.

“Perhaps the future of your own site is at risk and it is this case that will put it in the crosshairs of the next raid. Perhaps it will be you who will see your home, dear lord, your home, ripped apart by THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.”

NinjaVideo was a free resource and never took money from its users but due to the unbelievably difficult situation its operators now find themselves in, pleas are now being issued for people to donate to the site’s fighting fund.

“We are up against the Federal Government of the United States. They are petrifying. PETRIFYING,” concludes Phrara. “And they are backed by Hollywood. And they have chosen us to be an example. I think you understand how much money is on the other side.”

Lots. Lots and lots of money. There can be little doubt about that. Phara fears the worst.

“They want to cage us. They most likely will,” she warns ominously.

“Please don’t let them. All it takes is $1 from each of you.”

In return for large donations – four digits or more – Ninja are offering benefactors a prominent position “behind the scenes”, presumably connected with defense. What these positions entail exactly remains to be seen.

“Your prayers, your posts, your words, your art… your support in general is priceless. Unfortunately, in the world we live in, it will be your money that gives us a fighting chance. The former gives us the strength to close our eyes and take it one breath at a time, the latter gives us the opportunity to take that breath outside of a prison cell,” Phara concludes.

“We love you, NinjaVideo. We always will.”

For support: Here

Source

[slikrapid]

“We are looking at six to seven digits and it’s going to be pure hell,” she explains. “We have nothing. Nothing at all. They took… everything.”

sounds fishy, could be just a money extraction scheme, where in the end they split the donations with the opposing lawyers, and have a nice laugh at the gullible donors (or worse, try it again on some other site)

Now, the charismatic and somewhat larger-than-life leader of NinjaVideo, a young woman by the name of Phara,

how larger-than-life turns into begging-for-donations:

We need… NEED… legal sponsorship in addition to legal donation,” she pleads.
Perhaps it will be you who will see your home, dear lord, your home, ripped apart by THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.”
They are petrifying. PETRIFYING,” concludes Phrara. “And they are backed by Hollywood.
Lots. Lots and lots of money. There can be little doubt about that.

“Your prayers, your posts, your words, your art… your support in general is priceless. Unfortunately, in the world we live in, it will be your money that gives us a fighting chance. The former gives us the strength to close our eyes and take it one breath at a time, the latter gives us the opportunity to take that breath outside of a prison cell,”

anyways, these sites ('business companies') cannot expect the users to pay up for their lack of security (legal or other)

[SealLion]

No kidding.
Where on earth do companies expect users to make up for aforementioned company's lack of security details??

The way that streaming movie sites, much like any other type of business, have data base/security breaches occur is because companies ignore some of the most basic steps to protect any type of information.
Even personal information such as IP logs, that I am sure are taken by streaming movie sites, are breached by outsiders.

Let me make a guess about something else here:
An implementation of elementary security measures such as using encryption fro streaming was probably also not used.
But that's just my guess only.
Maybe it was.
I would tend to think that something like this would'nt be published, though and might be taken for granted that encryption is used for streaming.
Actually, I don't even know if encryption for streaming can be used (slows streaming down, perhaps, or poor film-streaming quality??)
But with the way technology is running, I think that encryption for streaming can be technically possible.


Albeit it was a streaming movie site, with the invasion of private information running amok through-and-through the internet, you would guess ( probably more so hope, rather than guess) that some kind of privacy element was in place.

Let alone a security measure being put into place.
Security measures that would enable the detection and blockage of an outside party such as the one being posed here from the quote.
Many breaches that are related to electronically stored data ( movies, films, IP logs,etc...etc....), is put at risk because information, even personal information is held in an electronic format that is either not secured or lacks some kind of adequate protection mechanism such as a firewall and an encryption method.

Now there's something else here as well and it pertains to system upgrades. And since we're talking about a streaming film site, an automated patch management would also do good ( This is only assuming that such a site did use automatic patch management....and I think that most do...though according to a survey I read on the internet that was done by Symantec earlier last year, automatic patch management is not always done) .
As a matter of fact, from what I read, an automatic patch management system isn't always used by business's. And this site is and can be technically called a business,yes??