RIAA’s MediaSentry resurfaces in Australia
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Disgraced and discredited private eye MediaSentry, fired by former patrons Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music and their RIAA, may be dead and buried in America, but it’s apparently alive and well, resurfacing in Australia where it’s once again plying its trade, probably under new management.
“Two of the Net’s scummiest, and most ill-famed, scavenger operations have joined forces,” said p2pnet recently, continuing »»»
Disgraced MediaDefender is buying disgraced MediaSentry from the latter`s parent company, SafeNet.
What will the new entity be called?
MediaDefenderSentry?
Whatever it is, the Safenet guys will be laughing all the way to the bank.
MediaDefender, owned by ARTISTdirect, was talked out of parting with close to a million dollars comprising $136,000 in cash and $800,000 in a one year note.
The buy will, enable MediaDefender to dramatically expand its effectiveness by providing customers with a wide range of options to meet the constantly evolving challenges in copyright protection and enforcement, says a statement from ARTISTdirect boss Dimitri Villard.
The, combination of MediaDefender, the leader in Internet Piracy Prevention (IPP) with MediaSentry, the leader in business and marketing intelligence derived from P2P channels, creates a true powerhouse in the field of intellectual property protection.
Now, “I currently (but not for long) reside at a student dormitory … in Brisbane, Australia, says a p2pnet reader, going on »»»
Yesterday I got called into the Managers office because the network manager had been contacted by Mediasentry and emailed one of the generic copyright infringement emails as a result of me downloading Angels and Demons.
The manager then proceeded to adopt an -as far as i can tell- exageratingly literal interpretation of the following exerpt from the automated email:
1.) Disable access to the individual who has engaged in the conduct described above; and
2.) Terminate any and all accounts that this individual has through you”
With less than a month left to the semester and in the misdt of the examination period he has asked me to leave the dorm.
While I understand he does reserve the right to terminate my stay at his descretion I was just inquiring about the seriousness of recieving a MediaSentry email and if they are infact even lisensed to conduct their “investigative” work outside of the United States.
Now instead of studying for my exams and working on my final assignments I must take time to find a place to live before the 29th of May (2009).
Does anyone know what’s happening with MediaSentry in Oz?
Should the p2pnet reader tell his ISP the manager to get stuffed?
UPDATE:- It has now been confirmed that MediaSentry is indeed operating in Australia. Click here for more.
Stay tuned.
May, 2009
fired by former patrons – MediaSentry and RIAA: government probe?, April 5, 2009
p2pnet – MediaDefender buys MediaSentry, April 3, 2009
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May 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 am
“Should the p2pnet reader tell his ISP to get stuffed?”
It is not the ISP/Internet issue. Imagine that your LEASE is terminated and you must leave your HOME because of these bastards:
“With less than a month left to the semester and in the misdt of the examination period he has asked me to leave the dorm.”
“Now instead of studying for my exams and working on my final assignments I must take time to find a place to live before the 29th of May (2009).”
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:11 am
Yeh but if the takedown was wriong the manager has no grounds sfor termination
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:21 am
Contact the Aussie EFF, http://www.efa.org.au/
Also search for public advocacy group in your country.
In addition, contact every news-outlet possible (including school newspaper).
Go to the schools ombudsman. Name the school.
P2P caused you to lose your home basically.
Stand your ground and fight.
Write about it and put it online.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:25 pm
“Yesterday I got called into the Managers office because the network manager had been contacted by Mediasentry and emailed one of the generic copyright infringement emails as a result of me downloading Angels and Demons.”
Sorry, but this right here sounds like an admission of guilt. Sorry that being a dummy got you busted, next time you violate the terms of your lease, you should perhaps be more cautious.
I don’t condone the methods and tactics used by these companies, but it seems that most of their “victims” are caught by doing very stupid things. Why a person anticipates sympathy after admitting to stealing is beyond me. Ok, your a broke college kid. People used to make personal sacrifices when they couldn’t afford something. The sense of entitlement that permeates the world these days is downright obscene.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:55 pm
“The sense of entitlement that permeates the world these days is downright obscene.”
I agree with you completely… it is downright obscene and disgusting the way these industry jackasses assume they are entitled to billions of dollars every year when they produce nothing but crap and spend every waking moment coming up with new schemes to ruin people’s lives and cripple products all in the name of a buck.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:19 pm
“Why a person anticipates sympathy after admitting to stealing is beyond me.”
Stealing? Who stole? Who was permanently or temporarily deprived of something he, she (or it) owned until it was taken from them?
Cheers!
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Jon, have you been able to confirm that it really was MediaSentry? Doesn’t sound like their style.
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:19 pm
“it is downright obscene and disgusting the way these industry jackasses assume they are entitled to billions of dollars every year when they produce nothing but crap”
Apparently they produce something of enough value that other people desire to have it, legally or otherwise. If the movie was such crap (I can’t say, because I haven’t seen it), then why was the kid interested in watching it? Moreover, why did the kid assume that he was allowed to watch the thing for free when everyone else is expected to pay a ticket price, or wait until it’s on DVD?
This kid had an agreement with his dorm not to use the university’s resources to download illegal content, he chose to ignore that and instead used his study time to find, download, and presumably watch a movie (instead of studying), and now he’s apparently whining because he got what he deserved. He knew the terms of his agreement with the university (or should have), he chose to violate the terms, and he received the punishment that they said was going to happen if he violated the terms.
The story here is that MediaSentry is operating in Australia, it’s not about the kid. Why is everyone concerned with a kid who got the punishment he asked for?
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:28 pm
@ Ray:
No – I haven’t confirmed it beyond the email. I’m waiting to hear back from the writer on that.
Cheers!
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
@ Ray and Jon
Another question is: Now that DediaDefender and MediaSentry are together, does this look like the kind of thing MediaDefender might do?
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:40 pm
MediaSentry is a leading provider of business and marketing intelligence services for digital media measurement, encompassing a large network of intelligent monitoring agents and proprietary databases that track, verify, measure and report on digital media consumption activity.
http://www.mediasentry.com/
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:51 pm
They should not have terminated your lease. They should have pulled the plug and credited you with the average cost of consumer internet in your area.
In some countries fair-housing laws would limit the landlord’s actions to terminating your access to the service or amenity you abused.
Now, if your lease was up and he just told you he would not renew it for the summer, then you may have no recourse.
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I just have a hunch it wasn’t really MediaSentry. MediaSentry never locates actual downloads.
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:15 pm
MediaSentry couldn’t find its ass with both hands tied behind it’s back.
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:34 pm
The MAFIAA shill assumes that MediaSentry’s investigation methods are 100% infallible
and accurate. This has been shown to be otherwise so many times it isn’t even worth
mentioning any more.
Terminating someone’s lease for copyright infringement is rather extreme; I think the
person who is being accused ought to sue the University if in fact he is found to be innocent
of downloading the movie in question.
Furthermore, given that the Pirate Bay’s torrent tracker is known to generate fake peers in
order to throw off companies like Media Sentry, there is a definite possibility that they’ve
flagged someone who is innocent.
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:23 pm
@ Ray
“I just have a hunch it wasnât really MediaSentry. MediaSentry never locates actual downloads.
With your practical knowledge of MediaSentry, you would know.
It’d be interesting if they have set up in Oz, but perhaps they haven’t and I’ve added a note to that effect at the bottom of this post.
Cheers!
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
[NOTE: In this post, I'm relying on the email. But reading Ray's comments below, I acknowledge the writer may have confused MediaSentry with another company- Jon 2:27 pm Pacific.]
But it does not change the issue which is that this guy is being thrown out of his dorm because of downloading and if that is not extreme, what is?
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:53 pm
U.S.: 1 strike and its tens of thousands of dollars
France: 3 strikes and no net
Aussieland: 1 strike and you lose your dwelling
Canada: Anything the U.S. tells it.
Sweden: Like Canada.
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:37 pm
“Canada: Anything the U.S. tells it.”
So far, that one hasn’t proven to be true at all!
That’s why the US has been launching its defamation campaigns at Canada through the USTR “watch lists”, etc. They EXPECTED Canada to just rewrite our law books to allow them to just continue their shit on our side of the border, but that hasn’t happened at all.
Canada is the one country they don’t quite know how to play.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
“Canada is the one country they donât quite know how to play.”
I wouldn’t be to fast to say that. They know how to play it well. You can bet some type of “economic sanction” will be involved this time around (this year). It came close last time. Be glad we have a minority gov and an election was called.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:40 pm
To add to my earlier post:
Now if he admitted to actually downloading Angels and Demons, he’s screwed.
Also, I was reading Slashdot coverage of this story, and while a year ago, most of the
readers there would come down on the side of the alleged “pirate”, lately, the pendulum
seems to have swung the other way and most of the replies there are pro-MAFIAA.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Someone I know was forwarded a MediaSentry notice by their ISP (for allegedly p2p downloading a particular ebook), with the ISP threatening to disconnect if it happened again. So yes, MediaSentry are in action in Australia.
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Jeff,
There are a lot of pro MAFIAA comments because the MAFIAA is employing a lot of shills to post po MAFIAA garbage.
I think he should sue even if he did download the movie – the reaction to such a minor infraction is extreme and an abuse of power.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:05 pm
@Jesse writes “Why a person anticipates sympathy after admitting to stealing is beyond me.”
Read this and tell me who is stealing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1999/01/17327
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Hi guys,
I forwarded Jon the email my father received from the dorm manager with the emails the network manager received from mediasentry attached.
As I’ve already gotten kicked out and don’t see any chance of me being let back, even until the holidays, I was just writing to inquire about the seriousness of receiving one of these emails from Mediasentry. I have been doing some research on my own and discovered Mediasentry is not even licensed to act in some States in the US so I was merely wondering if they are licensed to do so outside of the US (Australia).
And
What would one do if they were living at home and received one of these emails themselves, Is it cause to show alarm or just a sort of warning. When I was called in the Manager tried to tell me he was contacted personally by Sony Pictures and a lawsuit was imminent if he did not “keep his agreement” with them and remove me from the dorm. How accurate is this?
thank you,
Breno Cavalheiro
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Breno – it is not accurate at all. Contact http://www.efa.org.au/ immediately.
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:46 am
I believe the group that sent the email would be AFACT who are involved in a court case with iiNet (3rd largest ISP in Oz). Currently iiNet pass the emails on to the AFP (Australia Fed Police).
May 23rd, 2009 at 4:10 am
My advice to this student is to contact QLD Legal Aid [freeservice] on 1300 65 11 88 and explain the situation to them. Also If you are paying rent to the dorm you are covered under a statutory lease arrangement (whether formalised in writing or not) that allows you to dispute it. Contact the Queensland Tenants Union on (07) 3257 1108 or Residential Tenancies Tribunal (http://www.rta.qld.gov.au) with this information.
You might also like to contact the Student Union of the University where you are currently studying and if it is QUT they will be DEFINATELY interested in this situation. Especially since the current Chair of the Electronic Frontiers Australia, Mr Nic Suzor (http://nic.suzor.com ~waves at Nic~) is a lecturer their too.
Whatever happens you do have absolute specific rights against these allegations that have been stated by both the “manager” and the letter writer themselves. First I would suggest getting a copy of the email as well as all relevant information of who has seen this email etc. If the manager balks at this idea remind them that tortuous action could be taken against them personally and you have under natural justice (procedural fairness) the ability to see all allegations.
Also if it is MediaSentry [could be dTecNet] , or actually any organisation that is not police -both state or federal – based) and they are stating they have this information due to intercepting some data stream they most likely have infringed the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 [Commonwealth] which is a criminal offence. No non-governmental organisation has the ability (even govt orgs need a warrant issued by a criminal court) to intercept communications (including data) within Australia. This includes those that are situated outside of Australia as well.
May 23rd, 2009 at 4:37 am
There seem to be a few MAFIAA plants in these comments. I have a hard time believing any regular reader of p2pnet would refer to peer to peer as “stealing.”
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:08 am
Hi Breno,
I would be very concerned if a landlord terminated a residential lease because of any unsubstantiated threats from a copyright owner.
Please contact me at nic@efa.org.au if you want to talk about this in any more detail.
Essentially, a landlord has little to no liability for your actions unless they ‘authorise’ (‘sanction, approve, or countenance’) any infringements that take place, and even then, there are some fairly broad exceptions.
I would think that you would probably have some sort of recourse for wrongful termination of the lease in these circumstances.
May 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 am
He said:
“When I was called in the Manager tried to tell me he was contacted personally by Sony Pictures and a lawsuit was imminent if he did not âkeep his agreementâ with them and remove me from the dorm. How accurate is this?”
Not accurate at all.
Also, give us more info on this “agreement they have with this school as a whole.
No network manager is responsible for tosses you out. It would have to fall under a committee of some sort involve the dean (top guy) and associates, including the schools ombudsman, who when also have to notify you of your legal rights.
Not underpaid Network Manager can call the shots on his own and toss you out.
This is getting fishy.
May 23rd, 2009 at 9:51 am
I don’t know about aussieland, but here people have rights. One of those rights would be that they have to tell you, or give you directions to contest the schools decision, or inform you that you have some legal or student recourse.
Again this sounds a little fishy.
Even the guy who made some machine to hack students cards in Ottawa was given his rights in writing by a committee who review it.
Not a lousy Network manager talking about “some agreement” he has with a cartel (let alone Sony themselves).
If any of this is true, I bet you get some good money when you sue them and sue the school for allowing some network manager to tell you to pack up and leave an educational institution.
Fishy.
May 23rd, 2009 at 10:30 am
“Essentially, a landlord has little to no liability for your actions unless they âauthoriseâ (âsanction, approve, or countenanceâ) any infringements that take place, and even then, there are some fairly broad exceptions.”
…and the “landlord” would not be the “network manager who made an agreement with the named cartel”.