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RIAA Expert Witness Called "Borderline Incompetent"
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Prof. Johan Pouwelse of Delft University — one of the world's foremost experts on the science of P2P file sharing and the very same Prof. Pouwelse who stopped the RIAA's Netherlands counterpart in its tracks back in 2005 — has submitted an expert witness report characterizing the work of the RIAA's expert, Dr. Doug Jacobson, as 'borderline incompetence.' The report (PDF), filed in UMG v. Lindor, pointed out, among other things, that the steps needed to be taken in a copyright infringement investigation were not taken, that Jacobson's work lacked 'in-depth analysis' and 'proper scientific scrutiny,' that Jacobson's reports were 'factually erroneous,' and that they were contradicted by his own deposition testimony. This is the first expert witness report of which we are aware since the Free Software Foundation announced that it would be coming to the aid of RIAA defendants."
I'm not sure why you think I'm a RIAA troll (or what you mean by phony, for that matter). I don't think I was particularly supportive of the RIAA. Yes, I'm defending Jacobson. You can argue with the data that he received, but I'm still convinced his conclusions are correct. That doesn't mean there aren't other possibilities, but Jacobson came to the overwhelmingly likely conclusions.
Now, if you didn't go out and look for someone to basically testify to what Pouwelse said that's one thing. If he approached you and said "I'd love to rip into Jacobson" then maybe I was being a bit harsh on you. I suspect that wasn't the case, but its certainly a possibility. But, I would think a certain amount of witness coaching went on- you telling him what you're looking for and him telling you what he's willing to say. In and of itself, that's fine. But, if that did go on, it seems a little disingenuous to say "I didn't say that- the expert did."
In any case, while you're probably a perfectly nice person in "real life", you were unnecessarily rude and arrogant when you examined Jacobson. In particular I'm thinking back to your little vocabulary quiz.
I had another post in this thread. I'm actually genuinely curious to read any response you might have to that one.