Court Rules Against TorrentSpy In MPAA Email Suit 130
mikesd81 writes "C|Net reports that a lawsuit filed by TorrentSpy against the MPAA, accusing it of intercepting the company's private e-mails, was tossed out of court this week. Even though a U.S District judge ruled that the MPAA broke no rules, the MPAA does admit it paid $15,000 to obtain private e-mails belonging to TorrentSpy executives. The MPAA's acknowledgment is significant because it comes at a time when the group is trying to limit illegal file sharing by imploring movie fans to act ethically and resist the temptation to download pirated movies. From the article: 'Ethically, it's pretty clear that reading other people's e-mail is wrong,' said Lorrie Cranor, an associate research professor and Internet privacy expert at Carnegie Mellon University. 'Being offered someone else's e-mails by a third party should have been a red flag.' TorrentSpy is appealing the decision." This is just not a good week for those guys.
Am I reading this right?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet the legality of hosting a site hosting
This seems very inconsistent to me. Is it or is it not legal to act as a proxy to potentially illegal material?
All animals are equal (Score:5, Insightful)
While we (the citizens) weren't paying attention, "they" have put in a two-tiered structure where the laws apply to the sheep, but not the wolves. That's why if you steal someone's SSN, you go to jail, but if you are an illegal alien, hey, it's ok. Or if the MPAA or RIAA breaks the law, harrasses and intimidates people, it's ok...they are a legimiate business interest (and we know this because of their campaign contributions). If Tyson wants to import a whole town from Guatamala to work in their chicken processing plant in Arkansas, that's ok too. "Steal" a DVD by copying it, and it's pokey time for you. All the while your Congressmen and Congresswoman are busy putting their hands in your wallets to pay for boondoggles like the $140 billion ($450,000 for every pre-Katrina man, woman, and child) for New Orleans relief, and various other Bridges to Nowhere.
Re:Store and forward (Score:5, Insightful)
The judge should have been pissed that the MPAA didn't file a discovery motion.
Wait... what? (Score:5, Insightful)
How the HELL is this not a felony?!
I don't get it. (Score:5, Insightful)
yet theft of digital mail is A-OK?
I want to have what that judge is smoking.
Re:How is this not illegal? (Score:5, Insightful)
All that this ruling means is that in the opinion of this court they did not.
It does not grant carte blance access to industrial espionage. It does not mean that the MPAA violated no other laws.
For a group of people who are picky about minor details of technical arguments you all assume a lot about legal ones.
Re:Am I reading this right?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:All animals are equal (Score:1, Insightful)
Off topic becuase I care about illegal immigrants here. They artifically increase the supply of workers and do not support the government and well being the same way I do. What do I mean about artifially? There is too much incentive for employers to not pay a prevailing wage. If you think that does not happen, you are blind.
If I get rear ended by an illegal immigrant that does not have a drivers license or insurance, what is my recourse? Paranoid? No, it just happened to me and the person was caught two days later and has since disappeared again.
Do you know what a coyote is? A person that brings illegal immigrants into the country. Do you know one way that people brought here pay them back? They pull in front of a moving car and slam on the brakes and get rear ended and collect insurance money from you. Do you know any illegal immigrants that are married to a legal person? How many of them file married seperate or married jointly with the illegal person? They don't, they file as a single woman and include the kids as dependents, now they get EIC, welfare, reduced lunches and qualify for higher education grants and special assitance that I am paying for and my family does not qualify for.
Are those some facts for you or do you view things differently? You included the word "hysteria" so it is not that you do not want to see the discussion here, you just want to tell others you do not want to see it after but not until you add but add your opinion first. If you would have stated, "this is not a forum to discuss illegal immigration", I would not have replied.
Re:Am I reading this right?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Didn't O.J. Simpson get acquitted because evidence was improperly obtained? I think methodology is more important than you claim.
Apply this to movies (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The MPAA wants us to act ethically??? (Score:4, Insightful)
Just the cost of doing business. And to think when Valenti died there were actually some who thought the MPAA might start growing a conscience.
Re:All animals are equal (Score:4, Insightful)