Ok Folks, When Does It Go Too Far?
We've already seen the MPAA and the RIAA demanding and receiving rights far beyond those afforded any other groups whose property is stolen, misappropriated, etc. Many of their fishing expeditions would never be tolerated if brought by individuals or smaller groups, even if the thefts were a greater percentage of their bottom lines. And now, we have the allegation that now the MPAA is possibly breaking the law by conspiring to break into at least one website, in complete violation of state and federal computer trespass laws, and rather than criminal felony complaints and RICO triple damage requests, we have a civil suit.
From Sensei Enterprises:
MPAA ACCUSED OF HIRING A HACKER
On May 24th, Torrentspy.com parent company Valence Media filed suit
against the Motion Picture Association of America, accusing it of hiring a
hacker to steal information from a company that the MPAA has accused of
assisting copyright infringers. The suit was filed in the U.S. District
Court for the Central District of California and did not identify the man
the company says was approached by an MPAA executive. The suit calls the
man a former associate of one of the plaintiffs and alleges that he was
asked to retrieve private information on Torrentspy.com, a search engine
that directs people to download links. Torrentspy's complaint includes
claims that the man whom the MPAA allegedly paid $15,000 to steal e-mail
correspondence and trade secrets has admitted his role in the plot and is
cooperating with the company. The allegations came three months after the
MPAA filed suit against Torrentspy and other directories for allegedly
making it easier for pirates to distribute movies over the Internet.
Torrentspy asked the court for unspecified damages and a jury trial. On
June 22nd, Valence Media filed court papers identifying the hacker as
Canadian resident Robert Anderson. The complaint in the case may be found
at http://www.techfirm.com/ts-mpaa.pdf