MPAA sets up fake P2P site to lure pirates

Media Defender, the company in charge of tracking down illegal file sharers for groups like the MPAA and RIAA, has been caught attempting to lure file sharers to a dummy download site that installs spyware on their PCs.

MiiVi.com, like many other torrent sites, offered links to download pirated movies along with forums for debate and "fast and easy video downloading all in one great site". Of course, once someone logged into the site, the MPAA would record the sharers IP address and activity, leaving users open to legal action. Furthermore, the site offered a software client to supposedly speed up downloads, though it actually searched users’ computers for other copyrighted files to report back to the MPAA.

Using a WHOIS domain lookup showed that MiiVi.com was registered with Media Defender’s California address, however, shortly after the news spread the site was overwhelmed with traffic and taken down. It remains unclear how much information the group managed to gather, but the domain has been registered for nearly five months.