Hollywood defends ‘pretexting’
p2pnet.net News:- That Hollywood routinely uses “pretexting,” the shady information gathering technique which landed Hewlett-Packard in so much deep water, has been confirmed.
The Big Six studios, Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney, have used their financial and political resources to have a California bill meant to stop companies and individuals from using pretexting, cancelled.
Written by state senator Debra Bowen, SB1666 would have barred investigators from making “false, fictitious or fraudulent” statements or representations to obtain private information about an individual, including telephone calling records, Social Security numbers and financial information, says Wired News.
“Victims would have had the right to sue for damages,” it says, going on:
“The bill won approval in three committees and sailed through the state Senate with a 30-0 vote. Then, according to Lenny Goldberg, a lobbyist for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the measure encountered unexpected, last-minute resistance from the Motion Picture Association of America.”
‘A tremendous amount of clout’
The MPAA, owned by, and which acts for, the Big Six, “has a tremendous amount of clout and they told legislators, ‘We need to pose as someone other than who we are to stop illegal downloading’,'” Goldberg said, according to the story.
“Consequently, when the bill hit the assembly floor Aug. 23, it was voted down 33-27, just days before revelations about Hewlett-Packard’s use of pretexting to spy on journalists and board members put the practice in the national spotlight.”
Wired says legislature records, “confirm that the MPAA’s paid lobbyists worked on the measure”.
“California went on to pass a much more narrow bill that bans the use of deceit to obtain telephone calling records, and nothing else.,” the story continues “A similarly tailored bill languished in Congress this year, despite high-profile congressional grillings of senior HP employees.”
Not that the MPAA is alone.
Normal operating procedure
New York mother Patti Santangelo defied the members of the Big Four Organized Music cartel, Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, who accused her of being a “massive” and illegal online distributor of their copyrighted ‘product’.
They tried to beat her down, failed and, in what’s become normal operating procedure for them, are using the RIAA, one of their so-called trade organizations, to victimize her children, going so far as turning the best friend of one of her sons against him so they could use the friend as a weapon.
When it first became evident the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) was going to terrorize Santangelo’s kids, “This case is jeopardizing the actual well-being of children and you’re going to see problems develop which will be far worse than the mere ’shakedown for money’ ['settlements'],” the Santangelo’s lawyer, Jordan Glass, told p2pnet.
“As just one example, it was deeply unsettling for us to learn just how much personal, non-public information the RIAA had collected on Patti’s children. All parents should be concerned and I think people have to know the implications.
The case is, “jeopardizing the actual well-being of children and you’re going to see problems develop which will be far worse than the mere ’shakedown for money’ ['settlements'],” Glass declared.
“As just one example, it was deeply unsettling for us to learn just how much personal, non-public information the RIAA had collected on Patti’s children. All parents should be concerned and I think people have to know the implications.”
Its’, “going to become the new feeding ground for those who seek to exploit children, whether through improper contact or identity theft,” Glass predicted.
‘Ripple effect’
Meanwhile, Wired News has Sean Walsh, past president of the Califonia Association of Licensed Investigators, “whose current firm specializes in protecting the privacy of corporate clients, stating:
“Everyone wants a quick fix, but they don’t see the ripple effect until much later. Our organization has been successful at educating legislators by saying, ‘Wait a minute, but look at how it effects X, Y and Z.’ They have to see those tangents so that if they are going to go ahead and pass legislation, they do it in a responsible and educated way.”
Also See:
Wired News – MPAA Kills Anti-Pretexting Bill, December 1, 2006
victimize her children – Santangelo lawyer speaks out, November 11, 2006
personal, non-public information – RIAA targets Santangelo’s kids, February 16, 2006
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December 1st, 2006 at 9:23 pm
According to Lenny Goldberg, a lobbyist for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the MPAA reportedly said, ‘We need to pose as someone other than who we are to stop illegal downloading,’.
WTF???
And besides, downloading is not illegal.
December 2nd, 2006 at 2:47 am
And HP ‘needs’ pretexting to prevent leaking of ‘trade secrets’. The MPAA’s point being?
December 2nd, 2006 at 7:21 am
There’s no doubt that I’d be thrown in jail if I ever claimed to be a police detective, bank employee, or government official.
Why do these “licensed investigators” working for the MPAA receive an automatic – and perpetual – get-out-of-jail-free card when they do exactly the same thing?
George Orwell’s Animal Farm quote could certainly apply:
“All [people] are equal, but some [people] are more equal than others.”
December 2nd, 2006 at 9:45 am
She’s no longer a state senator; in November’s ballot, she won election as California’s Secretary of State, and will take office next year.
Let’s hope she uses some of her clout to resurrect this issue, through the Initiative process if necessary.
If she does, I have one tip for her: Make pretexting a criminal offense, and not a civil liability. Otherwise, the MPAA and PI lobbies will simply run “shakedown lawsuit” or “taxpayer trap” type ads to defeat the initiative. These anti-lawyer, anti-lawsuit ads, while grossly misleading, work very well in the state of California; don’t let it happen to a law as important as this one.