FTC Shuts Porn ISP

[Albert Hidel]

Some things to consider the next time you log in to a "discussion" board that is owned and operated by a gay boy pornographer.  Could your computer be compromised by malicious code to conduct illegal activity?

Quote:FTC Sues, Shuts Down N. Calif. Web Hosting Firm

In an unprecedented move, the Federal Trade Commission has taken legal steps to shut down a Web hosting provider in Northern California that the agency says was directly involved in managing massive global spam operations.

Sometime on Tuesday, more than 15,000 Web sites connected to San Jose, Calif., based Triple Fiber Network (3FN.net) went dark. 3FN's sites were disconnected after a Northern California district court judge approved an FTC request to have the company's upstream Internet providers stop routing traffic for the provider.

In its civil complaint, the FTC names 3FN and its various monikers, including Pricewert LLC -- the business entity named on the 3fn.net Web site registration records. The FTC alleges that Pricewert/3FN operates as a "'rogue' or 'black hat' Internet service provider that recruits, knowingly hosts, and actively participates in the distribution of illegal, malicious, and harmful content," including botnet control servers, child pornography and rogue antivirus products. 3FN also operates by the names APS Telecom and APX Telecom.

In an interview with Security Fix, FTC Chairman Jonathan Leibowitz said the agency's action targets one of the Web's worst actors.

"Anything bad on the Internet, they were involved in it," Leibowitz said. "We're very proud, because in one fell swoop we've gone after a big facilitator of some of the utterly worst conduct."

The FTC chairman confirmed that this was the first time the agency had sought and been granted an order to shut down an Internet service provider.

Efforts to contact 3FN via phone, instant message and e-mail were unsuccessful. I will update this post in the event I hear back from them.

The FTC alleges that even though Pricewert officially is registered in Oregon, its principals and staff are located outside of the United States.

"Pricewert markets its services to domestic and overseas criminals by placing ads in the darkest corners of the Internet, including forums set up to facilitate communication between criminals," the FTC complaint said. (The image on the right is a screen shot of an ad for 3FN's services I found running on verified.ru, one of the busiest Russian online forums dedicated to identity theft and the sale of stolen identities).

"Pricewert hosts very little legitimate content and vast quantities of illegal, malicious, and harmful content, including child pornography, botnet command and control servers, spyware, viruses, trojans, phishing related sites, illegal online pharmacies, investment and other Web-based scams, and pornography featuring violence, bestiality, and incest," the FTC said.

The FTC also said that not only was 3FN hosting sites promoting illegal activities, but that its owners and operators were directly facilitating and brokering those businesses. The commission references several Internet chat logs in which the head of programming for Pricewert/3FN is observed directly participating in the creation and configuration of a botnet.

"The customer informs Pricewert that he controls 200,000 bots and needs assistance configuring the botnet. The head of Pricewert's Programming Department agrees to assist, but complains upon learning of the size of the botnet that it will require a lot of work," the FTC's complaint alleges.

Botnet experts I have spoken with over the past eight months have found that 3FN housed many of the command and control networks for "Cutwail," one of the world's largest spam botnets. As late as mid-April, Joe Stewart, a botnet expert and director of malware research at SecureWorks, tracked nearly a dozen Cutwail control networks hosted at 3FN.

Indeed, in February, Security Fix began tracking malware samples from Cutwail and its cousin Pushdo that traced back to 3FN, dating back to at least October 2008. These reports were listed at ThreatExpert.com. A copy of that record -- with citations from malware analysis reports is available at this link here (Microsoft Excel document) or in HTML format. The Internet addresses colored yellow in those charts belong to 3FN.

Among the most popular sites on 3FN's hosting servers was botmaster.net, the home of an extremely popular service and software product used to blast out massive amounts of blog comment spam.

Mark Rasch, a former cyber crime prosecutor for the Justice Department and a principal at the Arlington, Va., based Internet Law Group, said the FTC's authority gives it the power to shut down companies that appear to be engaged in unfair and deceptive practices, whereas criminal law enforcement agencies have a much higher standard for proving wrongdoing in order to convince a court to shut down an ISP.

"It could be that other law enforcement organizations are using the FTC as a front in order to obtain evidence for later criminal prosecutions," Rasch said. "What's interesting about that approach is that in order for these guys to get out from under this court order, they're going to have to show that they've taken steps to clean up their act. But if there is a criminal investigation ongoing against 3FN, then anything their operators say in trying to convince a court to lift the order can and will be used against them later."

The FTC's Leibowitz declined to say whether other law enforcement agencies were investigating 3FN, but said his agency was assisted by several organizations, including: cyber investigators at NASA; Spamhaus; The Shadowserver Foundation; the University of Alabama at Birmingham; The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; and Symantec Corp.,

Interestingly, the Russian blogosphere is beginning to light up about 3FN's closure. This blog post notes that large numbers of 3FN customers were forced to move their sites to other providers. Meanwhile, the 3FN operators are telling customers that they will be back online in another location within hours or days.

Christopher Barton, lead research scientist at McAfee, said a number of 3FN domain name servers already have popped up at new locations online.

"The rats are running," Barton said.

Leibowitz said his agency would continue to pursue other ISPs that "provide a haven for Internet criminals."

"This is a signal that we're going to go after you, and you're not going to be able to hide behind the shroud of the Internet and be immune from enforcement action," Leibowitz said.

A signed copy of the FTC's complaint is available here (PDF).

[Martin Eisenstadt]

Albert Hidel Wrote:Some things to consider the next time you log in to a "discussion" board that is owned and operated by a gay boy pornographer.  Could your computer be compromised by malicious code to conduct illegal activity?

There is just no honor among perverts any more.  Remember that the keystone of Chip's gay boy porn empire (or should I say, the "twink link") is Media Resource Communications (MRC).   All the numbnuts who post at degreeinfo.com ought to feel proud knowing they are participating in the same deviant enterprise that runs things like "Boyfunk" and "Cuteboyvideos."  

Quote:18 West Studios Sues Distributor Pacific Sun for Fraud

Parent company, Roseville, Calif.-based MRC, seeks $22,000
By Slav Kandyba

Monday, Sep 29, 2008

CHATSWORTH, Calif. — In a lawsuit filed Friday, 18 West Studios alleged distributor Pacific Sun Entertainment committed fraud by falsifying sales figures.

The alleged fraud occurred in 2006, when Pacific Sun was under different ownership, said Chad L. Belville, an attorney representing MRC. The lawsuit was filed in L.A. Superior Court’s North Valley District and seeks more than $22,000 in restitution.

18 West Studios is owned by Roseville, Calif.-based Media Resource Communications Inc. The studio, one of several MRC properties, specializes in producing DVDs that have "exceptionally cute American twink models, 18-20, in solo and hardcore action," according to a company statement. MRC also operates membership websites, including BoyFunk.com and CuteBoyVideos.com. [and Degreeinfo.com]

"After initially indicating a willingness to work with us to settle this debt, Pacific Sun, probably realizing how much was actually owed, started a series of conflicting explanations, excuses and delaying tactics. Even after we worked extensively with their accountant, verified with her that all product we had invoiced had been marked as received in their accounting system, and resolved other discrepancies in their bookkeeping, all we got was a continuous stream of constantly changing excuses," MRC President A.J. Braden said in a company statement. "Filing suit was the last thing we wanted to pursue, but since Pacific Sun showed litte interest in actually coming to terms and resolving the issue, we were left with no choice."

Pacific Sun manager Pritam Sinha, one of the named defendants, told XBIZ he had not seen the lawsuit.

“Our response, according to our books and the previous owner, is that we don’t owe them anything,” said Sinha, adding that he started working for Pacific Sun in February.

“[Pacific Sun] claimed to have returned units at the domestic rate that were ordered at the lower international rate in numbers that could not have occurred, shorting [MRC] by thousands of dollars,” the lawsuit alleges.

After MRC contacted Pacific Sun, Saeed Sardan, also a named defendant, admitted that records were deleted and raised the possibility something wasn’t right.

“Lots of records seem to have been deleted by Motti [a previous officer at the company]. One more thing I would like to add [is] you are not the only person screwed by Motti. There’s a big list.”

MRC “discovered that discrepancies existed between the number of units [Pacific Sun] acknowledged as received, the number of units [Pacific Sun] claim to have returned, and the mix of units sent to the various retail outlets,” according to documents obtained by XBIZ.

MRC hasn’t distributed its titles through Pacific Sun since 2006, Belville said.

“Anyone that has done business with them should review their records,” he said.

[Martin Eisenstadt]

In case law enforcement agencies working in conjunction with the FTC are looking for more pervert porn sites to squash like filthy cockroaches, here's a little more info on the "twink link" masquerading as a discussion board:

http://www.who.is/whois/degreeinfo.com/

Quote:DEGREEINFO.COM SITE INFORMATION
    
IP: 66.115.174.101
IP Location: Atlanta, United States
Website Status: active
Server Type: Apache/2.2.3 (Debian) PHP/5.2.0-8+etch11
Alexa Trend/Rank:  1 Month: 141,594    3 Month: 159,268
Page Views per Visit:  1 Month: 7.0    3 Month: 5.4

http://www.who.is/whois/boyfunk.com/

Quote:BOYFUNK.COM SITE INFORMATION

IP: 66.115.174.102
IP Location: Atlanta, United States
Website Status: active
Server Type: Microsoft-IIS/5.0
Alexa Trend/Rank:  1 Month: 581,633    3 Month: 571,549
Page Views per Visit:  1 Month: 3.5    3 Month: 4.0

http://www.who.is/whois/cuteboyvideos.com/

Quote:CUTEBOYVIDEOS.COM SITE INFORMATION
    
IP: 66.115.174.102
IP Location: Atlanta, United States
Website Status: active
Server Type: Microsoft-IIS/5.0

[Armando Ramos]

Quote:MRC President A.J. Braden said in a company statement.

Try not to puke on your keyboard.  You would think these important corporate execs could afford at least one shirt between them.
Portfolio of AJ Braden


Hey Guys! It's Skyler

Quote:Heroes AJ Braden and Chip White... the best business partners to have!
...
You can see more of my work at http://www.boyfunk.com , http://www.boysfeetclub.com , and you can purchase DVDs at http://www.ajscloset.com or at your local adult store :-p ... check out Twink Tails! It's my first DVD. . I've been in a few more too... Sticky Situations, Twink Temptations, Ready or Not Here I Cum.
...
Hometown: Southwest Michigan  

Southwest Michigan?  Maybe Janko was trying to toss this poor lad a shirt when he rolled his Yugo.

How many of those on these perverts' friends lists also post at degreeinfo?  How many work for the Quincy PD?

[Martin Eisenstadt]

Armando Ramos Wrote:Try not to puke on your keyboard. 

MRC shows an address at 1380 Lead Hill Blvd, Roseville, CA.

I wonder who else shares that address?

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

US Defense Contract Management

Newcastle Elementary School District‎

U S Government Dept of Defense: Defense Contract Management Office‎

US Probation Office‎

U S Government Air Force Dept of Recruiting Station‎

U S Government: Doolittle John T Congressman 4th District Congress‎

Do you suppose any of these almighty bureaucrats and dedicated public servants knows he shares a facility with a gay boy porn empire?

[ham]

Quote:[quote]It's my first DVD. I've been in a few more too... Sticky Situations, Twink Temptations, Ready or Not Here I Cum.

Hey righteous Tom T. at degreeinfo!
Now THERE is something for your shopping basket next time you visit the video store...don't be shy...do your guru and webmaster a favor, Tom! You can bury the 'sinful indulgence DVD' under the BIG BOOK, a retrospective on Reaganomics, the tirade of some televangelist...it'll be your little secret Tom...Great people your friends, Tom...

[Don Dresden]

Martin Eisenstadt Wrote:Do you suppose any of these almighty bureaucrats and dedicated public servants knows he shares a facility with a gay boy porn empire?

Another classic example of government at work.  A porn empire being operated right under their noses and they sit on their fat asses eating donuts and harassing decent people.

Obama is going to nationalize health care and nationalize auto companies and nationalize everything else he can think of, and it's all going to work just like the post office.  A bunch of union slugs leaning on shovels and drinking coffee and doing nothing productive.  

Remember that scene in "Goodfellas" when the mob took over the restaurant, and the trucks were delivering stuff in the front and the gangsters were stealing it out the back?  This is how government runs things.  The tax money they stole from you goes in the front door and the politicians and union goons loot it out the back.  

[Geoff Vankirk]

With all the talk about Chip, degreeinfo and his gay porn empire, I was wondering if Chip has ever admitted to being a fag publicly? He certainly sounds like one online. I can't imagine that he is straight given his "adult media interests" and all the homos that he associates with but IIRC he's not out in the open like gay trucker Steve Levicoff.

[ham]

Geoff Vankirk Wrote:With all the talk about Chip, degreeinfo and his gay porn empire, I was wondering if Chip has ever admitted to being a fag publicly? He certainly sounds like one online. I can't imagine that he is straight given his "adult media interests" and all the homos that he associates with but IIRC he's not out in the open like gay trucker Steve Levicoff.

http://www.dltruth.com/showthread.php?tid=41

His webpage time ago stated he was looking for MISTER right...maybe in order to travel to Spain to get married...

Groups Thomas Chip White belonged according to a version of his webpage archived here:

Quote:R-C-P, Gay NorCal
Boys, Hot Guys With
Hot Bodies, Fuckin Hot
Guys, Hot guys w/
pics, Gay God ♥ Fan
Club, Gay Buddhism
and Spirituality

[Don Dresden]

Geoff Vankirk Wrote:With all the talk about Chip, degreeinfo and his gay porn empire, I was wondering if Chip has ever admitted to being a fag publicly?

Chip, Contreras, and Levicoff have publicly admitted that they are fags.  That's why we feel free to call them fags, deviants, perverts, etc.  They are.  There's a reason why this place is called DL Truth.