Mediasentry Violates Cease & Desist Order

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "On January 2, 2008, the Massachusetts State Police ordered MediaSentry, the RIAA's investigator, to cease and desist from conducting investigations in Massachusetts without a license. Based on what appears to be irrefutable proof that MediaSentry has been violating that order, the Boston University students who tentatively won, in London-Sire v. Doe 1, an order tentatively quashing the subpoena for their identities, have brought a new motion to vacate the RIAA's court papers altogether, on the ground that the RIAA's 'evidence' was procured by criminal behavior."

Comments

Important note

[Enlarged to Show Tex]

Most likely, the only papers that they will be able to vacate are those based on investigations taking place after being served with the C&D order. Whether that costs them enough evidence to prevent them from winning a judgment remains to be seen, however...

Re:Important note

[R2.0]

"Most likely, the only papers that they will be able to vacate are those based on investigations taking place after being served with the C&D order. Whether that costs them enough evidence to prevent them from winning a judgment remains to be seen, however..."

As I understand it, MediaSentry is not licensed in the state of Massachusetts period. That means that their previous behavior was illegal as well. The C&D is a legal tool to make it absolutely clear to someone doing an activity that their actions are illegal - it does not relieve them of responsibility for those actions before the C&D.

No meaningful retribution

[sm62704]

Will they have to pay a fine? Maybe, but ten bucks says* it won't be the hundred thousand dollars the RIAA can collect for a single copyright violation. Will anybody go to jail? Maybe, but again ten bucks says* no way in hell.

Did someone say "rule of law"?

-mcgrew

*offer void where prohibited. I live in Illinois, and gambling is illegal here. Except in the casinos. And the state lottery. And horseracing tracks. And in the bars that have bribed the cops to look the other way.

Me? Cynical? Whatever gave you that idea?

Another wrinkle......

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

is that it appears that MediaSentry has been telling the State that it IS in compliance. Hmmmm.... could that be yet another crime?

Re:Irrefutable proof?

[LordEd]

I'm a bit confused on the Irrefutable proof as well. Somebody correct me if this guess is wrong, but:

a. The exhibit document lists a number of reports generated by Mediasentry

b. The documents identify IP addresses of supposed infringers

c. These IP addresses on a quick traceroute identify these investigations to be located in Massachusetts (at leastone IP is at Boston University)

d. These documents have been submitted to courts as evidence (each document has a case #)

e. Because the IP address is in Massachusetts, the investigation has crossed into these borders. Because they have been submitted to courts, it is proof of investigation.

Otherwise, I think the proof needs some notes along with it.

Re:Ummm ... proof is where?

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

Dude, I hope you don't think I'm picking a fight with you over this. I keep responding to the other people, and you keep responding to me. =) You've been cool and level-headed through this -- it's just everyone else who feels the need to chime in and hasn't actually read/understood what I wrote. I did NOT think you were picking a fight with me at all. I just wanted to support you in what you were saying, because it reflects my outlook. I never want people to just swallow things I say just because they might think well of me, because I never just blindly accept anything anyone says, no matter who they are. For me, the truth is what it's all about. And the way to get at the truth is to be skeptical and employ critical thinking. Mindless following of 'leaders' is a good path to fascism.

When I was a kid, I used to go to a "schul" (an Orthodox Jewish synagogue). The Rabbi was this famous, legendary, very revered person, who carried himself very humbly. It was a small congregation, mostly a few old men who practically worshipped the ground the Rabbi walked on. When he was reciting from the Torah (scroll containing Old Testament), which is hard because when you're reading directly from the Torah scroll no vowels are supplied, he would sometimes make a slight mistake. I was shocked when the congregants -- who revered this man -- shouted out the correct pronunciation. At first it seemed so rude to me, until I realized this was what he WANTED them to do. What it meant was the word was more important than any one of us. He wanted us to just be sure to get it straight what was in the Torah. It didn't matter if the correct word came from the most educated and scholarly among us, or if it came from the least of us... what mattered was getting the word.

If I'm in a room, and everyone in the room agrees with me, I don't smile and say "ah how nice to have consensus"; if everyone agrees with me, I worry.

In fact what happened here today is a textbook illustration. My initial story had a whopping mistake -- I believe it was the first such mistake I've made since I've been posting here on Slashdot. Some astute readers caught it -- realizing that the order was dated January 2, 2008, and the documents which I was calling "irrefutable proof" that MediaSentry had violated the order represented screen captures from 2007. I'm glad they caught the mistake. (I'm also glad I was able to come up with the other documents showing that it has in fact been violating the order.).

So we're cool.