p2pnet - rss feed: Users dragged into Echostar, Freetech row
p2pnet news view TV | Freedom:- “Innocent customers should not be dragged into federal litigation just because they bought a product that other, less scrupulous purchasers may be hacking for unlawful purposes.”
That’s the EFF’s (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Fred von Lohmann on the foundation’s efforts to have attempts by Echostar to get the names and addresses of every customer that purchased a free-to-air satellite receiver rejected.
The demand came up in a lawsuit between Echostar, the company behind the DISH satellite TV service, and Freetech, the manufacturer of Coolsat free-to-air satellite receivers.
“As part of the suit, Echostar subpoenaed 17 distributors of Coolsat receivers, demanding the names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and other information of every person who purchased a Coolsat receiver over the last five years,” says the EFF, which has submitted an amicus brief submitted to a federal court.
“The court should recognize the privacy interests of these customers, especially since Echostar does not need these customer lists in order to have its day in court against Freetech,”it says, going on »»»
In recent years, satellite TV companies, record labels, and movie studios have all engaged in dragnet litigation tactics that threaten individuals with costly lawsuits unless they pay significant financial sums to “settle” the dispute. These mass litigation campaigns leave innocent consumers trapped between paying a “settlement” for something they did not do or facing even higher legal costs to prove their innocence.
Satellite TV provider DirecTV pioneered this approach in 2001, threatening more than 120,000 individuals with legal action and commencing more than 24,000 federal lawsuits, often with no evidence other than the fact that the individual purchased multi-purpose devices that could be used for piracy.
“Once the names of Freetech customers are disclosed to Echostar, there may be little that any court can do to protect these people from harassment, settlement demands, and legal expenses,” says EFF lawyer Matt Zimmerman.
“This may be the last chance the court has to protect the privacy of these individuals.”
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.Stumble It!
EFF - Innocent Customers Potentially Dragged Into Legal Battle Over Satellite TV, August 18, 2008
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August 19th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Hey, didn’t the Supreme Court in a fairly recent case against one of the peer-to-peer software creators say that if a device (or software) has significant non-infringing uses, the user can not be held liable for contributory infringement just because the item *could* be used to infringe copyrights? I forget which one, but it was an important declaration, and gave rise to the t-shirt motto (I have one) of “Source Code == Free Speech”. Hmm, on second thought I think the t-shirt saying was coined from the Napster declaration that source code is defined as being a derivative creative work. Or something like that.
August 23rd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I personnaly know of a user who bought a Coolsat Free to air and is using it to watch free dish network
his name is Edward napier and he lives at 13088 baumhart road in amherst,ohio
but I doubt if echostar will do anything about him.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:19 am
I personnaly know of a user who bought a Coolsat Free to air and is using it to watch free dish network
his name is Edward xxxxxx and he lives at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,ohio
but I doubt if echostar will do anything about him.
Thats about as low as you can go? Ehy not grow a backbone and face that guy in Person and settle whatever it is that made you post this.