Sunday, April 8, 2007
RIAA and MPAA Seek Permission To Engage in Pretexting
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "NEWS" @ 01:00 PM
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pretext7apr07,1,1936238.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true
"The music and movie industries are lobbying state legislators for permission to deceive when pursuing suspected pirates. The California Senate is considering a bill that would strengthen state privacy laws by banning the use of false statements and other misleading practices to get personal information. The tactic, known as pretexting, created a firestorm of criticism when detectives hired by Hewlett-Packard Co. used it last year to obtain phone records of board members, journalists and critics."
Well, there is a shock. The RIAA and MPAA want to engage in illegal activity to track down teenagers who swap songs or movies.
From the RIAA's Executive VP of Anti-Piracy - "Basically, we want criminals to feel comfortable that who they're dealing with is probably some other criminal and let us in on what's going on," said Brad Buckles, the RIAA's executive vice president for anti-piracy. "We're not talking about trying to go in and get customer information. In no case have we ever tried to do that."
Oh, no, they would never use that information to file a lawsuit against a teenager that downloaded a few songs and pressure them to settle for an outrageous sum of money per song they claim to have found on their hard drive. I trust these guys completely. :roll:
"The music and movie industries are lobbying state legislators for permission to deceive when pursuing suspected pirates. The California Senate is considering a bill that would strengthen state privacy laws by banning the use of false statements and other misleading practices to get personal information. The tactic, known as pretexting, created a firestorm of criticism when detectives hired by Hewlett-Packard Co. used it last year to obtain phone records of board members, journalists and critics."
Well, there is a shock. The RIAA and MPAA want to engage in illegal activity to track down teenagers who swap songs or movies.
From the RIAA's Executive VP of Anti-Piracy - "Basically, we want criminals to feel comfortable that who they're dealing with is probably some other criminal and let us in on what's going on," said Brad Buckles, the RIAA's executive vice president for anti-piracy. "We're not talking about trying to go in and get customer information. In no case have we ever tried to do that."
Oh, no, they would never use that information to file a lawsuit against a teenager that downloaded a few songs and pressure them to settle for an outrageous sum of money per song they claim to have found on their hard drive. I trust these guys completely. :roll:
