More trouble for RIAA 'Private Eye' MediaSentry

Pa ElGrande

More trouble for RIAA ‘Private Eye’ MediaSentry

Called MediaSentry and owned by so-called SafeNet, it’s the ‘private investigator’ of choice for Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG’s RIAA, and it was caught with its undergarments around its ankles, p2pnet said last month, going on:

“Massachusetts State Police at the beginning of the year MediaSentry to cease and desist, according to court papers filed by a Boston University student who was asking the court to to quash an RIAA subpoena.

“So did it C&D?

“Nope.”

Another complaint was lodged against MediaSentry by North Carolina State University students in Raleigh.

They charged it with the crime of unlicensed investigation.

And now its troubles have doubled. Or is it tripled? Or maybe even quadrupled?

The Central Michigan University filed a complaint against it with Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth, says Recording Industry vs The People’s Ray Beckerman.

“This is at least the second such complaint in Michigan, the first having gotten the RIAA’s unlicensed investigation firm into a pickle when its lawyer, responding to the accusations, made statements directly contradicting statements he’d made a month earlier in UMG v. Lindor,” he says, adding:

“The 32-page complaint (PDF) cites to MediaSentry’s problems in 8 other states, including the Massachusetts cease and desist letter, and cites to MediaSentry’s own promotional materials and the RIAA’s court papers as evidence of the illegal activity.”

IRMA, & EMI use Mediasentry (now a subsidiary of a company called Safenet)

Pa ElGrande

Is the RIAA dropping MediaSentry?
By Justin Mann, TechSpot.com
Published: January 2, 2009, 4:23 PM EST

In a follow up to the RIAA's plans to cease suing downloaders and switch to a tactic of pressuring ISPs for information (a tactic that ISPs are rejecting), more news regarding their future plans has been uncovered. There is a rumor floating around that the company may be ditching MediaSentry (also referred to as SafeNet) as their “investigative” arm, potentially replacing them with a similar company, BayTSP.

The decision to replace MediaSentry, if true, may have been influenced by the increasing amount of attention paid to its methods. MediaSentry has been operating in a legal gray area for quite some time and has come under fire before, accused of investigating without the proper licenses, performing illegal searches, covering up evidence and other “questionable” tactics. The RIAA may be seeking to distance themselves from the company.

Then again, considering the RIAA's history, nothing MediaSentry has done seems all that bad in comparison. Neither the RIAA nor MediaSentry have officially commented on such a decision yet.

IRMA usually eventually follow where the RIAA and it's ilk under the umbrella of the IFPI lead.