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Court Rules Against TorrentSpy In MPAA Email Suit
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri Aug 31, 2007 10:55 AM
from the government-is-setting-a-great-precident-on-this dept.
from the government-is-setting-a-great-precident-on-this dept.
mikesd81 writes "C|Net reports that a lawsuit filed by TorrentSpy against the MPAA, accusing it of intercepting the company's private e-mails, was tossed out of court this week. Even though a U.S District judge ruled that the MPAA broke no rules, the MPAA does admit it paid $15,000 to obtain private e-mails belonging to TorrentSpy executives. The MPAA's acknowledgment is significant because it comes at a time when the group is trying to limit illegal file sharing by imploring movie fans to act ethically and resist the temptation to download pirated movies. From the article: 'Ethically, it's pretty clear that reading other people's e-mail is wrong,' said Lorrie Cranor, an associate research professor and Internet privacy expert at Carnegie Mellon University. 'Being offered someone else's e-mails by a third party should have been a red flag.' TorrentSpy is appealing the decision." This is just not a good week for those guys.
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TorrentSpy Must Preserve Data In RAM For MPAA 489 comments
Transient writes "Reaffirming a magistrate's earlier decision, a federal judge has ordered TorrentSpy to begin keeping server logs as it defends itself against an MPAA lawsuit. In her opinion, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper interpreted federal discovery rules broadly. ' Judge Cooper took issue with TorrentSpy's argument that data in RAM is not "stored." She noted RAM's function as primary storage and that the storage of data in RAM — even if not permanently archived — makes it electronically stored information governed by federal discovery rules.' Given that TorrentSpy has limited access for users in the US, the ruling may be moot. But it does set a precedent for other, similar cases. 'Under this interpretation, any data stored in RAM could be subject to a subpoena, as at a basic level it is a "medium from which information can be obtained" just like a hard drive. '"
[+]
IT: Internal Emails of An RIAA Attack Dog Leaked 427 comments
qubezz writes "The company MediaDefender works with the RIAA and MPAA against piracy, setting up fake torrents and trackers and disrupting p2p traffic. Previously, the TorrentFreak site accused them of setting up a fake internet video download site designed to catch and bust users. MediaDefender denied the entrapment charges. Now 700MB of MediaDefender's internal emails from the last 6 months have been leaked onto BitTorrent trackers. The emails detail their entire plan, including how they intended to distance themselves from the fake company they set up and future strategies. Other pieces of company information were included in the emails such as logins and passwords, wage negotiations, and numerous other aspect of their internal business."
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IT: 'I Was a Hacker for the MPAA' 385 comments
Wired has up an article with a man named Robert Anderson, who was recruited by the MPAA in 2005 to inform on people in the BitTorrent community. In a tell-all interview with the site, Anderson explains how the powerful media organization encouraged him to obtain the information they were looking for: "According to Anderson, the MPAA told him: 'We would need somebody like you. We would give you a nice paying job, a house, a car, anything you needed.... if you save Hollywood for us you can become rich and powerful.' In 2005, the MPAA paid Anderson $15,000 for inside information about TorrentSpy -- information at the heart of a copyright-infringement lawsuit brought by the MPAA against TorrentSpy of Los Angeles. The material is also the subject of a wiretapping countersuit against the MPAA brought by TorrentSpy's founder, Justin Bunnell, who alleges the information was obtained illegally."
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Judge Rules TorrentSpy Destroyed Evidence 325 comments
Come play kdice writes "A federal judge has handed the MPAA a resounding victory in its copyright infringement lawsuit against TorrentSpy. Judge Florence-Marie Cooper entered a default judgment against Justin Bunnell and the rest of the named defendants in Columbia Pictures et al. v. Justin Bunnell et al. after finding that TorrentSpy 'engaged in widespread and systematic efforts to destroy evidence'. After being sued, TorrentSpy mounted a vigorous defense, including a counter-suit it filed against the MPAA in May 2006, but, behind the scenes, the court documents paint a picture of a company desperately trying to bury any and all incriminating evidence. TorrentSpy has announced its intention to appeal, but its conduct makes a reversal unlikely."
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The MPAA wants us to act ethically??? (Score:5, Funny)
How about -
imploring the MPAA to act ethically and resist the temptation to download pirated emails.
Re:The MPAA wants us to act ethically??? (Score:5, Interesting)
Industrial Espionage is still illegal, and purchasing internal emails maybe fall under Industrial Espionage statutes. I am not a lawyer, but in my opinion TorrentSpy should look into filing criminal charges against the MPAA, or the agent of the MPAA that authorized the purchase of these emails, and the person that sold those emails to the MPAA.
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Besides the 15 grand they paid for these "legally
Re:The MPAA wants us to act ethically??? (Score:4, Insightful)
Just the cost of doing business. And to think when Valenti died there were actually some who thought the MPAA might start growing a conscience.
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Am I reading this right?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet the legality of hosting a site hosting
This seems very inconsistent to me. Is it or is it not legal to act as a proxy to potentially illegal material?
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Giving a key to a thief that then breaks into a place using that key will get you in trouble. Since you know the
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Re:Am I reading this right?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Am I reading this right?! (Score:5, Interesting)
TorrentSpy should have sued the former employee who stole the information from them. There's no proof that MPAA induced the employee to violate the law. They should have sued this guy out of house and home. Instead, they worked with him to file a lawsuit against the MPAA. In doing so, they sued a party against whom they had no recourse under the Act. It was a risky strategy that did not pay off.
There is lots of evidence that the rich are treated differently, but this isn't it.
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Re:Am I reading this right?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Didn't O.J. Simpson get acquitted because evidence was improperly obtained? I think methodology is more important than you claim.
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The Wiretap Act applies only against those who steal information, not against those who get it afterwards.
MPAA did not steal the emails. They obtained the emails from someone who stole them. The proper analogy would be purchasing
All animals are equal (Score:5, Insightful)
While we (the citizens) weren't paying attention, "they" have put in a two-tiered structure where the laws apply to the sheep, but not the wolves. That's why if you steal someone's SSN, you go to jail, but if you are an illegal alien, hey, it's ok. Or if the MPAA or RIAA breaks the law, harrasses and intimidates people, it's ok...they are a legimiate business interest (and we know this because of their campaign contributions). If Tyson wants to import a whole town from Guatamala to work in their chicken processing plant in Arkansas, that's ok too. "Steal" a DVD by copying it, and it's pokey time for you. All the while your Congressmen and Congresswoman are busy putting their hands in your wallets to pay for boondoggles like the $140 billion ($450,000 for every pre-Katrina man, woman, and child) for New Orleans relief, and various other Bridges to Nowhere.
Re:All animals are equal (Score:4, Insightful)
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New Career Opportunity (Score:2)
Now you don't even have to hide, since apparently what you are doing is legal now. wtf?
How is this not illegal? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:How is this not illegal? (Score:5, Insightful)
All that this ruling means is that in the opinion of this court they did not.
It does not grant carte blance access to industrial espionage. It does not mean that the MPAA violated no other laws.
For a group of people who are picky about minor details of technical arguments you all assume a lot about legal ones.
It's amazing what you can do when (Score:2, Funny)
what kind of screwed up justice is this ? (Score:2)
American Justice (Score:2)
This is what "the other half" means.
Wait... what? (Score:5, Insightful)
How the HELL is this not a felony?!
Re:Wait... what? (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyway, I'm sure some combination of "they weren't stolen, they were copied" and ""let's say you leave your back door unlocked and I..." is sufficient to make all of this OK.
I think you've got it (Score:2)
Counter sue for copyright violation. (Score:2, Interesting)
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If they are full of company trade secrets then the value might be tremendous. Say $45,000 per infringing piece of email that was
I don't get it. (Score:5, Insightful)
yet theft of digital mail is A-OK?
I want to have what that judge is smoking.
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Screw them. (Score:3, Informative)
I support civil disobedience. Just encrypt your stuff (hint: WASTE P2P) and do it at your own risk.
Only one question... (Score:4, Interesting)
We already know that the **AA can get away with whatever it wants, and that most judges have as much integrity as most politicians.
But what I want to know here - Why did TorrentSpy sue rather than pressing charges? This doesn't sounds like a civil offense, it sounds like an outright criminal action on the parts of both the MPAA and Anderson.
We should have people looking at going to prison over this, not having some petty countersuit thrown out of court.
Hacking a company's email is legal??? (Score:3, Informative)
"...he signed a contract stating he had come by the correspondence through lawful means."
"Anderson allegedly "hacked" into TorrentSpy's e-mail system and rigged it so that "every incoming and outgoing e-mail message would also be copied and forwarded to his anonymous Google e-mail account," records show."
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Turn their own tactics against them (Score:2)
"Morality" can obscure vicious manipulation (Score:2)
Morality can be a cover story of the v
Apply this to movies (Score:3, Insightful)
In a nutshell (Score:2)
I thought you could.
They didn't pay to steal it. (Score:2)
While I'm sure
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Re:Store and forward (Score:5, Insightful)
The judge should have been pissed that the MPAA didn't file a discovery motion.
Fuck the Law. (Score:2)
Are you the guy who mows my lawn? (Score:2)
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TorrentSpy could sue Mr. Anderson, but there's the possibility that Mr. Anderson's internal account was always forwarding to GMail while he worked there, was a member of the m