Lawyer Banned for Threatening File-Sharers

S. Hare brings us a report from TorrentFreak about a lawyer working for a Swiss anti-piracy group who was recently given a 6-month ban for her attempts to intimidate file-sharers though letters threatening fines and court fees. Elizabeth Martin demanded 400 Euros each from "hundreds of thousands of file-sharers," and suggested that they would have to face large settlements if they did not comply. The Paris Bar Council took exception to this and instituted the ban. Martin worked for Logistep, a company who has had trouble following laws in the past. "The disciplinary board decided that 'By choosing to reproduce aggressive foreign methods, intended to force payments, the interested party also violated [the code] which specifies that the lawyer cannot unfairly represent a situation or seriousness of threat.' In addition, the lawyer also violated the code by cashing payments into a private account, not the usual dedicated litigation account, known as a 'Carpa'. Martin also refused to reveal how many payments had been received from file-sharers."

Comments

deserves it

[Anonymous Coward]

HAH! serves her right!
should be punished by being beaten to death with a hammer.

Re:To illiterate poster below my normal threshold:

[CRCulver]

But you also point out that these changes are based on common usage, and that is where your argument falls down.

Lexical and grammatical innovations are based on mutual intelligibility. Dictionary definitions are based on common usage. Two different things.

But trying to defend a usage that is acknowledged to be incorrect by the vast majority of English speakers looks to me like nothing more than talking out your ass just so you can admire the sound it makes.

Pointing the folly of prescriptivism does a lot more for everybody than your masturbatory whining about how someone said something you don't approve of, even if everyone hear understands what he meant.

Re:Value

[das_schmitt]

Ever heard of Linux?

Yes, and it sucks.

Throw her in jail!

[billcopc]

From what I understand, this is plain old extortion. Toss the bitch in jail with a very aggressive butch, so we'll have a precedent to use against the RIAA/MPAA's thugs.