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Legal news from Sunday, March 16, 2008

  • RIAA facing racketeering, fraud, spying claims over anti-piracy tactics
  • China blocks YouTube access after Tibet protests
  • Venezuelan prosecutors summon ex-president over 1986 student killings
  • Federal judge 'hopeful' of resolution in California prison overcrowding case
  • Federal appeals court rules online community not liable for discriminatory housing ads


  • Sunday, March 16, 2008

    RIAA facing racketeering, fraud, spying claims over anti-piracy tactics
    Devin Montgomery at 4:47 PM ET

    Photo source or description
    [JURIST] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) [trade website] is facing allegations of racketeering, fraud, and illegal spying after an Oregon woman on Friday added claims [amended complaint] to an existing lawsuit against the RIAA, several recording companies, and data investigation company MediaSentry [corporate website] for tactics the entities used as part of an RIAA anti-piracy campaign. The woman, Tonya Anderson, originally filed a countersuit [claim materials, PDF] to an RIAA lawsuit against her for alleged illegal downloading of copyrighted material, but is now seeking to have her case up-graded to a nationwide class action suit to include others whom the RIAA had threatened with litigation. The RIAA's own suit against Anderson has been already dismissed by a federal judge, and her attorney says she is maintaining and expanding her suit to force the companies to reveal how widespread the investigations have been.

    In the suit, Anderson alleges that the defendants violated private investigation laws by electronically searching her private information, used illegal methods of seeking payment for data she had allegedly downloaded, pursued litigation even though they should have known that the investigations were illegal, and intentionally caused her emotional distress through slander and the malicious prosecution. Anderson's lawsuit has been hailed [advocacy blog] by groups critical of RIAA's campaign to charge file-sharing Internet users for copyrighted material they have illegally downloaded. AP has more.



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    China blocks YouTube access after Tibet protests
    Devin Montgomery at 2:55 PM ET

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    [JURIST] The Chinese government on Sunday blocked Internet users in the country from accessing the video-sharing website YouTube [corporate website] after videos of a recent government crackdown [YouTube video] on Tibetan protesters challenging Chinese rule were posted on the site. The protests [BBC backgrounder] over degradation of Tibetan culture and a flood of new Chinese immigrants into the region escalated into violence in the capital Lhasa on Friday with reports that as many as 80 protesters had been killed. Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama [personal website] on Sunday deplored [press release] the use of violence by both the protesters and the government, but said that the region is facing "cultural genocide".

    In an earlier statement [text] he wrote:
    For nearly six decades, Tibetans in the whole of Tibet known as Cholkha-Sum (U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo) have had to live in a state of constant fear, intimidation and suspicion under Chinese repression...

    In Tibet today, due to the Chinese government's numerous actions, driven as they are by a lack of foresight, the natural environment has been severely damaged. And, as a result of their policy of population transfer the non-Tibetan population has increased many times, reducing native Tibetans to an insignificant minority in their own country. Moreover, the language, customs and traditions of Tibet, which reflect the true nature and identity of the Tibetan people are gradually fading away. As a consequence, Tibetans are increasingly being assimilated into the larger Chinese population. In Tibet, repression continues to increase with numerous, unimaginable and gross violations of human rights, denial of religious freedom and the politicisation of religious issues. All these take place as a result of the Chinese government's lack of respect for the Tibetan people. These are major obstacles the Chinese government deliberately puts in the way of its policy of unifying nationalities which discriminate between the Tibetan and Chinese peoples. Therefore, I urge the Chinese government to bring an immediate halt to such policies.
    China has occupied Tibet [BBC backgrounder] since 1950, and has remained significantly unchallenged in its rule since a failed 1959 uprising after which more than 125,000 Tibetans fled to surrounding countries.

    The Chinese government has long faced criticism for financial neglect of the region, religious persecution, the destruction of Buddhist temples, and brutality towards Tibetan dissidents, though concerns eased somewhat after "Open Door" reforms were implemented in the 1980s under international pressure. Even with the marginal gains, rights groups still criticize the China for ongoing human rights violations [HRW materials] targeted at Tibetans, and many call for the total independence [advocacy website] of the currently "semi-autonomous" region. AP has more. CBC News has additional coverage.



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    Venezuelan prosecutors summon ex-president over 1986 student killings
    Andrew Gilmore at 12:55 PM ET

    Photo source or description
    [JURIST] Prosecutors in Venezuela [JURIST news archive] have ordered former Venezuelan President Jaime Lusinchi [CIDOB backgrounder, in Spanish] to appear in court in connection with the killings of nine leftist students in the western Venezuelan town of Yumare in 1986. The Venezuelan prosecutor's office [official website, in Spanish] stated that Lusinchi was summoned for "presumably being linked to the act", according to AP. The killings were described at the time as the result of a clash between state security forces and the remnants of a band of leftist guerrillas. Leftist critics, however, characterized the killings as executions. The controversy over the killings, which have become known as the Yumare Massacre, was dormant for decades before coming to prominence during the 2006 Venezuelan presidential election, in which Hugo Chavez [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] was re-elected. The case was reopened by the Venezuelan prosecutor's office after pleas by members of the victims' families. Reportedly, thirteen other officials are also being summoned in relation to the killings.

    Lusinchi was President of Venezuela from 1984 to 1989. In 1991, the Senate of Venezuela voted to hold Lusinchi responsible for "multi-billion dollar fraud." His current whereabouts are unknown. AP has more.



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    Federal judge 'hopeful' of resolution in California prison overcrowding case
    Andrew Gilmore at 11:39 AM ET

    Photo source or description
    [JURIST] Judge Thelton Henderson [official profile] of the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] told the Sacramento Bee Saturday he was "hopeful" that a court battle between the state of California and inmate advocacy groups over state prison conditions could be resolved before trial. Henderson is a member of a panel of three federal judges [JURIST report] considering motions filed by lawyers in class action suits relating to medical and mental health care in the prisons. In an interview following a speech in San Francisco, Henderson expressed his satisfaction with the work of J. Clark Kelso, the newly appointed prison medical receiver, and also supported plans by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] for early release of thousands of prisoners [JURIST report]. The Sacramento Bee has local coverage. The San Francisco Chronicle has additional coverage.

    The problem of overcrowding in the California prison system is being monitored by the federal panel as a result of two class action lawsuits filed on behalf of California prisoners by the Prison Law Office [advocacy website]. In those two suits, Coleman v. Schwarzenegger and Plata v. Schwarzenegger [opinions, PDF], the US District Courts for the Eastern and Northern Districts of California, respectively, found that the overcrowding of the California prison system amounted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eight Amendment of the US Constitution. Henderson assumed oversight of the California prison health care system [JURIST report] in 2005. In July 2007, the court ordered the formation of a special three-judge panel to supervise and reduce California's prison population after finding that California's prison overcrowding was preventing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) [official website] from adequately providing mental health care. The receivership held by Kelso was designed to oversee the development of remedies for the systematic constitutional violation and to monitor implementation of court-approved remedies.



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    Federal appeals court rules online community not liable for discriminatory housing ads
    Andrew Gilmore at 10:43 AM ET

    Photo source or description
    [JURIST] The US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled [opinion, PDF] Friday that the online community craigslist [community website] is not liable for third-party postings to its website which attempt to discriminate against people seeking housing. The plaintiffs in the case, the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. (CLCCRUL) [advocacy website] had alleged [complaint, PDF] that some postings on craigslist violated provisions of the Fair Housing Act [text] banning advertisements that state a preference or limitation, or discriminate against anyone seeking housing. The Seventh Circuit rejected the claim, however, holding that under section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 [text, PDF], an online information system such as craigslist, "'must not be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by' someone else." AP has more.

    The Seventh Circuit's decision affirmed a lower court ruling [opinion]. In a memo supporting the CLCCUL's position in the case, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) [official website] had urged the court [memo, PDF] to require online communities that host solicitations for housing to screen and filter user submissions in order to ensure Fair Housing Act compliance.



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