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NC Judge Takes "A Fresh Look" At RIAA Subpoenas
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "When some North Carolina State students recently brought to the attention of the Court the apparent illegality of the RIAA's investigations by unlicensed investigators, they also caught the attention of the judges. After reading these new papers, District Judge Louise W. Flanagan, who admits that she's been routinely signing the RIAA's ex parte discovery orders in the past, has indicated that she is now going to take 'a fresh look' at the RIAA's tactics. She issued a stay of the subpoena, ordering NC State not to respond to it, and referred the motions to dismiss the cases to a Magistrate Judge for him to take that 'fresh look' at what has been going on."
Treat these subpoenas like they came from the mafia or a drug cartel. Make them go out of their way to do something crazy, like having proof.
Unfortunately, I believe their answer to the law not allowing this isn't to change their business methods, but to change the law. Here in the US, this seems to be the easiest and cheapest solutions -- the price of your average politician is too high for individuals but low enough to not make a dent in a corporation's coffers.
Do us all a favor the coming November -- look up the contributors to your representatives before voting, and strike anyone who has accepted money from the entertainment cartels or their lobbyists.
Don't forget, the recording industry and the movie moguls are getting results from policticians in Europe and elsewhere now too. Our main hope may still lay in judges are are mostly expected to recuse themselves from a case if they could be said to have bias in it, like having gotten polictical donations from any of the involved. Not only watch what laws are being snuck in, but what treaties exist and are trying to be modified or added.
Tons of amicus curiae may need to be filed across the country to avoid ignorance amongst judges and defending lawyers, such as the EFF and Ray have provided before. May even need a nationwide ( maybe even worldwide ) watch system to alert capable filers of amicus curiae to new filings of lawsuits by the RIAA/MPAA.
I'm glad to see that the courts are finally paying attention... to the law instead of politicians.
Who is it that you believe writes the law?
About time a judge follows the law instead of following the money.
Or to paraphrase Emperor Palpatine, I will make it legal
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Oh quit laughing, it could happen!
we will end no whine before its time
Actually in the U.S, justice is a whore, she fucks the highest bidder.
Basically any real change will end up from nationwide civil disobedience,like Dr. King and Gandhi used. Unfortunately we don't seem to have a charismatic leader to rally the troops at the moment. Perhaps in the future one will arise,but until then "voting the bums out" will simply allow other bums to get their piece of the pie. But as always this is my 02c,YMMV
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
This is what Lessig was complaining about. All "throw the bums out" and term limits does is disrupt the cozy relationships for a short time. Even now, I'm sure lobbyists are maneuvering in expectation of a big Democratic win in the US election this year. The more likely it looks, the more they can plan for it, and the shorter the disruption will be. Lessig hopes more transparency can fix this problem.
I've an idea that yet another reason why wealth concentration is bad is that the money cannot be used as efficiently. The rich waste money extravagantly because it isn't worth their while to be prudent and careful with money, it's time that counts for them. They will blow off $20 or $100 or even more if it seems it might save them 10 minutes of time. In addition to the less than 100% performance they get out of their money by such practices, by being willing and able to pay extravagantly, they add to inflation, making it harder for everyone else. It's an outrage the way upper management pay has so grossly outpaced peon pay. At the other extreme, the poor are constantly forced to accept bad deals because they have debts to pay right now. Cash that paycheck at the check cashing place that skims 5%, so they can get the money and get it into their checking account right away, before the check they wrote the day before has a chance to cause them to be overdrawn, triggering a cascade of expensive fines. (You know how banks love to delay deposited checks to make penalties happen. They can't use that "check clearing takes time" excuse for cash deposits.) Lose 5% so they don't lose even more in penalties.
But back to the topic. It looks as if the RIAA's reputation in court is at last cracking. They've been getting away with a lot of crap an individual couldn't do, because courts have been more believing in the professionalism of corporate lawyers and corporate lawsuits. Courts are no longer taking the RIAA's professionalism for granted. The courts are at last realizing that although a corporation has a lot to lose by ruining its own reputation, the RIAA really is that stupid.
Way to go RIAA, turn the public against you. Turn artists against you. And now, turn the courts against you. Trash your reputation. There anyone left who still thinks you have any reputation? Congress maybe? Apple Computer?
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
Since the first slashdot story on ATCA (http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/01/135216&from=rss)
it would seem that maybe someone behind the curtains at *AA understands there could be problems in the courts and is approaching this from a different angle - ie. get the law changed.
If and when that happens in favour of the *AA, will cases like this matter or continue to be of any real significance or interest?