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Pirate Bay Founder Fined For 'Continued Involvement'
tekgoblin writes with an excerpt from TekGoblin: "The founders of The Pirate Bay have been hit with a bunch of punishments and other measures to prevent them from continuing. However Fredrik Neij was just fined by the Stockholm District court another 500,000 Swedish kronor ($70,690 US). Fredrik Neij and Gorrfrid Scatholm both had been banned from operating the site but Neij had been recently found still involved with the site. Neij already owes around 10.6 million."
If you're going to throw fines you'll never be able to collect, might as well put it in the billions, and then blame him for the economy crashing.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
Yeah, blacks, get to the back of the bus. Don't you know you're breaking the law?
Don't give me none of that 'civil disobedience' crap, you're breaking the law!
bend like the reed
True, it's "only" around $1.5 million that he owes right now. Still, it's a valid point, and the problem with levying such exorbitant fines. If I were fined $1.5 million for something, at that point, no amount of additional fines would ever make a difference in my activities. Whether it's $1.5 million or $1.5 billion, I know I'm never going to pay it off, so what difference does it make? If I were fined $1.5 million for something, I would pretty much take it as free license to do whatever I want from that point forward with no concern whatsoever for monetary penalties.
More likely he's pointing out that sometimes the law is wrong.
Yeah, might as well quit working at that point. They will garnish your wages anyway, so welfare or living with family is a better choice.
Exactly, its a slap on the wrist. Especially considering the 10s of billions of dollars he costs the entertainment industry daily. The pirate bay has taken to promoting indie (non-industry-approved) artists, further cutting into socially guaranteed profits. Someone needs to be held responsible for this costly outrage!
People who obstruct traffic in the left hand lane or drive too slowly also deserve tickets, if your reasoning holds up. Good luck with that happening.
What is legally correct is not necessarily morally or even ethically sound. And you can always make laws, they don't mean they will achieve what they aim to achieve. For instance, the patent system these days.
We all state that authors and such deserve an income. I agree that I don't want to keep them from making an income for something I want to see.
However, people also make choices about what they do that also involves their interest and enjoyment. I enjoy playing video games, but its unlikely that anyone is going to pay me to play them, even if it is entertaining to watch (just ask South Korea). I don't deserve to get paid for what I want to do, people get paid for what they provide that others need. I want to try my hand at pro gaming, I have that option. I also have the option to make no money and starve.
If music and movies are needed and enjoyable, they will be paid for somehow. I am not worried about the end of music or movies or content. As for the music industry? Their job is to provide a service, and it appears that their distribution service is now redundant. If my job became redundant, I'd be laid off without so much as a bit of sadness on the part of the corporation. I don't see why I need to change my habits so that content businesses can continue to be paid when they should be laid off. Call me when I have guaranteed employment in the career of my choice and can make good money at it.
Certainly until music company execs, actors and rock stars stop making millions, I have zero pity for them. Call me when they really are in any danger of anything approaching hardship. As for everyone else, including indie musicians or actors, they are in a business just like I am. If they want to get paid, they need to figure out how to provide it in this shitty world of globalization and outsourcing, just like I have to. If you want to support them, I am 100% for it. Just don't make me pay for it with craptastic legislation.