The music and movie industries are lobbying state legislators for permission to deceive when pursuing suspected pirates.
The California Senate is considering a bill that would strengthen state privacy laws by banning the use of false statements and other misleading practices to get personal information. The tactic, known as pretexting, created a firestorm of criticism when detectives hired by Hewlett-Packard Co. used it last year to obtain phone records of board members, journalists and critics.
But the Recording Industry Assn. of America and the Motion Picture Assn. of America say they sometimes need to use subterfuge as they pursue bootleggers in flea markets and on the Internet.
In recent letters to state Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), the trade groups said the proposed legislation was written too broadly and could undermine anti-piracy efforts. They said investigators sometimes pose as someone else to obtain bootlegged CDs or movies and to break into online piracy rings.
“Basically, we want criminals to feel comfortable that who they’re dealing with is probably some other criminal and let us in on what’s going on,” said Brad Buckles, the RIAA’s executive vice president for anti-piracy. “We’re not talking about trying to go in and get customer information. In no case have we ever tried to do that.”
The RIAA proposed changes to the piracy bill that raised alarms among consumer advocates. The trade group asked that any owner of a copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret be able to use “pretexting or other investigative techniques to obtain personal information about a customer or employee” when seeking to enforce intellectual property rights.
“I don’t see why the recording industry shouldn’t have to follow the same laws that everyone else follows,” said Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group in San Francisco. “It appears they want to make the loophole so big that nobody else has to follow the law, either.”
Why don’t they just call the cops instead of acting like them. If I took the law into my own hands, I would be charged and convicted.
“They said investigators sometimes pose as someone else to obtain bootlegged CDs or movies and to break into online piracy rings.”
I don’t see a difference between this and an undercover cop buying drugs off of a drug dealer and then arresting them. As long as they keep it to this only then I don’t see a problem
3. “I don’t see a difference between this and an undercover cop buying drugs off of a drug dealer and then arresting them.”
You don’t see the difference between the RIAA and the MPAA, both private and secret organizations devoted to protect corporate interests, with a public state agency such as the police?! God, maybe you should open your eyes, just a little bit.
My point was more to the fact that if your not selling these for these guys to approach you posing as someone looking to buy pirated materials then why should it bother you what methods they use to catch people selling it?
Now if they started doing this just to arrest the average person that only downloads for them to watch in there home well then that would be a different story all together.
#5,
Now if they started doing this just to arrest the average person …
Now you are starting to catch on.
The police are responsible to US, the voters and the courts. Private organizations aren’t.
One does not need to “steal” personal information to buy bootleg CDs.
If they lie it is called “pretexting”.
If I lie, it is called identity theft and fraud.
What a cute “2 systems” world.
How about let’s drop the world pretexting and just use the word “fraud” instead of trying to alter what this really is.
In the name of all that is profitable and selling.
In the holy scriptures we call law it should clearly state:
The MPAA and RIAA should have the ability, no I mean the right to treat all American consumers as the worthless with-holders of corporate profits, those keep it in the wallet/bank fools.
Companies should have the ability, no the right to lie, cheat and steal. How else can publicly traded companies make Wall Street pleasing profits margins.
We will fight those worthless with-holders of corporate profits, we shall fight them on the beaches. … we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we will fight them.
And once we have profited, how dare your government (what a joke, you vote the lamest people into office) even think about an estate tax, ah I meant death tax or any other tax for that matter.
It’s not your money, it’s our. We do not nor shall provide the community anything worthy of your servitude, and we don’t need too. EAT THAT AMERICA, the new third rate country in the world!
Corporate American is your bitch-master, shut up, work and buy. American idiots, that is all you exist for.
“We’re not talking about trying to go in and get customer information. In no case have we ever tried to do that.”
Uh….
The trade group asked that any owner of a copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret be able to use “pretexting or other investigative techniques…”
“Or other techniques”? Is it just me or does that seem way too vague?
…to break into online piracy rings.
thats what they’re calling Limewire now?
Not co,pletely off-topic dept, it seems John C Dvorak has made it into the comic section now.
http://tinyurl.com/2ktwt4
#6. Indeed. The RIAA are a bunch of vigilantes, quite a difference from undercover cops. It would be great to see a RICO suit against the RIAA based upon violation of anti-pretexting laws.
Clicking on the link in the story brings up a “You must register to see this story” page. I Googled the story and found this link, which brought up the story for me:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pretext7apr07,1,1936238.story?coll=la-headlines-business
(What’s with the 15 seconds thing? I haven’t posted for weeks!)
Explain to me the legal differences between pretexting and phishing.
– Both are done by individuals – rather than the state
– Both trick targets into revealing information that will be used against them without their knowledge
– Both would be called unethical and devious, if there were not a lot of money involved.
One difference is that if the state did this, it would be called entrapment.
Oh contraire, police are indeed allowed to lie. US Supreme court has ruled police are generally permitted to lie if it helps them make arrests. The best example of this is when undercover officers claim not to be police. The rules regarding entrapment usually tip in favor of law-enforcement, so police won’t hesitate to trick you into incriminating yourself or others. This is particularly common during interrogations in which officers might tell you that “your friend already gave you up, so you might as well come clean.”
The private sector is just following the Government lead, requesting the same rights as our Government.
saw this on a flyer at school….so spread the word….I think the intent is just to post all the words between Pledge…..but I will just type out the whole thing…sounds cool to me….
WAKE UP:
1500 college students have been sued and now internet radio is on it’s last leg………
Take the PLEDGE
1. I WILL NOT BUY ANY CD’S OR DOWN LOAD FOR PAY MUSIC
2. I WILL LISTEN AND SUPPORT COLLEGE RADIO STATIONS ONLY
3. I WILL WRITE MY CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS
I WILL CONTINUE THIS UNTIL SOUNDEXCHANGE HAS BEEN DISBANDED AND THERE ARE FAIR LAWS FOR WEBCASTERS…..
SO TAKE THE PLEDGE
Copy what is between the words PLEDGE and send them to your friends either thru email or just printing something out or tell them….but get the word around….it is time to take back our music…SPREAD THE WORD
Webcasters aren’t arguing that there should not be royalties. They have been paying them for years. They aren’t even arguing that the royalties should be as low as terrestrial royalties. They just want the royalties to be at a reasonable level such that the services can continue to operate