So I'm being sued...
 

So here's the news:

Direct TV is under the impression that I've been purchasing equipment for stealing satellite signals from them and subscribing to "memberships of illegal piracy forums to gain unauthorized access to DIRECTV programming."

This is quite humorous as I don't even own a TV. In fact, once the RIAA stuff started going down, I even got rid of all of my mp3s.

What's even stranger: this letter is addressed to my dorm room. I haven't lived there since last May.

weird, huh?

I'm supposed to call them before 6:00 PM PST on the 24th to work out the "settlement."

In case you're curious, the settlement includes:

1) Surrender of all illegally modified access cards or other satellite signal theft devices in my posession.
2) Execute a written statement to the effect that I will not purchase or use illegal signal theft devices to obtain satellite programming in the future, nor have any involvement in the unauthorized reception of DIRECTV programming
3) Pay a monetary sum to DIRECTV for your past wrongful conduct and the damages hereby incurred by the company






oh happy day.

You should call some of your dorm roommates and see if anyone else has gotten the same letter. They may be doing a mass suing to catch one culprit and trying to scare you into doing the work for them and pointing the finger at someone.

Don't sign shit. If they say you have to, even threaten you, say no.

This sickens me. I hate companies that do this. Do not pay or give into their bull. Try to find some other people being sued and maybe you guys can work something out to share the cost of a lawyer or something.

-Robert

What a bunch of idiots.

Hope you can beat those fools.

thanks for the article <B>iamnormal</B> it was actually quite informative.

Comment: I've never ever ever purchased anything of this kind. The farthest I've gone into buying signal receiving devices is wireless adaptors for laptops to allow access to wireless ethernet.

Oh, btw, the address on the letter was addressed to "McCutheon Hill" where I actually lived in(I don't live there anymore) "McCutcheon Hall"

Oh, as extra hurt on DirecTV, my father is an attorney at law so muhahaha. He's a corporate lawyer for 3M corporation. TAKE THAT!

Basically, he's representing me in this act of.... well it sounds like intimidation to me.

Did any one else notice the article was written by By Kevin Poulsen?

http://tlc.discovery.com/convergence...io/bio_07.html

It reminds me of mobs threatening protection. Pay up now or pay more later.

Have you $een a p$ychiatrist due to all the $tre$$ that thi$ ha$ cau$ed in your life?

:confused:

Oh!!

:lol:

I can be a little...slow, at times. ;)

Glad to hear that your father's an attorney. That was the first thing that I was going to suggest.

Is that McCutcheon Hall at Purdue University?

I used to live there, for 2 semesters.

Who the hell would set up satellite TV in a dorm like that? :)

Seeing as I am not a lawyer I don't have anything importaint to add to this post. I just wanted to say :lol: ---^.

I love corporate strong arm tactics.

HAHA that guy rules

I'd try to get as many details as you can. The guy who used to live in my dorm room before me gave out the room information to tons of people, and apparently he owes all these people tons of stuff and $$, so I get mail and phone calls requesting him. Then the people get mad at me when i tell them he hasn't lived here in a year. You might want to double check exactly who they're looking for, and get yourself out of the picture if they're going after you wrongly.

I guess I'll never get interested in programming SmartCards for various uses. It seems to bear a hefty price.

Tsk Tsk .. shame on them for pointing a finger. Sounds as though they may have just benifited you for the better. Good luck.. I think perhaps I'll stick to cable theft. :suave:

If you are at a major university, there usually is some kind of legal organization for students to consult. I would advise doing that.

I'll give you $100 for your unlooper.:o

definitely corporate intimidation...don't accept any bull! :-) good luck and be sure to let up know

I would definitely do this if I thought it would do any good. As it is, my father is quite capable of handling the situation. Just to play around, he brought up the idea that maybe he's going to talk to one of his lawyer friends (he has quite a few... and GOOD lawyers at that) and have them write a "nastygram" to them.

I lauged at that.

Intimidate them back??

"In response to your 'protection' letter, we feel it would be appropriate if you would send $3.5M to us as compensatory damages for your libel.

"We accept cash. Just cash. Have it delivered to (address) by (date) and we won't crush you in court for much more cash."

There is a mom in New Jersey that is counter-sueing the RIAA, based on the same principles. She is accusing the RIAA of racketeering and scare tactics.

Linky

keep us posted- I wanna see "The MAN " get fucked for once...

While I am on agreement that p2p and mp3 file sharing is illegal, I am also completely AGAINST the RIAA and thier bloodhound tactics.

Thier mafia style sueing methods are just horrid, and would be illegal by any other business out there.

As for your case, good luck, seems like you have a damn good hand and a poker face to match it. :)

thank god directv hasnt found me muahahaha

j/k, i have cable

Whatever they are doing to sue you is illegal- to find out what you bought before the Patriot Act is pretty illegal, and a violation of the 4th Amendment. I would consider a counter-suit of invasion of privacy and also for wasting your time with their shenanigans.

But that nastygram should do that, and prolly include some of what I said.

Please keep up this post as things turn out. There are a lot of terrible things about this and I really don't like it one bit. I have a healthy fear of our government and things like this smack of their involvement. DirectTV took everyone on a "list" and took this scare tactic with them. The bigger question is where did they get their list. Even if your dad convinces them to give it up against you, there are lots of people who don't have an intelligent dad who knows what to do and are probobally very scared by this.

DirectTV took this into account when sending out the letters. They knew a certain % would fight and a certain % would pay no questions asked. I don't doubt that you would win in court, getting to court is the problem.

what a bunch of bastards. I might even hate directTV more than the RIAA now....wait....almost but not quite. But seriously, if it wasn't illegal to purchase the smart cards, it has to be illegal to sue anyone who bought one. it just seems so wrong to me. I say take them down hard, and try to win for those 7 guys who couldn't. i think they're just gonna drop the case with you since you never actually bought one, but I say you should go after them if your dad is willing.

and yes, please keep us updated

Damn, and I thought the threat of a few hundred in fines if I ever re-listed the S card on ebay was bad.

Good luck, get as much cash out of them as possible for libel.

I think DTV shut down a bunch of companies that were selling unloopers and programmers. They took there list of clients and sent those letters out to everyone.

Thats my .02

All right, so you asked to keep updated.

My father, upon returning home sent them the following:

February 24, 2004


XXXXXXXXXX
Attorney at Law VIA FACSIMILE NO: XXX-XXX-XXXX
P. O. Box YYYYYY
XYXYXY, MN Unnununn



Re: PredeconInferno
Case No. XX-XXXX-XX



To whom it concerns:

Mr. Inferno has contacted me regarding your unsigned and unattributed letter dated February 10, 2004. I am an attorney at law specializing in the practice of intellectual property law. All future correspondence regarding this matter should be directed to me.

Mr. Inferno has never lived at 1398 McCutheon Hill in West Lafayette, Indiana. Additionally, Mr. Inferno denies that he has ever purchased any illegal signal theft devices and is unaware that he has ever had any membership in any illegal piracy forums to gain access to DIRECT TV programming.

If you have documentary evidence to the contrary, please forward copies of that evidence to me at the above address. Unless I hear from you by March 10, 2004 with evidence that establishes your allegations, I will presume that this matter has been resolved in Mr. Inferno's favor.

Very truly yours,




XXXXXXX
Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Facsimile: XXX-XXX-XXXX

Nice... That should get the point across...

short and sweet. very nice.

These kinds of tactics make my blood boil !!

I strongly believe that a counter-suit should be launched! Imagine the reverse situation - Imagine that subscribers started suing DIRECT BS for some irrational claim .. what would DIRECT BS do? They would counter-sue and probably win.

They can't have their cake and eat it too. I imagine that the case involving $100k in damages will be revered by a higher (and more sane) court than that jack-ass judge that presided.

Grr!

We protect these companies FAR too much !! I'd LOVE to see a few hang by the balls !!

I'm just glad I don't have directTV or have any interest in smart card programmers... though that doesn't even seem to matter in your case, inferno... o_0

as i typed that a commercial came on with some douchebag yammering about how great directTV is. makes me want to put my foot through the TV.

So here's the last update:

DirecTV called my father at his office. To set this us... let's make up a name for me... um... John P. Smith

So DirecTV called my father and they said, "Oh... well we <I>actually</I> meant to call John... um..... D. Smith. Yeah, yeah, John <B>D<B> Smith. Sorry."

When I inquired about a counter-suit, my attorney had no desire to do so.

Alas, no awesome ending.

Sorry all.

That's a bummer that you don't get to screw the bastards! But at least you got it settled and had a good laugh at their idiocy. I assume that since they just dropped it that you didn't sign any kind of non-disclosure statement? Maybe give a call to your local newspaper or TV station and let them know about this :)