UK Law Enforcement Starts Seizing Music Blogs

Grumbleduke writes "From Dajaz1 (a site that is no stranger to unjustified copyright takedowns) we learn that the popular R&B website rnbxclusive.com (warning: threatening message on site) has allegedly been seized by the Serious Organized Crime Agency, a UK law enforcement agency, and its operators arrested on fraud charges. Not only does the replacement message contain a number of factually dubious claims, it also shows the visitor's IP address, browser and operating system, and threatens to track and monitor them. At a time when copyright lobby groups are strongly pushing for even greater powers through laws such as SOPA and ACTA, one is left wondering why they think they need them, when police can shut down websites such as this at will."

Comments

Darknets

[Anonymous Coward]

Time to switch to the darknets. At least until their generation dies off and some reason returns.

Re:Darknets

[History's Coming To]

I actually found it rather useful to test a IP/user-agent switching plugin. (I use it to test environment sensitive sections of websites I write). All works fine, which IP address would they like me to come from?

The irony with this whol thing is I'm anti-piracy, I'm one of those weirdos who thinks artists deserve to get money for what they produce, however easy it is to copy bit for bit. But that SOCA message strikes me offensive and wildly accusatory that I'm starting to think my anti-piracy crusade needs to go on the back burner while I deal with the important thing, keeping the internet free.

Re:Darknets

[AaronLS]

The manipulators, and the manipulated. The biggest problem with this world.

This woman I worked with got a hoax email saying mars would appear the next night as big as the moon, supposedly from NASA(which had themselves published an article saying they were not the source of the email and that it was hoax). I told her it was a hoax, to save her the disappointment of taking her kids to stare at the bland city lit sky all night. She got pissed off at me, like I was some horrible person who must be an idiot because she was convinced the email was originated by NASA.

This is the typical hostile response of these gullible idiots across the full spectrum of bullshit, from meaningless trolling hoaxes to political deception and corruption. How dare you try to make them aware that they are idiots.

It was no surprise to me at the time that as an army reservist(not saying this is typical of all reservists, just a side note of her perspective) she bought into the whole "We have to kill 3000 Iraqis to make up for 9/11 and stop them from making weapons of mass destruction" as well as the "If you oppose the war then you are a treasonous bastard and you must hate America". She was also the one coworker who required my help more than anyone else. Almost constantly I was rolling over to her desk in response to her mind boggling failure to do her job independently and apply problem solving skills to the hurdles she encountered.

Re:Darknets

[whoever57]

Yeah, well I noticed the U.K. serious sissy patrol neglected to leave any contact information so I could ridicule them about tracking me and offer them a taste of my stool

So leave a message in their logs, go to: http://rnbxclusive.com/SOCA_Are_Wankers or some similar URL

Re:Darknets

[gmack]

I understand your offense but I wonder if anyone has considered that this whole thing could be a hoax.

  Domain servers in listed order:
        SK.S7.ANS1.NS103.KLCZY.COM
        SK.S7.ANS2.NS103.KLCZY.COM

If a government agency had grabbed the domain wouldn't they have changed the hosting to something they control rather than some cheap name service whose homepage seems to only be an ad portal?

Re:Darknets

[interkin3tic]

There is NOTHING ironic about it! Don't muddy the waters even a little bit. None of us fighting against censorship and government control are pro-piracy. The people stealing music who can't be bothered to cough up a dollar for that pop song they like don't give two shits about the long-term damage they're causing to freedom of expression. They're not on our side, they're one side of the war of greed, the mafIAA is on the other. Our rights and the artists are stuck in between.

A thousand times: being opposed to draconian schemes to crack down on your freedom like this DOES NOT MAKE YOU PRO-PIRACY.

Re:Darknets

[Anonymous Coward]

I sent this:

Un. Fucking. Believable. That pro-music site is registered by the IFPI, and therefore the MAFIAA.
http://who.is/whois/pro-music.org/

Regarding the Domain Seziure at http://rnbxclusive.com/,

This is a complaint about whatever SOCA officer decided acting as a personal enforcer for the IFPI and RIAA was a remotely reasonable use of taxpayer’s dollars. I honestly don’t expect you to take this email seriously, but hey, miracles happen.

I am a Canadian Citizen. You are a British agency, and apparently logging information about my visit to that site and threatening prosecution, an unlimited fine and a 10 year prison sentence. . I have never been to this site before. I saw a news article about the seizure and clicked on a link. I am not happy to see your agency is logging (read spying) on other countries citizens.

I have a strong ethical issue with the notices on that site, so much so that I’ve wasted twenty minutes of my life to tell you how I feel.

The line “As a result of illegal downloads young, emerging artists may have had their careers damaged” That statement is anecdotal at best, and an outright lie at worst. The fact that you link to a page(pro-music) who’s whois information lists ross@ifpi.org as a tech and admin contact absolutely disgusts me. The IFPI, as I’m sure you’re aware is a global front for the RIAA. Has Sony, Warner, etc under guise of RIAA and IFPI bought out the British government too? See here for a list of RIAA members: http://www.riaa.com/aboutus.php?content_selector=who_we_are_board.

A government agency should absolutely not be promoting a private corporation in any way shape or form. To imply the only way to get “legal” music is from IFPI members is not only extremely dishonest, but completely untrue.

I think a few things need clarified about the nature of computerized data. Data is not “stolen,” it is copied. No physical or tangible object is taken, the owner is not deprived of anything. If anything it would be a copyright issue, which is a civil issue not criminal. Unfortunately the RIAA and IFPI have decided it’s a better strategy to litigate rather than innovate.

What these sentences imply is that it’s more damaging to society to download a copy of a copyrighted song than walking up to a random stranger and beaning them in the head with a baseball bat (a cricket bat for you English folks). I’m not well versed in British law, but in Canada at least it’s only a two year maximum for assault with a weapon.

But honestly, good luck with your “unlimited fines” and outrageous prison sentences. I’m sure any well informed member of the public appreciates your agency’s dedication to Corporate America.

Last but not least, a right-justified page, really??

Sincerely,

A pissed off Canadian.

Re:Darknets

[Thing 1]

This would be similar to "borrowing" a cow, using it to produce calves, then returning the cow and keeping the calves.

No. It's not like taking livestock and forcing them to reproduce and keeping the offspring. Unfortunately, it's not like anything we've experienced in the real world. It's making a copy, and not depriving the owner of any part of their property, including the temporary ability for their property to create offspring. It's completely different. There is no car analogy (apart from "you wouldn't download and copy this car" -- but you would; otherwise, you would be operating at a non-optimal efficiency, and who but the masters would want that in the general public?!!?!?).

Re:Darknets

[gnasher719]

I understand your offense but I wonder if anyone has considered that this whole thing could be a hoax.

A Google search for the site name shows that it comes up with search results for "free mp3 files" with music that is most likely not there legally (assuming that Kanye West and Lady Gaga haven't given them permission to distribute their music for free). So the site is real; and it doesn't make "free mp3 files" available anymore.

Three possibilities: 1. The site owner made a very strange joke. 2. Some hacker has taken over the site. 3. It's real. Which one? You decide.

Re:Darknets

[Builder]

I just sent the following complaint to the ipcc

---
To whom it may concern,

As part of reading an article on the efforts to reduce music piracy, I visited http://rnbxclusive.com/

The message on this page advises "The above information can be used to identify you and your location. " It goes on to say

"SOCA has the capability to monitor and investigate you, and can inform your internet service provider of these infringements.
You may be liable for prosecution and the fact that you have received this message does not preclude you from prosecution."

This is completely heavy handed abuse by a police organisation. I should not be threatened with tracking and prosecution merely for visiting a web site from a news article. Please can you investigate why I have been threatened in this manner for simply following a link from a legitimate news website.
---

Flood them with similar complaints and maybe someone will get a talking to :)

Re:Looks Fake

[Olipro]

according to a commenter elsewhere, they apparently phoned SOCA's press office and asserted it to be genuine, so, perhaps I stand corrected.

Blatantly fake.

[gallondr00nk]

Come on, it doesn't even look real. Anyone can relay back browser information. Look at the language. "Arrested for fraud", "damaged the future of the music industry". Official notices don't look like this. They don't go off on stupid tangents about destroying the music industry.

There's some corporate shilling going on here, almost certainly.

Re:Thanks SOCA

[Kalriath]

They still haven't even filed the request to do so. And they have only until March 3 to do that.