BitTorrent Case Judge a Former RIAA Lobbyist

March 28, 2011

From the this-is-probably-a-conflict-of-interest-department comes a story from TorrentFreak on U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell. Apparently, before she was a U.S. District Court judge, Howell was a Recording Industry Association of America lobbyist and helped with the DMCA.

Howell’s resume shows that she is very familiar with U.S. copyright laws. In fact, she may have helped write some of them. She served as General Counsel of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and helped draft several prominent intellectual property protection laws, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Deterrence Act and the No Electronic Theft Act - according to TorrentFreak.

This may explain a ruling she made last week in which she gave lawyers representing rights holders carte blanche to retrieve the identities of thousands of BitTorrent users. Attorney Robert Cashman, who represents several defendants in similar cases, calls her decision an unfortunate precedent:

“I believe the judge is giving the plaintiff attorneys the benefit of the doubt on all accounts, which is unfortunate because she is turning a blind eye to the abuses defendants are suffering with threats and harassment while plaintiff attorneys attempt to scare them into a settlement,” Cashman told TorrentFreak.

Up until 2009 Howe was Executive Managing Director and General Counsel at Stroz Friedberg, a consulting firm that specializes in the management of digital crimes. Certainly, her decision will help that firm in its efforts to crack down on file-sharers. TorrentFreak adds that the leading lobbyist on record for the RIAA was Beryl Howell, who was paid $415,000 between 2004 and 2008.

How Howe has not recused herself from this case is beyond me. Is she hoping to have one of her many copyright infringement cases kicked up to the Supreme Court for review? If that is what she intends then congratulations to Howe, because it's going to happen eventually.

Source: TorrentFreak

Posted in

Comments

Re: BitTorrent Case Judge a Former RIAA Lobbyist

Submitted by Craig R. on Tue, 03/29/2011 - 16:31.

The SCOTUS has basically said that corporations are people, and apparently people with more rights than those of us with flesh and blood.

So, this shouldn't surprise anybody in the least. :(

Re: BitTorrent Case Judge a Former RIAA Lobbyist

Submitted by ddrfr33k on Mon, 03/28/2011 - 21:31.

Conflict of Interest, much?

Treasure bin: Cult Hits, chea pass gaming options, and rants about gaming in general

Re: BitTorrent Case Judge a Former RIAA Lobbyist

Submitted by FlakAttack on Mon, 03/28/2011 - 18:40.

This is why some countries have made lobbying illegal.

Re: BitTorrent Case Judge a Former RIAA Lobbyist

Submitted by Adamas Draconis on Tue, 03/29/2011 - 14:58.

Yeeeeah. Not gonna happen here, Too many asshats in office get too much money from them to eliminate them..

Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.

Re: BitTorrent Case Judge a Former RIAA Lobbyist

Submitted by tallimar on Mon, 03/28/2011 - 17:28.

welcome to the united states justice system, where judges can be bought!

Re: BitTorrent Case Judge a Former RIAA Lobbyist

Submitted by SeanB on Mon, 03/28/2011 - 16:19.

Where is JT when you need him?

Shout box

Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm

james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm

Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm

Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm

PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm

Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm

Zen: Is it just me or is call of duty hitting the "uncanny valley" with their nicely modeled faces and dead looking eyes? I found it distracting and seemed actually "less" real to me lol.05/21/2013 - 4:10pm

james_fudge: it sounds like if you have an HD reciever you'll be able to use it with a pass-through cable... not 100 percent sure yet05/21/2013 - 2:41pm

james_fudge: happening now http://majornelson.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-architecture-panel/05/21/2013 - 2:20pm

E. Zachary Knight: Some reading material for Microsoft on its used games blocks. That will hurt the console more than helping. http://ezknight.net/?page_id=20505/21/2013 - 2:18pm

james_fudge: yeah good luck with over the air TV05/21/2013 - 2:12pm

E. Zachary Knight: But what if I want to only watch over the air tv? I don't subscribe to pay tv. I never will. If that is a requirement, then MS wasted 45 minutes telling me how great TV will be.05/21/2013 - 2:08pm

james_fudge: EZK it will depend on your provider, just like HBO Go i'd imagine.05/21/2013 - 2:05pm

PHX Corp: @IanC there's also a chance that those titles might be Xbox one exclusive, but it's too early to tell afaik05/21/2013 - 2:03pm

IanC: @E. Zachary Knight - MS certainly got the checkbook out for EA, so no surprise on how negative they are over the Wii U.05/21/2013 - 1:54pm

MaskedPixelante: So now I have to wonder, how many of EA's games are skipping the PS4 because of their pro-used stance?05/21/2013 - 1:53pm

E. Zachary Knight: On the TV front, does the XBox One require a cable/satellite subscription or will I be able to use my over the air channels?05/21/2013 - 1:48pm

E. Zachary Knight: Also, that name was not one of the options on our poll.05/21/2013 - 1:42pm

E. Zachary Knight: This presentation also shows why EA has been so negative about the Wii U. They have had a massive hardon for the XBox One forever.05/21/2013 - 1:42pm

james_fudge: two female presenters05/21/2013 - 1:40pm

All shouts

<< Return To Top

Forgot your password?
Username :
Password :