RIAA Accused of Extortion & Conspiracy 373
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The defendant in a Tampa, Florida, case, UMG v. Del Cid, has filed counterclaims accusing the RIAA record labels of conspiracy and extortion. The counterclaims (pdf) are for Trespass, Computer Fraud and Abuse (18 USC 1030), Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices (Fla. Stat. 501.201), Civil Extortion (CA Penal Code 519 & 523), and Civil Conspiracy involving (a) use of private investigators without license in violation of Fla. Stat. Chapter 493; (b) unauthorized access to a protected computer system, in interstate commerce, for the purpose of obtaining information in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1030 (a)(2)(C); (c) extortion in violation of Ca. Penal Code 519 and 523; and (d) knowingly collecting an unlawful consumer debt, and using abus[ive] means to do so, in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692a et seq. and Fla. Stat. 559.72 et seq."
About Time! (Score:5, Insightful)
Unlicensed private investigators... (Score:5, Insightful)
I do think that this should at least make the RIAA use legal and more robust techniques to win cases.
dont cheer yet (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:About Time! (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason this hasn't happened before ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Their supposed expert (actually he is an expert, just not on what he is testifying to) and their investigators only sound good until they are properly challenged. In other words they're only good enough to fool most of the victims and maybe a credulous judge.
Why are *AA logs worth anything? (Score:5, Insightful)
The RIAA waves a piece of paper and says "Look, at 11:28 on March 23rd 2007 Zaphod was making 'Stairway to Heaven' available for downloading on the Bittorrent network".
Zaphod: "Err, no, I wasn't."
RIAA: "Yes you did, we have a piece of paper!"
Zaphod: "Give me ten seconds and I can show you a piece of paper saying anything you like."
RIAA: "We have database logs and screenshots!"
Zaphod: "Give me five minutes with a computer and I'll show you database logs and screenshots of anything you like."
RIAA: "We have bizarrely detailed logs from your ISP showing that we downloaded a file from your computer at 11:29 on March 23rd 2007!."
Zaphod: "Yes, it was a picture of me buggering your mother."
RIAA: "..."
Really, I don't understand why the *AA's 'evidence' in these matters is relevant, let alone compelling. Do they have some sort of infallible tool for proving exactly what files Zaphod had on his computer?
Re:dont cheer yet (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:dont cheer yet (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Please... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Please... (Score:4, Insightful)
Having non-lawyers write laws will result in really poorly-written laws with plenty of loopholes. The law is like every other specialized field; it develops its own language for a reason.
Re:more likely to get struck by lightning (Score:4, Insightful)
Just because its rare, doesn't make it right. Murder, as it turns out, is pretty damn rare. Does that make murder right? If its right, it would become more common and suddenly, its wrong! Where does such logic lead?
Re:Why are *AA logs worth anything? (Score:2, Insightful)
Most of these cases end up before judges who have no idea how to turn a computer on, much less understand dynamic IP addresses, file-sharing, spyware, adware, wifi hacking, or any of the myriad factors that could provide doubt in a case like this.
Re:Why are *AA logs worth anything? (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's say my kids are out playing in my yard and they throw a ball and it breaks a window of your car. If you sued me you wouldn't have to prove they did it, just that it's likely that they did.
Re:The reason this hasn't happened before ... (Score:2, Insightful)
On the other hand, the odds are that they have pinpointed a fair few people who have downloaded music. I really dislike their tactics (suing customers? Great idea!) and we do like to bring up the 'suing grandmothers/10 year olds/dead people' thing here on
Does the punishment fit the crime? I wouldn't say so, and their machine gun-like attitude to lawsuits is nauseating. But still, they wouldn't be doing this if people weren't downloading.
The answer? Portable HDDs and sharing them around your with your friends
Re:This is music to my ears . . . (Score:3, Insightful)
And the define that as....?
I am sure there is a strict description of who this applies to.
op, sure enough:
http://www.pali.org/papdact.htm#sec12 [pali.org]
huh, what a crappy law. I don't even know how it stands up in court.
Sure, I wuoldn't hire one that wasn't liscensed or bonded, but that doesn't mean they should have to be bonded.
Based on the date of the law, I would wager this was created for some union influence.
Re:more likely to get struck by lightning (Score:5, Insightful)
Stop it, they don't apply to each other.
"...it should be legal to fire at targets in your back yard in a populated area?"
if the odds are that low to hit ANYBODY, then there would be nothing wrong with firing a gun in your backyard. Of course you would be paying for any property damage.
Re:No! (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe not. Unchecked exercise of power breeds arrogance and carelessness.
Re:dont cheer yet (Score:5, Insightful)
Still, it'll be fun to watch them crap their pants and try to settle with the person for megabucks. If they flinch, their extortion plans are all over, as getting hit with a lawsuit from them will be like winning the lottery.
Re:I don't think that I'm alone (Score:2, Insightful)
Perhaps a relevant quote will fit here...
"Well damn the man Joe... Damn the man."
Nephilium
Re:Please... (Score:1, Insightful)
Have you been paying ANY attention, troll? (Score:5, Insightful)
> How in the hell is legally protecting your rights by suing infringers who are distributing your copyrighted materials, and offering them a settlement to avoid court cases, an example of "Mafia tactics" or "protection money?"
They abuse court processes by:
* Doing things ex parte whenever possible, making sure that the other side never has a chance to be heard in court.
* Improper joinder of unrelated cases, for which they have been sanctioned in Texas. In spite of having been enjoined by the court, they have routinely ignored that ruling and simply avoided litigating in Texas.
* Unfair settlements. Although they have acknowledged in the press that they "occasionally" find innocent defendants, they pursue even their weakest cases in court until it's obvious they're going to lose. Then they try to get a dismissal without prejudice to avoid having to pay your legal fees. This means that you can either: a) Pay a ~$3,500 settlement or b) Pay a lawyer even more than that to represent you in court. If you're innocent, you end up paying no matter what. Yes, after a long and hard court battle, Debbie Foster *finally* won reasonable attorney's fees, but she's pretty much the only one so far. Usually, they cut & run and you're just out of luck and out of money.
In short, they do precious little to make sure that the people they sue are guilty, they torment anyone they sue in court (even going after your family if you prove to be innocent), and they twist every court rule they can get away with (hint: getting sanctioned & ignoring court orders is NOT something a reputable lawyer does).
So no, I'm not going to condone this "Won't someone please think of the poor RIAA!" crap when the RIAA come preaching this hypocritical holier than thou bit with respect to copyright law, only to turn around and ignore any laws or court orders that stand in their way.
Now please crawl back under whatever bridge you came out from under.
Re:The reason this hasn't happened before ... (Score:5, Insightful)
In truth, I think you're right about that. Peer-to-peer served to get massive collections of music into the hands of, well, the masses. Now there are millions upon millions of 50+ Gb private stashes out there. The biggest threat the music industry is facing is the large, portable hard drive
Sneakernet isn't dead: it just got bigger guns.
Re: storing the balance (Score:5, Insightful)
Ya, a copyright infringement website defends copyright infringement. Who'd've thought. also, this lesson has been learned before [techdirt.com].
Besides, I AM an artist. If I were signed with a label/distribution company/other organ, I would make >10 per unit sold. I much prefer that people burn or download my album, then buy me a beer. I get more out of it that way.
Also, 15,010 angry nerds can't be wrong. http://consumerist.com/consumer/worst-company-in-
[/rebuttal] Okay, fair point, the RIAA are just doing their job. We'll disregard for the moment it's a job that doesn't need to be done. In this case, the only thing the RIAA are guilty of is boundless enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the low-income single mothers on the receiving end of the lawsuits don't see it that way.
Okay, I've lost the thread of my argument, so I'm just going to say what I originally intended to say.
Clearchannel.
Money talks. Independent labels can't afford to get music on the radio in America, because they don't have the resource to buy the airtime or lobby the execs. The internet is their only hope. The RIAA, as far as I can work out, is accidentally crushing independent artists while they're going after the roaches. So, sure. Blame the RIAA-haters for depriving artists who already have record labels, have a valid form of income. I'll keep blaming the RIAA for keeping the little guy down with its' clumsy antics.
Re:About Time! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:dont cheer yet (Score:5, Insightful)
*shrug*
Seen it happen before, will happen again. Gee.
The ISP only knows who owns the account! (Score:1, Insightful)
The ONLY evidence the RIAA & co. get from the ISP is that John Doe owned the account to which IP x.x.x.x was assigned at some particular time. The rest is trivial to fake or even just screw up, especially when all I have to do is take screenshots of a secret program I wrote myself to catch infringers. And no, you can't have a copy to defend yourself. I'll let you depose someone who doesn't know anything about it, or about much of anything else, instead. That's fair, right?
Ooh, would you look at that! Fake Evidence Generator 1.0b just detected child pornography and terrorist training manuals coming from RIAA.com and MPAA.com. Where do I send the screenshots?
new US laws. (Score:3, Insightful)
my main concern is the RIAA/MPAA getting new laws passed that would be similar to a criminal version of the DMCA. Here in the US it seems you can buy -almost- any law you want, even if it will get overturned by a court later and tore down by organizations like the EFF. It will still be in effect long enough to do quite a bit of damage.
see: Gonzales proposes new crime: 'Attempted' copyright infringement [com.com] May 15, 2007 - stuff like this, even a lot lesser version of it is what bothers me.
Texas Sanctions (Score:2, Insightful)
It's a big state. Not everyone in it can be a jerk
Anyhow, ironically, the court was mad at them because they were defrauding the state of the proper filing fees by trying to get a "30 cases for the price of 1" type deal. I don't know the actual number of unrelated cases slapped together, but that at least gives you the idea.
I wonder if any lawyers challenging the John Doe cases have used that argument? Of course, the whole point of using the quickly dropped John Doe cases is to get discovery without anyone having a chance to respond, so damn few of them *have* been challenged in any meaningful way...
Re: storing the balance (Score:2, Insightful)
I doubt that it is accidental, at least not completely. But otherwise your point stands.
US System of Justice (Score:3, Insightful)
This article is a breath of fresh air. It is about time that the small guy takes it to the man.
The RIAA is a justice bully that is using the flawed system to protect their supposed turf, and has picked on the wrong person yet again.
The US Supreme court needs to step in and finally smack those bastards to their knees. The RIAA is not protecting the artists or the consumers -- they are a bloated association with ulterior motives that protect nothing other than their own interests and need to be given a severe reality check.
As a Canadian with different rights -- I will watch in amusement -- the US electorate needs to make this an issue, for fear of having the rest of the US Justice system undermined. The RIAA is way too big for its own britches. I hope they get cut down to the level they should be at (which is merely an association that represents the artists that make the money for the industry). Even the artists that they supposedly represent complain about them.
So what is wrong with this picture? Come on you Americans -- lobby your congress person on behalf of the artists -- the RIAA is a bully. We don't allow bullying in our schools or our workplaces. Why allow it in your marketplace?
Re:Have you been paying ANY attention, troll? (Score:2, Insightful)
Great response.
I'll just add a nod to Lessig's Free Culture [free-culture.cc] : when the RIAA and other media groups allow things to enter public domain (as they every 20 years for our country's first few hundred years), I'll start considering file-sharing as theft.
Until then its just a digital tea party.
Re:Please... (Score:2, Insightful)
The Justice System is concerned with the application of the strict letter of the law, and nothing more than that.
Re:What the FUCK?! (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:About Time! (Score:4, Insightful)
Fixed
Re:About Time! (Score:3, Insightful)
Then inform them that they just violated copyright.
Mebbe then it will sink in.