Judge Rules TorrentSpy Destroyed Evidence

Come play kdice writes "A federal judge has handed the MPAA a resounding victory in its copyright infringement lawsuit against TorrentSpy. Judge Florence-Marie Cooper entered a default judgment against Justin Bunnell and the rest of the named defendants in Columbia Pictures et al. v. Justin Bunnell et al. after finding that TorrentSpy 'engaged in widespread and systematic efforts to destroy evidence'. After being sued, TorrentSpy mounted a vigorous defense, including a counter-suit it filed against the MPAA in May 2006, but, behind the scenes, the court documents paint a picture of a company desperately trying to bury any and all incriminating evidence. TorrentSpy has announced its intention to appeal, but its conduct makes a reversal unlikely."

Comments

They should've hired Hillary!

[morgan_greywolf]

They should have hired Hillary Clinton. If anyone knows how to get away with destroying evidence, it's her!

Re:Not that I agree with the MPAA

[terrymr]

There were no IP logs - hence the preserve the IP's in ram order. The forum is theirs ... can it be proven that we're not talking about normal moderation here ?

Litigation discovery relates to records that currently exist - nothing in any law requires you to make a record that you currently don't just because it would help to prove somebody's case.

Maybe Torrentspy should hire some Bush lawyers

[jollyreaper]

The CIA, White House, and others can destroy evidence all the time and there's never any consequences. I hear Bush heats his ranch with compressed rolls of shredded evidence.

Re:Maybe Torrentspy should hire some Bush lawyers

[jollyreaper]

Calling me a troll? Fuck you, Bush apologist mods. I'm simply stating proven fact: the Bush administration and their lackeys at the CIA have destroyed evidence in criminal investigations and have not suffered any consequences for their obstruction of justice.

'Rights' is a tricky subject.

[FatSean]

It's a culmenation of several issues that have reached critical mass for me.

If I want to view some of my own society's culture (which in this modern age is being done in video) for free, I must go to a library and attempt to borrow the item to watch at home, or watch it there. Shit made 50 years ago is copywritten into the middle of this century. WTF?

If I want to Rip and Re-Burn a purchased DVD so I need not sit through the copyright warnings etc, etc, I must break the law

Copyright law and lobbyists on behalf of the copyright owners are doing their best to reduce the things I can do with the content I purchase legally.

DRM preventing me from backing up an item I supposedly only own the license on, but I still have to buy a whole new disc if the one I have is destroyed. If I'm licensing it, why can't you send me a new disc for a few bucks?

There might be more but I must be going now. Basically, I see copyright law as being poisoned against the citizen when the free market that those copyright owners love so much should be used to see if the product is worth what they are selling it for. Make them drop the prices until people would rather buy legit than pirate. Don't restrict what I can do with it on my own equipment.