RSSJudge rules for MPAA in TorrentSpy case
By Ed Oswald | Published December 19, 2007, 5:18 PM
A judge ruled against the BitTorrent site in its case against the MPAA this week, accusing it of tampering with evidence.
The court found that TorrentSpy deleted or renamed threads and categories that infringed on copyrights, and deleted the IP addresses of its users. While termination is a rarely used sanction, the court said TorrentSpy's actions were "sufficiently extraordinary" to warrant it.
A fine of $30,000 had previously been levied against the site for violations of discovery orders.
Without this evidence, the court believed a fair trial could not occur. Essentially, that ruling echoed the complaints of the MPAA, who claimed without this data it would be much more difficult for them to argue their side of the story.
TorrentSpy's conduct during the discovery phase was said to be so poor that it had engaged in willful efforts to destroy evidence, and provided false testimony under oath as well.
Of course, TorrentSpy and its lawyers disagreed with the court. Its lawyers called the ruling "draconian and unfair," and its founder said he will pursue an appeal, and believes the site has sufficient grounds to do so.
The MPAA applauded the decision. ""The court's decision is a significant victory for MPAA member companies and sends a potent message to future defendants that this egregious behavior will not be tolerated by the judicial system," piracy chief John Malcolm said.
"The court clearly recognized that defendants engaged in evidence destruction because they knew that such evidence would prove damaging to them."
*yawn*
Squash one, two pop up.
Suck it MPAA!
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|ingram091:
Well, you may want to take this case and learn from it, if nothing else, for your own benifit.
If you (or the customers who you've written code for) are wanting to win any case against them, then you may want to start adding code that logs ip addresses as well as any other information that the judicial system may want to see as evidence.
At the end of the day, just because you don't agree with how the judicial system works or because you can't be bothered to support your clients, doesn't mean its bull*.
You comments about people keeping logs of IP because they're spammers etc? .. er, how about them wanting to win a case in court?
Any case where there you don't have evidence to backup your side of the story will result in a loss.
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|WTF? so because they do not maintain logs for things they are fined? BULL s***! I have never kept or even coded for a IP log for internet websites or search tools. Why would ANYONE do that unless they are purposely trying to keep that information for malicious use? Its a privacy thing. I don't know any site that keeps logs of IP numbers unless they are worthless spammers that exploit their customers for advertising popups, Malware, and spyware. Something I am guessing the MPAA RIAA feel is a requirement for any webpage.. again I say BULL s***.
There is no reason ever to have a log on a web page or search tool. Sure the MPAA RIAA wants you too, but only so they can sue you for a Consumer hit list, Alla Communism blacklisting. But NOT having them is not a reason to be fined like that... Just because they have no way do now exploit an enduser because they never had any evidence to begin with. Just a user IP list to exploit from other similar cases. Is it any wonder that nearly ALL IT departments now have any existing log files set to zero bits so needless resources are not wasted dealing with these pieces of scum. And even better coding properly to preserve privacy rights and never have a log to begin with.
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|ingram091 is just another ignorant bozo sprouting nonsense. Essentially any webstats program (such as Awstats) tracks IPs and hostnames, duh. Even knowing which countries visitors come from can be useful. You must not know any websites, since every one I've worked with behind the scenes did record IPs, and a lot more. Want to ask if BetaNews does this?
Nearly ALL IT departments now have any existing log files set to zero bits? What are you trying to pull? That would be extremely foolish and idiotic!
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|How do you code for an ip log?
"And even better coding properly to preserve privacy rights and never have a log to begin with."
That whole sentence was started improperly.
Just because you have heard the word code before and you associate it with Computers, doesn't mean your use of it is correct.
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|JUDGE WAS BOUGHT!
Torrentspy doesnt provide any downloads, hell they dont even host torrents anymore...
besides
What's the MPAA and RIAA trying to accomplish to end bittorrent trading? LOL
Sorry but even if TS dies... TPB WILL BE FOREVER
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|Business as usual in America:
The judge is bought and paid for by big business.
In a country where the special interest paid lobby, elected judges and law enforcement officials (read: "campaigns funded by ...") are the norm, this should come as no surprise to any but the most blissfully clueless.
You're long past any hope of checks and balances in the system. The country is owned: bought and paid for.
Good luck with that and glad I live elsewhere.
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|What country are you from where there are no copyright laws or law enforcement? Your use of "blissfully clueless" insinuates you may be a little British sissy, where you have even less rights than we do. You don't own your land, there are camera's everywhere and taxes are horrid. Your country is also responsible for the mess in the middle east that America foolishly tried to take control of. I have more respect for the French than I do for the tabloid obsessed British.
Piss off.
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|So what this article tells me is the MPAA won a case with absolutely no evidence to support their case, and I'm assuming no evidence to support the theory that TorrentSpy destroyed evidence (other charges would have been brought forward if their was)
So how does someone win a case when they have no evidence? They just complained about their evidence being destroyed and the judge believed them??
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|The process of discovery in a lawsuit is where one side (usually the plaintiff) requests pre-trial evidence from another side (usually the defendant). The evidence that TorrentSpy supplied had obviously been tampered with (i.e., IP addresses of people transferring copyrighted material were removed). What that brings about, generally, is a default judgment in favor of the plaintiff because why would TorrentSpy alter evidence unless it was damning (protection of individuals' rights to privacy aside)?
I applaud TorrentSpy for not sharing peoples IPs, and thereby protecting them from person investigation and legal action; however, if we were to follow your logic companies like Arthur Anderson would still be in business because they shredded the relevant documentary evidence to indicate their, ergo we cannot convict them on "absolutely no evidence".
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|No they were more-so fined $300k for TorrentSpy deleting the user accounts/forums/IP's/etc. I don't really understand why MPAA gets that money, but at least TorrentSpy went above and beyond and protected the anonymity of their users. While the courts are shaking their index finger at TorrentSpy, they just saved a bunch of people from litigation.
I don't think I've ever been to torrentspy.com / downloaded anything from there, but I think they deserve a round of applause.
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|CHINA has the answer! We will ban all of HOLLWOOD's frigging movies, if the MPAA harasses us for selling pirated DVDs. And they did it last week. No new Amerikan films are being shown there until further notice. Drop dead capitalist pigs...
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|Seems the statuesque is unchanged. The corporations still run this country.
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|Yea and it sucks....really bad. Vote green.
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|WoW............
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|You know, in a way, with the RIAA and MPAA suing for such high amounts, I would think that piracy is actually helping them financially. If thousands of albums are pirated, sue for thousands.
Bittorrent sites are asking for legal issues and playing with fire. I love them for what they do for me, but am not surprised by these rulings.
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|Why do you think they're doing it?
If it wasn't hugely profitable for them, they wouldn't be suing them at all.
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|All I want to know is this: what in God's name is it going to take to stop the RIAA? These guys have got to be stopped! They are trampeling on all of our rights and freedoms and no one can seem to stop them. They must be stopped at all costs. They can not be allowed to continue what they are doing absolutely unchecked like this. Look at all the damage they have done (to our collective freedoms) so far.
God, I wish I had millions of dollars in the bank becaues if I did, I would dedicate my entire LIFE to absolutely destrying the RIAA in the courts. I would hire an absolutley ARMY of lawyers and instruct them to use any and all legal means necessary to simply destroy them in the court room.
Seriously, the RIAA needs to be wiped off the face of this earth for the good of all of us. They have been allowed to do FAR too much damage already and they MUST be stopped before any more harm is done.
Please God, let someone with VERY deep pockets wage an absolute HOLY WAR in court against this "Great Satan".
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|You're confused. This story is about the MPAA not the RIAA.
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|Good idea, but RIAA/MPAA are buying laws to protect their outdated business model, so waging war in the court room alone would not be enough.
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|Sorry, I should have said MPAA/RIAA. Two different sides of the same coin if you ask me. Both represent the "Evil Empire" and both need to be eradicated from the face of the earth.
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|Taking these people on in courts are a waste of time. Explosive chemicals are cheap and easy to get. Going the legal route is playing their game with their rules. Maybe we should be making our own rules?
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|Chill, you must Chill! I have your Camaro keys and you can have them back in the morning when you are sober.
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