The MPAA, so used to suing file-swapping networks and BitTorrent search engines, now finds the tables turned. Torrentspy has just filed a lawsuit against the MPAA, accusing the group of conspiracy, unlawful business practices, misappropriation of trade secrets, violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, and more.

Torrentspy alleges (PDF) that the MPAA hired a hacker to retrieve private information from Torrentspy servers and from the private e-mail accounts of the company's management. The complaint alleges that a man named Dean Garfield offered a hacker US$15,000 to retrieve the information for the MPAA, telling the hacker that "we don't care how you get it" (p. 5). After accepting the assignment, the hacker allegedly broke into Torrentspy servers and retrieved the following items:

a. A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet containing Torrentspy.com income and expenses from January through June 2005; b. Private emails of Torrentspy.com/Valence Media principals and employees, including (without limitation) a Valence Media principal's residential utility bill, showing his home address; insertion orders for client advertising orders on the Torrentspy.com website; and other personal, private and confidential information belonging to Plaintiffs; c. Graphic file pictures, or "screenshots," of Torrentspy.com computer servers, revealing information about Torrentspy.com servers and operations, including (without limitation) Internet Protocol ("IP") addresses, names, file architecture, indexing of torrent files, and other confidential Torrentspy.com business information and trade secrets; d. A file containing a list of Torrentspy.com servers and confidential information related to such servers; e. Torrentspy.com client bills, billing information and other Torrentspy.com business information and trade secrets.

The complaint says that the information was then turned over to the MPAA in July of 2005, at which time the organization transferred US$15,000 into the hacker's bank account. The hacker was told that his information had "been extremely useful."

Now comes what is perhaps the most bizarre allegation in the lawsuit: the MPAA "planned to hire private investigators to comb through the trash of Plaintiff Justin Bunnell and other individuals associated with Valence Media and Torrentspy.com" (p. 7). The hacker helped the group find a private investigator willing to do such a thankless job, and the suit alleges that Torrentspy's trash was in fact examined. Unfortunately, there's no information on what this dumpster diving may have turned up.

This brings us to the question of how Torrentspy knows all of this information. The lawsuit claims that the hacker was a former business associate of Justin Bunnell. Though he agreed to do the hacking, he eventually had a change of heart (after receiving the money, apparently) and went to Torrentspy's management and confessed what he had been up to. The man's testimony forms the basis of the lawsuit, but it's worth pointing out that the MPAA has denied the allegations.

This isn't the first time that the MPAA has found its actions under scrutiny. The group was accused earlier this year of making copies of a critical documentary without permission, and it has also had a habit of filing lawsuits first and asking questions later. They've also not been above a bit of well-placed hyperbole, arguing that counterfeit DVDs are "the new drug on the street."

Still, the group shows no sign of backing down from its aggressive anti-piracy tactics, and it has recently added some new ones to its arsenal. One of its recent initiatives is a UK partnership that trains dogs to sniff out DVDs. "Lucky" and "Flo" have been hard at work at Stansted Airport in London, trying to sniff out batches of counterfeit DVDs in packages. No word yet on when the dogs will be ready to sniff your computer for those telltale whiffs of copyrighted material.