p2pnet - rss feed: Kevin Reid and Ian Hawthorn
p2pnet.net News Feature:- p2pnet’s Catflap recently interviewed the operators of sites in Britain who are being persecuted at long distance by the movie industry cartel’s MPAA.
MPAA stands for Motion Picture Association of America. And yet the bully organization is throwing its weight around in England.
Leading the attack is Matt ‘The Dentist‘ Oppenheim, an ex-RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) mouthpiece who’s now hired out to the MPAA and who, when he was still with the RIAA, said the US “Fourth Amendment does not apply to (the RIAA)”.
He’s clearly taken that warped view with him as he touts for the MPAA.
The Fourth Amendment states, ” The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
We’ve just heard from Ian Hawthorn with a letter he and Kevin Reid have just sent to all party leaders and major media outlets in Britain.
Read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
In the briefest of terms, we are the operators of perfectly legal website acting merely as a search engine for material relating to popular media such as films, etc. In essence, we do no more than is already done by popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo, AltaVista, etc..
We have received several telephone threats from an authoritative American organisation called the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), threatening to hold us liable under American law for punitive damages. They initially demanded $150 million to settle the matter, threatening that if we didn’t pay, they would identify us to the American Courts and would use this to ruin our lives back in the UK.
I explained that I am a student, living in rented accommodation with my girlfriend and young child, with very few resources at my disposal. I have never been to the USA and therefore couldn’t see how I could commit any offence in any country I have not even visited, and when what we have done in the UK is perfectly lawful.
The caller (Matt Oppenheim) was an extremely prominent lawyer, and made it quite clear that he felt that if our Prime Minister could be persuaded to back his country in the Gulf War, then there was no doubting that American law would prevail in the UK.
I was then served with threatening documents directly from the US, by UK court bailiffs repeating this demand and demanding that we disclose the identities of all those who used our web site, so that they could be sued as well.
We have now been named on summonses issued in the USA for proceedings to be held in New Jersey, New York. I can’t even afford the journey to defend myself, as they well know, let alone pay for representation.
We need help on this. We have a lawyer as a friend who has helped us where he can (including drafting this letter), and we also have the services of a reputable specialist lawyer who is providing his assistance
pro bono. However, we need to publicise our plight and to try and attract as much funding as we can to fight this remarkable bullying.
In short, the issues are:
1) The story has international, political and great human interest
2) We are UK citizens being bullied by Americans for an act which is legal in the UK
3) We have never set foot in the USA
4) The UK authorities have tacitly backed this threat in serving documents in an official manner
5) The demands being made of us are ridiculous - $150 million!
6) There are no precedents on either side of the Atlantic
7) This action constitutes a threat to our freedom of expression as guaranteed under the Human Rights Act, and contravenes the International Convention of Human Rights.
The people making the threats have only done so because they know that we do not possess the means to defend ourselves and would be ineligible for legal support in the USA.
9) If this demand were to be issued by UK citizens against us, it would constitute the criminal offence of demanding money with menaces(extortion)
10) It is presumed by Americans that UK politicians will lend their support to any American initiative, based on the unqualified support of the Labour government in the Gulf War
11) The US jurisdiction does not apply in the UK. This is a threat to all UK citizens
Please give us whatever help you can, or at least suggest some alternative avenues
Kind regards
Kevin Reid and Ian Hawthorn
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Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
interviewed - p2pnet interviews Kevin Reid, p2pnet, March 25, 2005
operators - Interview with Alex Hanff, p2pnet, April 14, 2005
The Dentist - RIAA’s Oppenheim hits the road, p2pnet, March 4, 2004
being attacked - ‘We’re not settling out of court’, p2pnet, April 24, 2005
May 4th, 2005 at 3:31 pm
these are really the good guys - alex hanff, too - who have done nothing illegal.
please everyone - go to bds-palace and dvdr-core and at least sign up and click a few ads every now and then to show your support. maybe post a message f supporz.
this case isn’t going away and will have more influence on future cases (or attempts at future cases) like these.
and when they win, you can congratulate yourselves in knowing that you played a part in it.
May 5th, 2005 at 12:11 am
Well i personally kevin reid feel let down by the community as a whole when i realy thought that ppl would back us they aint nothing not an email not a pm we are on our own here fighting this case well if that is the way it is then so be it.
To all who supported us oh i aint talking money comments or emails etc thank you we appreciate it.
Bairdoid
May 5th, 2005 at 12:19 am
I agree with bairdoid, we are both astonished and very disappointed with the support we have been recieving. This will be a ground breaking case if it goes ahead, and it will affect the whole file sharing community.
Just knowing people are there supporting us would be a great help, so come on, where are you???
Hawthy
May 5th, 2005 at 7:51 am
_eAgLe_ here…
If I were either Kevin, Hawthy or Alex, i would feel let down too…
Please people, sign-up in their forums, and at least click on a few ads… They need our support.
I can tell you right now, they are all great people who are being victimized by the MPAA.
Once they go to court and WIN, it will affect the whole P2P community greatly, in a good way :D. Having known them as long as I have, we should be supporting them as much as possible, they are all great people, and need our support… They have commited no crime!
So please, go over to http://bds-palace.co.uk/ and http://dvdr-core.org/ and show your support! Then once they’ve won, you can say “Wow, i had a part in helping those two out, I feel good.”
P2P Forever!!!
Regards, _eAgLe_
May 5th, 2005 at 11:50 am
Kev and Ian…
Know what I would do? Tell their lawyers to F*&k Off in no uncertain terms. If they want a piece of you then let them try to come and get you. Do they really think that they will be able to get extradition over a civil matter that does not contravene laws in the UK?
Let them have their little game and spend loads of their money going to court in the US to get a ruling on you. And then watch them flounder as they try to apply the ruling over here. As long as you don’t set foot on US soil [why would you want to?] they can’t touch you. The Court of Human Rights may have something to say about all this.
Muppets. They clearly have been watching far too many of their own movies….
December 6th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
I am american and I know for a fact unless you violate international trade laws then you may be responsible.Take a note from piratebay.com they are based in Sweden and their torrent site
is legal in sweden.American lawyers try to sue them all the time
but they just laugh at them.Ignore it. The Motion Picture Industry is not a governmental branch.Unless the the high courts of Amercia
want you for something there is **** all they can do to you.The reason your governemnt agreeded to it.was just to be polite.I am sure your governement fully expects you to ignore it and tell them to bugger off!!