Today in Madonna History: July 9, 2015

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On July 9 2015, Adi Lederman was sentenced to 14 months in prison for hacking Madonna’s song library and leaking early demos from her yet-to-be-released Rebel Heart album.

Under a plea bargain, Lederman confessed to computer trespassing and infringement of privacy and property rights.  Lederman was fined 15,000 shekels ($4,000 US dollars), in addition to his prison sentence.

The court released this statement:

“The ease with which crimes such as this can be committed by those who have skills in the field, such as the accused, require an appropriate punitive response that has a deterrent and uncompromising message.”

Madonna said the crime was an “invasion into my life – creatively, professionally and personally remains a deeply devastating and hurtful experience“.

Today in Madonna History: April 19, 2003

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On April 19 2003, Madonna.com was hacked by some “fans” that didn’t agree with her anti-download policy.

Madonna’s official website was hacked and replaced by a page with links to download the complete American Life album as well as some remixes. The hack occurred only days after Madonna tried to combat illegal trading of songs from her American Life album, by flooding the Internet with fake MP3s.

The hacker defaced the homepage with the words, “This is what the fuck I think I’m doing” — a response to MP3s circulated to confuse file traders that included only a tape-looped message from Madonna herself saying, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” MP3s of every song from American Life were posted along with the hackers’ message.

Madonna.com was taken offline for an nearly fifteen hours after the hack.