approval from:
aefstoggaflm 
| abuse of power If I were employed by MPAA or RIAA and let's say that my wife was having an affair with someone. How hard would it be for me to fake a claim that this guy was infringing, fire off notification to his ISP on 3 consecutive months, effectively getting him disconnected without any legal oversight whatsoever? I doubt it's even illegal for "me" to fake the claims in the first place.
The problem with all of this 3 strikes non-sense, is that it lacks judicial oversight and God forbid, DUE PROCESS. If there was judicial oversight, faking a claim would amount to perjury and that would be a deterrent to the sort of abuse outlined above. If I was an MPAA or RIAA employee, I could fake these claims with only my job at stake, if there is no due process. If there is due process, then potentially my freedom is at stake, if I fake claims.
I've seen this sort of abuse in the past. Witness the guy selling fully legal surplus down-rev Autocad software on eBay, that was eventually banned from eBay because Autodesk mounted a campaign to file repeated complaints with eBay that the software he was selling, was pirated. He fought and won reinstatement several times until he was eventually banned permanently. Ebay's decision was essentially, that it's cheaper to lose this one guy's business, than to investigate and adjudicate each claim made by Autodesk, against this guy. Yeah, that's justice. I can see that we're going down that same road here, with "three strikes".
O.O. |
