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RIAA Backs Down On "Unlicensed Investigator"

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Texas grandmother Rhonda Crain got the RIAA to drop its monetary claims against her after she filed counterclaims against the record companies for using an investigator, MediaSentry, which is not licensed to conduct investigations in the State of Texas. The RIAA elected to drop its claims rather than wait for the Judge to decide the validity of Ms. Crain's charges (PDF) that the plaintiff record companies were 'aware that the... private investigations company was unlicensed to conduct investigations in the State of Texas specifically, and in other states as well... and understood that unlicensed and unlawful investigations would take place in order to provide evidence for this lawsuit, as well as thousands of others as part of a mass litigation campaign.' Similar questions about MediaSentry's unlicensed investigations were raised recently by the State Attorney General of Oregon in Arista v. Does 1-17"

8 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. An effective weapon for now... by Chabil+Ha' · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...but the Borg will adapt.

    --
    We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
  2. Re:More important question by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 4, Funny

    Riaa probably doesn't feel it is fair to have to obey all these different licensing restrictions. They probably want to use the results of the investigations as they choose since they paid good money for the results. Fortunately, they can only legally use investigators the way we can use songs and other copyrighted materials.

    Ah.. it is so nice when the worm turns.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  3. Re:House of Cards by Malevolyn · · Score: 4, Funny

    Old ladies are pwning noobs better than I can, these days.

    --
    Your ad here.
  4. Re:Is she going to sue MediaSentry? by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hence you should have no trouble calculating pi^(i*e) , right ?

    Ask Sir Mathsalot, not me. I am but a knave.

  5. A word to the wise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Never enter in litigation against a stubborn senior citizen with too much time on his or her hands.

  6. Re:Is she going to sue MediaSentry? by sconeu · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, after the flood, Noah tells all the animals to "be fruitful and multiply!"

    He wanders around, and the rabbits are screwing like rabbits, the minks are screwing like minks, and the elephants are... well, doing whatever elephants do.

    Then he comes and sees some snakes, and they're not doing the nasty. Noah asks them what's wrong, and they say "We're adders!"

    So Noah goes away and thinks. He then comes back, cuts down a couple of trees, and makes picnic tables from the logs. He tells the snakes to hang out there, and goes away.

    A few hours later, he comes back and sees that the snakes are getting it on, which just goes to prove...

    Even adders can multiply using log tables!

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  7. Re:Is she going to sue MediaSentry? by QuietObserver · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nope. e ** (pi * i) is -1. I'm not sure what pi ** (e * i) is.

    For the record, pi^(e*i) is approximately -0.99955 + 0.02989i

    For the further record, I found that using some complex math software I wrote in high school. :) (Why yes, I am a nerd... why do you ask?)

    And e^(pi*i) is actually -1 + -0.000000000001267i, which is also not quite -1.

  8. Re:Is she going to sue MediaSentry? by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 3, Funny

    Actually, it would be $200,020.

    --
    You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.