Comcast Sued For Giving Customer Info to RIAA

Grok Headline matches for Comcast Sued For Giving Customer Info to RIAA

Comcast sued for handing over customer
data to RIAA

Comcast sued for handing over customer
data to RIAA 04/15/2005 03:35 PM
Xeni Jardin: America's largest cable provider is being sued by a woman who claims the company voluntarily forked over her personal account data to the RIAA.

In a lawsuit filed in King County, Wash., Dawnell Leadbetter said that she was contacted by a debt collection agency in January and told to pay a $4,500 for downloading copyright-protected music or face a lawsuit for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Leadbetter, a mother of two teenage children, was a customer of Comcast's high-speed Internet access service.

The company, Settlement Support Center, based in Washington state, was using information that the Recording Industry of Association of America had obtained in a Philadelphia lawsuit over the illegal sharing of digital music files, said Lory Lybeck, the lawyer representing Leadbetter. Making sense of Wi-Fi's alphabet soup

But no court authorized Comcast to release names and addresses of its customers, or notified his client that her information had been given to an outside party, Lybeck said. "Comcast should respect the rights of privacy who pay them monthly bills," Lybeck said.

Link (Thanks, Nat)

Comcast Sued For Handing Over Subscriber
Info To The RIAA

Comcast Sued For Handing Over Subscriber
Info To The RIAA 04/14/2005 06:23 PM
After quite a long battle, the courts finally decided that ISPs didn't have to just hand over subscriber info whenever the RIAA came calling. The RIAA needed to first file a lawsuit and a subpoena -- going through the official legal process to get someone's info. However, what happens when an ISP does just hand over a name? That question is now being raised, as a woman has sued Comcast for disclosing her private information to the recording industry, claiming they violated her privacy. No lawsuit was filed by the RIAA. Comcast just gave her info over to them -- and the RIAA then passed it on to some sort of collections agency. What's strange here is that, while Verizon was clearly willing to fight to protect the privacy of its subscribers, it appears Comcast had no problem rolling right over when the RIAA came calling.

Comcast Sued for Disclosing Customer
Information

Comcast Sued for Disclosing Customer
Information 04/15/2005 06:14 PM
Comcast Corp., the top U.S. cable television network operator, is being sued by a Seattle-area woman for disclosing her name and contact information, court records showed on Thursday. In a lawsuit filed in King County, Washington, Dawnell Leadbetter said that she was contacted by a debt collection agency in January and told to pay a $4,500 for downloading copyright-protected music or face a lawsuit for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

News source: Reuters

Read full story...

TiVo giving away PVRs to spite Comcast

TiVo giving away PVRs to spite Comcast 12/19/2004 03:45 PM
TiVo is giving away PVRs in the San Francisco Bay area for a limited time, hoping to bring some joy to Comcast customers who have waited in vain for Comcast's own PVR.

RIAA sued on Racketeering!

RIAA sued on Racketeering! 02/19/2004 03:57 AM
A New Jersey woman who has been charged with file swapping by the RIAA, brought out the big guns and...

What to do if you're sued by the RIAA:
update

What to do if you're sued by the RIAA:
update 01/03/2004 01:20 AM
On Declan McCullagh's Politech list, attorney Charles Mudd says:

I have updated my RIAA web page that provides general answers to questions that individuals may have regarding the RIAA's initiative. This reflects updates in light of the two opinions of recent note.

Link

Pepsi Ad Using Kids Sued By The RIAA

Pepsi Ad Using Kids Sued By The RIAA 01/23/2004 02:23 PM
Well, we're approaching Super Bowl time, and I'm seeing plenty of articles (as always) about all the funky Super Bowl ads that people are preparing. However, Pepsi has put together one of the odder ones. As part of their promotion to give away iTunes songs, they've put together an ad showing a bunch of kids that have been sued by the RIAA for file sharing, and had them say "we're still going to download for free!" - thanks to Pepsi's limited time iTunes promotion, of course.

RIAA sued under gang laws

RIAA sued under gang laws 02/18/2004 05:31 PM
A woman who the record label group accuses of copyright infringement fires back, saying labels are breaking racketeering laws.

More file-swappers sued by RIAA

More file-swappers sued by RIAA 12/04/2003 04:58 AM
Silicon.com Dec 4 2003 3:15AM ET

RIAA Sued For Violating P2P Patent

RIAA Sued For Violating P2P Patent 09/09/2004 03:51 AM
While some may consider it poetic justice to hear that the RIAA has been sued by a P2P company for patent infringement, the news really isn't that great. It's really not particularly unexpected either. Altnet made it clear last year that they would use their patent for identifying files via a hash to sue the music industry for spying on file sharers. Altnet is barely a typical file sharing company either. While it does seem to have a convoluted relationship with Kazaa, it's really a system for interjecting copy protected files into Kazaa's system. The patent, like so many these days, seems quite questionable (and fairly obvious). The RIAA, of course, will fail to see the irony of being hit up with an intellectual property charge, and it will do nothing to change their behavior. All we really end up with is yet another bad patent lawsuit that will do little to move the industry forward.

sued by the RIAA? appear in a pepsi
commercial!

sued by the RIAA? appear in a pepsi
commercial! 01/24/2004 03:32 AM
Pepsi's Superbowl ad for their iTunes promotion .. Pepsi / iTunes giveaway ads to be "sassy" .. Pepsi Ads Wink At Music Downloading .. bashing it has gone mainstream .. wink

usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-01-22-sb-pepsi_x.htm
track this site | 8 links

Nearly 1500 people have been sued by the
RIAA

Nearly 1500 people have been sued by the
RIAA 02/18/2004 02:21 AM
When will the madness end. It seems the RIAA filed another 531 John Doe lawsuits against individuals that they are...

532 poor saps getting sued by the RIAA

532 poor saps getting sued by the RIAA 01/22/2004 02:47 AM
Well the RIAA who continues to strong arm consumers in Mafia like tactics have went after 532 more file swappers....

Saddam Giving Info on Weapons and
Funds-Official

Saddam Giving Info on Weapons and
Funds-Official 12/29/2003 07:14 AM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 29 2003 6:45AM ET

Vonage Sued Over Lack Of Clarity In 911
Info

Vonage Sued Over Lack Of Clarity In 911
Info 03/22/2005 05:03 PM
The issue of VoIP having 911 service gets way too much attention. Most of the major VoIP players already have some sort of solution in place, and it seems to be improving over time. However, apparently the attorney general in Texas doesn't think Vonage is doing enough. It's not that they don't offer 911 service, but that they don't make things clear enough to customers who are signing up. The whole case seems a bit confusing. Vonage clearly does offer 911 service, so saying that users "aren't clearly informed that the service excludes 911" is incorrect. It does include 911, you just have to follow the instructions -- and Vonage claims they make every effort to get people to follow the instructions. Not only that, but the company seems to make the process fairly straightforward, though it could be improved. This seems more like political grandstanding in the wake of some negati ve publicity recently concening VoIP and 911 service in Texas.

RIAA being sued for violating
anti-racketeering laws

RIAA being sued for violating
anti-racketeering laws 02/18/2004 11:58 PM
One target of the RIAA has decided to counter-sue the RIAA, alleging that this practice is tantamount to racketeering as prohibited by Federal law-law designed to attack organized crime.

Dead, Non-Computer Owner Sued By The
RIAA For Swapping 700 Songs

Dead, Non-Computer Owner Sued By The
RIAA For Swapping 700 Songs 02/05/2005 09:49 PM
There have been plenty of stories about the entertainment industry threate ning completely innocent people, but now they're getting even worse. According to Broadband Reports among the people sued in the latest batch of lawsuits from the RIAA was an 83-year-old woman who is now deceased. Even when she was alive she never owned a computer, let alone had the username "smittenedkitten," or shared over 700 songs online. The RIAA responds, oh so politely, by saying they'll now dismiss the case. However, that's not the real issue. All of these examples show that the RIAA doesn't really know who's doing what -- and yet they're filing tons of indiscriminate lawsuits. Every time a screwup like this happens, they apologize and remove the lawsuit, but shouldn't they be punished for filing frivolous lawsuits? It's clear that they really don't have the right tools to be able to tell who actually committed a crime. A smart lawyer should use these cases to show that the industry has no real evidence that any of these lawsuits are valid.

VoIP hopeful Comcast and their customer
'service' problem

VoIP hopeful Comcast and their customer
'service' problem 04/11/2005 06:18 AM
ZDNet Apr 11 2005 9:15AM GMT

Internet scams on the rise BBB advises
to check sites before giving out info

Internet scams on the rise BBB advises
to check sites before giving out info 12/25/2004 04:49 PM
Thetimesonline.com - Sat Dec 25, 06:49 am GMT

Woman sued for file-sharing brings RICO
countersuit against RIAA

Woman sued for file-sharing brings RICO
countersuit against RIAA 02/18/2004 10:53 AM
A New Jersey mom who was sued for file-sharing by the RIAA has brought a countersuit for racketeering.

The Rockaway Township woman, who claims she was targeted for her teenager's school research project, is among hundreds of individuals sued by the music industry since last summer. Another 531 computer users were sued yesterday in "John Doe" suits filed in Trenton, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Orlando.

Labels are using "scare tactics (that) amount to extortion" in efforts to extract settlements, Scimeca alleges in legal papers sent to the U.S. District Court in Newark.

"They're banding together to extort money, telling people they're guilty and they will have to pay big bucks to defend their cases if they don't pony up now. It is fundamentally not fair," Scimeca's lawyer, Bart Lombardo, said yesterday. The Cranford attorney said he occasionally downloads songs for personal use and sees nothing wrong with that.

Link (Thanks, Jason!)

Pepsi/iTunes Super Bowl ad to feature
teens sued by RIAA

Pepsi/iTunes Super Bowl ad to feature
teens sued by RIAA 01/23/2004 02:19 PM
About 20 teens sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for unauthorized music downloads will appear in Pepsi's upcoming Super Bowl ad, which will launch the 100 million song iTunes promotion on Feb...

Suspected PC thieves linked to customer
info leak

Suspected PC thieves linked to customer
info leak 06/27/2004 03:23 AM
Mainichi Interactive Jun 27 2004 7:09AM GMT

Sony Life Insurance says stolen
computers held customer info

Sony Life Insurance says stolen
computers held customer info 09/17/2004 04:29 AM
Mainichi Interactive Sep 17 2004 7:41AM GMT

Time Warner, Comcast Get Adelphia,
Comcast Celebrates By Turning Off DNS

Time Warner, Comcast Get Adelphia,
Comcast Celebrates By Turning Off DNS 04/08/2005 12:13 PM
It looks like Adelphia cable broadband customers who are about to get shifted over to Comcast have plenty of outages to look forward to. The same evening that it's announced that Time Warner and Comcast will jointly devour what's left of Adelphia for about $18 billion, Comcast had major DNS issues leaving many of their users offline. Of course, in explaining the widespread outage, Comcast is using their favorite phrase: "scheduled maintenance." That's the same thing they told me when Comcast turned off my service nearly every weekday last October. I would call every morning and be told that it was "scheduled maintenance." However, when I asked what the schedule was and if I'd have service the next day, I was told they had no idea. Apparently, it doesn't become scheduled until it actually cut you off.

Comcast Outages Prevent Comcast From
Commenting On Comcast Outages

Comcast Outages Prevent Comcast From
Commenting On Comcast Outages 04/14/2005 01:21 PM
Last week, we noted that Comcast was having widespread outage problems, which they chalk ed up to "scheduled maintenance", even though no one was actually informed of said schedule ahead of time. It turns out that schedule is pretty crowded, because all week long, there have been continued reports of recurring outages all across the Comcast network. Comcast, of course, continues to be pretty much silent on the issue, leaving its increasingly fed up call center staff to deal with incredibly angry customers who feel they're getting no information at all. How hard is it to admit that they screwed up and they're working on fixing the problem? Instead of chalking it up to bogus scheduled maintenance or pretending there's nothing wrong, admit what the problem is and give people real updates. People would still be unhappy, but at least they'd feel like the company wasn't ignoring them. Of course, maybe they can't do that because Comcast staffers don't have any internet access either...

Keeping Your Customer in Mind: 6 Steps
to Crafting Your Customer’s
Experience

Keeping Your Customer in Mind: 6 Steps
to Crafting Your Customer’s
Experience 08/22/2004 04:23 AM
{Distance Learning} Have your customer service complaints increased? Do you have a plan in place for dealing with customer service? Well help is here! Based on the eBook, "Keep Your Customer in Mind", Kim Beasley will instruct a distant learning class that helps you customize the customer service plan for your business. Registration ongoing until September 5 and class starts September 7. [PRWEB Aug 22, 2004]

Customer Evolutions, Inc. Purchases the
Rights to the Enterprise Customer
Profile (ECP) Solution from Martingale
Corporation

Customer Evolutions, Inc. Purchases the
Rights to the Enterprise Customer
Profile (ECP) Solution from Martingale
Corporation 06/14/2004 05:06 AM
CDI Framework to be Marketed to Airlines and Enhanced by Its Creators [PRWEB Jun 14, 2004]

Aon Reed Stenhouse Implements
ResponseTek’s Customer Experience
Management Solution to Further Enhance
Customer Retention

Aon Reed Stenhouse Implements
ResponseTek’s Customer Experience
Management Solution to Further Enhance
Customer Retention 04/08/2005 05:09 AM
ResponseTek Networks Corp., a leading supplier of Customer Experience Management (CEM) software and services solutions, today announced that Aon Reed Stenhouse Inc. has implemented its Customer Experience Management Suite in order to demonstrate its commitment to being a transparent, client-centric organization. [PRWEB Apr 8, 2005]

Is The Contact Info You Provide Someone
Public Or Private Info?

Is The Contact Info You Provide Someone
Public Or Private Info? 02/10/2004 05:32 PM
I've complained in the past about the annoyanc e of Plaxo spam. Lately, the more I've been thinking about Plaxo, the more it annoys me. Though I've never had anything to do with the company, and have never responded to a single spam, they now have a database with my contact info that others gave it. Bambi Francisco over at CBS Marketwatch has noticed the same thing with Spoke Software, which she finds disconcerting. However, I'm wondering about the bigger legal issues: is the personal info you've given to individuals for business or personal reasons shareable? Some say that all Spoke is doing is collecting public information. However, if the info was given to an individual, is there a reasonable expectation that the information is not public at all, but for private use only? I'm not sure what the answer is, but I wonder how long until there's a lawsuit around this issue. Personally, like so many other things, I don't think it's something you can get "back in the box," but these systems do reveal to me who is freely giving away personal information about me, which could make me less willing to do business with them in the future.

The Customer Owns The Customer

The Customer Owns The Customer 03/17/2005 03:08 AM

Traditionally, the battle for customer ownership in the mobile space was between the operators and the handset makers. The battle is about to get a lot more crowded. By Mike Masnick, The Feature

Who's giving to who?

Who's giving to who? 07/08/2004 03:41 PM
You can probably guess who people like Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stein have given campaign contributions to. But how about Jennifer Garner? Reese Witherspoon? Siegfried and Roy? Karl Malone? The Newsmeat Hall Of Fame has the answers.

giving away

giving away 04/05/2005 04:12 AM
TechSpot Apr 5 2005 8:34AM GMT

Giving Up On The Internet?

Giving Up On The Internet? 01/03/2005 02:58 PM
For all the stories of spam, scams and spyware online, are some people deciding that enough is enough, and logging off completely? The article just has a single anecdote, of one person who has disconnected her modem, and then uses the rest of the article to highlight all of the problems that have been discussed way too many times already. There have been a few similar articles in the past as well. It's pretty clear that there isn't a widespread rush to shut off the internet, but it is definitely true that some users just don't want to bother with the constant security patching and making sure their anti-spam, anti-virus, anti-phishing, anti-hijacking and anti-spyware software offerings are all up-to-date and working. It still seems like most average users expect their ISPs to handle all of this for them, but the ISPs are afraid to take on the role, knowing that it's quite difficult to manage. There's a real market opportunity if anyone could figure out a simple, no hassle way to handle all of this -- but clearly, we're a long way off from that.

Giving It Away (for Fun and Profit)

Giving It Away (for Fun and Profit) 04/22/2004 01:25 PM

Andy Raskin wrote a long, detailed piece about Creative Commons for the May 2004 issue of Business 2.0 magazine entitled "Giving It Away (for Fun and Profit)." The thrust of the artice is a look at what the future landscape might look like for artists that license their work under Creative Commons. The article also talks about ways current artists are making money and what types of future economies might be built around the licensed work.

Giving Ecto a try

Giving Ecto a try 02/10/2004 02:44 AM

Just downloaded Ado's update to Kung-Log, called Ecto. Seems to have a nice and easy set up, and the posting interface appears pretty clean. Automatic spell-checking is there as well, which is a nice feature too. If only it wasn't only available for this lousy Mac hardware. I've said it before and I'll say it again: If IBM and Apple teamed up and released OSX on a Thinkpad T40, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

Anyway, that's not Ecto's fault. Kudos to Adriaan on a job well done.

The prince who keeps on giving

The prince who keeps on giving 08/05/2004 02:04 PM

New-age strategy on giving

New-age strategy on giving 01/01/2004 11:05 AM
San Jose Mercury News Jan 1 2004 8:04AM ET

the season of giving

the season of giving 01/07/2004 02:44 PM
I've already plugged EFF as a worthy target of support. Here's another easy and very worthy group: the folks at Wikipedia. As you (should) know, Wikipedia has built an extraordinary free content encyclopedia. They're now in real financial need. Please help if you can.

Giving away the index

Giving away the index 06/05/2005 11:35 PM

My final year project is due in two weeks, and I'm going to be running on silent for most of them. I have, however, upgraded to Tiger and playing with Spotlight has given me plenty to think about.

Giving away the index

The great benefit of having an electronic version of a book you own in dead-tree format to hand is that you can search it. Publishers generally don't hand out free digital copies because, well, they want you to buy the books, not freely distribute electronic copies.

The thing is, you don't need a digital copy of a book to be able to search it; you just need a full-text index of it (if you don't understand what this means, go and read Tim Bray's series O n Search). An index isn't enough to reconstruct the book, but it is enough to answer questions like "on what pages of Eric Meyer on CSS are float layouts discussed?"

Imagine if technical publishers made binary full-text index files of their titles available for download, for free in some kind of open standard format. Readers could query them using Spotlight or similar technologies, and gain the ability to search the titles they own all without needing to rely on centralised, artificially limited services such as Amazon's Search Inside the Book.

O'Reilly, I'm looking at you.

Full-text phishing

On a darker note, one thing about Spotlight that has given me pause is the immense ease with which it can uncover passwords saved amongst my email. Lost password reminders, new account details, invitations to sign up for services - they're all hidden away in my mail archive. Spotlight makes it trivial to dig them back up again, and offers the APIs for applications to do so as well. Combine this with a piece of spyware / some trojan horse and you've got the ultimate vector for phishing attacks.

This problem isn't limited to Macs either; Google and MSN's Desktop Search engines could be used for much the same purpose, and full-text search is bound to end up built in to Windows sooner or later. For the moment, the safest thing to do is either delete those pesky emails or move them to a folder that is excluded from Spotlight's index. Somehow I doubt many people will think to take such precautions.

And with that off my chest, it's time to get back to my dissertation.

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Comcast Sued For Giving Customer Info to RIAA

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