[Infowarrior] - GetAmnesty.com: MPAA Extortion at its Finest

[Richard Forno]

GetAmnesty.com: MPAA Extortion at its Finest
Written by Ernesto on August 27, 2007
http://torrentfreak.com/getamnestycom-mpaa-extortion-at-its-finest/

The MPAA and their fellow anti-piracy organizations send out thousands of
infringement notices. Only a fraction of these are played out in court, and
those that do make it into court are settled at an early stage. So why not
circumvent the whole legal system, and gently coerce people to pay for
³amnesty²?

GetAmnesty.com: MPAA Extortion At It's FinestThis is exactly what the suits
at the MPAA must have thought, because they asked Nexicon to develop a
program to convert infringement notices into cash.

The GetAmnesty program is a combination of both enforcement activities and
efforts to turn infringers into paying ³customers². It tracks down copyright
infringers by using a wide variety of methods. But, instead of sending out
the regular infringement notices, they now include links for people to get
amnesty. Basically they are asking to pay them an X amount of money, and
they promise drop everything and go away.

Here¹s what you read on the website, and allegedly in the infringement
notices:

>     If you receive a notice that means that we have evidence of you infringing
> a copyright holder that we represent. Please stop and consider what such a
> paper trail could do to one¹s future. We understand that this notice may come
> as a bit of a surprise to you, but we sincerely believe that signing our
> agreement is in your best interest.

I¹m not sure how we¹re supposed to call this.. extortion? Intimidation? They
are clearly trying to scare people into giving their money to the copyright
holders without clear evidence.

They might have an IP address, but this doesn¹t mean anything. The MPAA, or
any other anti-piracy organization can¹t sue someone simply because he or
she pays the bills for the internet connection. Several cases (example 1/2)
were dropped already because of this argument. An IP address is not a
person.

Andrew Norton, a spokesperson of the US Pirate Party, said in a response to
TorrentFreak: ³These efforts to continually alienate their consumers will
not do major rights holding groups any favors. Programs such as this are
thinly veiled extortion efforts, and represent further efforts by media
cartels to shore up their crumbling business models by intimidation, and
violation of users rights.²

Norton continues: ³It is impossible for any program to determine if
something is infringing copyright, or if it comes under fair use. With the
recent probes into the john-doe lawsuits and their usage, it is clear that
this is a pathetic new method to try and shore up the outdated perceptions
of the rights holders, rather than trying to adapt and change to suit the
times. It is no longer the 1940s, and unlike FM, media conglomerates cannot
wish or bury the internet, and modern technology.²

The MPAA and other content owners will use these methods because it¹s an
easy way for them to make money, and they save quite a bit on legal costs
too. In fact, the RIAA already uses a website called P2Plawsuits where
people can settle their cases online. I seriously question the legality of
these extortion tactics.

GetAmnesty.com was launched a few days ago. If people receive infringement
letters with links to this site, please contact us. In the meanwhile you
might want to take a look at what SiteAdvisor says about GetAmnestyŠ
Phishing or other scams Š and that¹s exactly what it is.