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MPAA Under Investigation for Illegal NYPD Payoffs
Posted by
Zonk
on Sat Apr 23, 2005 05:49 AM
from the but-they're-so-pure-of-heart-and-purpose dept.
from the but-they're-so-pure-of-heart-and-purpose dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The New York Post is reporting that two NYPD officers are being investigated for taking illegal payoffs from the MPAA for busting sellers of pirated DVDs. According to the article, MPAA investigators would tell the cops where pirated movies were being sold, which is perfectly legal, but, after the bust, they'd give them several hundred dollars in gratuities, which is illegal. Naturally, the MPAA denies all of this."
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Money making (Score:5, Interesting)
Surely the can't expect that their raids of arrests will provide them with more sales.
Where they thinking that as long they're already on the red number side, they could just buy themselves some police forces?
Re: you missed the "why" (Score:5, Insightful)
Increase Sales
Reduce Cost
The MPAA considers piracy to be a "cost" that they wish to control, to assist their bottom line.
Parent
Campaign funds (Score:5, Funny)
Yup, business as usual.
Which it be? (Score:5, Interesting)
From title: MPAA Under Investigation for Illegal NYPD Payoffs
So, who's under investigation here?
Life is easy... (Score:5, Funny)
I am not surprised (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:They may be bad, but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a reason there's a law called the Sherman Anti-Trust Act [wikipedia.org].
A true Republican president [whitehouse.gov] would be fighting against the trusts, unlike the corporate whore [time.com] who occupies the White House.
Parent
This wouldn't surprise me.. (Score:5, Informative)
The Banno Story - Corrupt nyc cops lie, the DA encourages and participates in the lies.. get caught red handed [indymedia.org]
Police Perjurers [yahoo.com]
another story related to the new york DA editing/manipulating video tapes [pacifica.org]
Google the story, hundreds of cases have been dropped because the Police were inventing stories that never happened and then having the DA charge innocent people with full knowledge.
how ironic (Score:5, Interesting)
People have been saying for years that the MPAA need to try harder to stop piracy before the movies get leaked. Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Maybe it's time they started listening.
Why is it that.... (Score:5, Funny)
I bet the MPAA thought that while their actions might have been *technically* illegal, they certainly weren't hurting anybody.
Sound familiar?
Re:Why is it that.... (Score:5, Funny)
The next step is to call them thieves.
Parent
Bad cops bad cops (Score:5, Funny)
New York's finest paid by MPAA
Bust down your door and take your movie away!
In de car or on de horse,
They'll take your DVD's with excessive force.
Bad cops, bad cops.
Hypocrites (Score:5, Interesting)
They want us to obey the law but forget to do it themselves. Great example guys.
Criminal activity is normal for the RIAA (Score:5, Informative)
Law enforcement goes wild and imprisons students for sharing a few thousand dollars worth of mp3s. It's about time we start imprisoning music industry CEOs who steal $143 million from the public.
come on (Score:5, Funny)
How much to have someone arrested? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Umm. (Score:5, Insightful)
Telemarketer called you; you're on the do not call list?
click here [donotcall.gov]
Parent
Laws enforced only if officers tipped. (Score:5, Informative)
Aside from the fact that they are not underpaid, there is this problem. If you have a "tip" system, pretty soon they only enforce laws to benefit those who tip them. Want that burglary investigated? Tip them, or they will "ignore it due to more pressing matters".
Parent
Re:Umm. (Score:5, Insightful)
Though when I'm in the US I do try to remember that the waiters really are serfs and if I don't tip they'll starve. What a lovely system you guys have...
Parent
Re:Umm. (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Irregular verb (Score:5, Funny)
I tip
You bribe
The MPAA induces massive police corruption
Parent
Re:Umm. (Score:5, Insightful)
We already have a problem with police going after more high profile crimes involving a lot of money, rather than going after less high profile crimes which involve less money but more harm to the individual.
For example, if a little old lady is scammed out of $10,000 by a guy who says he will fix her leaking roof, that causes her a lot of harm.
In contrast, if someone distributes music online and costs the music industry $100,000, which is highly unlikely, the police will go after those guys with more vigor, even though the music industry won't feel the sting of that guy's actions much if at all.
Parent
Re:Why not? (Score:5, Funny)
No, no; a lot of other bands are being copied too, not just Ludacris.
Parent
Re:What's worse? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think I can see the logic of this - most cops probably don't give a damn about who's selling DVDs, especially since the people who do it (at least here) are usually immigrants (sometimes illegal) who have a very poor knowledge of the language and can't get a job.
Doesn't seem to be much point to me in arresting some guy who managed to get some income that way, when there are much more harmful people out there. I think most cops would be pretty happy with that at least they're not selling drugs or mugging people.
Parent
Re:What's worse? (Score:5, Informative)
As a cop I can tell you that this is indeed the case. As a small department with a lot of area to cover, piracy is the LAST concern any of us have. To put it in perspective I would rather write someone for J-walking...
Parent