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RIAA Dumps MediaSentry, But Hires DtecNet Instead

from the the-king-is-dead,-long-live-the-king dept

Mon, Jan 5th 2009 12:46am — Mike Masnick

Over the past few days there's been a lot of attention paid to the news that the RIAA has ended its relationship with MediaSentry, the highly controversial firm that the RIAA used to try to find those involved in file sharing. There have been various lawsuits questioning MediaSentry's techniques -- and the sheer number of falsely identified people certainly suggested pretty strongly that the company wasn't doing a particularly good job. Of course, with the RIAA's "new strategy" of abandoning lawsuits in favor of having ISPs be their enforcers, the record labels still need a company to come up with whatever flimsy evidence it can find. So, don't think the ending of the relationship means that the RIAA has stopped monitoring file sharing. Instead, it's simply switched to a new company: DtecNet out of Copenhagen.

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Filed Under: monitoring
Companies: dtecnet, mediasentry, riaa

19 Comments

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bikey (profile), 5 Jan 2009 @ 2:38am

Yes, the Europeans rejected it, but not before Sarkozy tried to sneak his pillow-talk legislation back in in what he hoped to be unread pockets of the seemingly unrelated telecoms package (the Europeans are still wondering what interest Business Software Alliance had in lobbying hard for the telecoms package...), a scheme thwarted only by a curious UK academic who discovered it. Is anyone beginning to notice the overlap between IP worldwide policing and the decline in so-called personal data protection (non-existent in the US but historically important for Europe) in the name of the War on Terror? IP is what's left of the western economy, especially now that finance has tanked. This is not conspiracy, it is industrial policy, let lose in a world where we have gone from being citizens to consumers to data subjects, with our rights diminishing accordingly. Running along side is the content lobby's relentless efforts to criminalize all perceived IP infringement (search IPRED2) in Europe, pursuing the secret ACTA which would leave IP enforcement in the hands of customs officials worldwide, while trying to get the US government to pursue its civil actions on the home front (the homeland? whatever) among other things. See legislative history of Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act 2008
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Jan 2009 @ 6:04am

Does DtecNet has the same address as MediaSentry?
Or did DtecNet recruitment procedures require hiring individual with the most experience and best relationship with the RIAA and hence resulted in hiring nearly all the MediaSentry staff?
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Jan 2009 @ 6:09am

screw the RIAA, just let them die!
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chris (profile), 5 Jan 2009 @ 6:21am

re: bikey
"Intellectual Property is the oil of the 21st century"
- Mark Getty, chairman of Getty Images

i first saw that statement quoted in "steal this film II"
http://www.stealthisfilm.com/Part2

it really sums up this whole "war against piracy" thing pretty nicely. having power means playing games to get control of natural and finite resources. people, governments, armies, and companies have been doing this since the dawning of life itself. in this game, keeping those resources finite is at least as important as obtaining the resources themselves.

in essence, we are are talking about the means of production. mass production and mass distribution favor small numbers of large companies, unless the finished product and its distribution are digital. when everything is digital, the rules change.

the problem with digital goods is that since anything digital can be reproduced effortlessly by anyone with a computer, the old rules of mass production and distribution no longer apply and the resource game is now in a state of flux.

richard stallman discusses this in a rather grim depiction of this digital resource game:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
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mslade, 5 Jan 2009 @ 6:21am

The RIAA...
The RIAA is a scary and intimidating entity. They are an effective deterrent against stealing music online. I definitely do not steal music online because of the formidable lessons the RIAA has taught me through its education/litigation campaign. I take the RIAA very very seriously.
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- wnyght, 5 Jan 2009 @ 7:00am
  
  Re: The RIAA...
  and you are an ignorant fool.
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- Monarch, 5 Jan 2009 @ 7:25am
  
  Re: The RIAA...
  Either you left out the brackets around your statement, or you are an ignorant fool, as it is impossible to steal digital data. Digital data can only be copied. You can break many other laws obtaining the digital data, but stealing is not one of them.
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  - Monarch, 5 Jan 2009 @ 7:28am
    
    Re: Re: The RIAA...
    That was supposed to be "Sarcasm" brackets but the html code removed them, I didn't Preview like a fool, and there is no way to edit your comments once posted. So if the dude did put sarcasm brackets up, the html may have ripped them out.
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- PaddyMac, 5 Jan 2009 @ 7:51am
  
  Re: The RIAA...
  For every 100 fools like MSlade, there are another 10000 of us who do not *baaaa* at every non-governmental entity that tries to illegally assert itself.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 5 Jan 2009 @ 6:16pm
    
    Re: Re: The RIAA...
    Something is fundamentally wrong when a person who observes our laws is labled a "fool".
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    - Bryan, 28 Aug 2009 @ 6:03am
      
      Re: Re: Re: The RIAA...
      No, something is fundamentally wrong when the people who live in a country that was founded on the idea of freedom are scared into following ridiculous laws for the sole benefit of an industry who's existence is not even necessary. My point is that laws are not the foundation of ethics and morality. It was once legal to own a person with the only basis for that argument being the color of their skin. Laws are constantly changing, and if their was one set of morals that were "right" then this wouldn't need to be true. The fact is, morality is subjective and if you blindly follow whatever laws are set in place just because you're scared of the consequences, you are a fool. Think for yourself. Don't let the government decided what's moral and ethical; because you'd just be another sheep in their flock of mindless slaves.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Jan 2009 @ 7:19am

RIAA - Real Ignorant Arrogant Assholes
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Synjin, 5 Jan 2009 @ 9:23am

The RIAA...
This world is filled with Evil Entities and the RIAA is truly one to be delt with. soon a family photo posted by someones mother and copied by some friend to share will be cause for people to be jailded and fined for there are no limits to where Evil will go or what it can do when good men do nothing but stand in fear of what could happen... we fight these dark powers and beat then back to regain our freedom... funny how once again in Europe it seems the dark ages are seemingly returning. where are the nights to stand and fight? who will they be? has history been forgotten? its a new age yes, so no we fight in a new world, but its always been the same war, us who would be free to live and those who would bind our hands and inslave us for there needs...
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G _Nobody, 5 Jan 2009 @ 9:46am

Put your money where your mouth is
Put your money where you mouth is....

Support the "I not BUYING DRM, nor OVERLY PRICED cr@p, and as long as the RIAA and BIG MEDIA peruse the notion that the need to LIE, STEAL and CHEAT the REAL ARTIST"

... support independent artist
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- Anonymous Coward, 5 Jan 2009 @ 11:05am
  
  Re: Put your money where your mouth is
  ...and buy used.
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Sued, 5 Jan 2009 @ 10:22am

I was sued by both RIAA and Direct TV. I got a lawyer and fought them. Let me save you the money for the lawyer.

Just ask them to show 1 occurance where you shared CC material.

Motion to deny summary judgment.

I beat them, so can you.
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- Anonymous Coward, 5 Jan 2009 @ 7:04pm
  
  Re:
  What does Creative Commons (CC) licensed material have to do with it?
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Synjin, 6 Jan 2009 @ 1:35pm

RIAA........
WOW Mr. Anon Coward I can't believe you asked that question... Look it up man, and get up to speed and join the rest of the real world. the major lables are saying its there way or the highway like they are the ones who sat down and wrote the songs them selfs, we should be able to sapport our fav artist the way the artist feels is best for them I always buy the music I love to hear and I listen to it in any format I want where I want and how I want. If I can hear it for free over public radio why can't I make a copy of a digital version? even one I paid cash for... remember back when we were all kids with our first casset player we ran out and got blanks and made copies of our frinds tapes just to save the cash on buying it our selfs and then when we could aford to we payed for what we wanted and built our own collections... in todays world the artist can now be there own lable and the big lables don't want that to happen... get a clue this is an old fight for power.
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riggie, 12 Oct 2009 @ 5:43am

Riaa music and movies
i hate todays music i would never pirate it because its junk and i would never pirate aor buy todays movies because its based on the hollywood american mentality its junk and not worth pirating and not worth buying. This entity riaa should bes phased out by the worlds population standing up to it. they are protecting out dated business models that are outdated and those degenerates should embrace the technology not sue people. They should sell there products and services via bittorrent as a way of users downloading and having access to there material. Riaa should be dismantled systematically abandoned and destroyed and there days are numbered they are clasping at straws and one day they will be extinct. They will fight like peasants and all there measures will be in vain that will ultimately send them broke and im glad because corporations are a threat to us and our civil liberties. For each corporation that goes broke i celebrate. I am glad we had this economic crisis becuase i love seeing companies go broke. its a pity that the lay person got hurt but i delight in the fact that the corporations go broke. its pure joy
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