How the RIAA has Dodged RICO Charges 126
Gerardo writes "Wondering why the RIAA hasn't been hit with racketeering charges over its shady legal fight against file-sharing? Ars Technica looks at why the RIAA has been able to dodge RICO charges. '"Right off the bat there are some problems with the predicate claims for RICO," explained IP attorney Rich Vazquez. "You have to have a pattern of racketeering activity: either criminal acts where there is a one-year jail penalty, or mail or wire fraud." Any RICO action brought against the RIAA would have to focus on the wire fraud component, likely accusing the record labels of poking around someone's PC without permission.' That's going to be a difficult argument to make, given that Kazaa's default settings give users no reasonable expectation of privacy."
Shouldn't they be asking ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Asking the wrong question. (Score:5, Interesting)
Why is it that... (Score:5, Interesting)
It would only take one memo or email showing that they knew a defendant was not guilty or that they have no real proof or that they know they are fishing for information in court to seriously harm their cause.
I think (and IANAL) that if this could be shown once, it would be proper to ask for all communications between the RIAA and their lawyers regarding any particular case in discovery. That should pretty much shut down their tactics.
Can someone tell me why this doesn't happen?
Ah! The old "Not guilty of the crime" argument (Score:3, Interesting)
The only way to stop the RIAA is for someone to fight them on their terms, and win on the basis that the laws they're suing under don't apply to P2P filesharing. Given the possible costs - expensive even if the defendant wins - this is unlikely to happen.
What about extortion? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Shouldn't they be asking ... (Score:1, Interesting)
RIAA Countersuits: Mail Fraud (Score:5, Interesting)
If there must be explicit causation to bring racketeering charges against the RIAA that revolve around mail fraud, wire fraud, or a set of crimes that net over 1 year in jail, the obvious choice to me is mail fraud.
They have consistently misrepresented the facts they have in hand about any actual person in their "Settlement Offer" letters. These attempt to defraud consumers by making false claims about the evidence they have in hand regarding a particular person's innocence or guilt. These false claims are done for the purpose of self-enrichment.
If I file suit in federal court alleging I think that FamousPersonA is a wife-beater and then send a letter to FamousPersonA saying, "Settle with me and I'll drop the suit", I believe this is a form of blackmail. If I know that I have a larger legal team than they do and can outlast them at trial or in any countersuit, then I have unlimited means to extort money from FamousPersonA. Or, anyone else.
The claims are False because the RIAA purports to have proof of guilt. These are overly confident, overstated positions. They constitute a fraudulent mail scheme. They are individually punishible and form a pattern of intimidation and attempted blackmail.
Re:What about extortion? (Score:3, Interesting)
There have been a growing number of cases where people that aren't guilty are reportedly told by the RIAA's representatives that, even if they aren't guilty, the RIAA isn't dropping the suit. What I was wondering is, is it illegal to sue someone, or press forward with a suit, even if you know (or should know) that they probably aren't guilty of what you are accusing them of? I know that the person or company initiating the suit can be found liable for damages, but are they committing a criminal offense?
I can explain it like this using your example...
What if you noticed that your car was damaged and you suspect, although have no proof, that the auto shop that worked on the car a month ago is responsible? And what if, when you confront them, they deny damaging the car? Is it extortion to tell them that you plan on suing them, proof or no proof, but they can make it easier on themselves by giving you $1000 right now to avoid a messy trial?
Not everyone is a Kazaa-using Luser ... (Score:2, Interesting)
That's going to be a difficult argument to make, given that Kazaa's default settings give users no reasonable expectation of privacy.
Not everyone uses Kazaa, though. I'm sure there's plenty of geeks out there who use torrents, unpopular p2p clients, etc., who possibly encrypt their harddrives, protect them with passwords, etc.
While the majority of people sued by the RIAA may not adequately protect their material, all we would need would be a few incidences of the RIAA snooping on protected computers to bring RICO against them (IANAL).
The likely problem is that the RIAA just preys on easy targets; their whole objective is to successfully sue a number of people to scare the rest of the populace into compliance. They couldn't possibly litigate against everyone; it would be too expensive.
What we need to do, is set up some computers that are technically "protected," but are accessible through some well-known vulnerability/exploit used to bypass the user's password, and fill them to the brim with pirate data. Then with any luck the RIAA will slip and sue the holders of said computers, who should in turn contact the ACLU.
I read in another /. post somewhere that you only need two incidences of the crime in question to bring RICO charges against the corporation.
frivolous lawsuits, anyone? (Score:2, Interesting)