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RIAA Uses Local Cops In Oregon Raid
newtley writes "Fake cops employed by the RIAA started acting like real police officers quite a while ago — one of the earliest examples unfolded in Los Angeles in 2004. From a distance, the bust, 'looked like classic LAPD, DEA or FBI work, right down to the black "raid" vests the unit members wore,' said the LA Weekly. That their yellow stenciled lettering read 'RIAA' instead of something from an official law-enforcement agency, 'was lost on 55-year-old parking-lot attendant Ceasar Borrayo.' But it's also SOP for the RIAA to wield genuine officers paid for entirely from citizen taxes as copyright cops. Police were used in an RIAA-inspired raid at two flea markets in Beaverton, Oregon. 'Sgt. Paul Wandell, Beaverton police spokesman, said officers seized more than 50,000 items worth about $758,000,' says The Oregonian. But this is merely the tiny tip of an iceberg of absolutely staggering dimensions, an example of the extent coming in a GrayZone report slugged RIAA Anti-Piracy Seizure Information."
Last I remember, impersonating law enforcement was illegal.
Is it too optimistic to hope they'll get busted for it someday?
Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.
As a result, eight suspects were arrested and charged. Seized in total as a result of the enforcement actions were a total of 20,800 counterfeit CD-Rs, 71,428 counterfeit movie DVDs
The enforcement resulted in one arrest and the seizure of 13,000 counterfeit / pirated CD-Rs and 6,505 counterfeit movie DVDs. An additional search on 8th Avenue resulted in five additional arrests and the seizure of 33,600 counterfeit CD-Rs and 19,104 counterfeit movie DVDs.
Yup, it's still Fair Use. I mean everybody's been paid already right? Why should I have to spend more then I want to get something. I should only have to pay what I want to pay right? It doesn't matter how much they spent to make it right? Since they're an evil movie studio.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
This is as it should be. Massive copyright violations like this are illegal, immoral, and unethical. Good job cops!
It's criminals like this who provide justifications for DRM and other annoyance. Everyone who objects to DRM and copy protection should be applauding the cops for investigating the swap meets, and the RIAA for merely informing the local police of the copyright violators, rather than engaging in their own strong-arm tactics.
That being said, it's a bit disconcerting to see them concerned with "who owns reproduction equipment like this". I really don't think that should be a concern of anyone... owning equipment shouldn't be a crime, even if it is professional-quality duplicators.
Why SHOULDN'T police officers be involved in a criminal copyright infringement raid? Selling bootleg CDs is WAY illegal.
"Sgt. Paul Wandell, Beaverton police spokesman, said officers seized more than 50,000 items worth about $758,000"
:)
In other words, $15 per item for knock off and counterfeit items, including CDs and DVDs with allegedly unauthorized copyrighted material... Bull. I say alleged because I'm guessing that there were plenty of hip hop mixtapes that are technically illegal but in reality supported by the marketing arms of various record companies, stuff that would never sell for more than a few bucks each. Or maybe illegally imported (but not illegal to own or sell in, say, China) DVDs... Let's face it, the movie studios have certainly perverted justice and the law in order to sell their stuff for $20 a disc in Wal-Mart, so I'm not crying a river for them. It's certainly not a price anyone would pay in a real free market.
Then there's purses, handbags, stereo equipment, all knock-offs... The assumption behind that $758,000 figure is that people would pay so many thousands of dollars for a Gucci bag, whatever that is, and selling a $20 knock off will hurt sales on behalf of Gucci.
Let's revise the statement above.... 50,000 items of merchandise at a value of, say $150,000 in market value might be more realistic. I can't see anyone sticking their neck out to sell that many items at a flea market for less than that.
"We were surprised about the size and sophistication," Marcus Cohen (anti-piracy counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America) said, standing in a steady drizzle Saturday afternoon at the chain-link fence that surrounds M&M. "It's something we are going to be paying very close attention to, finding who has a replication machine that shouldn't."
Wait.... There are people how have replication machines that shouldn't? Is there a law against this? Only thy member of thouest recording industries shalt have duplicator machines?
Go jump in a lake, Mr. Cohen. Same goes to the rest of the RIAA.
You seem to be grossly misinformed. While copyright infringement done without the intent to make a profit is indeed a civil matter, copyright infringement for the purpose of making a profit is very much illegal.
Speaking as someone who thinks the DMCA is insane, despises the way the RIAA treats its artists and then calls itself the defender of musicians everywhere, thinks that copyright needs reasonable term limits, has the current AACS key in his MSN Messenger tag-line, and checks Beckerman's blog regularly in the hope of good news, I support this action.
You have tried to support your argument with faulty reasoning! Go directly to jail; do not pass Go, do not collect $200!
So it's wrong for the police to bust people who are counterfeiting AND selling CD's for a profit? That's not exactly filesharing. So should counterfeiting anything be legal? Or does this only apply to the RIAA?
This is exactly what they SHOULD be doing; getting the the people that rip off the Artist's FOR A PROFIT.
They should focus more on operations like this and less on filesharers.
Regardless of your attitude towards people who download copies of music without the copyright holders permission, I don't know of too many people here who would argue that its OK to SELL copies of music without the copyright holders permission.
This is where the RIAA should be focusing their time.
Selling pirated CDs and DVDs for personal profit is illegal and should be. I have no problem with the police assisting in taking out large distributors of this illegal media. The RIAA has no business pretending to be police. They are not civil servents and will not be acting in the best interest of the general public. At least the police are supposed to be working for the greater good.
Aside from the negative effects this could have on legal retailers, distributors, and artists, consumers could easily be fooled into thinking these items were legitimate copies. Some people do actually watch those extra features.
All that being said, I still think the RIAA is despicable and their attack on online media distribution is patently absurd and abusive. They need to work with the consumers instead of against them and realize that their model is outdated and irrelevant in the modern world.
Forecast for tomorrow: A few sprinklings of genius with a chance of DOOM!
"A tip-off on fake CDs is that they will have 20 to 24 tracks each, instead of 12 or 14," says Marcus Cohen anti-piracy counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America.
Yes, sir, and beware of one-pound cans of coffee that contain sixteen ounces instead of thirteen, sleazy operators that will sell you a four by four by eight foot "cord" of wood, and call the cops if your bag of a dozen bagels turns out to contain thirteen.
Short measure, your infallible sign of genuine U. S. music industry product.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
1. Their math doesn't add up.
and
B. Are they saying that the counterfeit stuff is "worth" that much? I figure they'd see it as quite worthless.
Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
I've heard of the cops raiding flea markets to bust people selling counterfeit clothes (think fake Tommy Hilfiger stuff - non-Tommy stuff with the Tommy logo on it). In my book, selling knockoffs, bootlegs, etc, as the real thing is Piracy. Downloading an MP3? Not piracy. Piracy involves money. Copyright infringement can be piracy if you sell it.
Copyright infringement can also involve fair use, depending on who you ask, LOL.
Just my two cents worth.
Flappinbooger isn't my real name
If it's not real cops and they don't have real warrants wouldn't shooting up their ass come under reasonable force for self-defence?
It probably depends upon the situation, where the raid takes place (which state), when the raid takes place (middle of the night as opposed to broad daylight), whether the raid was announced (even if only five minutes prior to arriving), and finally whether or not there are *real* law enforcement officers accompanying the rent-a-cops. If it was just the rent-a-cops and they arrived unannounced during the night and without law enforcement vehicles in a rural part of Tennessee, for example, then they would probably be picking buckshot out of their asses while they waited real police officers to show up. Some of the states in the American south east and mid west have shoot first and ask questions later laws for trespassers in the middle of the night dating back to the days of horse thieves and cattle rustlers. I would venture to guess that most rent-a-cops would probably retreat if meet with armed resistance (they are not going to risk getting shot for a couple of bucks of overtime pay at their rent-a-cop night job, especially since it may not be covered by their regular health insurance).
Yes, yes Bad Guys doing bad things are arrested, so what could be wrong with that?
The outrage could be inspired by a couple of reasons:
1. the privatization of law enforcement. There is an entire private structure dedicated to law enforcement in the U.S. (private prisons, arbitration, lawyers) This is a case where the line between private and public has blurred.
2. Outrageous excess. A couple of mega-corporations make enough money to hire their own law enforcement. I haven't even discussed their history of anti-trust, suspiciously monopolistic control of the distribution of entertainment, and a variety of other criminal acts already prosecuted.
3. Right of First Sale? Right of non-infringing use? These are very important legal concepts that the media conglomerates want to sweep away. They discourage these uses by prosecuting anyone from a Grandmother to some idiots selling counterfeits.
It's really very easy when you cast every issue in such black-and-white terms. You know exactly who the bad guy is. That must be comforting but it's misguided faith in an organization that history shows harm everyone.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
In my book, using violence or threat of violence to take control over a ship you do not own, is piracy. Selling counterfeit CDs? Not piracy. Piracy involves vessels moving on the surface of a large body of water, and weapons. Selling counterfeit CDs can be piracy if you stole them from a ship.
Yeah, just like piracy can be legal, if you have a letter of marque.
No, he's complaining about the assumed retail value of the wares. They very well could be overstating things and assigning a value to some of this stuff that it could never fetch in a genuine retail establishment.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Isn't the kind of situation where the RIAA send their own militia to "assist" in raids like these a dangerous conflict of interest? If there are enough of these goose-stepping RIAA gestappo guards running around during the raid, misdirecting the actual law enforcement officers around them, what would prevent any additional RIAA guys from walking in during the chaos to plant evidence (like the duplication machine they mention), ensuring they can detain at least one person to make an example of before the public?
It's almost like giving the ok to a rape victim's family to participate in the bust of the suspect and trusting that none of them would throttle the guy before the police got to him.
8==8 Bones 8==8
...you never lose a child due to a speeding driver. But if you do, perhaps you'll realize that what you think their priorities should be may not be what they realize priorities should be. It's all good and well to say "yeah, I was speeding, but I wasn't hurting anyone!" - but that sort of logic just means that you feel a ticket is only valid if the person did hurt somebody; obviously, it's a little late for a ticket then.
Put differently.. if speeders, drunk drivers, people running red lights, etc. etc. would just quit doing that, maybe cops wouldn't have to worry about them and put more manhours into those other cases.
The above not related to the MPAA/RIAA bit which this story is really about, so.. on-topic: good on them. It's a crime to sell counterfeit goods. Wake me when law goes into a direction where they can use a cop squad to bust somebody for downloading songs/movies only, and I'll actively oppose it. Those who want to make money off their downloads.. tough shitski if you get caught.
The argument I most commonly see in the media etc. to outlaw honest knockoffs is this: "counterfeit medicine can kill you and so it is obvious that we must outlaw knockoff sneakers". I don't know why people are buying this but I suppose I can always blame the schools . . .
sigs are hazardous to your health