MPAA nails blind person
p2p news / p2pnet:- We’ve been chronicling the pitiful attempts by EMI, Universal, Sony BMG and Warner, the owners of RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) to use their RIAA to blackmail people into buying their music ‘products’.
But that doesn’t mean to say their partners in crime, the major movie studios (Walt Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures Corporation, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Universal City Studios and Warner Bros Entertainment) have abandoned their own version of the RIAA’s ridiculous sue ‘em all marketing campaign.
The studios own an outfit called the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), headed up by Dan ‘Jedi’ Glickman, and they’ve been using their political and law enforcement connections to back the MPAA in its bid close down all existing BitTorrent sites in the hope of stemming the p2p tide.
Their efforts are as futile as those of the Big Four. But BT sites aren’t the only ones in the MPAA’s sights.
MPAA Harrasses blind person over alleged sharing of AUDIOBOOK!
That’s a Google Group header and posts associated with it are due to be expunged from Groups in five days (September 25, 9:51 am). So if anyone grabs the whole lot, let us know.
For now, read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
MPAA Harrasses blind person over alleged sharing of AUDIOBOOK!
Technomage Hawke Sep 18, 9:51 am
Newsgroups: alt.music.mp3.winmx
From: Technomage Hawke
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 01:51:57 -0700
Local: Sun, Sep 18 2005 9:51 am
Subject: MPAA Harrasses blind person over alleged sharing of AUDIOBOOK!
Note: The author of this message requested that it not be archived. This message will be removed from groups in 5 days (Sep 25, 9:51 am).
Well, I find it rather interesting that a MOVIE company would complain about a file they actually do not hold the rights on. The file in question appears to be an AUDIOBOOK, yet they are claiming its one of their works (A MOVIE).
now. I did send a response back to my ISP regarding this. so far, all I have gotten has been a “canned” response. I also sent a question off to Paramount pictures asking them why they are harrassing a blind person over an audiobook. I thought they dealt with movies.
oh well…
Sounds to me like these guys are trolling all the nets looking for anything that even looks like its theirs, even when it isn’t.
go figure.
besides, it isn’t illegal to share a list of files, is it? it is, after all, a list (and no actual files may exist, even if the list says otherwise).
TMH
***********
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 17:48:22 -0400
From: [our favorite abuse dept]
To:
CC:
Subject: [9.15.2005
Dear Customer,
We are writing on behalf of
Accordingly,
Please be aware that the DMCA also provides procedures by which a subscriber accused of copyright violation can respond to the allegations of infringement and, under certain circumstances, cause his or her account to be reinstated. To do so, however, the response must meet certain criteria. Pursuant to section (g) of the DMCA (17 U.S.C. § 512(g)), you have the right to submit to
(a) a physical or electronic signature of the subscriber;
(b) identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or disabled;
(c) a statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled;
(d) the subscriber?s name, address, and telephone number and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located.
In the event that you submit to
Sincerely,
Hash: SHA1
Notice ID: 22-3376090
Notice Date: 15 Sep 2005 21:16:28 GMT
Dear Sir or Madam:
BayTSP, Inc. (”BayTSP”) swears under penalty of perjury that Paramount Pictures Corporation (”Paramount”) has authorized BayTSP to act as its non-exclusive agent for copyright infringement notification. BayTSP’s search of the protocol listed below has detected infringements of Paramount’s copyright interests on your IP addresses as detailed in the attached report.
BayTSP has reasonable good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of in the attached report is not authorized by Paramount, its agents, or the law. The information provided herein is accurate to the best of our knowledge. Therefore, this letter is an official notification to effect removal of the detected infringement listed in the attached report. The attached documentation specifies the exact location of the infringement.
We hereby request that you immediately remove or block access to the infringing material, as specified in the copyright laws, and insure the user refrains from using or sharing with others Paramount’s materials in the future (see, 17 U.S.C. §512).
Further, we believe that the entire Internet community benefits when these matters are resolved cooperatively. We urge you to take immediate action to stop this infringing activity and inform us of the results of your actions. We appreciate your efforts toward this common goal.
Please responed [sic] indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter. The provided link has been assigned to this matter
Nothing in this letter shall serve as a waiver of any rights or remedies of Paramount with respect to the alleged infringement, all of which are expressly reserved. Should you need to contact me, I may be reached at the following address:
Mark Ishikawa
Chief Executive Officer
BayTSP, Inc.
PO Box 1314
Los Gatos, CA 95031
v: 408-341-2300
f: 408-341-2399
paramo…@copyright-compliance.com
*pgp public key is available on the key server at ldap://keyserver.pgp.com
Note: The information transmitted in this Notice is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, reproduction, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from all computers.
This infringement notice contains an XML tag that can be used to automate the processing of this data. If you would like more information on how to use this tag please contact BayTSP.
Evidentiary Information:
Notice ID: 3376090
Recent Infringement Timestamp: 15 Sep 2005 09:29:01 GMT
Infringed Work: Timeline
Infringing FileName: (AB) – Michael Crichton – Timeline.rar
Infringing FileSize: 190983098
Protocol: OpenNap
Infringing URL:
Infringers IP Address:
Infringer’s DNS Name:
Infringer’s User Name: technomage
Initial Infringement Timestamp: 15 Sep 2005 09:29:01 GMT
(Thanks, Bennie)
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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win
- Mohandas Gandhi
September 19th, 2005 at 6:15 pm
I’m assuming they downloaded the rar file from this person extracted it, then confirmed it’s contents? Because simply finding a filename proves nothing whatsoever.
Then there is the point that BayTSP are working on behalf of the MPAA, so how can infringement be claimed when they downloaded it themselves. I was under the impression that other people besides the MPAA has to download it for it to be classed as infringement.
September 19th, 2005 at 9:21 pm
This really shows just how well BayTSP understands the “scene.” The scene release of a movie would almost never have the author’s name for the book from which the movie was drived. In addition it would also include the video format (DVD, DivX, XVid, avi, etc) and the acquisition method (CAM, Rip, Screener, etc…)
Furthermore it’s already tagged as an audiobook with the ‘(AB)’ prefix and the file name is in the proper format for an Audio Book release.
Perhaps Paramount thinks that by virtue of acquiring the rights to a book to produce a movie that they infact now own the complete copyright to the work? It would be a typically arrogant position for them to take.
And I hope that Mark Ishakawa has a good lawyer having sworn to a false statement under penalties of perjury that BayTSP is representing the copyright owner. I doubt that Michael Crichton hired BayTSP.
Not to be outdone, perhaps the RIAA will launch a major lawsuit offensive at Gallaudet College in Washington DC?
September 19th, 2005 at 10:35 pm
No problem John. After I posted the article at Slyck.com it was removed within 5 minutes from the forum. Prob now what will happen is that it will turn into a front page article there now since you posted it.
I am going to register here soon.
September 19th, 2005 at 10:37 pm
I’ve been along time reader here and Slyck and a submitter of many articles already to Slyck.
I believe that this is my first on for here.
September 19th, 2005 at 11:50 pm
I got to thinking about it and you quoted me twice during the p2pnet drive.
September 20th, 2005 at 12:31 am
Only twice? heh
September 20th, 2005 at 2:30 pm
Well despite the message saying that it will be removed in five days the life of it will be a great deal longer.
alt.music.mp3.winmx is not a group controled by google, It is a usenet group that hunderes of servers archive. Since it is a text based group and not a binary group (large files) google provides free access.
This message and disscussion will live on with quite a few services having retention of usenet text posts of 3+ years and some even longer than that.
I feel sad that people think that google groups is the only way to access such services, it larks back to the days when people who had AOL thought they were the only ones that could use it.
September 24th, 2005 at 2:25 pm
Hmm, Sue a Deaf University for AudioBooks — yup, about their speed…