Pirate Bay founders sentenced: $3.54 million and one year in prison

[Robo]

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/pirate-bay-founders-get-jail-sentence-1003963586.story

The court found the defendants guilty of making 33 specific files accessible for illegal P2P file-sharing. It ordered that damages must be paid to companies including all the majors and film studios MGM and 20th Century Fox.

"The trial of the operators of the Pirate Bay was about defending the rights of creators, confirming the illegality of the service and creating a fair environment for legal music services that respect the rights of the creative community," said IFPI chairman and CEO John Kennedy in a statement. "Today's verdict is the right outcome on all three counts. The court has also handed down a strong deterrent sentence that reflects the seriousness of the crimes committed. This is 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 protected by law."

Helen Smith, executive chair of independent labels body IMPALA, added: "This is music to the ears of the thousands of small independents and artists who produce the majority of new releases today. It demonstrates a real understanding of the dilemma that if no one pays for music today who will make the exciting new music of tomorrow?"
 
"This may be the verdict of a Swedish court, but it is a great outcome for British music," said Geoff Taylor, chief executive of U.K. trade body the BPI. "Criminal sites like Pirate Bay seriously undermine investment in music and in legal online services and do nothing to reward artists or creators. We hope that this decision will encourage British music fans to steer clear of these parasitic illegal download services and support the future of British music by downloading legally."

Impact?

[BlueTsunami]

Death of public trackers, maybe. Fortunately I'm inside a couple of private ones. Some private trackers are even shuttering the front page (putting up a fake front end that looks like some E-business page).

[Veidt]

So the guys that tortured inmates at Guatmo don't even get prosecuted. And these guys get sentenced to jail and fined??

Wow,  capitalism sometimes : (

[OptimoPeach]

Boy, the Swedish courts sure move fast. I don't even think the Oink creator has gotten a verdict yet, and that arrest was well over a year ago. Anyway, 1 year in prison isn't that bad.

Why does it seem like all they cared about was the music distribution? They sound like a bunch of RIAA reps in that article.

[Veidt]

That's because the movie industry isn't  as greedy as them.

[Bloodwake]

There are still plenty of websites I managed to find torrents from that I used much more often than Pirate Bay, so I'm not worried quite yet.

[Eel O'Brian]

ah, newsgroups, how i love thee

[Tauntaun]

So the guys that tortured inmates at Guatmo don't even get prosecuted. And these guys get sentenced to jail and fined??

Wow,  capitalism sometimes : (

That's because the dudes at guantanamo were sand distinguished black fellows. 

[T-Short]

Boy, the Swedish courts sure move fast. I don't even think the Oink creator has gotten a verdict yet, and that arrest was well over a year ago.

The raid and seizure of servers that led to this trial took place in 2006.

Why does it seem like all they cared about was the music distribution? They sound like a bunch of RIAA reps in that article.

Well, the guys in the billboard quotes are all music industry guys. IFPI is the international equivalent to the RIAA. BPI is the british equivalent.

[T-Short]

Impact?

For TPB, not much for a long while. This verdict is being appealed already, so this is just the end of act I, with act III being the supreme court.
Until then, TPB will stay operational and the four guys will remain free.

For filesharing, it might facilitate a hastier demise of the bittorrent protocol as the mainstream solution, and more focus on developing better technology. And darknets.

Legally, it sets somewhat of a weird precedent, since the four defendants were convicted of "being accessories to copyright infringement", although no convictions for the main crime, the actual copyright infringement, exist. It is simply implied. Also, since all that TPB does is provide an infrastructure, this can also open the door for lawsuits against other infrastructures that can "assist" in spreading copyrighted material, even ISP:s themselves. Some antipiracy groups are already using vernacular like this, claiming ISP:s are "using a business model that is based on creating the possibility to share files illegally".

[OptimoPeach]

Boy, the Swedish courts sure move fast. I don't even think the Oink creator has gotten a verdict yet, and that arrest was well over a year ago.

The raid and seizure of servers that led to this trial took place in 2006.

Why does it seem like all they cared about was the music distribution? They sound like a bunch of RIAA reps in that article.

Well, the guys in the billboard quotes are all music industry guys. IFPI is the international equivalent to the RIAA. BPI is the british equivalent.

Ohh. Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't see any mention of the date of the arrests in that article.

[Veidt]

Consumers pay for the connection, that's it. Consumers shouldn't have their right to usage of what they've personally paid for, be restricted.

If they make internet free, then hey, they can apply the law to it as long as they want to. But these corporates, are blaming isp's for what people do with  their " gas" technically, it's like blaming Shell for every drive by.

Also, if someone lends a friend a dvd, does that mean they are "illegally sharing" ?

[drew]

ah, newsgroups, how i love thee

ah, demonoid invite, how i love thee

[Ganhyun]

ah, newsgroups, how i love thee

ah, demonoid invite, how i love thee

I need one if have one.

[T-Short]

Ohh. Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't see any mention of the date of the arrests in that article.

That's because there were no arrests.

[Diunx]

Anyone have a invite to any cool underground private tracker? I promise cockpics

[OptimoPeach]

Check your PMs

[demi]

I dont use trackers often

Wait for megauploads instead

[T-Short]

Consumers pay for the connection, that's it. Consumers shouldn't have their right to usage of what they've personally paid for, be restricted.

If they make internet free, then hey, they can apply the law to it as long as they want to. But these corporates, are blaming isp's for what people do with  their " gas" technically, it's like blaming Shell for every drive by.

Also, if someone lends a friend a dvd, does that mean they are "illegally sharing" ?

As for the regulation of and placing responsibility on ISP:s: this is escalating more and more, especially in the EU which is going loco with it. IPRED1, IPRED2, the Data Retention Directive... and currently, what is known as "the telecom package" is being discussed in the european parliament. If this legislation would go into effect in its extreme form, like in the draft that is currently being discussed, it would turn internet subscriptions into what would basically be a form of cable television. The whole notion of the internet being a horizontal means of communication, where every node is a transmitter and receiver, is thrown out the window. In its place, we would get a vertical content delivery device, where ISP:s would be forced to cooperate with major music/video corporations. You would pay an extra subscription fee to get access to video and music downloads. This "premium" traffic would be given priority in the net, at the expense of, well, everything else. So a factual end to net neutrality.

As for lending a friend a DVD, well, that is still a grey area, although you may find "unauthorized lending" included in one of the WARNING ZOMG ILLEGAL STUFF messages on your DVD:s. If you make a copy of the DVD for your friend, this is copyright infringement, although the fuzzy legislation means this is acceptable within a "close circle of friends". Whereas this definition applies to, say, "The doods you used to watch porn with in your teens" or "Your facebook friendslist" is very much open for interpretation.

[drew]

lol the site is still up

[T-Short]

lol the site is still up

Of course it is, and it will stay up.

[Cravis]

The RIAA and MPAA are dinosaurs. They need to evolve and learn to utilize the internet to sell their records. If so many people are downloading their products then that must mean that a lot of consumers think they're charging too much for their product.

I download the music when it leaks and then buy the CD once it's released if I like it enough. If it sucks I just delete it. Even then I have been buying my CDs second hand lately. They see none of that money. They charge too much. A CD should only cost $8-10

I download games because some companies make their DRM so ridiculous that I would much rather cheat them out of money then having to put the damn disc in every time I want to play their game. I love Steam and have spent plenty of money on that because they make it so easy.

I download movies because I want to see the movie now, not wait until it comes on DVD during the window of leaving theatres and going to DVD. A lot of the things they do are archaic and make them lose money. The idea behind movies taking so long to get to DVD or video was so they could maximize their profit. Not so anymore. It's actually taking profits but they won't change their ways. Even then I can go to Blockbuster and buy the movie used 2 for $20 only a month after it's been out on DVD. The studios, like the music industry, see none of that money.

They're in a predicament and can't seem to figure out how to get out of it. Instead of trying to innovate to get their products to people they want to sue. It's a losing battle, though. If Pirate Bay were to ever go under there's plenty of other sites that could pop up, some located in places where they legally couldn't touch them. It's a losing battle for them but it's a position they've put themselves in.

[Veidt]

Consumers pay for the connection, that's it. Consumers shouldn't have their right to usage of what they've personally paid for, be restricted.

If they make internet free, then hey, they can apply the law to it as long as they want to. But these corporates, are blaming isp's for what people do with  their " gas" technically, it's like blaming Shell for every drive by.

Also, if someone lends a friend a dvd, does that mean they are "illegally sharing" ?

As for the regulation of and placing responsibility on ISP:s: this is escalating more and more, especially in the EU which is going loco with it. IPRED1, IPRED2, the Data Retention Directive... and currently, what is known as "the telecom package" is being discussed in the european parliament. If this legislation would go into effect in its extreme form, like in the draft that is currently being discussed, it would turn internet subscriptions into what would basically be a form of cable television. The whole notion of the internet being a horizontal means of communication, where every node is a transmitter and receiver, is thrown out the window. In its place, we would get a vertical content delivery device, where ISP:s would be forced to cooperate with major music/video corporations. You would pay an extra subscription fee to get access to video and music downloads. This "premium" traffic would be given priority in the net, at the expense of, well, everything else. So a factual end to net neutrality.

As for lending a friend a DVD, well, that is still a grey area, although you may find "unauthorized lending" included in one of the WARNING ZOMG ILLEGAL STUFF messages on your DVD:s. If you make a copy of the DVD for your friend, this is copyright infringement, although the fuzzy legislation means this is acceptable within a "close circle of friends". Whereas this definition applies to, say, "The doods you used to watch porn with in your teens" or "Your facebook friendslist" is very much open for interpretation.

yeh,   I heard about that.  No way that's going through though. People will just stop using the internet. Like cable is being left behind now. When corporates get their hands on things, they destroy it. Thank God for the internet being open to everyone.

Expect huge protests and immediate  service cancellations of massive amounts, if the EU decides to go for it. I personally would stop using it all together, if that was the case.

[T-Short]

yeh,   I heard about that.  No way that's going through though. People will just stop using the internet. Like cable is being left behind now. When corporates get their hands on things, they destroy it. Thank God for the internet being open to everyone.

Expect huge protests and immediate  service cancellations of massive amounts, if the EU decides to go for it. I personally would stop using it all together, if that was the case.

Well. IPRED1 has already been implemented in a bunch of member states, even though the EU court has ruled it a non-mandatory directive. IPRED2 will have even stronger focus on "ISP responsibility". Additionally, the definition of a "service provider" is quite ambiguous.

[Veidt]

oh wow...That's pretty scary :s

[drew]

Of course it is, and it will stay up.

i dont understand how the owners of a site can be sent to jail for owning the site and the site itself not be shut down

[lordmaji]

blah, horseshit.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Of course it is, and it will stay up.

i dont understand how the owners of a site can be sent to jail for owning the site and the site itself not be shut down

probably for some bullshit legal reason, but i'm not complaining.

[drew]

id be wary of using tpb anymore, one of the four arrested was a "patron" of the site

which was probably done just to be a head on a pike, but still

[T-Short]

i dont understand how the owners of a site can be sent to jail for owning the site and the site itself not be shut down

Well. The verdict is not enforced yet, it has simply been announced. It has already been appealed by one of the defendants, and will be by the other three. So the case moves on to the next act, and while it is still in court, the men are still free and the site still up. Even when/if a supreme court conviction arrives, there are plenty of possibilities to keep the site running, but I'm guessing we will have moved on from bittorrent by then.

IFPI tried to get swedish ISP:s to block the site, but all of the major players refused:
http://www.thelocal.se/18940/20090418/

lol internet censorship

Drewsy: The "patron" happens to be a millionaire who was a part-owner in a small ISP, which gave TPB some bandwidth in its early stages in exchange for some IT/coding work.

[Ganhyun]

Eric P
Green Man