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MPAA and FBI Help To Train Swedish Police

Posted by kdawson on from the Pirate-Bay-not-obvious-enough? dept.

Several readers let us know about a program in which a US FBI agent and employees of the MPAA led a seminar for Swedish police officers in methods of finding and stopping illegal downloading from the Internet. The writer at zeropaid.com says, "I bet the Swedish people are going to love to find out that the US government and a US lobbying group now have a hand in training their police personnel. So much for the notion of national sovereignty." Reader Oxygen provided a bit of translation from an article in Swedish on IDG.se: "According to Bertil Ramsell, responsible for the course, the purpose of the visit was to give the invited speakers a chance to explain to the students what their organization's purpose was. But in a report from the IIPA, the purpose was to educate students in anti-piracy."

24 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. Revolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Get out your guns and start shooting at heads of state and their cronies, and also the corporate CEO's and their cronies.

    It's time the governments of the world feared the people.

    1. Re:Revolution by Morosoph · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's time the governments of the world feared the people. Bad idea. Fear doesn't get people to do what you want.
      --
      Wikileaks, no DNS
    2. Re:Revolution by tenco · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Destroy Power
      Not People.

    3. Re:Revolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goering#Quotations

    4. Re:Revolution by Beyond_GoodandEvil · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Revoultion is not anarchy.

      It is revolution. Out with the old, in with the new.

      "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
      -The Who Won't Get Fooled Again.

      --
      I laughed at the weak who considered themselves good because they lacked claws.
    5. Re:Revolution by goldspider · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's a good thing that guns are all but completely banned in Sweden (a few registered long guns for hunting are permitted), otherwise the government might have to face an armed revolt. One can only hope that my own government in the USA will someday have nothing to fear from the People as well.

      --
      "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
  2. Good article, trolling comment- by Aeron65432 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I thought the article was fairly interesting but this was just one troll of a comment. "I bet the Swedish people are going to love to find out that the US government and a US lobbying group now have a hand in training their police personnel. So much for the notion of national sovereignty."

    There are United States military troops in Germany, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Colombia, the Phillipines, Indonesia, Kosovo, Egypt, Singapore, Thailand, the UK, Spain, Turkey, Portugal, Qatar, Bahrain, Cuba, etc. etc. etc. We run the Iraqi and Afghanistan governments. Training Swedish police is not a threat to national sovereignty, and if you dispute this, it still barely scrapes the iceberg. It's hysteria to complain that training foreign governments is intruding on their sovereignty if they request it.

    We train police around the world, in almost all situations, our assistance is requested and welcomed. (by the governments, at least) If the wholly independent Swedish government and the people were opposed, there might be a case.

    Complain about training them in bad DMCA-style law enforcement, or in RIAA-scare-tactics. Don't complain about a foreign country asking and receiving assistance.

    1. Re:Good article, trolling comment- by Balp · · Score: 2, Insightful

      All the bad press has been on it being MPA and IPFI, not on the FBI. FBI have been working with the swedish goverment for a long time. In both directions. The differece in the storied about MPA did at the scool from the MPA and the swedish police makes this an intersting story.

      That the other speaker at the conference was the swedish version of RIAA that have tried to use scare tactice already, doesn't make it better. The only problem with FBI is that they are talking together with MPA at this occation.

    2. Re:Good article, trolling comment- by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It isn't so much that it's the US government, as it is a private company training a foreign national police force to enforce their private agenda. The government is one thing, they could know something about enforcing law and protecting the peace.
      The MPAA aren't soldiers, they aren't police, and they aren't a neutral public institution. Their concerns isn't for the citizens. They're there solely to make sure their profits are safeguarded and that things will go exactly the way they want them to. They've essentially bought their way into law enforcement and there's something profoundly unsettling about that.

    3. Re:Good article, trolling comment- by pimpimpim · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Who is this 'we' you're talking about? Are you as an American citizen also a part of the industrial structures as the MPAA? Would you fight for the rights of the MPAA if they called you to do so? Are you not a patriot if you don't agree with what the MPAA tells you to do? It sounds like you should rethink your stance on who is running your beloved country.

      Sidenote: The US militairy troops in e.g. Germany have no authority outside the borders of their camps, also not over the German military. Also, in many cases the assistence of the US government is not very much welcomed, ask all the happy Iraquese whose country is now a big load of junk, with no outsight at all on a stable government. Actually, that is where the US calls in the help of the rest in the world, because creating stability doesn't seem to be on the list of competences of the US.

      --
      molmod.com - computing tips from a molecular modeling
    4. Re:Good article, trolling comment- by Intrinsic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Complain about training them in bad DMCA-style law enforcement, or in RIAA-scare-tactics. Don't complain about a foreign country asking and receiving assistance.


      I doubt very highly, that the people of Sweden are in any way interested in copyright infringement law enforcement. Its lunacy to even be talking about it, copyright infringement is our countries way of trying to hold back the tide of an every increasing momentum of free expression. This isn't book and print. You put something out on the net or make it digital it no longer has any substance. It exists in the minds of the people that create it and experience it. Sharing ideas whether they originated with you are not is a natural part of how we express our selfs. Get over it, and move the fuck on.

    5. Re:Good article, trolling comment- by russ1337 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >>> Which means do everything they can to shut down thepiratebay

      Firstly, I expect the FBI and MPAA will be tainted to train to American laws. Obviously the Unless copyright laws are aligned between the two countries we're likely to see the Swedish Police overstepping the mark, like they did when they confiscated TPB servers previously - didn't that turn out to be against local law (TPB was working within the law?).

    6. Re:Good article, trolling comment- by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yes, everyone was so thankful for the the training of the contras.

  3. Uh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From TFA:

    FBI agent Andrew Myers and the MPAA have given a group of six Swedish police officers extensive training on how to effectively combat piracy and catch people who engage in illegal downloading from the internet.

    How exactly is the MPAA able to teach Swedish police how to "effectively combat piracy", when the MPAA themselves fail to achieve that?

  4. In next election.... by DrYak · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And suddenly the popularity of the "Piratpartiet" bumps up to 56%, and steals 2/3 of the sweedish parliament on next election...

    Thank you, RIAA, this was the most intelligent thing to do.

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  5. I know, it's premature and immature, but... by SlovakWakko · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...so long, piratebay, and thanks for all the torrents...

  6. Comment from the Pirat Party by tcdk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From http://www2.piratpartiet.se/ in my translation:

    "The judicial system is make a mistake a see these lobby organisations as some sort of private police corp. Their only interest is to keep their old profitable monopoly. There organisations have nothing to do in our judicial system, says The Pirate Partys partyleader Rickard Falkvinge."

    That pretty much sums it up if you ask me.

    --
    TC - My Photos..
    1. Re:Comment from the Pirat Party by jackharrer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Problem is that 'old profitable monopoly' finances politicians, which in turn do whatever those monopolies want.
      It's called politics.
      No way to do anything to it, as long as they have at least a little of their reputation left. Which is not much, anyway.

      --

      "an experienced, industrious, ambitious, and often, quite often, picturesque liar" - Mark Twain
  7. The most wonderful irony... by Sj0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The most wonderful irony is that when i quote Orwell to illustrate my opinion of what this means, *I'm* the criminal.

    --
    It's been a long time.
  8. Wrong perception in the USA by blind+biker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Folks, Swedes are not angels. They are people just like you and me. Yes, there is no RIAA or MPAA in Sweden (yet), but that doesn't mean that there aren't wealthy and powerful people who are pushing their profit-driven agenda, there. The same is true for my country, Finland. Yeah, it's where Linus was born and raised, but it doesn't make it heaven on earth. For example, we have our share of corrupt CxOs, don't worry.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  9. theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    It is still theft.

  10. Re:stupid thinking by endianx · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It isn't having nukes that is the problem. It is how they would be used. Israel would never just randomly nuke Iran. Even if they found a way to do it so that it did not lead back to them, the Muslim world would blame them regardless, and it would be open war on Israel.

    Iran, on the other hand, would be happy to nuke them some Jews. They probably wouldn't be so bold as to launch a missile at Israel, but if a suitcase nuke should happen to find it's way in there, well then so be it.

    Every country has a right to try and acquire nuclear weapons (and even more so nuclear power). But countries who would be threatened by that also have a right to try and provide incentives (both positive and negative) to try and stop them.

  11. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  12. Corporate Politicians by h2gofast · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Republican or Democrat, this is what you get when you vote for deal makers and not leaders. You get politicians who work for corporate lobbyists. Americans are suckers for the line of bullshit from their Democrat or Republican darlings who say that they are the only ethical ones, while the "other party" are the ones to blame for corruption. Voting for the least corrupt candidate is still voting for a crook.