I'm a grad student taking an Internet Law class. I am working on an assignment that I am stumped on the answer to. I've been searching for hours.
The question gives an example of the RIAA creating a website with the sole purpose of attracting illegal downloaders, obtaining their IP addresses and then filing John Doe lawsuits and subpoena transaction records from the ISP and so forth.
The part I'm having trouble answering is What laws allow the RIAA to create and utilize a site such as this and what laws prevent them from doing so?
Any help is appreciated greatly.
Answer
Faulty hypothetical, as RIAA would have to advertise another purpose or no one would use it. The question is one of invasion of privacy, since this is obtaining personal information under false pretenses. Another aspect is that it is entrapment (but for RIAA action, i.e. trickery, there would be no illegal download, arguably). However, "stings" of this sort are done routinely by RIAA. They are known to post malware with trackers, to monitor file share sites, to post copyrighted material and monitor who downloads it. They don't need to set up a site, they can just use existing ones, hence a faulty hypothetical.
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