According to TorrentFreak, Media Defender set up a fake video download site to entrap BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer (P2P) users as part of MediaDefender’s anti-piracy efforts. The report claims that internal Media Defender e-mails that have become public provide the details of the scheme to have people upload copyrighted content to miivi.com and then nail them for copyright infringement.

To reiterate, I do not support infringement but think the current laws are so antiquated that they need to be changed to reflect the Internet as it is instead of how RIAA and the MPAA want it to be. Now that the entertainment industry has crossed the line from suing grandparents, disabled parents, and kids for piracy, and moved to the next stage of entrapment, perhaps some enterprising litigator will find a way to bring down the entire house of cards with a class action suit or two.

Although not a trial lawyer, I’m starting to wonder if the thug tactics we’re seeing these days might trigger a civil suit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) one of these days.

Hat tip to zonk at Slashdot.org

About the Author

With an advanced international law degree from Georgetown University and more than 14 years of real world legal experience, Attorney Mike Young shows entrepreneurs how to protect and grow their businesses online. He's the author of "Internet Marketing Legal Secrets Revealed," "How to Create Your Own Internet Business Without a Lawyer for Under $175," and the creator of Website Legal Forms Generator^TM. Not just a lawyer who focuses exclusively on Internet and marketing law, Mike’s been working with computers for more than 27 years (his first computer was an Atari 400 with 8 KiB RAM) and started representing Internet businesses back in 1996.