The Copyright Cops Really Are Busting Down Doors

from the reality-copying-satire dept

Fri, Jan 9th 2004 2:08pm — Mike Masnick

Last month when it was announced that the RIAA was hiring the former head of the ATF, I joked about how the copyright cops might soon be busting down your door. What I didn't realize was that it's no joke, and it's already happening. Found on Slashdot is the news that the RIAA has been hiring ex-law enforcement officials, outfitting them with police-style outfits, including black "raid" vests with yellow lettering stenciled on the back to spell RIAA, and sending them out to scare unauthorized vendors of CDs and confiscating what they find. While I have no sympathy for those selling such CDs, this does seem to go well over the line. The RIAA claims that it's very effective, and they don't mean for the vendors to actually think they're police - but the effect suggests otherwise. In that case, you could make the argument that they're falsely impersonating law enforcement officials and stealing the CDs they take. They do make the vendor sign an "incident report" indicating that confiscating the CDs is "voluntary" - but if you're scared to death you're about to be arrested, it doesn't seem very voluntary.

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21 Comments

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Uber Techosis, 9 Jan 2004 @ 6:44pm

RIAA is the new Gestapo
What will these music nazis resort to next? Torture?

Will they be kidnapping P2P users, and only letting them go once they hand over all their MP3's, legitimate or not?

Seriously though...does the RIAA represent all the artists that the vendor had CD's for? What about those South American natives that are in every major city in the world playing their beautiful drum and flute music? They sell CD's. Will the RIAA nazi's bust them too for unauthorized CD sales?
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Matt Garrett, 10 Jan 2004 @ 10:11am

StormTroopers
Kinda gives new meaning to the term "jack-booted thugs."
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jan 2004 @ 11:10pm

Golden Rule
Them that has the gold makes the rules.

If your bank refuses to reverse an erronious $5 charge you, have little recourse. If you take $5 from your bank's till, you'll be arrested by the FBI.

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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jan 2004 @ 7:56am

Re: Golden Rule
This may slow down the first time someone calls the real police and has one of these goons arrested for impersonating a law enforcement officer.
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LittleW0lf, 11 Jan 2004 @ 9:44am

Greatest quote I've seen in a long time!!!
�C�mon, guys, pirates are all at sea. I just work in a parking lot.�

I wish the RIAA would listen to how stupid their choice of words are, but if they did, they would start thinking about other things, and they certainly don't want that to happen (thinking is over-rated in their book anyway; they want their customers to mindlessly buy what ever crap they put out and failure to do so is obviously against the law.) Piracy is not the stuff they show on the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean", it usually involves rape, murder, and forcible removal of property on the high seas, and is punishable by death. Equating copyright infringement to piracy may sound good to the dimwitted folks in the RIAA/MPAA/BSA, but it isn't the same thing!

However, I am glad they are cracking down on illegal vendors instead of customers who have chosen to obtain their product online (for which they didn't have a fair or reliable capability of doing themselves until recently.) I don't download mp3s online, and I have over 1000 CD's (most recently have been purchased through CD-Baby and other indie music companies though,) but I like the mp3 format as it is easy to place my entire collection onto a single harddrive and play them in randomized order to my heart's content. I worry with the RIAA's current gestapo tactics, that those who do anything with a CD other than buy it and keep it on a shelf will soon find themselves at the hands of the SS.
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Bart Vyvey, 12 Jan 2004 @ 3:39am

they need a real cop...
Let me think for a moment...
*) Impersonating a police officer.
*) Not having the authority to perform police actions
*) Stealing property (no matter what, the so called confiscated CD's are not owned by the RIAA)

I think it's time the RIAA got a visit from a REAL cop...
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Precision Blogger, 12 Jan 2004 @ 8:23am

This is a vigilante action, but it has a few of my
I remember my total fury at seeing a guy wheel a bunch of CR-RW boxes over to a street booth selling CDs, and open the creates to reveal what looked like genuine audio Cds, labels and all. These guys' SUPPLIERS need to be put out of business, and maybe the RIAA fuzz will help a little there, thoguh it seems like going after the end-seller is mis-aimed.

Inevitably they will also persecute some innocents, and occasionally generate more violence than intended, maybe enough to injure innocent bystanders.

- The Precision Blogger
http://precision-blogging.blogspot.com
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anon, 12 Jan 2004 @ 11:11am

This is F*CKED UP
ok, they have now crossed the line. A few years ago, I saw this guy at a concert wearing a t-shirt with the words RIAA Riot Police on the back. I though it was really funny at the time, thinking that would never happen.
I dont think its so funny any more....
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Jason Schultz, 12 Jan 2004 @ 7:37pm

Misquotes
Hi. Saw you linked to the article on the RIAA police. I was interviewed and misquoted in the article, so I thought I'd provide a link to the real quotes for your readers. Thanks, Jason
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Derek Battershell, 17 Oct 2005 @ 4:43pm

Stupid ATF in Albuquerque
Thank the statue of limitations in New Mexico is over. When I used to own a shop in Albuquerque me and my brother refused to pay a dumb mexican named Doc. When he quit we harassed hem until he came over. We were waiting for him and beat the shit out of him. We called the cops and said a burgklar tried to fire bomb the place. The stupid cops arrested docd. While he was in jail we sold all of his tools and his car. Thanks to the legal system in New Mexico 1 phone call got us about 50 grand. Proof that ATF is stupid!
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Cyryl, 8 Apr 2006 @ 9:19pm

Re: Stupid ATF in Albuquerque
You're a fucking MORON.

Are you seriously telling me that you're going to talk that kind of shit, admit to it AND put your real fucking name up on the same post?

You're either:

A: Lying your ass off

OR

You're REALLY, REALLY fucking stupid.

*thinks*

I choose option C.

BOTH.
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phil, 19 Jan 2007 @ 10:28am

Re: Stupid ATF in Albuquerque
Your mother raised a couple real losers. first you refuse to pay a guy for work he evidently did for you, then, bait him and commit assault on him, then falsely accuse him and have him jailed for something he didn't do (or even intend to do). Then, while he is incapacited by your false testimony, you "steal" and sell his means of transportation AND means of making a living.
But the worst part is that you have the audacity to brag about your total lack of integrity and seem to think that you've gotten away with it just because the statute of limitations has run out. Boy! are you out of touch with reality! You fail to realize that the fact that you did it will never go away. Even though you're proud of your actions, you WILL pay - Time will show you that your guilt remains even if you attempt to overlook it.
I hope Doc was able to overcome in the long run and put his life back together and I hope you haven't been so rudely inhumane to anyone else.
Losers, for sure!
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Kathryn Profera, 6 Feb 2008 @ 9:11am

I don't feel one bit sorry for any of them!! Why? Because I am an artist and my husband is a musician, writer, and recording engineer. We work very hard into the wee hours of the night to come up with original, professional works of art. We have spent thousands on art materials and equipment for "OUR" art! The seventh commandment-THOU SHALT NOT STEAL- says that stealing is wrong. People go to jail every day for stealing. Stealing the hard work, intellectual property, or the few cents a musician gets from each CD sold IS WRONG! It is wrong for those who steal for their visual artwork as well. HGTV's shows like Carol Duval and others, whose artists or copiers of others' art? who want their 15 minutes of fame are responsible for many of these rip offs. I have seen quilts at quilt shows that are directly copied from paintings from art magazines. I've seen the same at art shows. A knock off purse party is no different. If you are stealing, you are stealing. Make your own product! Let the poor immigrant produce his own music! I hope they crack down further. They are taking the food out of the independent and professional artists' mouths who have put the time, sweat and effort into their work! Let them ask permission and buy licensing rights!
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Jo, 26 Feb 2009 @ 5:33pm

Derek Battershell
Derek Battershell is a cheap con-artist and a thief.
I have met this ass, and my first impression was: DISHONEST!
He open's auto-repair shops, does shoddy repair work, and sells used parts for new.
Derek Battershell has a rich daddy, that is very influential in Albuquerque.
The only way you can tell Derek Battershell is lying is:
HIS LIPS ARE MOVING.
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Battershell, 26 Aug 2009 @ 2:12pm

Battershell's ARE losers
Look them up @ NMCOURTS.COM Daddy aint rich no more and they're all felons!! HAHA!!
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x battershell, 26 Aug 2009 @ 2:16pm

And mom Battershell is a mexican too.
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x battershell, 26 Aug 2009 @ 2:26pm

Derek's wife Hiedi . Is the ugliest hag looking bleach blonde bimbo you'll ever see !!

The Battershell's are mexican too. Christina the mother is from espanola!!HA Not to worry all of them are paying for thier past criminal history.!! NMCOURTS.COM just enter the last name. They won't be talking crap anymore!! What goes around comes around.
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victim of the Battershell's, 26 Aug 2009 @ 2:30pm

Beware they hide behind Calvary church in Alb. And claim to be christians. The dad's name is Jay. The brother's names are Pete,Paul,Jarrod.
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James (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 10:32am

Bring it
I would love to see these clowns show up at my house.
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Battershells are thieves, 17 Jul 2013 @ 10:43pm

Abq CL
There are posts on abq craigslist about these battershell assholes.
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Ben Youry, 7 Oct 2015 @ 2:10pm

Derek's wife Heidi is a hit, gorgeous lady. He's an ass
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