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Swedish Authorities Attempt Pirate Bay Shutdown
Several sources are discussing the recent attempted shutdown of The Pirate Bay by Swedish authorities. It seems that following the recent court defeats and the pending civil actions, Swedish authorities threatened TPB's main bandwidth supplier with a hefty fine in order to get them shut down. Not surprisingly TPB has relocated and is back online although the tracker still seems to be down. As a gesture of their "appreciation" TPB plans on sending a mocking t-shirt to the people believed responsible for the takedown attempt.
How efficient of them.
The piratebay guys keep pulling these idiotic stunts, like not showing-up to their own trial, and pretty soon they will lose. If they would at least TRY to put-up a rational defense instead of acting like teenagers, maybe they can win their cause.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Maybe, but they put up a damn good fight compared to everybody else in that situation.
It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside to seeing a gang of hooligans consistently thumb their nose at the system while the entertainment goons continue to waste their resources playing whack-a-mole with The Pirate Bay and p2p in general.
TPB knew what they were up against and they are fighting it to the very end. It's debatable whether they have big balls of if they're just stupid -- or both -- but since when have big media's rabid lawyers respected the spirit of the law? They don't even respect the letter of it and they are fast making a mockery of the US judicial system and the executive branch. At least TPB are honest enough to openly mock the system rather than throw enough money at it to pervert it.
Besides, and some of you may not know this, there are other torrent trackers besides TPB. Just fucking Google it, or ask somebody here. They'd gladly tell you.
-- Ethanol-fueled
I don't think of it as "But we just want free warez and dont want to pay for entertainment!", but as "Your silly model based on restricting distribution is a total fail, get another one!".
Ultimately the models that restrict distribution reward distributors more than creators anyway. I say good riddance to them. This isn't about getting paid, but who's in control of what you see and hear and when you see or hear it.
The getting paid part is just the convenient justification of the moment because stating the real reason wouldn't get them anywhere.
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
The short: People pirate because they can. The long: Pirating is so easy and does so little damage to the media companies that people don't even feel remorse for doing it. Most people think that the prices for media today is far too high and if they were lowered they would likely buy more. I doubt the media companies are really losing much business because the movies people truly want to see still get bought. In other words, if media prices were dropped the companies revenues would likely be similar to what they are now. People would buy more but at a lower price. Most pirates are not exclusive pirates. They still go out to the movies, buy new releases, and buy their favorite bands music. They pirate things that they were less likely to buy.
I don't think the average pirate is trying to prove a point or communicate a message. I think they do it because they want something but not enough to pay the asking price.
Stewart Brand was close. He almost understood.
You can't make someone pay for information unless you're the only one that can provide it. Everyone. Every single person reading this... you are a potential content provider. You could make every bit of information on your computer available, right now.
Sue us.
All of us. ...because that's the only way you can stop the tidal wave that will crush your monopoly of distribution.
You're idea of how to define property are antiquated and you're about to become extinct unless you mutate. The only people making money now are your lawyers.
And when you've lost. When you've bled yourself dry and lost all support from the public you think you pander to, the dust will settle and we will still be here distributing information. Not because we are cheap. Not because we don't want creativity to win... but because information is free.
Hint: creating information is a service people will gladly pay for...
I think that it's important to point out that "rights holders" are perfectly willing to break the law. Sony rootkits, RIAA's illegal "investigations", and more. Worse, the "rights holders" are intent on bending, folding, mutilating, and spindling the law. Today's copyright law is a horrid mutilation of the spirit of the law. I dare say that if the law were fair and equitable, there would be very few people actually ripping off the content found on the web. In fact, if the law were truly "just", I suspect that thieves would be turned in by parents, freinds, and associates. People actually respond to crimestoppers requests for information, after all.
"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
You know, I don't have any pirated material on my computer. Every song, every video, every piece of software, every file of any kind is something I either bought, downloaded legally for free, or wrote myself.
And yet I support TPB, and oppose the MAFIAA and their toadies in the US and (increasingly) around the world.
You can believe me or not, I don't care. Just be aware that there are a substantial number of people who strongly dislike the current insane state of copyright law and the Draconian enforcement thereof, not because it's personally inconvenient for them, but simply and solely because it is wrong.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.