Pirate Bay Founders Sentenced to Year in Prison
fishmongerfunk
4,154 Posts
although it is only swedish law, this ruling has the potential of being very influential:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsb...ring-trial.htmlThe founders of file-sharing website The Pirate Bay have been sentenced to a year in jail in Sweden for breaking copyright laws by helping millions of users download music, movies and computer games for free. Experts believe the ruling could be the first step towards ending illegal downloading, which has cost music and film companies billions of dollars in lost revenue.Founders Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, along with two other employees Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstr??m, were sentenced to a year in jail after being found guilty in a Swedish court of making 33 copyright-protected files accessible for illegal downloading on the website Piratebay.org.The four were also ordered to pay $3.6 m (??2.4m) in damages to copyright holders, including Warner Brothers, MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox Films, Sony and Universal, according to Swedish media reports.In a Twitter posting before sentencing, Mr Sunde said: "Nothing will happen to TPB [the Pirate Bay], this is just theatre for the media."The Pirate Bay provides a forum for its estimated 22 million users to download content. The site has become the entertainment industry's enemy No. 1 after successful court actions against file-swapping sites such as Grokster and Kazaa.Defence lawyers had argued the men should be acquitted because The Pirate Bay does not host any copyright-protected material. Instead, it provides a forum for its users to download content through so-called torrent files. The technology allows users to transfer parts of a large file from several different users, increasing download speeds.But the court found the defendants guilty of helping users commit copyright violations "by providing a website with ... sophisticated search functions, simple download and storage capabilities, and through the tracker linked to the website".Judge Tomas Norstrom told reporters that the court took into account that the site was "commercially driven" when it made the ruling. The defendants have denied any commercial motives behind the site.John Kennedy, the head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, said the verdict was "good news for everyone, in Sweden and internationally, who is making a living or a business from creative activity and who needs to know their rights will be protected by law."Supporters set up a website dedicated to the trial, and the defendants sent updates from the court hearings through social network Twitter.Forrester Research analyst Mark Mulligan said: ???The music industry has come out of this with a ruling that is more positive for them than many had been expected." But he warned that the epidemic of file sharing will continue to grow via instant messaging, email and blogs, as well as file sharing websites.He said the verdict could have implications for Google, as it provides links to illegal content.Dawn Osborne, copyright lawyer at intellectual property firm Rouse, said: ???Pirate Bay have been thumbing their nose at the establishment for too long and the view of many content owners will be that they have finally got what they deserved.???Copyright protection is crucial to ensuring that creativity and innovation continue and much needed economic prosperity returns. The case shows that breach of these rights potentially has very serious consequences.???
Comments
Don't worry - we're from the internets. It's going to be alright. :-) [/b]
Well at least now Warner Brothers, MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox Films, Sony and Universal will get back to allowing creativity in music!
If history looks back on this ruling as the linchpin in the fight against illegal p2p i'll be incredibly surprised. The article even goes on to mention that people are sharing files more over email, instant messaging, and now via smartphones.
Yeah, in the pre-economic fallout, but this is seriously a new era where many super corporations are gonna have a hard time cutting it. Let alone cutting it in the fusking record industry, which ahs been on the shitter for the last 6 or 7 years. It's far more likely that this will be historicized as one of the indicators of the absolute collapse of the record industry as we know it. Shit <i>has</i> to change, the idea that hordes of people will continue to buy enough records to keep these outmoded dinosaurs in business is highly unlikely.
It will only help groups like The Pirate's Party grow.
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-party-membership-surges-following-pirate-bay-verdict-090417/
I think you could possibly see 99% of the public not giving a shit.
It's not going to put a dent in piracy, and as long as Joe Fratdouchebag can still download his favorite Limp Bizkit garbage unmolested then the world will still turn.
I don't really get the Pirate's Bay guys anyway. Why go through the hassle? They don't even host any of the software/music. Who f*cking cares? Anyone can throw up a forum or a search. Big deal. Blah!
And as a far as a backlash, who the F*ck is going to become a pirate? Really? Seriously. Nobody but Somalians and computer obsessed shut ins are going to join a SAVE THE PIRATES group. No. Not going to happen.
This is for Sweden were the Swedish Pirate Party passed the Green Party for members. Looking at almost doubling there membership in the past 24-48 hours making them one of the largest political parties in Sweden...
They are working to get a seat on the upcoming 2009 European Parliament elections and looks like they are now a quarter of the way there.
Yeah, I saw that. They have like 18,000 members. By contrast, in the US the Green Party which, at best, is considered to be a non-contender, has 305,000 - and that's only for the states that let people declare their party affiliation. Other not-really-going-to-win parties include the Libertarians (200,000) and the "Constitution Party" (385,000).
I get what you're saying, but overall 18,000 people is next to nothing. That's no revolution. Sorry.
Why are you thinking in US terms? The point is moot. That's like saying US numbers mean shit compared to what China's political parties pull in. You're talking about a country with over 300 Million people compared to one with about 9 Million. That's about 33 times bigger in population. I think doubling a political party overnight in a country that size is something to take notice of.
This is a lawsuit not in the US. So, there is no need to talk about US facts and figures.
That's not true. This is a big deal here. After two controversial laws have been passed this thing is like the last straw for alot of people. People do give a shit and really nobody is behind this. I think this is going to boost the number of votes from young people in the EU election. And in favor for the Pirate Party.
Sweden is one of the countries if not the country with the highest amount of people connected to the internet. It's like having a tv or a radio in your home. We take it pretty much for granted. The Pirate Bay trial isn't really about if you are for or against illegal filesharing (which the majority in Sweden are for - in lack of better legal services) it is about what you can or cannot do on the internet. This ruling is pretty much based on nothing.
... that's really impressive, while the rest of the world is still using drumming and smoke signals.
Maybe the Somalian pirates are being secretly controlled by the Swedish government to divert the worlds attention away from their undemocratic ways of batteling cyberspace piracy.
more like
I used American figures because most of us are American.
My point was, if in the US some anti-piracy group was prancing around saying "WE'VE GOT MORE MEMBERS THAN THE GREEN PARTY!" the collective response would be "SO f*cking what?" The Green party is nothing more than a distraction. So in Sweden the group has more people than a distraction. Wow.
Even in Sweden, being the 9th largest political group can't be a huge deal. Ninth... gee whiz... that must carry a lot of clout.
Since we want to be all Sweden, there are about 9 million people in Sweden, 7 million of which are registered to vote, which means 30,000 equates to .004% of the voting population. And that is your doubling... of .002%.
Let's say they increase in membership TEN TIMES - to .02%. How about ONE HUNDRED TIMES - .2%. Good luck storming the castle with that.
We'll ignore the fact that Sweden is not the be-all-end-all of Al Gore's Internets, and if we were, 30,000 would be no more than a rounding error.
So, again I say even in Bjorn Vyjjorderjorgen Sweden, so f*cking what?
It's no revolution.
Sorry, Billy.
"Everybody wants to be a pirate"
"But I don't wanna be a pirate"
Plus it wouldnt stop individuals sharing songs with each other thru emails... I think the majors are really cutting off their nose to spite their face on this one...
Far-Right , that is:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/26/pirate_bay_neo_nazi/
"In his daily dispatches for WiReD, court correspondent Oscar Schwartz swoons over the boyish charm of "likeable" and "winning" Pirate Bay PR guy Peter Sunde. But there seems to be something about Pirate Bay that no one wants you to read: its debt to one of the most notorious fascists in Europe."
there is no way to stop TPB, mininova, and the thousands of other tracker sites
the cat was let out of the bag in the late 90's
lest we forget napster and the thousands of 1st gen P2P sites....
there is
no
going
back
evar
they just have to deal with it
BTW: Wolverine was okay, not facemelting, imho
they really need him in Japan with the Kumiko storyline
so much realer than this fake Liev Schreiber Sabretooth crap
Dude in the United States CONVINCED that he knows more about what is relevant in Sweden than a dude in Sweden, because he's crunched the numbers. It doesn't get any more Soulstrut than that folks.
That's a lie, and you know it.
Q: why are pirates called pirates?
A: 'cos they arrrre
I do agree that no one is "storming the castle" over here in Sweden (and it's very "un-Swedish" to storm castles anyway - we're not exactly a country of armed revolutionaries) but the PB verdict, filesharing and copyright is a HUGE topic of discussion here. It gets a page or two in the major newspapers almost everyday and everyone's got an opinion on it. While I do think there are more important topics in the world than if you're able to dl "Deeper than rap" for free or not (people are still dying everyday, right?), the whole copyright debate is still interesting. It's an issue that goes way, way beyond downloading music for free and it's just gonna get bigger as technology progresses.
I didn't say it wasn't relevant. I just said it's not a revolution. If I was talking out of my ass that would be one thing, but the facts are facts whether they come from Sweden, the US, or South Africa.
I'm sure the topic at hand is similar to legalizing drugs in the US, for example (discussion level-wise). That doesn't mean it's going to happen anytime soon.
And yes, crunching numbers does shed light on the subject. Please let me know how .004% of the voting population is going to overthrow the other 99.996% short of dropping a nuclear bomb on them.
If you think I'm so off base, feel free to post a link to any Swedish media article or clip that objectively states that .004% of the voting population are doing anything more than generating thoughtful chatter.
I don't doubt you at all. But, being Swedish, does anyone really take a party of 30,000 people (out of 7 million voters) as a serious threat/force?
I would be willing to bet (as I said before) that it is like legalizing drugs in America, building a wall dividing the US and Mexico, and national recognition of gay marriage. All hot button topics, discussed by everyone at some point, but none of them are going to happen in the near future (although some, like gay marriage, are further along than others).
That's my point.
Yes the party only has 30,000 members (not voters, it had 35,000 voters in the last election) so of coarse it's not going to change the world, but I doubt that's their aim.
I doubt they're even particularly interested in government, they just want to have a voice that reaches further than the internets.
You must see why the possibility of them electing a member of the European parliament, (who's sole focus is promoting internet piracy, even if he/she would still be relatively powerless), could still be meaningful.
A political party born of the internet, that makes it's money from the internet, who's focus is internet specific, could have elected members and actual power.
Not meaningless. And true, it's not revolution or nothing. I was just pointing out that there is no sense in jumping the gun. It's a conversation piece and is bringing more light to copyright issues in the digital age. People were/are using non-numbers to make it seem bigger than it is (the group doubled in membership in 48 hours!) - however, when you're starting with a very small number (18,000, 30,000, whatever) doubling isn't saying much.
So, in an admittedly asshole-ish sort of way, I was trying to break through the hype and look at it realistically/objectively.
But again, yes, I do realize that it has garnered a lot of international attention.
The Revolution started along time ago. This single case is not the revolution.