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<title>Techdirt. Stories filed under &quot;arrest&quot;</title>
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<image><title>Techdirt. Stories filed under &quot;arrest&quot;</title><url>http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gif</url><link>http://www.techdirt.com/</link></image>
<item>
<pubDate>Mon, 4 Mar 2013 10:00:00 PST</pubDate>
<title>Misheard Will Smith Lyrics Results In Arrest Of Student And District-Wide Lockdown</title>
<dc:creator>Tim Cushing</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130303/18153122181/misheard-will-smith-lyrics-results-arrest-student-district-wide-lockdown.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130303/18153122181/misheard-will-smith-lyrics-results-arrest-student-district-wide-lockdown.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <p>
So, it's come to this: the heightened paranoia surrounding all things kid- and school-related, post-Newtown (but also post- other school shootings as well) has managed to turn nearly everything into a potential menace. It's one thing to be cautious and alert for warning signs or veiled threats. It's quite another to turn a recorded rendition of the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" theme into a police matter.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://apublicdefender.com/2013/03/03/sunday-stupidity-youre-the-man-now-dog-edition/" target="_blank">Here's how this bit of insanity went down, as delivered by Gideon of A Public Defender</a>. (You may remember Gideon as the Twitterer whose curiosity about a certain unenforceable statement kicked off the <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130203/18510621869/investigative-journalist-claims-her-public-tweets-arent-publishable-threatens-to-sue-blogger-who-does-exactly-that.shtml" target="_blank">Teri Buhl fiasco</a>.):
<blockquote>
<i>First, from the increasingly stupid United States of America, a story of how a teen&rsquo;s life got flip-turned upside down. You see, he was just on the playground where he spent most of his days, minding his own business. You know, chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool and sometimes with this friends he liked to be shooting some b-ball outside of the school.</i>
<br /><br />
<i>WAIT. DID HE JUST SAY SHOOT AND SCHOOL IN THE SAME SENTENCE? ARREST HIM! Once you&rsquo;re done laughing, know that that&rsquo;s exactly what happened to 19-year old Travis Clawson because a doctor&rsquo;s office called his voicemail to confirm an appointment, heard the above line, thought he was shooting people outside the school and called cops. Who <a href="http://www.freerangekids.com/just-one-more-weird-lockdown-story-then-ill-stop/" target="_blank">arrested him</a> first, then spent the 20 seconds it takes to realize it&rsquo;s the theme song from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. No word on whether Carlton showed up to dance and everyone laughed at him.</i></blockquote>
A few things to note:
<br /><br />
1. This was the teen's voicemail greeting. It wasn't as if he was <i>calling the school</i> and making threats. It's highly doubtful that criminals (or aspiring criminals) are leaving records of their future exploits as voicemail greetings. Gideon doesn't seem convinced this is a thing.
<blockquote>
<i>Also: is this a thing now? People leave notes of their criminal intent as voicemail messages? "Hi, you've reached my cellphone. I'm unavailable right now because I'm robbing that Stop-n-Go on Orchard and Willard. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you when I get out in 5-20 years because I'm stupid enough to leave --- BEEP."</i></blockquote>
2. The police arrested the student for something that took likely less than a minute to explain. Couldn't this have been handled with a little in-person questioning, rather than escalating the situation immediately by arresting first, questioning second? I understand that the word "b-ball" could possibly be misheard as "people" and the receptionist probably did the right thing by notifying law enforcement, but it still seems as though this could all have been sorted out in a five minute discussion.
<br /><br />
3. This isn't noted in Gideon's commentary, but the police had the teen's school (along with the rest of the district) go into lockdown mode while they searched for the Will Smith-quoting "gunman." From there, <a href="http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/mistaken-lyrics-fresh-prince-bel-aire-theme-song-p/nWdZq/" target="_blank">it gets even more ridiculous</a>:
<blockquote>
<i>The call to 911 forced the entire district into lockdown for about 30 minutes and police said they detained the 19-year-old student for three hours while searching his locker, before determining that it was all one big misunderstanding.</i></blockquote>
Never mind what I said about point 2. I know it's often said that we should "err on the side of caution," but, seriously, <i>three hours</i> to "search a locker?" Obviously, no one bothered asking the teen anything about the message until they ran about 2:50 off the clock.
<br /><br />
Officer Mike Natale says, "[The teen] was afraid and embarrassed." No kidding. I would imagine more of the first than the second. Three hours being detained by police while under lockdown and not being given any hint as to what started the whole debacle would make anyone, possibly even an<i> actual</i> criminal, "afraid."
<br /><br />
In wxpi.com's story, the police officer states that the teen "had learned from his mistake" (towards the end of the video). Really? What mistake? There are plenty of mistakes in this story, but a teen recording one of the most well-known TV theme songs as an outgoing voicemail message isn't one of them.
</p><br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130303/18153122181/misheard-will-smith-lyrics-results-arrest-student-district-wide-lockdown.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130303/18153122181/misheard-will-smith-lyrics-results-arrest-student-district-wide-lockdown.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130303/18153122181/misheard-will-smith-lyrics-results-arrest-student-district-wide-lockdown.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>i'd-say-everyone's-familiar-with-this-song,-but...</slash:department>
<wfw:commentRss>http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20130303/18153122181</wfw:commentRss>
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<item>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jul 2012 07:26:00 PDT</pubDate>
<title>Couple Arrested For Dancing On NYC Subway Platform</title>
<dc:creator>Timothy Geigner</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120710/08455719645/couple-arrested-dancing-nyc-subway-platform.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120710/08455719645/couple-arrested-dancing-nyc-subway-platform.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Perhaps some day, if I manage to live long enough, somebody somewhere will be able to explain to me why the seemingly benign combination of dancing, cameras, and police tends to result in threats, beatdowns, and arrests. Recall a year ago when I had the privilege to write about protestors getting bodyslammed at the <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110602/04271714524/do-little-dance-make-little-loveget-bodyslammed-tonight-jefferson-memorial.shtml">Jefferson Memorial</a> for the horrific crime of silently dancing on the premises? <br /><br />
Well, <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/profile.php?u=yakkowarner">Yakko Warner</a> writes in with the story of two nefarious characters, code named George Hess and Caroline Stern, who had the gall to dance on a New York City subway platform and <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/waltz_the_charge_officer_8jQ7kbvZwVhaU4PxNi917K#ixzz20DitOgl0">were taken to the ground and arrested for their trouble</a>. As that New York Post piece explains, the couple found themselves near a musician playing on steel drums: <blockquote><p><i>&ldquo;We were doing the Charleston,&rdquo; Stern said. That&rsquo;s when two police officers approached and pulled a &ldquo;Footloose.&rdquo;<br />&ldquo;They said, &lsquo;What are you doing?&rsquo; and we said, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re dancing,&rsquo; &rdquo; she recalled. &ldquo;And they said, &lsquo;You can&rsquo;t do that on the platform.&rsquo; &rdquo; <br /></i>
</p></blockquote><p>And so, as their training manuals surely instructed them to do, the officers demanded to see their IDs. Because they were dancing. Where someone was playing the drums. In the most cosmopolitan and culturally-rich city in America. In any case, when Hess could only produce a credit card (which had his name and photo on it), this happened:
<blockquote><p><i>"The officers ordered the couple to go with them &mdash; even though the credit card had the dentist&rsquo;s picture and signature. When Hess began trying to film the encounter, things got ugly, Stern said.&ldquo;We brought out the camera, and that&rsquo;s when they called backup,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s when eight ninja cops came from out of nowhere.&rdquo;<br /></i>
</p></blockquote></p><p>The ninja cops then alledgedly tackled Hess to the floor, cuffed both of them, and detained the pair for twenty-three hours. The initial charge was apparently impeding the flow of traffic of what is reported to have been three other people on the platform. The police then added other charges, such as resisting arrest. </p><p>All charges were subsequently dropped when the paperwork was finally reviewed by the NYPD's Not Crazy Department. The couple are now suing in Manhattan courts, but maybe it's time a national memo went out to law enforcement agencies reminding them that dancing people with cameras don't necessarily need to be tackled?</p><br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120710/08455719645/couple-arrested-dancing-nyc-subway-platform.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120710/08455719645/couple-arrested-dancing-nyc-subway-platform.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120710/08455719645/couple-arrested-dancing-nyc-subway-platform.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>waltz-the-problem-with-dancing?</slash:department>
<wfw:commentRss>http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120710/08455719645</wfw:commentRss>
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<item>
<pubDate>Thu, 14 Jul 2011 08:56:12 PDT</pubDate>
<title>Woman Arrested For Not Letting TSA Grope Her Daughter</title>
<dc:creator>Mike Masnick</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A woman, who did not feel comfortable going through the TSA naked scanners, <a href="http://consumerist.com/2011/07/woman-arrested-for-being-verbally-abusive-to-tsa-agents.html" target="_blank">was arrested for disorderly conduct</a> when she also refused to let the TSA molest and grope her daughter.  I'm trying to figure out how this makes us any safer on airplanes.
<blockquote><i>
"I still don't want someone to see our bodies naked," the mom is reported to have replied.
<br><br>
As for the pat-down option, the police report states that the mom didn't want her daughter to be "touched inappropriately or have her "crotch grabbed."
<br><br>
TSA agents say she became belligerent and verbally abusive. The woman was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
</i></blockquote>
So, either your privacy gets violated, you get molested, or you get arrested.  Where do we live again?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110713/17505215082/woman-arrested-not-letting-tsa-grope-her-daughter.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>terrorism?</slash:department>
<wfw:commentRss>http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110713/17505215082</wfw:commentRss>
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<item>
<pubDate>Thu, 5 May 2011 09:16:16 PDT</pubDate>
<title>Movie Studios Got Canadian Police To Arrest Movie Cammers As A Personal Favor</title>
<dc:creator>Mike Masnick</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110503/02051614128/movie-studios-got-canadian-police-to-arrest-movie-cammers-as-personal-favor.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110503/02051614128/movie-studios-got-canadian-police-to-arrest-movie-cammers-as-personal-favor.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ You may recall a few years ago when the movie industry went ballistic on Canada, because it didn't have a <i>criminal</i> law against recording movies in theaters. With the way the industry and its supporters were talking about it, you would think that this meant people could record a movie and upload it with no legal problems, but that simply wasn't true.  There were still civil laws against such recording, and the industry could enforce those.  On top of that, there were still plenty of existing laws against distribution.  Yet, there was a big campaign claiming that camcording in Canada was where <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070502/173805.shtml">40 to 70%</a> of all the leaked movies came from.  This number was made up out of thin air, and seemed obviously false when another campaign for similar laws in New York City then claimed that 50% of camcorded movies online came from NYC.  Either way, the lies about the numbers were effective.  The industry <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070604/010717.shtml">got its law</a> criminalizing recording a movie.
<br /><br />
We've already <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110428/15020614073/latest-wikileaks-release-shows-how-us-completely-drove-canadian-copyright-reform-efforts.shtml">discussed</a> the Wikileaks releases on US influence on Canadian copyright law, but <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/wikileaks-police-arrested-movie-pirate-as-a-personal-favor-to-movie-official-110430/" target="_blank">TorrentFreak</a> points us to a particularly interesting cable <a href="http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2006/12/06MONTREAL1220.html" target="_blank">on the subject of camcording in Canada</a>.  It kicks off with the embassy admitting that the movie industry was now claiming that perhaps only 18% of camcorded movies came from Montreal, despite an earlier claim that it was 40%.  Not surprisingly, the MPAA only made a big stink when it claimed the numbers were in that 40% to 70% range... and was pretty quiet about the revised number.
<br /><br />
The cable goes on to note that Canadian law enforcement thought the whole thing was pretty silly, and didn't believe camcording was a big deal.  Instead, they (quite reasonably!) felt that their efforts would be better focused on stopping things like counterfeit pharmaceuticals from circulating.  Later in the report is the really scary part, where Canadian law enforcement (the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) admitted that a particular individual was arrested twice <i>as a "personal favor"</i> to the movie industry, despite his actions not actually breaking the law:
<blockquote><i>
With regard to the arrest of the individual who 
had been pursued by the CMPDA, RCMP officers stated that 
they arrested the individual "as a personal favor" to a 
[movie industry] official, and that they did not view theater 
camcording as "a major issue." 
</i></blockquote>
The TorrentFreak article goes on to note the tragic details of the individual who was arrested -- again, despite not having broken any law, and apparently as a "personal favor" to someone in the movie industry:
<blockquote><i>
The arrest triggered a chain of events which would lead to Adam, who had a history of depression, enduring a 14 month wait for any charges to be brought. He went on the run, was detained and eventually sentenced to jail. Adam began using drugs in jail to cope with his imprisonment and shortly after his release he tragically <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/canadian-movie-pirate-%E2%80%98maven%E2%80%99-dies-of-drug-overdose-100406/">died of an overdose</a>.
</i></blockquote>
Nice "personal favor," huh?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110503/02051614128/movie-studios-got-canadian-police-to-arrest-movie-cammers-as-personal-favor.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110503/02051614128/movie-studios-got-canadian-police-to-arrest-movie-cammers-as-personal-favor.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110503/02051614128/movie-studios-got-canadian-police-to-arrest-movie-cammers-as-personal-favor.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>disgusting-abuse-of-power</slash:department>
<wfw:commentRss>http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110503/02051614128</wfw:commentRss>
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<item>
<pubDate>Tue, 7 Dec 2010 18:19:00 PST</pubDate>
<title>On The Arrest Of Julian Assange</title>
<dc:creator>Mike Masnick</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101207/10444412165/arrest-julian-assange.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101207/10444412165/arrest-julian-assange.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ To date, I had avoided all of the stories both about the allegations against Julian Assange in Sweden, as well as his arrest this morning.  But people keep asking us to cover it.  Frankly, I'm not sure what to say about it.  Assange's former lawyer's writeup for Crikey, in which he presents a compelling, if extremely one-sided view of <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/12/02/when-it-comes-to-assange-r-pe-case-the-swedes-are-making-it-up-as-they-go-along/" target="_blank">how Sweden appears to be "making it up as it goes along,"</a> is an interesting read but, again, it is extremely one-sided.  Slate's more level-headed analysis of <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2276892/" target="_blank">questions concerning consensual sex laws</a> is also worth reading.
<br /><br />
The reason I have not covered this is, while this whole thing has obviously become political, these charges do not, officially, have anything to do with Wikileaks.  Perhaps the two cannot be separated but there's a lot of FUD flying from all sides on this right now and it seems rather early to comment on all of this.
<br /><br />
However, I think the larger point is that too many are looking to connect this issue more closely to Wikileaks than it deserves to be connected.  We're interested in Wikileaks from a public policy perspective and what it means for free speech, whistleblowing and journalism in a distributed world.  I have no idea what happened between Assange and those two women in Sweden and it's difficult to see how adding any commentary on the matter at this stage really adds anything to the discussion.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101207/10444412165/arrest-julian-assange.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101207/10444412165/arrest-julian-assange.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101207/10444412165/arrest-julian-assange.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>this-is-what-we-cover?</slash:department>
<wfw:commentRss>http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101207/10444412165</wfw:commentRss>
</item>
<item>
<pubDate>Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:20:38 PST</pubDate>
<title>Interpol Really Couldn't Find A Photo Of Julian Assange In Issuing An Arrest Warrant?</title>
<dc:creator>Mike Masnick</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101130/16292712063/interpol-really-couldnt-find-photo-julian-assange-issuing-arrest-warrant.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101130/16292712063/interpol-really-couldnt-find-photo-julian-assange-issuing-arrest-warrant.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As you've probably heard by now, Interpol has <a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/assange-interpol/?utm_source=feedburner&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=Feed%3A wired27b %28Blog - 27B Stroke 6 %28Threat Level%29%29" target="_blank">issued a "red notice" for the arrest of Wikileaks' Julian Assange</a>, stemming from the sexual assault charges against him in Sweden.  I'll leave it to others to analyze the actual merits of the charges against Assange, or the fact that Interpol has gotten involved at this stage, but did want to highlight one oddity.  Assange has been <i>everywhere</i> lately and is all over the news and the internet.  How is it possible that Interpol couldn't dig up a photo of him to include with the notice?
<center>
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/oQ3c7.png" />
</center><br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101130/16292712063/interpol-really-couldnt-find-photo-julian-assange-issuing-arrest-warrant.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101130/16292712063/interpol-really-couldnt-find-photo-julian-assange-issuing-arrest-warrant.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101130/16292712063/interpol-really-couldnt-find-photo-julian-assange-issuing-arrest-warrant.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>gee,-sounds-rushed...</slash:department>
<wfw:commentRss>http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101130/16292712063</wfw:commentRss>
</item>
<item>
<pubDate>Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:19:13 PDT</pubDate>
<title>Details In Mulve Arrest Highlight How Weak The Case Is</title>
<dc:creator>Mike Masnick</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101012/14332311396/details-in-mulve-arrest-highlight-how-weak-the-case-is.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101012/14332311396/details-in-mulve-arrest-highlight-how-weak-the-case-is.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Last week, in talking about how one of the guys behind Mulve was <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101008/01353311329/uk-police-arrest-mulve-operators.shtml">arrested</a> by UK police, we noted the similarities to the <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080601/1756051285.shtml">arrest</a> a few years ago of OiNK administrator Alan Ellis on "conspiracy to defraud" charges that were eventually <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100115/1051307772.shtml">thrown out</a> as Ellis didn't actually break the law.
<br /><br />
TorrentFreak now has the details of the Mulve arrest, where police are <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/police-repeat-oink-mistake-mulve-accusation-conspiracy-to-defraud-101012/" target="_blank">using the exact same charges</a>, even with a failure to get those charges to stick against Ellis.  And, the article details why such charges are even weaker against the Mulve guy they arrested.  First of all, he had nothing to do with the software itself, but merely registered the domain and created the video highlighting how to use the software.  But, much more interesting are the details behind Mulve.  It's not even a search engine by itself.  It's simply an interface for an existing search engine on a Russian social network, which <i>anyone</i> could sign up for and get access to already.  In other words, going after Mulve totally misses the point, and it's difficult to see how Mulve itself actually violates UK law.
<br /><br />
Of course, in pushing authorities to arrest the Mulve guy, it appears that all that's really happened is the recording industry has drawn a lot more attention to how Mulve works, leading to <a href="http://filesharefreak.com/2010/10/11/mulve-returns-as-thepirateapp-and-mulve-phoenix/" target="_blank">multiple clones</a> of the software quickly popping up.  You would think the industry would know by now how this whole hydra process works, but apparently they still haven't gotten the message.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101012/14332311396/details-in-mulve-arrest-highlight-how-weak-the-case-is.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101012/14332311396/details-in-mulve-arrest-highlight-how-weak-the-case-is.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101012/14332311396/details-in-mulve-arrest-highlight-how-weak-the-case-is.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>so-why-so-quick-on-the-arrest?</slash:department>
<wfw:commentRss>http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101012/14332311396</wfw:commentRss>
</item>
<item>
<pubDate>Fri, 8 Oct 2010 08:29:05 PDT</pubDate>
<title>UK Police Arrest Mulve Operators</title>
<dc:creator>Mike Masnick</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101008/01353311329/uk-police-arrest-mulve-operators.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101008/01353311329/uk-police-arrest-mulve-operators.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Over the last few weeks, there's been a lot of talk about Mulve, an application that was released that apparently made it quite easy to download all sorts of music for free.  We didn't write about it, because we don't tend to write about new apps like that, but it has been interesting to watch the reaction to it.  The Mulve software itself is really a search engine, apparently searching a cache of music found on a Russian social network.  The RIAA was able to take Mulve down briefly, but it quickly came back up.  Now, TorrentFreak is reporting that <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/police-arrest-operators-of-mulve-downloading-app-101008/?utm_source=feedburner&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=Feed%3A Torrentfreak %28Torrentfreak%29" target="_blank">Mulve's operators have been <b>arrested</b> by the UK police</a>.
<br /><br />
Details are pretty scarce at this time, but I can't fathom any criminal provision that could stick here.  This reminds me a lot of when UK police arrested OiNK's admin, Alan Ellis, and only afterwards realized that it didn't look like OiNK actually broke any laws.  So, it tried to charge him with <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080601/1756051285.shtml">"conspiracy to defraud the music industry."</a> After a few wasted years, a jury finally found him <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100115/1051307772.shtml">not guilty</a>.
<br /><br />
Either way, arresting these guys seems like pure overkill.  The software is a <i>search engine</i>.  Yes, the search engine finds and lets people download music (from elsewhere on the internet) in an unauthorized fashion, but so does Google.  At the very least, let a civil trial happen.  It's difficult to see how this should involve the police and any sort of criminal lawsuits.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101008/01353311329/uk-police-arrest-mulve-operators.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101008/01353311329/uk-police-arrest-mulve-operators.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101008/01353311329/uk-police-arrest-mulve-operators.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>um,-what?</slash:department>
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<pubDate>Tue, 3 Nov 2009 08:51:00 PST</pubDate>
<title>Guy Who Helped Mod Cable Modems Arrested By The FBI</title>
<dc:creator>Mike Masnick</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091102/2251476775.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091102/2251476775.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What a world we live in: if you tinker too much with the electronic equipment you buy, you might get charged with a crime.  That seems to be what happened to a guy in Oregon who <a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/derengel/" target="_blank">helps mod cable modems</a>.  Now, clearly, some people can and do use modded cable modems to access cable service that they haven't paid for, but there are plenty of legitimate reasons to hack your own hardware or to buy modded hardware.  Just like unlocking a mobile phone should be perfectly legal, the same is true of unlocking a legally purchased cable modem.  As the article linked above explains, most of the indictment seems to focus on the actions of others in this guy's forums, which should lead to an easy Section 230 dismissal (as he shouldn't be responsible for their actions).  The only "questionable" issue for the guy is a request for certain information that could potentially have been used to gain unauthorized access -- but that's not evidence that he actually did so.  All in all, this seems like an attempt to crack down on anyone interfering with artificial locks put on legally purchased hardware by the cable companies.  And, if that's the case, why is the FBI involved at all?  Shouldn't this just be a civil issue involving the cable companies?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091102/2251476775.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091102/2251476775.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091102/2251476775.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>freedom-to-tinker?</slash:department>
<wfw:commentRss>http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20091102/2251476775</wfw:commentRss>
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<pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:58:19 PDT</pubDate>
<title>Missouri Continues Arresting Cyberbullies: Don't Be An Online Jerk In Missouri</title>
<dc:creator>Mike Masnick</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091016/0233556558.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091016/0233556558.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As tends to happen, it appears that Missouri has decided to overcompensate for the mess with the whole Lori Drew/Megan Meier tragedy.  After realizing that Lori Drew <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071203/180607.shtml">hadn't</a> committed any actual crime, Missouri <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080702/0246491573.shtml">passed a new law</a> making it a potential felony for being a jerk online.  And, of course, with that new law in place, Missouri prosecutors have wasted little time in <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081222/0142383184.shtml">filing charges</a> against all sorts of people.  The latest involves <a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/bully/" target="_blank">the arrest of a teenager</a> for creating a mean website about another student.  Now, I'm not condoning the behavior of this student, which does seem despicable -- but <i>arresting</i> the kid seems really extreme.  Aren't there less draconian methods for dealing with this sort of thing?  Kids can be mean and, yes, they do stupid things at times -- but arresting kids every time they're a jerk online is going to lead to a pretty busy judicial system.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091016/0233556558.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091016/0233556558.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091016/0233556558.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
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<slash:department>free-speech?</slash:department>
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<pubDate>Tue, 4 Aug 2009 16:38:51 PDT</pubDate>
<title>No Freedom To Tinker: Arrested For Modding Legally Purchased Game Consoles</title>
<dc:creator>Mike Masnick</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090804/1537125771.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090804/1537125771.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This is hardly a new issue, but it's still troubling every time we hear a story like this.  For years, there's been a fight over whether or not it should be legal to modify a legally purchased game console.  Those in favor of the right point out that if you've legally bought something, you should always be free to tinker with it.  That's just common sense.  Those against it say that modifying a gaming console is done mainly to play pirated games or to cheat, which can cause problems for legit players.  I find the latter responses unpersuasive, as those are technological or business model issues that can be solved in other ways, rather than a legal issue.  But, thanks to that good old DMCA, that's now how the law works.
<br /><br />
Instead, we get stories about <a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/08/game-console-jailbreaking-arrest/" target="_new">students getting arrested for "jailbreaking" a video game console</a>.  It's interesting to see the use of the word "jailbreaking" here, as that's more commonly been applied to iPhones -- where it's common.  Usually, this action has been referred to as "modding" or "modchipping" when it came to consoles.  But the basic fact is that the actions are effectively the same -- and both should be perfectly legal.  Modifying legally purchased hardware should never be against the law.  It's possible that you could then <i>use</i> that modified hardware to break the law -- and no one's saying that's okay.  But the act itself of modifying the devices should never be against the law -- especially where it could lead to a ten-year prison sentence, as in this case.
<br /><br />
This particular case involves a student who would modify game consoles to let people make use of backup copies of their own games on the consoles.  Making a backup copy, by itself, has been well established as being perfectly legal.  The problem here (once again) is the DMCA's anti-circumvention clause, which makes it illegal to circumvent any kind of DRM, even if it's for a totally legal purpose.  It's difficult to see how that's constitutional.  Making it illegal to do something that's perfectly legal, just because someone puts any kind of DRM in the middle doesn't make any sense at all.  It's a ridiculous scenario that this kid is now facing 10 years in jail for making video game consoles more useful, allowing people to use perfectly legal backup copies of their games.  But, such is the state of the DMCA and copyright laws these days.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090804/1537125771.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090804/1537125771.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090804/1537125771.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>no-innovation-allowed</slash:department>
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<pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:47:14 PDT</pubDate>
<title>Kentucky Election Officials Arrested For Changing Votes On E-Voting Machines</title>
<dc:creator>Mike Masnick</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090319/2040534190.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090319/2040534190.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ While there have been plenty of conspiracy theories over the years concerning e-voting machines, none have been particularly compelling.  The evidence looked like plenty of incompetence, with buggy machines that had huge security flaws that <i>could</i> be exploited -- but we hadn't heard of any cases of anyone actually being caught tampering with or trying to tamper with votes.  That isn't to say it didn't happen.  It's possible that it happened and the perpetrators weren't caught -- but it's a big leap from it "could" happen, to it "did" happen.  So, most of our coverage here has been very much on the bugs and the flaws, rather than any of the conspiracy theories that floated around.
<br><br>
However, it appears that a group of Kentucky election officials, the circuit court judge and the county clerk, <a href="http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=10037216&nav=menu203_2" target="_new">were arrested for changing votes</a> in various elections between 2002 and 2006 on e-voting machines.  The <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7001" target="_new">details</a> suggest that there were two parts to the vote changing.  First, there was traditional vote buying -- where they paid people to vote in a certain way.  However, the second involved actually changing voters' votes on ES&S e-voting machines.
<br><br>
It didn't involve any hacking or direct security flaws -- but the elections officials made use of the confusing user interface and process of the e-voting machines to trick voters into leaving before their votes had been cast.  That's because there's a "vote" button, that some people (silly them!) assumed meant they actually <i>voted</i>.  Nope.  It turns out that just gets you to a page to review your vote and then <i>confirm</i> it.  However, these elections officials told people that once they hit <i>vote</i> they had voted -- and were then able to go in and change the actual votes.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090319/2040534190.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090319/2040534190.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090319/2040534190.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>security...</slash:department>
<wfw:commentRss>http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20090319/2040534190</wfw:commentRss>
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<pubDate>Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:35:00 PST</pubDate>
<title>High School Girl Arrested For Refusing To Stop Texting In Class</title>
<dc:creator>Mike Masnick</dc:creator>
<link>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090219/0114033827.shtml</link>
<guid>http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090219/0114033827.shtml</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Thanks to everyone who sent in this story, about a 14-year-old girl in Wisconsin, who apparently refused to stop text messaging in class...  <a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0217092samsung1.html" target="_new">and was arrested because of it</a>.  Yes, the teacher apparently called the cops, and they arrested her for "disorderly conduct."  Obviously, the girl was being insubordinate in class, but isn't that what detention/suspension/etc. rules are for?  Calling in the cops (and then having the girl arrested) seems a bit extreme.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090219/0114033827.shtml">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090219/0114033827.shtml#comments">Comments</a> | <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090219/0114033827.shtml?op=sharethis">Email This Story</a><br />
 ]]></description>
<slash:department>whatever-happened-to-school-discipline</slash:department>
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