Cable companies interrogate Montreal software developer and search his home.

[Trollhammer]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business...ourt-1.4231340

Canadian cable companies have ratcheted up their war on piracy by launching a new legal battle. The effort has already seen Bell, Rogers and Quebecor's Videotron search a Montreal software developer's home and interrogate him for more than nine hours.

"The whole experience was horrifying," says Adam Lackman, founder of TVAddons and defendant in a copyright infringement lawsuit launched by the television giants. "It felt like the kind of thing you would have expected to have happened in the Soviet Union."

Telecoms and content creators Bell, Rogers and Videotron began their piracy battle last year by filing a lawsuit against Canadian dealers who sell "free TV" Android boxes — devices that can be used to stream pirated content.

Now the companies are also targeting Lackman and TVAddons — a library of hundreds of apps known as add-ons. Once downloaded on the Android box or a computer with added software, some of the add-ons — such as Exodus and 1Channel — allow people easy access to pirated movies, TV shows and even live television.

Is this satire? or do cable companies have the right to enter a persons home and hold them for interrogation..

[the game]

The part that's relevent.

On June 9, the telecoms got an Anton Piller order, a civil search warrant that gives a plaintiff access to a defendant's home, without notice, to search for and seize relevant evidence before it can be destroyed.

yes with that warrant they have the right to search the home. Piracy is illegal. If you do it in anyway you should be prepared to face the consequences if/when you get caught.

[Utinil]

The part that's relevent.

On June 9, the telecoms got an Anton Piller order, a civil search warrant that gives a plaintiff access to a defendant's home, without notice, to search for and seize relevant evidence before it can be destroyed.

yes with that warrant they have the right to search the home. Piracy is illegal. If you do it in anyway you should be prepared to face the consequences if/when you get caught.

Personally the idea of giving a civil search warrant seems wrong to me. Have the police go through and search for evidence, allow the companies to educate the police on what they are looking for and allow the police to seize anything even remotely suspicious knowing they may end up taking completely unrelated items which will have to be returned, but corporations are not police and they shouldn't be given the right to search an individual's home themselves.

[zhero]

Personally the idea of giving a civil search warrant seems wrong to me. Have the police go through and search for evidence, allow the companies to educate the police on what they are looking for and allow the police to seize anything even remotely suspicious knowing they may end up taking completely unrelated items which will have to be returned, but corporations are not police and they shouldn't be given the right to search an individual's home themselves.

this, pretty much. they aren't the police or a legal authority that should have any right to seize "possible" evidence.

[the game]

Personally the idea of giving a civil search warrant seems wrong to me. Have the police go through and search for evidence, allow the companies to educate the police on what they are looking for and allow the police to seize anything even remotely suspicious knowing they may end up taking completely unrelated items which will have to be returned, but corporations are not police and they shouldn't be given the right to search an individual's home themselves.

Doesn't matter what seems wrong to you. They had legal right to go into the home. Which I'm assuming there was at least one cop accompanying them on it in case something happened.

I disagree with it too. But unfortunately that's what's written and nobody will do anything to get that changed.

[cuafpr]

seriously a warrant for a company to search a citizens house??? WTF?

[Templar 331]

The part that's relevent.

On June 9, the telecoms got an Anton Piller order, a civil search warrant that gives a plaintiff access to a defendant's home, without notice, to search for and seize relevant evidence before it can be destroyed.

yes with that warrant they have the right to search the home. Piracy is illegal. If you do it in anyway you should be prepared to face the consequences if/when you get caught.

That's retarded. Why should a corporation or anyone other than a government employee have legal right to invade a person's home for something that could be illegal?

[the game]

That's retarded. Why should a corporation or anyone other than a government employee have legal right to invade a person's home for something that could be illegal?

I don't have an answer for you. You'd have to ask the Canadian legal system. Maybe tennisace would like to weigh in here.

[Deleted]

This is messed up on so many levels.

There are TV shows, which are mostly produced in Canada (SYFY channel, which I don't have access to, but... you know...), predicting rule of corporations. However in those shows its usually US that is messed up, not Canada.

[Noomz]

The part that's relevent.



yes with that warrant they have the right to search the home. Piracy is illegal. If you do it in anyway you should be prepared to face the consequences if/when you get caught.

That is still really fucked up. Corporations have no obligations to you or the government, which makes this really fucked up.
Yeah piracy is illegal but a private corp goin through my house is messed up dude.

[zenkai]

Glad I don't live in Canada.

[Endus]

this, pretty much. they aren't the police or a legal authority that should have any right to seize "possible" evidence.

There's a bailiff in charge of the search. They clearly state this. All having the police conduct the search would do is add an extra remove; the police would seize his PCs and turn them over to the cable company's tech guys. Instead, it was the technicians who were there indicating what they needed. Really not that big a shift.

That's retarded. Why should a corporation or anyone other than a government employee have legal right to invade a person's home for something that could be illegal?

Because it was demonstrated to a judge that there was probable cause that they were committing a civil infringement and might destroy the evidence, and they needed to seize the evidence to confirm. This happens in a ton of civil cases; it's by no means unique to this one, nor unique to Canada.

That said, it appears they violated the terms of the warrant, which should invalidate any evidence they did get, and it appears their questioning also broke other rules, which means he should have grounds for a countersuit.

I'm on this guy's side, actually, I'm just pointing out that a civil search warrant isn't the ridiculous thing people are claiming it to be.

[noidentity]

Because it was demonstrated to a judge that there was probable cause that they were committing a civil infringement and might destroy the evidence, and they needed to seize the evidence to confirm. This happens in a ton of civil cases; it's by no means unique to this one, nor unique to Canada.

Wouldn't it make more sense to have an unbiased 3rd party actually examine the equipment instead of an extremely biased plaintiff?

[Endus]

Wouldn't it make more sense to have an unbiased 3rd party actually examine the equipment instead of an extremely biased plaintiff?

Errr, no. That isn't how any court system operates. Even in criminal cases, the prosecution works for the State and isn't "unbiased"; their goal is to convict.

They have a bailiff there as well as an independent counsel; that provides the controls to keep them from abusing the search proceedings.

[Azurenys]

Not only did they stay over midnight (making the civil search null and void, as said later by judge), but they also seized his social media accounts and forced him to hand over his passwords? With his own lawyer present?

What sort of cheap lawyer did this guy have? How in the world would they force him to hand over his personal information? I would never do that, even if I'm facing jail.
It's plain wrong and if he gets the support he needs, he can really make a nice big dent in the bank account of these scumbag corporations.

Its sad to see what sort of world we are going to live in. Might as well lock his doors tight or we'd get a nice little "suicide" if he messes them up too much.

[Daedius]

Yeeeesh, sounds like a direction towards corporate wars and corporates having more power than government that you see in fiction like Deus Ex and Ghost in the Shell.

[the game]

That is still really fucked up. Corporations have no obligations to you or the government, which makes this really fucked up.
Yeah piracy is illegal but a private corp goin through my house is messed up dude.

I agree it's shit. But unfortunately this is how the Canadian court system wants to handle this sort of thing.

[zhero]

Errr, no. That isn't how any court system operates. Even in criminal cases, the prosecution works for the State and isn't "unbiased"; their goal is to convict.

They have a bailiff there as well as an independent counsel; that provides the controls to keep them from abusing the search proceedings.

seeing as how the plaintiff could tamper with it in their possession, they should not have unmonitored access to the defendant's property. it should be kept in an evidence locker that is controlled by the state.

[Baelic]

The idea of corporations being able to search your home legally without Police oversight is fucking SCARY!

This whole "corporations are people" shtick needs to die.

[Deleted]

Well this seems like a bunch of dystopian shit right here.