Mobile/PDA About Us Advertise here


		User name	Password

		Not registered yet? Register here. Lost your password? Click here.

Browse by topic

News

MPAA wants your privacy

1 December 2006 5:00 by Dave "Davedough" Horvath | 18 comments

A recent bill that was up in California legistation which would have banned the ability for companies to use "pretexting" practices to obtain your private information was recently overturned by everyone's favorite industry association, the MPAA.

The bill, SB1666 was presented before California Committees and would essentially stop the ability of companies to use false or fraudulent statements about themselves in order to obtain information such as your home phone number, address, even social security number. The bill had been gaining major approval through the Senate with a unanimous 30-0 approval vote and was set to become a law when our friends at the MPAA stated that their organization requires the ability to disguise themselves in efforts to stop illegally downloaded content.

Lenny Goldberg, a lobbyist for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse stated "The MPAA 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.'"

This resistance in the Senate proved a good move for the MPAA as the bill was shot down earlier in the year. Legislative records clearly show that it was the MPAA's lobbyists who paid certain dues to make sure the bill did not pass. As a result California revised the original bill and passed a much more anorexic bill that only barred organizations from obtaining your phone records, and nothing else.

Sean Walsh, who was the president of the Califonia Association of Licensed Investigators and an investigator for 27 years argued that the bill was far too vague and hindered legitimate organizations who would need to obtain said information for the good of the people.

"There's a public reason and benefit for some of this information to be available to legitimate licensed investigators," Walsh said. "Should it be available to everyone out there? Probably not. There are people that have legitimate need for getting this information in terms of an investigation, enforcing a court order and helping to return a child. Those are all very legitimate reasons and by excluding that you do grave disservice to the average citizen and to large corporations."

Walsh went on to describe that the MPAA uses these pretexting methods to weed out bootleggers that are selling DVD movies and CDs on the streets. There is no indication that the RIAA has any say on this bill.

Ira Rothken, the technology lawyer who is suing the MPAA for allegedly hiring a hacker for $15,000 to hack the search engine TorrentSpy says he didn't know about the lobbying practices of the MPAA but is not surprised that they would take these measures. He went on to say that the MPAA has already shown a track record of paying loads of money to intrude on an individual's privacy for their personal gain. Additionally he stated that he supports bills such as these and hopes that future legislation wouldn't be influenced by powerful organizations offering handfulls of money.

Source:
Wired

Permalink to this article

TorrentSpy ordered to log user activity for MPAA (11 June 2007)

MPAA launches assault on P2P (18 January 2007)

Hollywood wins copyright suit in China (29 December 2006)

Judge says making files available for download is distribution (11 December 2006)

Lawyer: RIAA wants to shut down the Internet (29 November 2006)

MPAA targets boy scouts with anti-piracy campaign (21 October 2006)

Dogs assist MPAA in war on movie piracy (22 September 2006)

RIAA / MPAA bust major U.S. piracy gang (15 September 2006)

Millionaire vows to challenge MPAA suit (25 July 2006)

« Previous news article
HDTV comes to mobile phones

Next news article »
Movie pirate gets seven years

Post your comment

Discuss this article!
gogochar (Senior Member) 1 December 2006 5:21
That's absurd. Why, why, why? I'd like to see the president get some kind of harassment. Have a little taste of his own damn medicine. :( [ + quote]
ahjukhir (Junior Member) 1 December 2006 6:14
thats pure f*ing bulls, I wanna see the supreme court get rid of these bastard MPAA and RIAA fing aholes, they got no right hiding themselves.[img][/img] [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1 December 2006 7:41
BludRayne (Junior Member) 1 December 2006 7:39
ARGH!!!!!! Too filled with rage to type any more than this! [ + quote]
chinpark9 (Newbie) 1 December 2006 8:18
Would these people be still as vengeful, if they were hit where it hurts, that is, in the sale of their products. My view is, instead of cursing them, just stop giving them money and let them have something else to worry about. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 1 December 2006 8:24
Dont you understand the media mafia needs to "phish" in order to harass and sue others? this is a easy one :P besides as long as they keep phishing laws under check they can phish,bait and entrap digitally and thru other means it dosent matter theres a large industry that steals consumers and others private info........ [ + quote]
georgeluv (Member) 1 December 2006 9:08
that bill would have severily hindered anti-piracy measures by the RIAA and MPAA. all you would have had to do is creat a network with a disclaimer that says no one who works for the RIAA or the RIAA themselfs can enter the network. simple as that. [ + quote]
chinpark9 (Newbie) 1 December 2006 9:18
I am sorry not to actually agree with the precept of what the media mafia needs. My view is that what will concentrate their minds is the lack of sales. NO sales, no money, so no lawyers. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 1 December 2006 10:58
Quote: 'We need to pose as someone other than who we are to stop illegal downloading.'" Do they think that they are under cover cops or something. What I would like to see is a survey on how many workers of the MPAA and RIAA do what they try to stop. Now that would be so interesting reading :) [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 1 December 2006 11:10
current entrapment laws only implies to law officials right? Cops mostly FBI and the like kinda and such? People entrapping each other sounds onximoronic... [ + quote]
chinpark9 (Newbie) 1 December 2006 20:49
Well, they did say they were going to be legit soon. LOoks like they have succeeded. [ + quote]
ofolion (Senior Member) 2 December 2006 0:34
bloody hell..how far will it go?! [ + quote]
Niobis (Senior Member) 2 December 2006 1:52
I think they want their name changed to "Malware and Phishing Assholes of America". I consider what they are trying to do spyware and I won't stand for it. Just let them try to get my information... 2.24.17.13.5.17 6.13.23.17 6.20.21.5 13.26.16 4.7.26 18.13.4 13.9.13.11 18.13.4 13.9.13.11 18.4.1.25 25.17 21 13.25 6.13.21.26.6.17.16 6.20.17 6.9.1 1.18 7.5 9.17.4.17 26.17.8.17.4 25.17.13.26.6 6.1 14.17 [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2 December 2006 1:53
stromoose (Newbie) 2 December 2006 6:51
Too bad that the character of America is being challenged by the "characters" in Hollywood. The movie mafia needs to fail here and now! [ + quote]
chinpark9 (Newbie) 2 December 2006 7:39
Also, they seem to have infected all those in that industry from Islamabad to Timbuctoo. You need to remember that it is your money they are after. One way, or the other. [ + quote]
DarkmanX (Member) 3 December 2006 7:05
This is out of control. These people will have more authority for search and seizure and filing charges than federal agents. The need to have access to information that law enforcement has to either subpoena or get from court orders is just rediculous. I think it's funny that the government got more heat under The Patriot Act (where they are actually trying to counter terrorism) and yet this blanant disregard of privacy is glossed over for what you say (Not something as noble as Homeland Security, no...), for profit margins. The Terrorists have got to be laughing there asses off. Where is the priority? [ + quote]
DarkmanX (Member) 3 December 2006 7:06
This is out of control. These people will have more authority for search and seizure and filing charges than federal agents. The need to have access to information that law enforcement has to either subpoena or get from court orders is just ridiculous. I think it's funny that the government got more heat under The Patriot Act (where they are actually trying to counter terrorism) and yet this blanant disregard of privacy is glossed over for what you say (Not something as noble as Homeland Security, no...), for profit margins. The Terrorists have got to be laughing there asses off. Where is the priority? [ + quote]
beaters (Junior Member) 4 December 2006 9:42
On the other hand, while it's illegal to lie to cops, it's not illegal to lie to a self-appointed narc. So one can at least feed the MPAA narcs as much misleading information as one wants. Perhaps even feed them information or data that could backfire in their faces? "Pretexting" could well be a two-way street. [ + quote]
lannigan (Member) 6 December 2006 5:12
MPAA, you are a bunch of idiots. Take you're money and invest it in the technology and capitalize on it. You guys are so stupid. YOU WILL NEVER STOP PIRACY. PERIOD. Plus, you can kiss my canadian ass, I download more stuff than 55 americans, just to piss you off. [ + quote]