January 5, 2009
Music Industry Ditches Company It Used to Gather Evidence on Students
The Recording Industry Association of America, which announced last month that it would stop suing groups of students for alleged illegal file sharing, has ditched the company it had hired to seek out such pirates.
That company, MediaSentry, had collected evidence for the RIAA’s mass lawsuits by using the LimeWire program to search for copyrighted song titles. But the industry group quietly ended its relationship with MediaSentry several months ago, for reasons it did not disclose, The Wall Street Journal reported today.
In any case, the move represents a “victory” against a company that had been “invading the privacy of people,” Ray Beckerman, a lawyer in New York who writes the popular blog Recording Industry vs. the People, told The Journal.
The RIAA still plans to look out for copyright infringement and file lawsuits in egregious cases. But instead of MediaSentry, the industry group will work with DtecNet Software ApS, a company based in Denmark, The Journal reported. —Sara Lipka
Posted on Monday January 5, 2009 | Permalink |Comments
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Larceny versus privacy. One is in the Ten Commandments and the other is a 20th Century fiction (not even mentioned in the the Bill of Rights or the Constitution by name).
The RIAA hasn’t given up, just switched vendors.
— wq Jan 6, 06:56 AM #
I was one of these ‘victims’ forced to pay $$$, or be taken to court, and the really frustrating part was I didnt even download the music. You had better believe Im gonna be suing the PANTS of the RIAA.
— Ticked off in Indiana Jan 6, 05:21 PM #
I too was pressued to settle and pay a huge amount. I have only paid one payment so far, I will not pay any more payments. This is intimidation and highway robbery. These people talked to me like dirt. I too will be checking into suing these people.
— Ripped Off Jan 6, 06:34 PM #