Pirate Bay Sunk?

I am surprised nobody has commented on the recent court verdict in Sweden. There, the courts sentenced the perceived manipulators of the Pirate Bay torrent indexing site to a year in pokey and a fine of "X" gazillion record tokens (anyone else remember them?).

This will be appealed to the highest courts in Sweden so could take some time, story here:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/16349...of_appeal.html

Interesting one there, as I believe he is the guy who could afford to pay the whole fine and it does not rank pari passu, but jointly and severally.

It seems to have had an impact on the weaker growths in the vineyard of filesharing:

http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-t...erdict-090420/

Mostly in Sweden it would seem?

// "Arrrgh Jim lad, that be Allardyce: he had blonde hair" //:xbones:

Sarcasm apart, this is of some interest as the ruling implies that the mere enabling of an offence or violation makes you an accessory. That is the thin edge of a wedge I would certainly question.

OK these arrogant dorks richly deserve it perhaps...........?

1. Their very name "Pirate Bay"
2. Their association with a political party that espouses copyright infringement
3. Their arrogant approach to any takedown requests
4. Their obvious lack of respect for the Swedish judicial system, given that they are supposedly adults

Perhaps they should have set up shop in Somalia; where piracy seems to be an accepted profession? :lildevil:

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Perhaps they should have set up shop in Somalia; where piracy seems to be an accepted profession?

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LOL

I have seen some interesting discussions on this. Some bad analogies etc.

One person said that it would be like arresting the CEO of Fedex for any drugs that are sent through their service.

Another responded that that analogy would only fit, if Fedex was named "We Ship Drugs for You", and laughed at the DEA when they asked them to stop.

I think the case sets a scary precedent, as technically Google could be guilty of all sorts of things.

I guess I have mixed feelings about it. Part of me wants to see the "Man" screwed any time possible as they have been screwing the public for years. Certainly TPB exists for one reason, to help in the infringement of Copyright. If they can keep pushing the guilt of people doing this until they get to the ISP level then they will have the hammer that they really want. Personally I think I would have gone not guilty just to nullify the case.

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Originally Posted by isildur

Certainly TPB exists for one reason, to help in the infringement of Copyright.

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Here in the states copyrights have a bit of an expiration date. After three to five years, most software companys crop up and either go bankrupt or move into something like a production company... while the developers sift through the revolving door.

I didn't get the sense software was as big of an issue as music and movies. I think that is part of the reason I hated to see them punished. I have absolutely no compassion for the music or entertainment industry. They peddle crap and then all act like they are gods that we should hang on every word that issues from them.

Hmmm,

Copyright is copyright, no matter what the status of the original owner is. That's how you get "abandonware" ;)

You can pick that up all over the net and nobody cares. This is RIAA/MPAA and the big software sellers at work I would say.

Torrented files as a whole = unmarketed abandonware.

I've actually seen layed off developers themselves create "fan patches" and mods to their own "pirated" video games and software.

I am not sure about where you live, and I guess that things are different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but nobody bothers about abandonware, even though it is technically an infringement to distribute it. That makes sense, as no lawyer or other reptile is going to take on a case for which they won't get paid, and the RIAA/MPAA type organisations couldn't care less about things that don't belong to subscribing members.

Over here the courts would take the view if it is no longer for sale then it has no commercial value so there is no commercial loss, and that is what all these legal actions are about? A cease and desist order is about all that would happen.

Mind you, we also take the view that unless you sell a commercially available product, you haven't committed a felony, only a breach of copyright, which is basically a civil court action.

Our police, trading standards officers and revenue & customs (IRS) actively pursue counterfeiters (which includes online as well as hardcopy), but you have to be selling it. That is a felony offence and applies equally to counterfeit clothes, perfume, jewelery etc.

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Originally Posted by The-Spec

Torrented files as a whole = unmarketed abandonware.

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Sorry, but have you ever actually been to TPB?

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Originally Posted by isildur

Sorry, but have you ever actually been to TPB?

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I have to agree with isildur. Some of these sites make files available before they are even released by the developer or production company or whomever is releasing the files. That doesn't sound anything like abandonware to me.

Have you? If so... then when was the last time someone had an early release that actually worked properly? More to the point, if daemon tools of all things can't emulate the disks these software products are supposed to run on... then there was never a point in uploading the stuff. When silly people re-seed or someone else does... it's already lost it's hype.

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Originally Posted by The-Spec

Have you? If so... then when was the last time someone had an early release that actually worked properly? More to the point, if daemon tools of all things can't emulate the disks these software products are supposed to run on... then there was never a point in uploading the stuff. When silly people re-seed or someone else does... it's already lost it's hype.

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Yeah, I have. Pretty much on a daily basis. There were about 200 movies listed there yesterday, over 300 music offerings (some of those are huge discologies),about 100 Windoze apps. Today there will be similar numbers, so at any given moment there are thousands of active torrents. There are many other categories as well. Actually from my experience if you upload useless apps you will be roundly criticized. Some of the stuff is infected, some mislabeled, but once again that sort of thing is reported pretty quickly. So read the comments and you will be warned.

I have had pretty good luck with apps that I have downloaded in the past. Most of the software was pretty new. I found as isildur did, that if you read the comments, you can tell with pretty good accuracy what is infected, mislabeled, unusable, etc.

Lately I have been trying to use strictly legitimate software. My workplace pays for it, so it is not too bad. :D

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then when was the last time someone had an early release that actually worked properly?

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If you are talking about software applications then they are leaked betas......if you download and don't know what a beta is and what the implications are, you shouldn't have a computer.

The real issue regarding early releases relates to music and films. Particularly if the product is crap ;)

EDIT:

Somewhat tangential but interesting:
Why Whack-a-Tard won't save music

Article:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04...2009_overview/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04...cused_of_bias/


Whoopsy?

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Originally Posted by NukEvil

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04...cused_of_bias/


Whoopsy?

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Even with a re-trial i doubt they will get away with it, i mean not with huge corporations with unlimited $$$ they will just appeal until the piratebay dudes give in, or until they get the verdict they want..

You have to think they would get a retrial. Here in the colonies I think they would. I can't imagine a judge actually being a member of a lobbying group and being allowed to preside over a trial exactly opposite of that position. Perhaps they can get that Lars fellow from Metallica, that got his panties so in a wad over the topic, to preside over the next go around.

The Swedes have really shat their own nest over this one haven't they?

Wouldn't surprise me if the little scumbag was a freemason as well?

Sweden has been irrelevant since Gustavus Adolphus............ the EU will explain that to them, even if it takes 10 years (which it probably will).

I am sure that the pirate bay lawyers were well aware of this, and just let them play the mistake :D

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Originally Posted by nihil

Wouldn't surprise me if the little scumbag was a freemason as well?

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Not sure where this came from... I may have to check with some of my brothers across the pond to check up on you :-)

Just an aside, and only my opinion .. but I doubt that the swede govt would have even bothered with this without pressure from the WTO - I understand that copyright and patent laws are necessary as incentives for corporations to spend immense amounts on R&D, marketing etc. But this is the same WTO that bans and aggressively enforces cheap, generic production of ARV's for the less wealthy of the world, its inception was an executive ******* from the oval office to corporate america and Clintons last **** you to the free world.

Sorry I went off alittle there - my point was simply that I believe that Sweden would not have pressed this independently but was probably pressured by WTO. The tangent was just a byproduct of an underproductive saturday night :)

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but I doubt that the swede govt would have even bothered with this without pressure from the WTO

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I would suggest that is a level above what we are looking at. The WTO is really for governments rather than individuals and trade pressure groups. For example, the US government filed a complaint with the WTO against the government of China over their general lack of enforcement of copyrights and patents held by US organisations.

The European Union is made up of a number of sovereign states, unlike the USA. There will be no "Northern War of Economic Aggression" over here [:lildevil:], if a member wants to pull out, they can. Given this sovereignty, they have different local laws.

All EU states raise a large amount of revenue through Value Added Tax, which is a form of sales tax, and would be reduced by the free distribution of copyrighted materials. It is therefore in their interest to prevent file sharing if it represents a significant loss of tax revenue. The fact that no member state seems too interested in pursuing filesharers suggests to me that they don't think that the entertainment industry's claims regarding lost revenue are in any way realistic.

Not only is there the sales tax angle, there is also the corporate and personal taxation on those involved in the supply chain.

What has happened here is interesting, in that it was a criminal action regarding encouraging others to break the Swedish copyright law. As there does seem to be a case to answer, I don't think that the Swedish authorities had much choice once a complaint was filed?

I suspect that the reason this has taken so long to happen is that they were giving TPB enough rope to hang themselves.

Obviously, TPB neither hosts nor distributes illegal (copyrighted) material so that is a legal non-starter.

That leaves the general search engine defence. Sure, you can find illegal downloads but the difference is that the search engines only enable you to do so rather than encourage.

I guess that is what this case actually rests on? Does TPB encourage people to illegally download or merely enable?