Pleeeeeease, please let us commit criminal acts, pleeeeeeeeeease?
The RIAA and MPAA are [a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pretext7apr07,1,1936238.story?coll=la-headlines-business"]lobbying California legislators for an exemption[/a] to proposed legislation that would outlaw pretexting. Pretexting is the practice of pretending to be someone else in order to obtain personal information on a person, such as telephone or banking records. According to an article in the LA Times, the RIAA and MPAA sometimes need to lie in their pursuit of bootleggers. They would like the legislation to exempt anyone who owns a copyright, patent, trademark, or trade secret from restrictions against pretexting.
An interesting line from the article is, '[RIAA's Brad] Buckles said the recording industry had never, nor would it ever, assume someone's identity to access that person's phone or bank records.'
Fortunately, Senator Corbert, the bill's author, is unlikely to accept these hostile changes.
