Warner Bros UK, as one of the largest subsidiaries of one of the world’s biggest entertainment groups, is trying a new tack in their losing battle against music, film and television piracy. They’re employing a computing student to spy on people using file sharing sites and message boards. Advertised on the University of Manchester’s jobs website for a position based in London, the supergrass will be paid £17,500 ($A29,000) for the 12 month contract.
According to the ad, the lucky student who gets to do Warner Bros’ dirty work will be expected to lurk on IRC and message boards, using ‘honeypot’ style ploys to trap purchases of illegal material, to issue copyright infringement notices, report file swapping and even to deploy automated bots that scan for pirated files.
Ideally they’re looking for people studying computer degrees, with FTP and IRC experience, as well as experience in ‘newsgroups’, ‘web forums’ and ‘peer protocols’. While this is all experience that just about any 18 year old would have, they’re clearly a bit misguided if they think your average 18 year old hasn’t already illegally downloaded the new MGMT album and has heard it more times than the people at their record label, Columbia.
Torrentfreak is already on to them, and is hosting a copy of the job ad here http://torrentfreak.com/static/WBAP-vac.PDF in the hope that Warner Bros end up employing a Trojan Horse who will spy on the spies.
