Files complaint with the state’s Department of LAbor & Economic Growth demanding that Media Sentry “Cease and desist all investigation activities concerning Michigan residents until such time as it secures a private investigative license.”
More and more people are lining up to challenge the anti-investigative activities of Media Sentry, the anti-piracy company employed by the RIAA in its fight against illegal file-sharing, due to the fact that it lacks the private investigative license required in most states to legally conduct such efforts.
First Oregon’s Attorney General,on behalf of the University of Oregon, launched an investigation into the RIAA’s “data mining” techniques, noting that “MediaSentry appears to have been conducting an investigation without an investigator’s license, in violation of ORS 703.405 and ORS 703.993(s), which is a crime.”
Then the Massachusetts state police ordered MediaSentry to “cease and desist” all activities in that state, informing it “…that your company is not licensed to advertise or perform the business of Private Investigations in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
Several Michigan universities also challenged MediaSentry’s efforts in that state by filing formal complaints against it with the Department of Labor and Economic Growth.
Central Michigan University asked Michigan regulators to order MediaSentry to “cease and desist all investigation activities concerning Michigan individuals” until it obtains a license.
Now added to the list of complaints pending against MediaSentry’s anti-piracy activities in Michigan is one brought by a student at the University of Michigan.
He asks that the company be forced to “Cease and desist all investigation activities concerning Michigan residents until such time as it secures a private investigative license.”
The student points out that MediaSentry has “has engaged in an extensive investigation of my personal identity on university computers in an effort to determine 1) my personal identity, 2) my conduct and activities on the Internet, and 3) the contents of and nature of files within my personal computer.”
“All of these activities would clearly constitute the activities of a ‘private investigator’ under the Private Detective Licensing Act and as such Media Sentry would be required to have a private investigator license to engage in such activities within the state,” the complaint continues. “All of these investigative actions by MediaSentry, however, were illegal because MediaSentry is not, and never has been ,properly licensed as an investigative agency within the State of Michigan.”
The fact that MediaSentry is trying determine “the contents and nature of files” within a person’s PC is surely the most egregious example of why its anti-piracy efforts require proper licensing under the Michigan Private Detective License Act (PDLA).
Under the PDLA a “private detective” or “private investigator” is determined to be any person, who, for a fee, agrees to make an investigation for the purpose of obtaining information with reference to any of the following:
- The identity, habits, conduct, business, occupation, honesty, integrity, credibility, trustworthiness,efficiency loyalty, activity, movement, whereabouts, affiliations, associations, transactions, acts, reputation, or character of a person,
- The cause or responsibility for…losses,accidents, or damage or injury to persons or property,
- Securing evidence to be used before a court…
The evidence makes plain that MediaSentry engages in all of this activities and thus should mandate that it obtain the necessary investigative license. My bet is that it won’t because it’ll mean that MediaSentry will at last have to follow the rule of law when it comes to snooping on people online, especially when it comes to inspecting the contents of a person’s PC to see if they’re “making available” any copyrighted material.
Interestingly enough, the student appears to have been assisted in filing the complaint by Attorney K. Orlando Simon of the university’s Student Legal Services dept.. Nice to see it’s finally lend its student body a helping hand in battling the overzealous antics of the RIAA.
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- Student accused of music piracy gets online support
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