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Judge Who Ordered Pirate Bay Censorship Found To Be Corrupt

TheGift73 writes "TorrentFreak reports that 'This week yet another court order was handed down in Europe with the aim of censoring The Pirate Bay. The ruling forbids the Dutch Pirate Party from not only running a direct proxy, but also telling people how to circumvent an earlier court ordered blockade. However, according to Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge, the judge in the case has a history of corruption relating to another file-sharing case he presided over in the Netherlands. The Court of The Hague in the Netherlands has been particularly busy this work with Pirate Bay-related cases.' Falkvinge wrote, '... not only was the plaintiff and judge personally and closely acquainted, the plaintiff in a controversial copyright monopoly case was running a commercial anti-piracy outfit together with the judge in the case. Money was involved. Commercial interest was involved. The judge was, as it appears from this brochure for the quite expensive course, getting money. Shortly after the case. In a directly related matter together with the plaintiff. That makes the judge not only corrupt, but textbook corrupt.'"

36 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why was the judge allowed to continue being a judge after being found corrupt? Judges, like police, should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us, not given a free pass because of their status.

    1. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because no legal body found him to be corrupt. These are accusations being made.

    2. Re:Why? by longk · · Score: 5, Informative

      The argument seems to be that "we prefer knowledgable judges over unknowledgeable ones and that being 'involved' in the industry is simply the best way to become and/or stay knowledgable". BS, IMHO.

    3. Re:Why? by xelah · · Score: 5, Informative

      Because, of course, he hasn't been found corrupt. Even if the summary were taken at face value it still wouldn't be corruption...'having a financial interest in the outcome', although clearly not acceptable for a judge in a case, is not the same as 'accepting an offer of money in exchange for not carrying out your duties properly'. And, as one of the links says, '“It’s not just any course they do together, it’s part of the Dutch bar association’s official training program for lawyers.”'. Corruption? Really? The only question the article appears to raise is the level of personal connection between plaintiff and judge, and even then it's rabid enough to be hard to take seriously.

    4. Re:Why? by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 4, Funny

      Because, of course, he hasn't been found corrupt. Even if the summary were taken at face value it still wouldn't be corruption...'having a financial interest in the outcome', although clearly not acceptable for a judge in a case, is not the same as 'accepting an offer of money in exchange for not carrying out your duties properly'.

      Theoretically, the financial interest that the Judge had would be harmed by his decision, since killing the Pirate Bay would reduce the need for whatever he and his (theoretical) partner were (theoretically) selling.

      Which doesn't suggest all that much corruption - "wow, he hurt his own business interest, he must be evil!!".

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    5. Re:Why? by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If someone has an interest in the outcome of a trial he is a party and not suitable as a judge, corruption or no corruption. At the very least he is partial and hence unfit to preside as a judge.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wow, that's like that cop in Ottawa, Canada that beat his toddler with a belt, but the judge let him off because "we need skilled police officers".

    7. Re:Why? by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Because, of course, he hasn't been found corrupt. Even if the summary were taken at face value it still wouldn't be corruption.

      The summary is not clear, but the critical part of the article is that the judge and the plaintiff were running a commercial enterprise together, one that had a direct bearing on the subject matter of the case. I don't know about the Netherlands, but I think that the legal systems of most western nations would require a judge with such a close tie to the plaintiff to recuse himself.

      This many not be corrupt behavior, but it would normally be improper.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    8. Re:Why? by bhagwad · · Score: 2

      Wrong analogy. Conflicts of interest are specifically forbidden in most civilized judicial systems. Personal relationships are not allowed. In your example, if the judge personally knew the accused then yes - the judge should have recused himself/herself.

    9. Re:Why? by penix1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And when the shooter turns out to be the judge's brother that is OK with you? That is what this case is sounding like. When you have financial interests in the outcome and refuse to recuse yourself from the case, it leads to the appearance of corruptness which is something we can't have in the judicial system. There are strict judicial guidelines (at least in the US) mandating judicial behavior. If a judge can't follow them, they need to feel the full weight of the law.

      --
      This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
    10. Re:Why? by Sancho · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's a common excuse. It worked for the Catholic Church, too. "We don't have enough Priests, so instead of excommunicating the ones who diddle little kids, we'll just move them to a new parish."

    11. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Or to put it another way, 'textbook BS'.

    12. Re:Why? by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even if I bought that line, the fact remains that in this case, if the allegations are true, the judge is a direct beneficiary of his own judgements. That is indeed textbook corruption.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    13. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      You spelled "instead of castrating" wrong

    14. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The purpose of involuntary government and religion is to exploit people.

    15. Re:Why? by trevelyon · · Score: 2

      Aren't they supposed to recuse themselves if they have a bias, monetary interest in the issue or relation with either plaintiff or defendant? Isn't this rather basic legal practice to try and ensure impartiality? If that is the case then taken at face value the judge and plaintiff had a relationship that the judge should have recused himself for. Refusing to bring this relationship to light is a serious breach although not corruption per se it should definitely warrant an investigation and at the minimum bring the judgement of the case into question.

    16. Re:Why? by Xest · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm not convinced it's different anywhere else. The same thing happened in The Pirate Bay trial in Sweden - the judge was part of a music industry lobby organisation and was good friends with the music industry lawyer acting for the prosecution. Despite this he was allowed to continue.

      It seems judges are allowed to have severe conflict of interest, at least in Northern Europe.

  2. Court Orders Are Too Subtle by TemperedAlchemist · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Man, it's a good thing these Dutch guys aren't in the US, or else the FBI would storm their houses with swat teams under charges of conspiring with file sharers.

    ---

    But then again, nothing says America like a getting bent over and fucked by an agency with your tax dollars.

    1. Re:Court Orders Are Too Subtle by Killjoy_NL · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We have our own intervention teams, this week a house was surrounded for a while and the standoff ended with the guy shooting himself in the head.
      We are THAT efficient :)

      --
      This is the sig that says NI (again)
  3. Vacate? by Aesculapius · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Does this give the Dutch Pirate Party reasonable grounds to vacate the decision? (IANAL)

    --
    -A
    1. Re:Vacate? by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If it's true it should.

    2. Re:Vacate? by poetmatt · · Score: 2

      It also highlights why all the rulings have been against piratebay in Dutch courts too, which may result in a lot of decisions being challenged.

    3. Re:Vacate? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, but they need not convince me of this - they'll have to convince one of his judge buddies of it.

  4. You think? by backslashdot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anyone who is willing to clamp down harshly on basic human freedoms has to be either corrupt or criminally insane. Either way they oughta be either in jail or in the Arkham asylum.

    1. Re:You think? by king+neckbeard · · Score: 5, Funny

      I dunno, Arkham Asylum has notoriously horrible security. Pretty much any other such facility would be better.

      --
      This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  5. Re:Europe is not a country by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Who are you calling Americans? The use of Europe is correct in the summary, TPB is being censored in many countries in said continent. Your use of Americans is a totum pro parte.

  6. To be fair by MRe_nl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The story would have been more aptly named
    "Rick Falkvinge believes judge to be corrupt".

    --
    "Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
    1. Re:To be fair by jhoegl · · Score: 3, Funny

      "now with fragmented sentences!"

  7. Just playing the percentages. by rmdingler · · Score: 2

    If you desire to purchase a judicial outcome, you would instinctively lean toward a dishonest judge.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  8. hang em all by cheekyboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Really, if every one pirates and downloads and copies and smokes pot at the same time, is it really so bad?

    Lets cut the wages of these old gay fuckers back to $50k, and see how they do then.

    Fight the power, protest, disobey, total chaos, and anarchy, screw ya all.

    We the young people do what we like, STFU old people, it was the old peoples fault that we had WW1 and WW2, so thats proof enough that old people should never rule any countries or systems.

    --
    Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
    1. Re:hang em all by Khyber · · Score: 2

      If it's the young fighting them, who else would be starting them? The babies? No, thus the older generation is responsible.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  9. You fail at logic by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 4, Interesting

    By your logic, since a restaurant is in the business of selling food, if it actually sold any food, it would reduce the demand for food and be hurting its own business.

    In general, if you try to sell something, people want to see you can deliver. This is especially true in the anti-piracy business where there are a lot of shouters who claim they can protect your stuff but none that are able to deliver. thepiratebay.se is proof of that.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:You fail at logic by AmberBlackCat · · Score: 4, Funny

      Also by that logic, internet providers who offer "unlimited bandwidth" would best serve their interests by never... actually ... delivering... oh.

  10. The BBC has a show about an laywer in ancient time by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The BBC had a show about a lawyer in the days of slavery fighting for justice... except the justice of the day was something different. Is a judge and jury who believe slavery is the right normal and correct thing to do, ruling in favor of a slaver, corrupt? Often, society is split and the other side can seem to be malicious, insane, corrupt, just interested in their own goals, hypocrites and downright evil. But the other side thinks exactly the same of you. There are few people in the world who do "evil" thinking they are doing evil.

    Even lawyers get themselves being able to sleep at night by telling themselves that "everyone has the right to a fair trial" means "I should do anything to get my client of regardless of the facts".

    We are at a crossroad, once again, in western society. Copyright has always been changing when tech changed the world, it came into being because of new tech and it will change. But the powers that be want things to remain the same because to them, that is how it has always been and the new situation offers no benefits. Copyright as we know it now was NOT introduced to benefit artists but to protect publishers from the demands of artists to be payed. But over the years, things settled down, slowly and with many lawsuits and up-heaving all that again, that is not going to happen quietly.

    The Pirate Bay is used by some artists to promote themselves, you can find artists claiming this themselves. But they don't fit in the traditional media worldview. Even today, most bands dream is to be discovered and to get a record deal... they might or might not have read about the lousy deal most bands who don't become the absolute top get but the dream is still there.

    It will have to change, you can't stop tech. Content can be so easily distributed now it would like trying to ban book printing (which was tried for centuries over and over again) and is STILL being proposed right now in Germany by making it economically impossible to print the rantings of an pathetic german painter again. And do you think this stops his diseased followers? Hardly.

    There are so many P2P methods and so many versions of each method that all this anti piratebay activity shows is just how silly it is to fight it. if nothing else, the only effect I have seen is that more and more people know that there are alternatives to paying for content. Google "thepiratebay mirror" and endless informative results that work perfectly.

    Granted, Brein has openly stated that they know this to have no effect and that it is just so they can lay the foundation for more radical approaches. You didn't think they were going to give up did you?

    But the genie is out of the bag. Not only does the public know about it, PRO-piracy is now enough to get you elected into government. Don't forget the green parties started much the same. The Dutch Socialist Party SP, started out as a protest party to far left of the labour party. They are now twice the size and tied for 1st/2nd place with the VVD (Corruption party).

    And if the left wing parties don't change their tune (the trade union FNV is making itself a target of mockery for coming out in favor of copyright on behalve of its non-existant artist members) they will be replaced just as the older parties were replaced before them.

    But while change is happening, the battles are nasty, ugly and seemingly without end. This is one of the battles. The outcome eventually is without doubt, you cannot put the cat back in the bag, but that doesn't mean there won't be a fight that must be fought. And if history has anything to say about it, blood will be shed.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  11. Re:The BBC has a show about an laywer in ancient t by Alex+Belits · · Score: 2

    The BBC had a show about a lawyer in the days of slavery fighting for justice... except the justice of the day was something different. Is a judge and jury who believe slavery is the right normal and correct thing to do, ruling in favor of a slaver, corrupt? Often, society is split and the other side can seem to be malicious, insane, corrupt, just interested in their own goals, hypocrites and downright evil. But the other side thinks exactly the same of you. There are few people in the world who do "evil" thinking they are doing evil.

    This has nothing to do with judge having a business relationship with the plaintiff. Especially in cases when the law says nothing directly applicable, and judge ends up making decisions based entirely on his opinions and intuition.

    --
    Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
  12. Re:My goodness... by Zsub · · Score: 2

    Although as a Dutchie I am rather ashamed and angered by the reason and/or cause. I used to smirk at articles about the US where someone was ordered to pay boatloads of money for down/uploading some songs on Kazaa or Napster or whatever. Karma man, karma.