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MediaDefender Buys MediaSentry For $136,000 (Not $20M)
newtley writes "SafeNet paid $20 million for MediaSentry in 2005, but has just sold it to rival MediaDefender for a paltry $136,000, with a promise of more later. MediaSentry's new owner says the combination will allow it to 'dramatically expand its effectiveness.' Is it time for an official government inquiry into MediaSentry and the RIAA? A Chicago student said she was planning on killing herself because the RIAA promised her she'd land in court unless she paid almost $10,000 to 'settle' an alleged copyright infringement. She 'couldn't sleep, couldn't study, couldn't live a normal life because of the worry.' The RIAA 'evidence' came from MediaSentry, accused of operating illegally."
Are just a bunch of href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5105
... timothy failed the Turing Test because the script couldn't figure out there was a problem with the other story before posting this one.
Its this glass bird which rocks forward and backward, pressing the Y key every time around. You know the one:
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Fleeing the country at that age and with those limited resources is worse than suicide. The countries where it's reasonably safe to flee to, even with money, are extradition countries, so she'll be right back in the US in time for summer. And a lot of those non-extradition countries are inhospitable to a poor teenager, so she'll just die or end up a meth-addicted prostitute.
This glowing orb of positivity brought to you by perspective.
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Why kill yourself when you can flee the country? It's not like she's in jail or something. Talk about keeping things in perspective...
And more to the point why just kill yourself when you could wait until the court case and take out a couple or RIAA lawyers too. Note: This is not legal advice!
Will this allow the RIAA to say "MediaSentry? No we don't use them any more. We use the much more trutsed MediaDefender these days."?
Emerald Astrology
You flee the country when the Government is out to get you, you seek the government's help when somebody is trying to BLACKMAIL you. (and with shoddy evidence at best)
Oh give me a break. They'd get a civil judgment. You don't even have to flee the country to escape those. It's called Chapter 7 and it's the first thing I would do if I was a student facing a $10,000 judgment from RIAA. If she's like most students she probably doesn't have many assets and they are likely all be exempt. In other words she'd lose nothing but the bankruptcy filing fee and the time it took to appear at the hearing.
If that's all it takes to make her suicidal then she really needs to seek some outside help. In the grand game known as life she's going to face many challenges that are far more scary than a RIAA action. Better learn how to cope with them now.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
The countries where it's reasonably safe to flee to, even with money, are extradition countries, so she'll be right back in the US in time for summer
I think you've mistaken a civil action with a criminal one. There's no extradition process that I'm aware of for debt collection. A judgment is just a piece of paper. It would be up to RIAA to find a way to collect on it. Given that she's a student and probably has no assets, good luck with that....
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
... than is within reason if you're waiting for a government investigation of the record companies and/or their cronies. The party of Hollywood is in charge of the government, and the RIAA/MPAA are all paid up in their contributions.
Could be a million reasons. Maybe she is suffering from panic anxiety for instance (maybe the extra stress actually triggered latent illness). When you can barely get out of bed killing yourself can probably look like a good deal compared to moving to a foreign country.
Connection closed by foreign host.
I always end up confusing them, so I'll ascribe something to MediaSentry only to be corrected that no, the company involved was MediaDefender, or vice versa. Every time I wanted to complain to my alma mater about Randy Saaf being on their board of trustees (fortunately no longer the case), I had to go look up which of the two he was associated with.
So, I would like to thank the companies for kindly removing this frequent source of error.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
She'd also lose all her liquid assets(if any)
Umm, no, she'd lose her non-exempt assets. I'm not familiar with the specifics in her state but in my state you can exempt up to $2,500 of cash, "tools of the trade", family heirlooms, an automobile worth less than $5,000, etc, etc, etc. The overwhelming majority of Chapter 7s are "no-asset" cases, meaning all of the assets of the debtor are exempt. How many students do you know that have large enough net worths to have to worry about having non-exempt assets?
and she'd have a bad credit rating for the next 10 years
There are worse things in life than a bad credit rating and you'd be surprised how quickly your credit rebounds after a bankruptcy. My bankruptcy was three years ago and my FICO score was 757 the last time I checked. I haven't run into any problems obtaining credit, even after the economy took a nosedive.
And 10k is the settlement, not the judgement.
So what? Let them get a judgment for more than that if they think they can. It will make the bankruptcy even easier to file.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
I suspect she's young, struggling in any case, and inexperienced in legal matters. The RIAA tactics are fearsome, and they're deliberately calculated to induce the state of mind she's in now. They've evoked the kinds of feelings of helplessness or hopelessness that can lead to suicidal thoughts in vulnerable people. It's to be hoped that she's able to secure some kind of counseling (or legal counsel) to put the situation into perspective. If you look back, you don't see the RIAA attacking well-established, well-heeled middle aged people. They go after the young, the inexperienced, the poor, the elderly, and the sick--just the sorts of people who are vulnerable. They'd probably be delighted by a suicide. It would scare a few more victims.
"Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
If you'd ever taken a suicide prevention class (ah, the fun things you get to do in the military), you'd know that most people who either attempt or commit suicide told someone they were going to. Very few people wake up one morning, decide the world is a bleak place and off themselves without a word. Whether or not the suicide attempt itself is a cry for help, or the result of a legitimate desire to end one's life, most people DO "cry for help" before they ever do it. We're hardwired not to want to die, and even when our conscious mind decides it wants to we usually try to find loopholes.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.