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Judge Reviewing Pirate Bay Trial Bias Is Removed
oh-my-god sends word that the Swedish judge assigned to review whether the trial judge in the Pirate Bay trial was biased has now been removed — for bias. Here's a local news account in Swedish, which Google fails to translate. We've discussed the convolutions of this case on more than one occasion.
Looks even more like a dong on the euro coins
I have a question. Why does Slashdot constantly side with PirateBay? You are aware that they were running a major piracy ring, right? That they were providing the torrent trackers that facilitated the distribution of copyrighted materials?
Don't you guys ever wonder why big-name developers like John Carmack don't post here anymore? Slashdot has adopted a position that it is completely okay to rip people off and never pay them for their work. The site mindlessly posts two or three pro-piracy articles per day to appease the masses, who will subsequently drive up ad revenues by clicking and posting about how evil they think capitalism is.
All of this is amusing considering Slashdot has threatened websites in the past for posting Slashdot's stories--due to copyright infringement. And Slashdotters love to make a big deal when a company "steals" GPL code. Apparently, piracy isn't theft and copyrights don't matter except when it benefits you.
Actually, there is a very good reason to support The Pirate Bay. It hurts the *AA.
And we need to get those reduced to oblivion so copyright can once again be a reasonable tradeof between the authors and the consumers.
Because when laws get passed on behalf of single companies (Disney, I'm looking at you), then there is something deeply rotten. And bankruptcy of those media companies would be a good thing. So anything along that path is a good idea.
There is also this thing that laws which are stupid or inapplicable need to be exposed. In the hope that those who passed them get voted out of office (yeah, I'm an optimist).
Unfortunately, TPB also helps pirate software, which in turn helps the likes of Microsoft, because of the network effect. So nothing is perfect, I guess.
I have a question. Why does Slashdot constantly side with PirateBay?
Slashdot is a community made up of thousands of people. I doubt there is any subject, including whether or not slashdot sucks, that the community has a consensus on.
You are aware that they were running a major piracy ring, right?
I'm not aware of that at all. Considering they do not handle any copyrighted information and no copyrighted information flows through any servers they control, i'd say it's a pretty big stretch to say they are running a major piracy ring.
That they were providing the torrent trackers that facilitated the distribution of copyrighted materials?
They provided text files that told people where people were providing files to download. Some of those people were providing copyrighted content.
Telling someone that someone else is selling or giving away content is not illegal, at least not where i am. Nor should it be illegal in my opinion.
Don't you guys ever wonder why big-name developers like John Carmack don't post here anymore?
Because he's busy building space ships?
Have you had specific conversations with Mr. Carmack about his posting habits or are you just making shit up? My suspicion is that you are making shit up.
Slashdot has adopted a position that it is completely okay to rip people off and never pay them for their work. The site mindlessly posts two or three pro-piracy articles per day to appease the masses, who will subsequently drive up ad revenues by clicking and posting about how evil they think capitalism is.
Again, Slashdot, as a community, doesn't really have a consensus about anything, including if Microsoft is evil and if the GPL is a good thing.
Also, if the goal is to drive up page views, the best way to do that is to post articles that are at odds with the consensus as that will cause flame wars. Nothing generates page views and comments like a contrarian point of view stated as if it were a fact.
All of this is amusing considering Slashdot has threatened websites in the past for posting Slashdot's stories--due to copyright infringement.
Do you have a citation for this? I do not recall that ever happening, which is not to say it didn't, but that i don't know what you are talking about.
And Slashdotters love to make a big deal when a company "steals" GPL code. Apparently, piracy isn't theft and copyrights don't matter except when it benefits you.
In some slashdotters that apparent dichotomy does exist. I would guess it has to do with intent. People who favour the GPL see it as an important tool for protecting the freedoms of the users of software. Some of these people probably also view the behaviour of the record and movie industries as an abuse of the users of their products and consider the nullification of their copyrights as an appropriate punishment for their actions.
Of course some people also just want stuff for free.
But to try to make sweeping conclusions about the thousands of people who read slashdot based on the one or two hundred people who post on these stories is not in any way valid.
For my part, i am on the side of the pirate bay because i don't think they've done anything illegal. The police and copyright holders should be going after the people seeding the files, not the people saying "those guys are seeding files". If getting the seeders is too technically hard for them, that's too bad. They shouldn't get to go after innocent people just because it's easier.
Darth --
Nil Mortifi, Sine Lucre
Hi there.
I'm an indie developer who makes games from his spare bedroom. I earn less than most software developers do, and have fuck all pension plan or work benefits,
The piratebay make it possible for people to rip me off and take a game that takes me 10 hours a day a year to make... for free.
The piratebay is funded by a right wing millionaire businessman closely connected to fascist and racist organisations in Sweden. Google 'carl lundstrom' for details. TPB has many adverts and is one of the most popular sites on the whole web. It also has minimal bandwidth costs because it makes a big fuss out of not hosting anything.
In short, it makes a mega-fuckton of ad money from other peoples work.
Explain to me again how thepiratebay earning money from ads whilst giving away my work for free, and lining the pockets of its millionaire founder is anything like a fucking robin hood?
They are thieves with an awesome PR dept. Its sad to see so many otherwise reasonable and nice people fall for the blatant bullshit about them being heroes. This is PR spin. How much of that money they collected in donations to buy an island did they stick in their bank accounts?
Where is the prominent spot on TPB to promote non-riaa bands and indie film producers? where is the 'free speech and pro-democracy' section on their homepage?
Face facts, TPB is about getting ad impressions for distributing the same mass-market shit everyone pretends to hate.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
You're not sweden are you? Because you actually miss a very major point there. In here judges think about the actual purpose aswell and I dont think its a secret to anyone what The PIRATE Bay was doing. So if you intentionally assist with something, you will be charged for it no matter if you circumvent the law with some stupid way. The intention here counts a lot more than what I've heard it counts in USA, and you have to take that into consideration aswell. I dont think the pirate bay guys did..