Slashdot Mirror
University of Michigan Student Wants SafeNet Prosecuted
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "An anonymous University of Michigan student, targeted by the RIAA as a 'John Doe,' is asking for the RIAA's investigator, SafeNet (formerly MediaSentry), to be prosecuted criminally for a pattern of felonies in Michigan. Known to Michigan's Department of Labor and Economic Growth — the agency regulating private investigators in that state — only as 'Case Number 162983070,' the student has pointed out that the law has been clear in Michigan for years that computer forensics activities of the type practiced by Safenet require an investigator's license. This follows the submissions by other 'John Does' establishing that SafeNet's changing and inconsistent excuses fail to justify its conduct, and that Michigan's legislature and governor have backed the agency's position that an investigator's license was required."
SafeNet/MediaSentry defended their actions by claiming their company simply "records public information available to millions of users. If private investigator licenses were required to do what MediaSentry does, every user on Limewire and other illegal p2p networks would be required to have a license. Indeed, every search engine and Internet user would be required to have a private investigator license if MediaSentry needs one."
Everybody knows that the law wasn't written to apply to important people!(or their hired lackeys, unless a scapegoat is needed)
Good heavens, the commoners are getting quite out of hand. They'll be demanding perjury charges for false DMCA takedowns next!
Bush is trying to fix that.
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
Sometimes we powerless voters - who do not have hundreds of millions of dollars to buy the legislation we want, nor a high-priced legal team to use as an extortion racket, and whose votes are being thrown away by the counters (diebold...) - have only one reasonable course of action left: play two corrupt power blocs against each other.
Sadly, this can all be resolved by them very easily with a transfer of funds between the two organizations to make them best friends supporting amended legislation to exclude MediaSentry-style investigations from the rules, or to allow super-easy licensing of MediaSentry-type investigators.
Some P2P company should sue them for defamation.
I vote the Pirate Bay ;)
Dude, you're arguing with a copyright lawyer. That might not be such a good idea.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
The guys making bucks from RIAA suits are like Danny DeVito in that Matt Damon movie, The Rainmaker. They would have licenses to practice law if they were savvy enough. Don't think of them as legal entities, duly representing the power of the courts, they are just some guys filing paperwork and gloating about the gullibility of people who can't defend themselves. These guys think they're important every time a Slashdot article appears about their scare tactics. RIAA suits should come with a mandatory picture of Danny DeVito pretending to be a lawyer.
The counsel would have to be uncannily stupid and/or desperate to try this argument in court.
They have tried it in court.
Draw your own conclusions.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful