Warner Bros looks to turn students into pirate spies

"I'd like to apply for the anti-piracy job. Do you have any issues employing someone with a peg-leg?"
"I'd like to apply for the anti-piracy job. Do you have any issues employing someone with a peg-leg?"

Warner Bros is actively recruiting students to spy on illegal downloaders, with the film distributor advertising the role at Manchester University.

The official job title is Anti-Piracy Intern and comes with a 12-month contract. The job will help Warner Bros in its crusade to rid the web of pirated material and will involve the 'monitoring' of file-sharing sites and reporting back any findings.

Anti-pirate's life for me

The Intern will also be expected to "prepare sending of infringement notices and logging feedback" and "inputting pirate hard goods data and other intelligence into the forensics database" – both duties sure to send a shiver down any pirate's back, who thinks they can download in the comfort of their own home without fear of being caught.

If you do feel like you want this job – which is likely to make you a lot of enemies within the student community – and are computer literate in Java or JSP and PHP, then you only have until 30 March to apply.

If successful, you will be paid £17,500 for your snooping.

As per usual, TorrentFreak has put its own unique spin on the job, asking its reader to apply to "provide us with regular updates on Warner Bros' anti-piracy efforts".

You've got to admire the site's bravado.

Via Gizmodo

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.