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Google Sues Mississippi Attorney General For Conspiring With Movie Industry
ideonexus writes: Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has called for a "time out" in his perpetual fight with Google in response to the company filing a lawsuit against him for conspiring with the movie industry to persecute the search giant. Leaked Sony Pictures Entertainment emails and documents obtained under FOIA requests this week have exposed how the Motion Picture Association of America was colluding with and lobbying state prosecutors to go after Google, even going so far as to "assigned a team of lawyers to prepare draft subpoenas and legal briefs for the attorneys general" to make it easier for them to persecute the company. Here's the full complaint (PDF).
And between Exxon and Google, guess which one has a private jumbo jet for its executives...
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Looks like the state Attorneys General are the newest benefactor of policital contributions in the ongoing purchasing of our government by special interests.
I'm sorry, but as much as North Korea sucks, this hack just gets better and better...
Google’s effort to position itself as a defender of free speech is shameful. Freedom of speech should never be used as a shield for unlawful activities and the Internet is not a license to steal,” said Kate Bedingfield, an M.P.A.A. spokeswoman, in an emailed statement.
That statements so unbelievably ironic... Sony and the MPAA are trying to squash these very document releases with the same tactics they use to try and stop file sharing... but this time it's to hide their own collusion, racketeering, bribery and likely other violations of federal law. I wonder if the other inmates will appreciate her opinion that piracy is stealing when she's in the state pen...
Does anybody even want to live in Mississippi? I'm pretty sure it's the worst state in the Union for a reason.
The rest of the country should just build a wall around it, and put all the politicians and lawyers there.
How does it feel to know your tax dollars and elected representatives are being used to do the bidding of private motion picture conglomerates at the expense of regular citizens using the internet?
The MPAA is led by disgraced former Senator Chris Dodd, famous for being on the take from Countrywide Mortgage as a "Friends of Angelo" Mozilo member in good standing. Wonder if this little project with the studios meets anti-trust law violation thresholds....
What is it with the southern states? The dude's eyes don't even point in the same fucking direction, yet somehow he got elected Attorney General for this shithole state. How on earth does someone become elected to such a position? HURR DURR THA CAWNSTITUUUUSHIN, AH SEUW TEH GOOGEL, AH BE IN THE PAWCKET UV DEM COR-PUR-AY-SHINS HURF TURF
Personally, I think if law enforcement, the civil courts and the MPAA don't have a right to force Google to do their jobs for them. I also think that due process for individuals still exists and the MPAA shouldn't have a right to tell Google to pull content without a court order or valid evidence.
So yeah, this guy kinda needs to be sued. Google has done nothing but try to balance the rights of these greedy bastards and the rights of individuals. Google has spent a ton of money to implement functionality just to help placate these morons while pissing off its user base.
And if people don't get their pirated content with a Google search, there's MANY other trivially easy ways to find it.
Have you been to Wyoming?
lucm, indeed.
Yes he's a Democrat. Does it matter? I don't know - why does every he-done-bad story involving someone remotely associated with the Republican party lead with "Republican so-and-so...".
I do think this is a kind of shitty deal though. If there was some wrong I'd want righted, and I thought that the arm of government responsible for looking into the matter was low on resources, I'd want to be able to "help out". If this case has merit and results in favor of Google and friends, what kind of precedent does that establish?
Mr. Moore, in an interview, said he was working pro bono to advise Mr. Hood on how to combat the illegal sale of drugs online. He was then hired, for a fee he would not disclose, by the Digital Citizens Alliance in a similar post. Mr. Moore then became a critical source for the movie industry, according to one email, telling them how Mr. Hood’s inquiry was progressing and even alerting industry executives that Google had been sent a subpoena — before it said it had been told Peggy Lautenschlager, who served as attorney general in Wisconsin, said that the role that the movie industry had played in pushing Mr. Hood, through Mr. Moore and others, was inappropriate. “A private interest is influencing some attorneys general’s offices,” she said. “Tragically, that is how the world operates nowadays.”
Mr. Hood and Mr. Moore said their actions were motivated by wrongdoing by Google, not by any pressure from the movie industry or Microsoft. The Digital Citizens Alliance said it had been public about pushing Google to clean up its search results. Microsoft, which among other efforts has supported FairSearch, a group pushing attorneys general, declined to comment.
“I don’t think there is any secret that there is a group of interested industry people who have a problem and they are concerned about how Google is doing their business,” Mr. Moore said in an interview. “But frankly, Attorney General Hood, and seven or eight others, are concerned about drugs, about child pornography and illegal steroids.”
The groups have also done more than write letters to attorneys general. Executives from the M.P.A.A., for example, urged the group’s members to donate $1,000 each to Mr. Bruning’s campaign for governor in Nebraska.
The plea coincided with a fund-raising event for Mr. Bruning in March at Microsoft’s offices in Washington. Campaign finance records show that donations came in from Paramount Pictures, Sony, 21st Century Fox, as well as other movie industry players, each for exactly $1,000.
Mr. Bruning said that he did not solicit the donations, and that they did not influence him.
Mr. Hood’s office did not respond to specific questions about his use of a letter apparently prepared by a movie industry executive as a draft for a warning he sent to Google, or about the role Mr. Moore had played in lobbying his office. But Mr. Hood said in a statement that his office accepted help from outside companies as it investigated wrongdoing.
“If they have expertise to help us catch the bad guys, we gladly accept their help,” his office said. “Google has put their profits ahead of the safety of children and families and this office will continue to fight them with all the expertise at our disposal in an effort to protect the people of Mississippi.”
Persecute vs prosecute: please learn when to use each. You persecute someone because of their race, religion, sex, political beliefs, etc. You prosecute someone or a company over legal issues.
Wyoming is just one of those imaginary states like Idaho and East Prussia.
The state we should wall off and send all the supremacists to, so that we can find out once and for all who the 'superior' race is, insofar as the genocide of it's members within aforementioned walls is indicative?
The best comment I saw on Ars, was that as a response to these AG tactics by the MPAA and RIAA, Google should remove all references to the MPAA and RIAA from its search results. There doesn't seem any reason that google *has* to index your site.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
I'm not saying I agree that Google was breaking the law here, but in general, when a party feels they have been injured by another party acting unlawfully, isn't it standard practice for the injured party to work with prosecutors? Certainly victims of violent crime like rape, etc. will often meet with someone in the D.A.'s office to help prepare the case. This may have gone a bit further, with lobbyists and contributions, etc., but that's all part of politics. So I still don't really see how Google has a case here.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
Gladly live in Wyoming (been there) over (what I hear) is insane humidity in Miss.
3 initials: BHO
From (White) House Monkey to (White) Porch Monkey all in a single term!
"Leaked Sony Pictures Entertainment emails and documents obtained under FOIA requests"
How is a FOIA used to get that? These arn't government documents.
Does anybody even want to live in Mississippi? I'm pretty sure it's the worst state in the Union for a reason..
It seriously depends on what part of the state you're in. Some places are as modern as California or New York.
Other places are basically hillbilly land... without the hills. And everything in between.
Source: Lived in MS for several years.
Is it just me or does anyone else think that all corporations must disclose all emails? This could end corruption once and forever!
From local councils to state legislators to congress critters all to the Casa Blanca ... please tell me who is not 'ON THE TAKE' ?
Even the most strict institution such as the Pentagon there are 'revolving doors' to award the retired generals in the defense industries
And we have a high level spook moonlighting in the private 'security' business, haven't we?
The 'take' can come in a variety of manner --- $$$ is but one. It could be sexual favors, it could be high position (like the revolving doors for the retired generals), it could be anything !
And the politicians are not the only one 'on the take'
Even our doctors, yes, the one we go to when we are sick, are enjoying the 'benefits' from pharmaceutical companies --- in the form of 'attending symposiums' which are, in fact, vacations in exotic places
Captcha: foursome
Does anybody even want to live in Mississippi?
You ever been there? I have, and it's beautiful, nice and green. You probably can't find a better place to have a farm. The soil is as close to perfect you'll ever see. And, you can still shoot trespassers on sight!
You probably can't find a better place to have a farm.
Sure, if you don't mind mosquitos the size of horses.
People like that don't wind up in prison.
Wyoming is great if you value your privacy. I mean the air gaps are huge.
Mississippi is just a swamp.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
The Dems doing anything about this. They only "stand up to business" when they're attacking on behalf of some other industry (often for lawyers, but not exclusively).
Not that the Republicans would do anything, but lets be honest that both sides are equally avaricious and corrupt.
The politically privledged class of the lawyer, of which all rules are bent to revolve around him. There is not "rule of law", rather "law is only meant to protect the lawyers", to include those in office. Everyone elses political status stems from how usefully we are to this lawyer aristocracy.
It's a Democrat.
Who do you think pulls the plows!
If you own any shares in a mutual fund you most likely an Exxon stockholder.
n/c
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Yes. Just like Degobah. An entire planet. All swamp. Every inch.
I could find about a dozen places better, including the moon, because well, at least you won't be in Mississippi.
also moon cows make the best ice cream.
what is this, Romper Room? everybody on the MPAA side was gung ho until these emails came out. "time out" my aunt tillie. put up or shut up, Mr. AG.
At least they have the decency to go dormant when the temperature drops below 70 or so. Cf. Minnesota or Wisconsin.
The rest of the country should just build a wall around it, and put all the politicians and lawyers there.
Finally! I've been waiting for the reboot for a while.
Yes. Just like Degobah. An entire planet. All swamp. Every inch.
Except in Mississippi, the only forces you hear about are the dark ones, relating either to cops or hurricanes, following the Rule of Two.
So you can actually shoot them and hit? Sounds like a win-win!
It is the same in "BUMFUCK" U.S.A.
Simply a war between politicians and lawyers and it is going on EVERYWHERE.
Follow the MONEY!