Michael Bravin Charged with email hacking!

[Bill Anderson]

I'm shaking just reading this thread, I can't begin to imagine how Jim's feeling.

 

[Paul Nordin]

I'm shaking just reading this thread, I can't begin to imagine how Jim's feeling.

Life is filled with choices. My Choice: Arri is on permanent probation from me until the fact are all out on the table.

Today I switched an order from an MB20-II & FF4, to an O-Box, CFF-1, & Ogrips. O-Box may not have exactly the same capabilities, but I'll make due.

I may still shoot with an Alexa if its required. But for now, I'm not going to buy Arri.

 

[Brent J. Craig]

I just un-friended them on Facebook.

Before you unfriend Arri, post a message calling them out on this: http://www.facebook.com/TeamARRI

I did.

 

[Emanuel A.]

I'm feeling for you Jim. This is a good indication of how much RED is shaking things up.

Right. Not everything is bad news after all

 

[Emanuel A.]

That's a shame.

I hope this is an individual's mistake instead of the corporate entity.

Same feeling here, though (E.

 

[AnthonyFlores]

Only time and details will tell. But Arri's statement on Gizmodo suggests confidence that their company won't be implicated in these charges. But who knows ... we have so little real facts about the case.

I know Jim said he would move it to Recon, but then again, this is a very serious matter with future legal implications ... so I'm sure his excellent legal council has advised him on a direction and whatever he shares will depend on their recommendations.

Lawyers tend to error on being conservative, so he may have already shared more than his lawyers want him to, and we might have to wait for more charges or some sort of public resolution. It's riveting drama, but there's a lot of real and innocent people affected here for me to consider this "entertainment" ... including Red's wonderful, hard-working team, those at Bandpro, unknowing members of Arri's organization, and of course all the customers of both brands.

I know it's tough not to speculate -- probably impossible for some -- but hope people can wait until more facts/info is officially released, because we clearly don't have enough to draw meaningful conclusions from at this point.

 

[Milton Loo]

Same feeling here, though (E.

Heh. Well I'm not acquainted with Mr Bravin although I'm sure he's a nice fellow.

Arri on the other hand, I'm quite familiar with their products and have been using them for awhile. Arri for me has always symbolized quality. The first 'real cinema camera I ever picked up was an Arri 16SR2. I'll hate to have to reevaluate my opinion of the company. That said, due to the contentious nature of this news, I'll shut up now lol.

 

[Emanuel A.]

Arri itself on gizmodo's entry:

«This is an absolutely wrong statement and I request that this article will be retracted or corrected.

Our company ARRI is not, and has never been part of the investigation. Michael Bravin acted alone and on his own initiative.

ARRI has a long history of quality, service and integrity in the motion picture industry.

I would ask you to give this issue immediate attention.»

http://gizmodo.com/5843213/camera-powerhouse-arri-hacked-rivals

 

[Pawel Achtel]

Maybe we don't know all there is to this.

I don't believe that JJ was sending detailed technical info to Amnon or anyone else who wasn't part of RED.

Maybe MB pleaded guilty to draw a line under it all as he can't afford the lawyers that others can.

Maybe a deliberate trap was involved.

Maybe we should all just wait to see what happens and what comes out in the fullness of time.

These were my inititial thought exactly, but then...

After Jim's comments and thinking about the potential motives, I have a feeling that this is more serious than it looks on the surface.

What would motivate Bravin? His own personal hobby project? I doubt it.

In business, confidential and heavily guarded information is the product features, specs, agreements, marketing strategy, pricing, release dates...much more valuable than technical information.....all likely to have been communicated between Band Pro and RED.

In business it is more important to make decisions on what product to make and when rather than how.

This is terrible news. I can only hope that it is resolved sooner rather than later.

 

[Jonathan Stevenson]

What would motivate Bravin? His own personal hobby project? I doubt it.

I don't think Arri would ever take any responsibility for anything that happened. In Mission Impossible terms, Bravin has probably been disavowed... So, even if they did motivate it all, he'll take 100% of the fall.

 

[Paul Nordin]

I really hate speculating. BUT, its most likely that whomever was benefiting from M.Brevin's intel was not actively ordering it. More likely, there was some sort of a don't ask-don't tell at play. "thanks for the info, but I don't want to know where you got it"

Still doesn't obsolve guilt in my mind.

 

[Jeff Coatney]

This is really sad. I hope Michael will cope well behind bars, its really disappointing that this whole affair has damaged the integrity of one of Hollywood's most respected companies. The exposure some of the players in this drama face in civil damages is huge. This will be interesting to watch...

 

[Scott Crawley]

:wink:

You know I think he could be The Guy.

 

[Pawel Achtel]

I don't think Arri would ever take any responsibility for anything that happened. In Mission Impossible terms, Bravin has probably been disavowed... So, even if they did motivate it all, he'll take 100% of the fall.

I can't preditct what will happen or guess what did happen, just that the circumstances surrounding the crime were very specific. At the time Bravin was holding a senior management position. The crime appears relevant to the business. And the business was ARRI, whether the directors knew or not it may not matter, I don't know. But, he was given full confidence of the directors of ARRI to perform that role. And, this is very unfortunate.

Again, I don't know the details, just speculating, but the more I think about it the more messy the whole thing looks to me. It's very sad.

 

[Jeff Coatney]

Its a stretch to assume that Michael would engage in such risky behavior and not use it to the benefit of his principle benefactor (with or without their knowledge ) to ensure his position. Despite Arri's vehement denials, when Federal agents raid your domicile- you are a de facto part of the investigation, although not necessarily involved on a criminal level- they may even be the ones that uncovered it and alerted the feds. On a civil basis, its pretty clear that there is much they have to explain to someone. I'm sure the details of the next chapter in this saga will be... fascinating... to say the least.

 

[charles lim yi yong]

lol i thought Arri .

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

Hmm ARRI says they are not involved in this investigation.. But ARRI'S offices were raided along with Bravin's home.. Bravin works for ARRI during hacking...

All very interesting. I do not feel this is over by a long shot.

130 with no losses.. We could be coming up to 131

Jay

 

[Ricardo Moreno]

Whatever ARRI involved or not. The damage, the pain and the violation are already done.
It does not matter.
Besides It would be very difficult to prove that ARRI took advantage of this situation and to quantify the damages.

The sad part, this criminal was only sent to jail for two months, which must likely will be out in one, with a fine of 5K.

I am a RED Filmmaker since 2007, almost 4 years ago. I have witnessed the struggle, the process and the dedication of the RED team.
This situation makes me very sad. For some reason I feel violated as well. Hard to explain.

 

[Marc Fisher]

...Let's put it simple, even though ARRI did not ask Bravin to do what he did...

Speculation ?

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Your comment is the very definition of hyperbole.

I would have defined it as satire but I'll accept hyperbole.

My point is everyone here is taking a serious but relatively minor criminal offense: reading your ex-boss's email. And extracting pretty grand conspiracy theories. Now, maybe this was a master plan hatched by Arri to get the goods on RED and Sony but... I just don't see such Machiavellian intentions or even a way to profit.

I'm not even entirely sure how much Arri could gain from reading the correspondances between Mr Band and various companies. In the plea Band Pro claimed "At least $5k in damages". That's not exactly a hard hitting penalty. And let's not forget that Bravin worked for Band Pro for 15 years and then spied on his former employer for 6 months. How much could he have possibly gleaned from 6 months that he hadn't already been privy to 6 months prior?

My impression was that Michael was mostly in a marketing and sales position at Arri. Even if there was technical information in emails how would that have benefited him? And Alexa was probably 90% finished by the time he joined, so it's not like he was feeding design ideas. It's unfair to all of the engineers and hundreds of upright employees of ARRI to discredit all of their work because of one bad apple.

I still stick by my old view. Guy quits and for 6 months reads his ex-boss's email and then stops. Sounds more like a stalkery ex-boyfriend than someone methodically trying to steal trade secrets. But who knows... (Nobody knows yet) so I like to give people the benefit of the doubt before decrying them an evil genius bent on world domination.

Then again this is REDUser where forgetting to mention RED in any news article on the film industry "means the author is clearly being bribed by Sony to cover-up the redvolution" so I'm actually surprised by the subdued nature of the response to a real conspiracy haha.

I never heard what happened to that first EPIC. Did that crime ever get solved?

It was stolen. Probably because it was big, shiny and expensive looking.

Sidenote: I don't own Straightface Studios, I just work the wheels and levers. (Side Sidenote: Straightface doesn't actually use wheels and levers, that was also a metaphor.)