Beckerman tells laywers to go on the offensive
by Rich Fiscus on August 13th, 2008
With RIAA lawyers reeling from one setback after another in their campaign of P2P copyright infringement cases it only makes sense that defense lawyers would want to go on the offensive right now. And in fact that’s just what noted defense attorney Ray Beckerman is suggesting on his blog.
Besides the general tip to “take MediaSentry’s deposition, and find out where the truth lies,” he also gives some examples of the way RIAA lawyers have built their cases. It shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been paying attention in the last few months that what the Plaintiffs represent as an air-tight case is really just a house of cards waiting for a stiff breeze to knock it down.
Readhing through the briefs Mr. Beckerman links to that becomes quite clear. In one brief they call MediaSentry investigators and play up their part in putting the case together. In another they downplay the agency’s role, comparing them to private citizens at a library. Ironically these were both filed at around the same time, and in the same case.
The big problem with the argument that MediaSentry is just using publically available information is that it doesn’t actually answer the question of whether it requires licensing or not. What MediaSentry does is a commercial enterprise where they dig for information on people. Just because information can be gathered without bugging your house or tapping your phone doesn’t mean anything. What matters is your intent and that capacity in which you’re gathering information.
According to one RIAA brief a New York Attorney General actually agreed with their position. Unfortunately for them that was nearly 100 years ago and the law has changed significantly since then. Just being in the employ of an attorney doesn’t mean you can also be a private investigator without a license.
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