p2pnet.net News:- Former police officer John Fisher joined DirecTV as a senior investigator in 2002, expecting to serve in a legitimate role, chasing signal thieves.

Instead, he wound up acting as little better than a “bag man for the mob,” says a lawsuit he’s filed in Los Angeles County Court.

Among other allegations, Fisher - who’s looking for compensation for himself and “thousands of persons victimized by DirecTV - says between 5-10% of people threatened with lawsuits were innocent.

DirecTV wants $$$ from TV watchers who use smart card programmers and other equipment “to get free or expanded satellite TV service,” says the report Kevin Poulson in a SecurityFocus story here.

“Because there’s no way to trace people who are passively receiving DirecTV’s signal, the company turned to a strategy of physically raiding equipment sellers that cater to pirates, using the authority of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The company then sends out threatening letters to everyone on the seized customer lists.

Does any of this look familiar?

During Fisher’s first few days in his new job he was working with “the other senior investigator,” a man named Dale Herring, Fisher says in his complaint here, going on that he [plaintiff] quickly learned that his daily duties did not involve investigation at all, Rather, Mr. Herring explained that other DIRECTV clerical employees had sent out letters to suspected satellite thieves and the letter recipients would be calling in.

“We and the other investigators were to field these phone calls and pressure the callers to pay a sum of money to DIRECTV.

“Dale Herring told me, in ’roundup meetings’ that the minimum acceptable payment was $3,500 and we could demand higher amounts in some situations.”

Later in the claim, Fisher says he wanted to know how the sum of $3,500 was reached and was told only that DirecTV had determined it was “appropriate for the violation” and not tied to any actual financial loss that was ever explained to Fishers, and that, “investigators were told to tell end users that it would be cheaper to settle and pay the $3,500 than to hire an atoorney.”

Lawsuits have been filed against more than 9,000 people but, “None of those lawsuits have yet gone to trial,” says Poulson’s story.

Now does it look familiar?

You have to read the claim through to get the full flavour. And if you do, you might find yourself wondering if DirecTV is advised by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) which uses identical methods to intimidate and victimize people.

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has a web site aimed at people who are being harrassed by Direct TV.

Over the past few years, the company has sent hundreds of thousands of demand letters and filed nearly 19,000 federal lawsuits in response to the mere purchase of smart card readers, emulators, unloopers, reprogrammers, bootloaders, and blockers, it says, going on:

“The satellite TV company accuses techies - some of whom threw out their televisions in favor of the Internet long ago - of using these devices to illegally intercept its signals.

“But the smart card readers and their various derivatives are capable of so much more: they secure computer networks, enable user-based identification, and further scientific discovery.

“People who intercept DirectTV?s satellite signal are breaking the law. However, DirecTV?s cease and desist letter campaign does not distinguish the legitimate users from the thieves.

“This website is meant as a legal resource for the legitimate computer scientists, technology workers, and hobbyists who are being harassed by DirecTV’s no holds-barred slash-and-burn legal strategy. This site provides scientists, researchers, innovators and their lawyers with the resources necessary to fight DirecTV and protect their right to own and use multi-purpose technology for its legal applications - and without fear of reprisal.”

Fisher quit HIS job but argues DirecTV effectively fired him by instructing him to behave unethically, says Poulson, adding:

” ‘Mr. Fisher was forced to resign because of intolerable working conditions,’ says his attorney, Jeffrey Wilens. “Normally a lawsuit of that nature is based upon harassment, racial or sexual harassment, but sometime it’s based on working conditions that require an employee to break the law or engage in unethical practices’.”

Wouldn’t it be interesting if one or more music and/or movie industry investigators are inspired by Fisher’s example?

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 18th, 2004 at 1:18 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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