SOCA seizes music blog, makes threats against its readers

[Pimander]

SOCA are a UK "federal" serious crime agencey.  This looks like a sign of the times folks.  The UK is now the first country outside the US to take control of a ".com" domain name - normally considered to be in the jurisdiction of the US Department of Justice.

Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has seized the domain of a popular R&B blog, accusing its operators of fraud and threatening the site's visitors.

At the time of writing, clicking through to rnbxclusive.com displays a splash page reading: "Soca has taken control of this domain name. The individuals behind this website have been arrested for fraud. The majority of music files that were available via this site were stolen from the artists. If you have downloaded music using this website you may have committed a criminal offence which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and an unlimited fine under UK law."

The page then displays a visitor's IP address, browser, operating system and the time and date, saying: "The above information can be used to identify you and your location."

SOURCE: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-02/15/soca-website-takedown


The reason this is an interesting development is that SOCA have normally focused on the targetting other crimes.  "SOCA prioritises tackling Class A drugs and organised immigration crime.  Other targeted criminal activities include firearms, armed robbery, fraud, money laundering and identity crime."


So what's changed?  Why are SOCA now targeting the web?  Well maybe they aren't.  In fact this looks like scaremongering on behalf of the record industry.

In short, this seems to be Soca scaremongering on behalf of the record industry. That suspicion is backed up by the statement: "As a result of illegal downloads young, emerging artists may have had their careers damaged. If you have illegally downloaded music you will have damaged the future of the music industry."

SOURCE: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-02/15/soca-website-takedown


Following complaints,  perhaps the charge of scaremongering has been taken on board by SOCA.  The page now displays the following, less threatening, message.




So what do you think?  Should we worry that our IPs are being logged if we download material from the web or are our supposedly public (as opposed to corporate) serving agencies going to hit us where it hurts?

[Ellirium113]

An IP Address does not identify an individual user of that computer. All you have is the identity of the computer & to whom the account is registered. Someone who may have been "piggy-backing" on the suspect's unsecured wireless connection may truly be at fault.


Judge Rules IP Address Does Not Identify User

In VPR Internationale v. Does 1-1017 (C.D. Ill.), Judge Baker opined that Internet Protocol ("IP") addresses do not -- by themselves -- qualify as personal information, capable of accurately identifying an individual. While this decision is a landmark ruling for the mass-BitTorrent lawsuits in that it may spell the end of the "pay-up-or-else-schemes", it may have broader data privacy implications

http://www.globalregulatoryenforcementlawblog.com/2011/05/articles/data-security/judge-rules-ip-address-does-not-identify-user/

If a theif steals your gun and kills someone, you own the hardware and the account...your prints are on the weapon but someone else did the damage. You need to id the guy that pulled the trigger not just arrest the owner.

[Pimander]

Good point mate.  I used to be on the "file sharing" scene back in the day but admittedly haven't kept up with the legal developments.

I think the UK government have discouraged custodial sentances for illegal file sharing so far but you can see the industry moving to scare people.  I they tried to jail us aLL THERE'D BE NOWHERE TO PUT THE MURDERERS AND CRACK DEALERS.

I say save some prison places for corrupt politicians and bankers.

[Ellirium113]

Another thing to mention is that they may claim you copied a song...BUT when they produce CD's the bitrate is considerably more than an MP3 so in essence it is NOT an exact copy of THEIR file. It is not even the same quality, there is no EULA with it either. Anyone that gets stung by this is not doing enough homework IMO.

[burntheships]

This is very scary.

As erillium has pointed out, there may be a few ways to fight this
however most people are not that knowledgeable, and
just one lawsuit can ruin a person who is not up for the fight.

Scary indeed.