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The Pirate Bay Seeks Interesting Route To "Pay" Fine
Drivintin is one of many who have written to tell us about how The Pirate Bay has taken an interesting approach to the 30 million SEK fine levied in their recent court case (which they said they wont pay). "The bill inspired anakata to devise a plan involving sending money to Danowsky's law firm, but not to pay the fine of course which they say will never be paid. Anakata's clever plan is called internet-avgift, internet-fee in English. Anakata encourages all Internet users to pay extremely small sums around 1 SEK (0.13 USD) to Danowsky's law firm, which represented the music companies at the Pirate Bay trial. The music companies will not benefit from this, instead it will cost them money to handle and process all the money."
So for winning the court case, they still have to pay. I approve.
Does Sweden have contempt of court?
Trying to become famous by taking photos. Visit my homepage please.
...but sounds like a juvenile response to a serious issue.
I hope they do it!
Just remember they'll make you sit there while they count it.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
To help pay for compensation, I shall contact my banking establishment to inquire if there is any possible way to make daily recurring payments of Superman III sized amounts of money to Danowsky's law firm.
My work here is dung.
I assume there's an equivalent of "contempt of court" over there, and probably that would let the firm on the receiving end sue for damages. Is this really the best time for them to be just digging themselves in deeper?
Are they working on the assumption that the Law and the Government are basically impotent?
(No, I did not RTFA. It's broken already.)
Nearly 4 million USD.
Reminds me of people who try to pay the government in pennies, or I guess that dimes would be more appropriate in this case. However, it's the pirate bay who owes the money, and need to pay, not 'random people'. I suppose that they could collect the (I'm guessing) coins and haul it to them in wheelbarrows, but it's likely that's been done to lawyers already and it's somehow prohibited.
The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
Does someone have another link to the main story? Seems to be down for me.
Now there's a flaw in our economy that's waiting to be exploited. Handling fees that are higher than the amount received, effectively draining the company of cash.
It would also drain resources and create massive amounts of paperwork. Even though the process may be mostly automated I'd hate to revise those books, assuming enough people had done this.
Kind of like a distributed denial of service attack.
Of course it's easily remedied by blocking all cash transfers under a certain amount. I guess you're not obliged to accept money, but still it'd cause some extra work. Probably not enough to bring any given company down, but an interesting thought nonetheless.
computers let you make more mistakes faster, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila.
^^^ Just my 2 cents.
The music companies will not benefit from this, instead it will cost them money to handle and process all the money.
Come again? Anyone who wants to "punish" me by sending me 13 cents, by all means feel free.
a plan involving sending money to Danowsky's law firm, but not to pay the fine of course which they say will never be payed
If 30 million people each pay one Sek, how does that not pay the fine? And does Sweden not have some sort of teeth to their court-imposed penalties whereby simply not paying means people go to jail?
Finally, I don't know about Sweden, but US courts have a pretty dim view of people playing games like this, and generally allow certain reasonable limits on how people can pay fines and taxes. If you walk into your county seat hoping to pay a speeding ticket in pennies, you can expect (at best) security to show you the door and tell you to come back with a check. They just don't play along, and not a damned thing you can do to "make" them, no matter how much you whine about the meaning of "legal tender for all debts".
mirror
That's some pretty pro editing in the summary there.
From TFA; "A friend of anakata told Blog Pirate"
Well, with that kind of authoritative inside knowledge, what could possibly go wrong?
Anyone who imagines this is a way to bankrupt a company, as opposed to just giving them money, is as dumb as this idea is. And any defendant who thinks that attempting to bankrupt the opposing party's law firm is a good response to losing their case... well, dumb doesn't go halfway far enough.
This is the site you are interested in: http://internetavgift.se/
The javascript is horrible.
they should have tried a legal ddos first.
Depending on the law in your jurisdiction, you might be obligated. At least in the US, businesses aren't obligated to sell you goods or services for legal tender if they don't feel like it; but creditors are obligated to accept legal tender as payment for debts.
"The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.""
TPB are, obviously, not in the US and the law may well be different and paying in the equivalent of pennies might fall under some sort of "court's discretion to smack down raging assholes" provision.
On the one hand, I applaud them as Magnificent Bastards for devising a plan by which they can stick it to the big corps.. but on the other hand, I wonder whether it's really wise at this point to poke them with a stick like that.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Depending on the law in your jurisdiction, you might be obligated. At least in the US, businesses aren't obligated to sell you goods or services for legal tender if they don't feel like it; but creditors are obligated to accept legal tender as payment for debts. "The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."" ...
But they are proposing paying with neither coins nor currency.
EFT is not legal tender according to 31 USC.
... slashdotted ..... by micropayments.
I was gonna say Pirated, but nobody would get it outside Slashdot crowd.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
The RIAA has contracted another legal agency to prepare 30 million cases...
Car analogy: That's like using a bullhorn to tell the cops outside your house that you'll be out shortly to stick a banana in their tail pipe. When you get there, you'll find a 46" diameter tail pipe and you'll only have a one banana.
TPB may have gotten themselves in trouble, and been convicted by a biased court, but playing silly games isn't going to solve any problems. Childish acts, even if committed by thousands of kids on the inernet, will never amount to more than a flea on the war machine that is corporate greed. They have an organized team fueled by money, and you've got pent-up angst fueled by living in your mom's basement.
Who do you think will win?
Didn't TPB appeal?
Pirate Bay Founder Devises DDo$ Attack
Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm (aka anakata) recieved a bill for the 30 million SEK that he, along with Peter Sunde (aka brokep), Fredrik Neij (aka TiAMO), and Carl Lundstrom, was fined in the verdict of the Pirate Bay trial just over three weeks ago. The bill inspired anakata to devise a plan involving sending money to Danowskyâ(TM)s law firm, but not to pay the fine of course which they say will never be payed. Anakataâ(TM)s clever plan is called internet-avgift, internet-fee in English. Anakata encourages all Internet users to pay extremely small sums around 1 SEK (0.13 USD) to Danowskyâ(TM)s law firm, which represented the music companies at the Pirate Bay trial. The music companies will not benefit from this, instead it will cost them money to handle and process all the money.
The plan can be called a Distributed Denial of Dollars attack (DDo$). The plan is an away-from-keyboard DDoS attack. DDoS attacks involve lots of users overloading the victim with internet traffic damaging their ability to provide services. Money, instead of Internet traffic is used in this case. The victim is Danowskyâ(TM)s law firm which represented the IFPI at the Pirate Bay trial.
A friend of anakata told Blog Pirate that the bank account to which the payments are directed has only 1000 free transfers, after which any transfers have a surcharge of 2 SEK for the account holder. Any internet-fee payments made after the first 1000, which includes the law firmâ(TM)s ordinary transfers, will instead of giving 1 SEK, cost 1 SEK to the law firm. Since Danowsky & Partners AdvokatbyrÃ¥ is a small firm, all the transactions are handled by hand. Handling all payments will be time consuming, costing the law firm in productivity. Maybe it will even affect their success in other cases.
Make direct payments to
Danowsky & Partners Advokatbyrå KB. Plusgiro 79 31 21-5.
Additionally if after paying the internet-fee you determine that your payment was erroneous, Swedish law states that you can request the money back, putting an additional load on Danowskyâ(TM)s law firm.
Since the Pirate Bay crew was provided with such clear, logical, and well explained methods for calculating the damages in the trial, an explanation on how the internet-fee was calculated is provided. Use the formula below, substituting anything anywhere, to check that the internet-fee really is 1 SEK.formel
[MATH DIAGRAM GOES HERE]
The name internet-avgift, as well as the layout of the site is based on tv-avgift and they layout of its site. Radiojanst, a state owned company, is responsible for collecting TV license fees in Sweden.
You should really read either TFA, or a better explanation at torrentfreak: http://torrentfreak.com/music-industrys-plea-for-pirate-bay-damages-backfires-090510/
Basically what is ahppenning here is that low amounts of money are ebing sent to thsi law firm, and then they are requested back as a "wrong payment" - meaning that the firm still needs to collect them, accoutn for them, process them, and then mail them back. This is required by Swedish law. In fact, no one will lose a single cent, except the companies in processing fees :)
To quote an earlier slashdot article...
"The judge is member of two copyright lobby organizations, something he shares with several of the prosecutor attorneys (Monique Wadsted, Henrik Pontén and Peter Danowsky)."
As the sibling comment says, if you're claiming a debt, and seeking relief (in the form of payment, or otherwise), then you are legally obliged to accept attempts at payment thereof, at least in cash. (I believe you are obligated to accept financial instruments, such as checks, though I know that some collection agencies will try to convince you that they won't accept a check, only a cashier's check, etc).
There is that priest-radical in Poland, who is known as Father Rydzyk, and all young people hate him and his movement. So they decided support him by sending 0.01 PLN (about 0.003 USD) each. Lots of students did just that, each one paying 0.01 PLN.
The case was that Father Rydzyk's movement was having special deal with banks, that they were paying all fees for incoming money. So, for each 0.01 PLN paid in, they had to pay about 1 USD - now this where Swedish guys had the idea from!
First, the law-firm would close down the account faster than lightning, only costing them the work to open a new one and sending out (handwritten) letters to their clients.
Second, the morals of this is equal to: "We didn't like the executioner, so lets burn down his house and kill his family, while we ignore the ones who gave the order"
That's definitely easier than abusing the banking system and pissing of a law firm that is known for it's bad temper with these silly "dog poop on the porch"-shenanigans. Doesn't exactly speak for the integrity of the "we're innocent" point the guys are trying to make when they start calling for crap like that. Even when it's hearsay evidence from some unrelated third party. Each one will have their account registered by the lawyers and they will definitely try to do "something" against the people who actually transfer money. They'll probably find a way to get the banks to hand out the names or such. I don't know what but as we all know ... they get kinda "creative" when it comes to annoying of the young'uns. To me this is just stupid. If anyone cares ... wait for the second trial (which is coming -no doubt) and after we win just send them the pennies anyway but don't ask for them back. They will need the money.
No, they can't sue all the check writers., but they need not return the checks either. I imagine TPB may have committed some crime and/or can be sured, but I'm not sure that's worth their effort.
It's all about publicity for the record companies, they needed some conviction against TPB guys. It'll drag on for 6 years, and they'll either lose or won't get paid, but they need this victory for industry moral and lobbying in other countries.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
Do we really think that this is a) moral and b) effective? As attractive as it is to force unwanted costs on the law firm, responding to an unfair verdict with fraud relinquishes the moral high ground. Besides, they are likely to close whatever payment processing account becomes inundated with these payments. In the U.S., sending people money then reversing it without justifiable cause can be prosecuted as wire fraud, and there are prison terms for first offenses. I doubt if other countries' laws are much different. Anyone want to be a test case?
Well, this will probably work just as well as that other loophole TPB found - you know, the one that made TPB legal and untouchable in Sweden...
The more I read about the PB guys, the more they appear to be a bunch of arrogant bastards who want a blank check to do whatever they want. There is certainly enough wrong with copyright law in Sweden as it stands now, but this Internet mob mentality is not the way to go about it.
To sum it up, the law firm has been DDOS:ed, the lead lawyer have received threats, as has the head of Sweden's anti-piracy board - and now this. This may be just the stunt for TPB's fans, but if you're trying to reach out to the "other side", and I have, shit like this just makes it harder.
Thanks anakata, or whatever the fuck you want to call yourself, thanks for being a childish dork and fucking everything up.
it's like an analog denial of service attack.
My other sig is a knife wound.
How do I go about doing this? I'm in the US, and I don't know how to use the given address to process an electronic transfer.
Hell yes, I'll send them a nickel - then ask for it back!!! This is funny as hell. (And yes, I DO enjoy expressing my contempt of officials and/or officious boobs. It is MUCH more enjoyable when done face to face, but this will work for me!)
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
If you participate in this you run the risk of being found guilty of whatever crime "annoying law firms" sort under. I have no idea.
But I'm fairly certain that claiming a "wrong payment" when the payment was 100% intended is fraud.
Isn't pent up angst what started the tea-party?
Read what I mean, not what I wrote.
And here I expected to see something about them offering the music companies some free downloads of the latest music albums and movies.
They're asking pirates to pay for something. 30 million of them? Hell, they won't make the 1000 necessary to get the law firm over their free transfer limit.
"Is there some other way I can pay you?" only works in pornos.
In some ways, it's like repackaging all of those unwanted mail solicitations, stuffing them back into the postage-paid return envelope (the one intended for your subscription slip, check, or other payment), and dropping it into the mail. The company that sent the junk not only has to pay for the postage (more than the amount normally incurred for a one-sheet reply slip), but also to discard the additional junk mail in the envelope.
Definately not nice, but seemingly poetic justice.
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
I demand to know what are you smoking and why haven't you brought enough for everyone?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
There's a $0.25 limit on payment in small coins (e.g., pennies) and a $10 limit on payment in large coins (e.g., quarters). These limits were put into place prior to the 1965 coinage act, but their application has never been tested in court. If you want to be the one, go ahead. My guess is that the court will uphold the "reasonable" limit on coin payment and you'll be out court costs.
...I'll be needing an address to mail to, please.
Sue me.
(sorry, couldn't resist)
Quack, quack.
There is no such limit.
Regarding that, "legal tender" isn't really what people think it is, people read in what isn't meant to be there. Legal tender really only means that it's money backed by the government, not that people and companies are required by law to take it.
http://treasury.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml
Answer The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."
This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.
Emphasis is mine.
This is why Hollywood video almost got 44 lbs of pennies ($80) from me once. I went so far as to verify this with both my bank and the post office. I made it absolutely clear everything I intended to do, and was given the green light all the way by both clerks and managers at both the bank and the post office. Fortunately, Hollywood video decided to sell me overdue the game for $30 instead.
Question everything
Interesting, how so? Not even clever by a mile. As I see it there are several flaws present.
First of, the firm and the bank can see that the transactions are not normal and can probably work out a deal to minimise the finacial impact.
Secondly, the bank (after being contacted by the laywers) can cancel/reverse all 1 dollar/sek/... payments to the account.
In both the above cases, assuming it is possible to do, it won't really affect the lawyers, but instead office workers at the firm and bank(s). So they are hassling people that have nothing to do directly with the MPAA/RIAA/etc.
And why should the firm even accept these payments anyway, they are not even from TPB. It seems very far fetched that they would even spend the time to process any of them. Most likely they will just box them up and store them away. Who knows, maybe they can even use it to show the character of the people running/using TPB in future cases.
All in all if you want revenge, go after the right target and in a fitting manner. This just makes Gottfrid Svartholm look like a giant douche bag to me, the MPAA/RIAA/... will not be affected by this at all.
Carbon based humanoid in training.
Must be nice to be able to have your herd of sheeple pay your fine for you. They raked in millions and yet they still want someone else to pay the fine. That my friend is a true Pirate.
Write a personal mail to your MP:s/senators etc instead. A few polite sentences, asking for restoring copyright to premium creativity instead of greed. If you can, send a paper mail. Some perhaps even answer their office phone. Just remember being nice albeit firm. 30 million unique mails can probably make some impact. At least far more than the original proposal.
TFA says they're a small firm who were simply doing their job, representing a client, and apparently doing it well. Okay, so they fought the case for a questionable cause, but a case is a case, and it's not the legal firm who decides whether the case succeeds. Now TPB is trying to ruin them. I apologise if I don't see the moral high ground here.
TPB's real targets are legislators, big business and the public. Not a small legal firm. I do, however, applaud their ingenuity.
Well then it's a good thing TPB guys didn't download anything.
The ordinary meaning of infringement is "an an encroachment on the rights or privileges of others." infringement
In plain English, if you maintain a clearing house for the illicit P2P trade you are as guilty as the traders themselves.
This is not exactly a novel principle in civil and criminal law - and the geek might usefully ask himself if he really wants to see it eroded.
just make sure your bribe is big enough to get your personal law enacted...
I would like to introduce a modest compliment to Godwin's Law:
When the geek launches into a rant on the theme of bribery, all hope of intelligent discussion has ended.
Remind me of the old regime.
Back in the days it was cheaper not to pay a fine. Due to inflation and slow bureaucracy by the time you get your final warning the fine was cheaper then the post stamp.
Makes you wander how flexible the bureaucracy is.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
Up until the late 19th century, pennies and nickels weren't legal tender at all. The Coinage Acts of 1873 and 1879 made them legal tender for debts up to 25 cents only, while the other fractional coins (dimes, quarters, and half dollars) were legal tender for amounts up to $10. This remained the law until the Coinage Act of 1965 specified that all U.S. coins are legal tender in any amount.
Which is exactly what I said, so I don't know why you bothered posting this "contradiction". I also said, in case you missed it, that the initial limits on coin payment have never been tested in court. I.e., Congress may not have intended to overwrite the old limits; the 1965 law seems to have overwritten the limits, but it's never been tested in court.
I think this is more of a civil disobedience act than anything else, if it's even part of their plan.
For instance, if a credit card company screwed you out of $125, you could send them 500 checks for $0.25 in one UPS package. (You'll want preprinted checks and a signature stamp. And a Bank of America account.) When it's the only way to hassle people who are hassling you, I don't have a problem with it.
These companies are suing children and the elderly, and some companies blatantly prey on the poor and senile. When law enforcement is on the wrong side of morality, what else should a person do?
What? It isn't illegal. Maybe the immediately taking it back part could become that but paying a small amount to someone is not illegal.
Stupidity is its own reward.
All they need is 4 million people to donate 1 SEK apiece by paying the law firm by credit card. If it costs 1 SEK apiece to transact the payment then effectively Pirate Bay will have paid their fine but the law firm will have no money to show for it. I'd be willing to pony up 1 SEK just for the entertainment value. There is no fraud involved this way.
There is in the UK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_sterling#Legal_tender_and_regional_issues
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
Depends on which country you live in.
I always wonder about people who argue that TPB wasn't about piracy*. ... *And get over yourself. The term "piracy" has been used in this way since the 16th century!
Er, do you know what "TPB" stands for? Given that they call themselves The Pirate Bay, my suspicion is that they don't have a problem with the term "piracy". But don't let that rather obvious point get in the way of having a straw man argument with yourself.*
(As for what their intent was - well sure, it is clear what their views on copyright laws are. However, my concern is only whether running a torrent search engine is legal or illegal; their political views shouldn't come into it.)
* Yes, get over yourself.
There is no such limit.
Certainly true for the US, but, not true for some other parts of the world.
There was, until 1965. The snopes article even says so.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
I've been to many businesses that state that you can not write a check or make a credit card purchase under a certain amount and over a certain amount for the sole reason of avoiding excessive fees.
There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
Only in the US.
Here is an interesting "article" on Legal Tender in New Zealand, and the consequences of having old and new coins in circulation at the same time ( only for a period of 2 months ).
To give a teaser
"The answer has greater theoretical than practical relevance.
While the seller (âcreditorâ at this point) is not required to
accept the payment, the fact that a valid tender has been
made means that in refusing to accept it, the seller is barred
from recovering the debt in court. Therefore, in practical
terms, the creditor has little choice but to accept the legal
tender payment."
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/research/bulletin/2007_2011/2007sep70_3mcbride.pdf
Anakata's clever plan is called internet-avgift, internet-fee in English
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
From everything i gathered after the verdict their lower court ruling was non-binding pending appeal.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
You are totally wrong.
A business or merchant can refuse to sell you goods or services for about any reason, but a creditor has to accept any form of legal tender as payment of a debt.
There is a huge difference between the two.
In 1976 I paid off an eighty-five dollar traffic ticket with pennies. I got nasty looks, but they couldn't say a word about it, just accept it.
See: United States Code, Title 31, and also the Coinage Act of 1965. You are just plain wrong.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
So if you want to irk someone in the UK, give them 20p in coppers, then throw in some New Zealand 5 cent pieces - they're the same shape, size & alloy as a British 1p and even have the same picture of HMQ on one side.
You can either go "I told you so" when they try to complain that you're over the 20p limit, or you can let them accept all the coins, then point out that there were 5 foreign coins (and that's why they're 5p over) which have now ben mixed into their coin box, and ask for them back. Massive entropy increase FTW.
FGD 135
did they have a freepost address that you could send them to? (preferably from overseas. By airmail.)
FGD 135
OK so I'll send an email to the SEK: I know this Nigerian Prince who might be willing to help out if the SEK will help in return. You see my friend the prince is having trouble getting money out of his country........
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
at first I thought it seemed like an interesting way to do some damage to the man. My understanding of TPB is that it was legal in Sweden. Did they change the law? I can't remember.
Either way, someone who was NOT a lawyer interpreted the law to mean that the TPB guys BROKE it. As much as I love TPB, it does not mean that the lawyers are to blame for their bill. That is some of the worst logic ever. I'm assuming that either a judge or jury, or subcommittee or someone supposed to be objective in line with the law were the ones who actually interpreted the law.
My parents are lawyers who also own their own small law firm, and, while they may not do cases like this, they do work hard at their LEGAL profession. I would hate to see anything like this happen to them simply because of who they represented. A lawyer's job is not to follow ideology or make judgements, it is to argue on the behalf of their client. Hate the client, hate the judge, hate the jury, the people, or even the victim, but why in god's name would you hate the only "unbiased" people there?
If you do this to anyone, do it those who filed the suit or interpreted the law.
I don't recall the case, but someone requested some documentation from IBM as part of disclosure in a lawsuit and big blue returned a truckfull of paperwork for the other guys $400/hr lawyers to sort through.
For some reason one of the british tabloids was running some kind of investigation where they encouraged members of the public to send in letters and artifacts protesting against gay rights. A few people i knew researched the royal mail freepost they had on their incoming address and realized it'd take any second-class mail package.
They sent them a broken washing machine.
Pay in postage stamps.
seeders pls!
Starbucks, Harbuckle of Breath.
Would paying the fine serve as an admission of guilt/waiver of appeal?
I don't know.
IANAL, IEANASL (especially, swedish)
As making TPB responsible for other people's actions not on their machine.
Apparently, TPB have to pay because I downloaded a torrent from another party. So I should pay my part of the fine.
But if enough people do so, then my part of the fine is less than 1 Kr, so I should ask for the excess back, shouldn't I.
And if it's more, I should ask for the 1Kr back and the calculation of what I owe sent to me so I can pay my fair share, yes?
They took from the public and gave to people who hoarded it.
Where is, for example, the copy of Steamboat Willie that is still under copyright? play.com don't seem to have it in stock.
I don't feel good about this. Whatever you think about Danowsky and his lawfirm, he actually did his job.
I don't like the idea that people wouldn't be able to find a lawyer, just because lawfirms wouldn't dare to be associated with Internet related stuff.
At first, I must admit I thought it was a great idea, though - I'm not a Danowsky fan...
In any reasonable system, intentionally causing harm, even if only by calling other people to do your dirty work, opens you up to liability.
The neo-nazi back organisation acting like cocks? Who would have thought?
Puzzle Daze is now my job
The Pirate bay people have devised a way that makes it financially unattractive to represent the *AA when going against a popular service such as TPB. This arguably also makes it unattractive to represent TPB (or others) in case they do the same thing to you for some reason. It does not directly cause any discomfort to the *AA, except to (possibly) make it harder for them to prosecute further cases. There is some concern that this plan attracts legal action because it's a deliberate attempt to cause financial discomfort. However, it could be argued that the plan's only transgression was to publish the lawyers bank account details, and some instructions. The bank account details are non-confidential, and the general concepts of the plan are not a new idea. It remains to be seen how this is handled by the courts, if indeed they become involved in it.
TPB has asked the community to send 1SEK (or, I presume less) to the lawyers who prosecuted them. These lawyers are of course the designated recipients of the fine that TPB have to pay to the *AA, so have given TPB their bank account details.
Under Swedish law, if you accidentally electronically pay someone, you can write to them to ask them to refund the money. They are legally obliged to do this.
The intention of TPB's plan is to have the community pay the lawyers 1SEK each, but to then claim they did this accidentally, and to demand a refund. The refund will cost the lawyers time and money to process. If the lawyers chose to electronically return the money, they will quickly exceed their account's 1000 free transfers limit, and will have to pay 2SEK to perform subsequent transactions.
It's not entirely clear if the 1000 transfer limit includes receiving money as well as sending it. If it does include receiving, then it's probable that the lawyers will simply instruct their bank not to accept payments unless greater than (say) 1 million SEK. It's unlikely the bank will charge more than a one-off fee to set up this facility. If this occurs, then the plan will quickly fail. Likewise, if receiving money does not impact the 1000 transfer limit, then community members failing to ask for a refund essentially help the lawyers by making them richer.
Please note: If the community does indeed send these micro-payments, this does not, in any way contribute towards the fine that TPB have to pay (even if you do not ask for your money to be refunded). If you wish to help TPB pay the fine, then please arrange to send money directly to TPB, as the fine will only be considered paid if TPB pay the lawyers directly.
Authors note: I suspect this plan will quickly fail, however even if it does so, it appears to me that it sends a strong message to lawyers representing anyone TPB dislikes. I'll leave it to the reader to decide what they think of that 'message'. Lastly, I hope I got all the details right, but since this is /., I'm sure I'll quickly be corrected if not.
bless the man for standing up to the man ... see, star trek got 72mille in 1 week-end ... wolverine was a boxoffice success ... wtf are these copyright lobbyists blabbing about?
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
One question though... Why TPB tries to bankrupt law firm? It's not like they sued them, they just did their job - they're lawyers after all.
Besides, it's possible that law in Sweden prohibits third parties to make payments in name of TPB (it's how it works in Poland at least, vide Ziobro vs Miroslaw G. case), and TPB won't be able even to ask its users for donations.
I'm contemptuous.
"You should never doubt what nobody is sure about." -- Willy Wonka
Its the same reason coin-operated games can require tokens instead, same for parking lots.
None of the fast food chains near me will accept bills over $20.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
No, no, you're contemptible, not contemptuous.
does it make you "wander" or "wonder"?
I want to send funds, do i need to go to the bank or what the hell do i do with this information?
PayPal? wire transfer?
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