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."

Comments

Wow.....

[XueLang]

Last I remember, impersonating law enforcement was illegal.

Is it too optimistic to hope they'll get busted for it someday?

Re:Wow.....

[wframe9109]

Seriously?

I despise the RIAA as much as the next... But this is one of the few things I have *no* problem with. File sharing is one thing. Selling counterfeit copies? That's a far cry from not being able to afford the media, or wanting to casually fuck over the assholes at the RIAA.

Unlike file sharing, counterfeit sales logically *do* result in lost sales (arguable, but far less so than with file sharing, given the people are shelling out).

Re:Wow.....

[MillionthMonkey]

Police officers, soldiers, judges, presidents, congressmen, prosecutors, civil servants, etc. can play the roles of state actors. They have ordinary rights to speech and organized protests that all citizens have, except when they are on duty and speaking with the authority of a state actor under color of law.

Even on duty, a cop still retains his rights as a citizen. There are obviously some things a cop would get fired for saying while on duty, but as a citizen in general, he can't be put in jail for free speech. (Some people think "free speech" means their stupid posts shouldn't get modded down, but the idea is really that you can't go to jail for saying anything, no matter how abominably stupid it is, unless it reveals, indicates, or results in a prosecutable crime.

When speaking authoritatively, a cop has to establish that he is a state actor who speaks under color of law. That means, wearing a badge, and yelling things like ("Stop! Police!") at people who are running away. Once it has been made clear that he is a state actor, he can arrest you for not following his lawful instructions- which themselves have the force of law. (Disobeying an unlawful instruction is legal; the cop can't demand a BJ for example, or demand that you incriminate yourself.) You can run away from an undercover cop, since there is no badge, but once he yells "police" there goes that excuse. If the arrest happens, they are forced by law to tell you it is legal to remain silent. THEN the mind tricks begin: "You're only going to help yourself, you know, by confessing to me and incriminating yourself in other crimes as well." At this point an arrested wizard who is clever can respond by uttering his magic anti-cop spell: "I refuse to say anything without counsel present." Cops hate such magic and try to discourage its use by pretending to be therapists, not cops, standing by the side of the road and who just want you to get it all out. "There, doesn't it make you feel better to confess?" "Yeah!" Many of these guys are thieves, not wizards. (You'd think they never got arrested or had therapy before. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to jail- just watch COPS for a few hours. My wife used to be a criminal defense attorney. She's really good at spotting illegal searches or arrests. There's at least one per show, sometimes more. She'll point at the screen- "Did you see that? Did you just see what he did? That was an ILLEGAL search with no probable cause so the arrest was also illegal! Meanwhile narrator John Walsh is finishing up his moralizing bit: "There won't be much pot where THIS stoner is going, ha ha ha.")

Now say a cop works weekends busting heads for record companies. The badge isn't on him. Basically rent-a-cops are ordinary private citizens, working as security guards. They do not speak under color of law. An RIAA cop cannot arrest you. If one chases you, it behooves you to grab your warez and crackz and tunez and run as fast as you can. He will also not read you your Miranda rights, so remember, shut up, shut up, shut up. If you must say something, stick to obscenities, as to avoid revealing incriminating information. If he pulls out a cop badge and shows it to you, then he's a state actor. This would likely involve negative repurcussions for any cop who tried it while moonlighting for a security company.

Soldiers can speak and protest as citizens. Not as soldiers. But soldiers are still citizens. If a soldier is wearing his insignia, it is understood that he speaks as a soldier so his statements are expected to reflect official military policy. Without the military insignia he is speaking as a citizen. He cannot carry out military orders. If he shows up to an anti-war demonstration with a big "Semper Fi" T-shirt and shorts, with no insignia, he is obviously there as a citizen against the war who happens to be in the military. This deserves no punishment.

The Marines are currently after a guy who showed up at an antiwar demonstration with his military fatigues. He wore no insi

Re:Wow.....

[Atario]

I despise the RIAA as much as the next... But this is one of the few things I have *no* problem with. File sharing is one thing. Selling counterfeit copies? That's a far cry from not being able to afford the media, or wanting to casually fuck over the assholes at the RIAA.

That's the problem — the RIAA has been such assholes that now people want to see them lose even when doing something that previously would have been seen as perfectly reasonable. They've destroyed any credibility and moral authority they may ever have had.

Sounds kinda like my badly abused country right about now... :(

I'm waiting . . .

[OverlordQ]

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.

As it should be

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:As it should be

[bhmit1]

I'll second everything you just said. When someone breaks the law, we tend to call the police to enforce it, rather than having the riaa take the law into their own hands. But to your point:

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.

I'd say that owning equipment is perfectly legit. It's using the equipment to violate the copyrights that needs to be stopped. So if you find the equipment owner that created these disks, then you've found a key player in the crime. But to your point, equipment is evidence with the rest of the proof the police have, not a crime in and of itself.

Am I missing something?

[HeavensBlade23]

Why SHOULDN'T police officers be involved in a criminal copyright infringement raid? Selling bootleg CDs is WAY illegal.

Re:Civil?

[Quantam]

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.

Re:Help us serve you better

[D'Sphitz]

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?

Short measure, the stamp of authenticity

[dpbsmith]

"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.

Re:Help us serve you better

[flappinbooger]

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.

Hardly Insightful! Nice Try Clever Lad

[mpapet]

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.

Re:Help us serve you better

[joto]

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.

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.

Copyright infringement can also involve fair use, depending on who you ask, LOL.

Yeah, just like piracy can be legal, if you have a letter of marque.

I hope that...

[Animaether]

...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.