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BPI Threatens To Sue the UK Pirate Party Over Proxy

Posted by samzenpus on from the take-them-to-court dept.

Techmeology writes "The BPI has threatened to sue the Pirate Party for allowing people access to The Pirate Bay through its proxy service. The leader of the Pirate Party UK, Loz Kaye said his party would go to court over the issue. Kaye said that he was determined to defend his party's principles even in the face of an expensive legal battle."

16 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Non news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    BPI being douchebags again. (or is it still)

    I wonder what it's like going thru life knowing a majority of the population who know you exist... hate your guts and would like to see you on fire.

    If i were a religious sort.. that might bother me. Karma will eventually demand payment.

    1. Re:Non news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I know the answer.

      They don't have souls, so they are not bothered by it at all.

    2. Re:Non news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm on your side, but please realize that the views of the /. community do not necessarily reflect that of the entire population, who may or may not "hate their guts" or even care much about them, provided they're even aware of BPI or the MAFIAA cartels.

      I come across this all the time here, where a large but closed community of like minded people assume that just because common themes and trends are repeated by a number of vocal ( possibly a minority) of the community that that reflects the view of the population at large. It's easy to fall into that fallacy. Peace.

    3. Re:Non news by lightknight · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ah, but with NuSoul, they won't be bothered by that.

      --
      I am John Hurt.
    4. Re:Non news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't know what you're thinking, but easily more than 50% of the global population cannot stand the MAFIAA or the BPI. SOPA/PIPA really woke people up on the matter. All you have to do is explain that BPI supports SOPA as an arm of the RIAA, and the connection is made. So no, you are mistaken.

      Please, today, go out and ask that 50% of the global population what SOPA/PIPA were all about.

      Apart from technology enthusiasts (a very, VERY small amount of the population), chances are the BEST answer you'll get is "that bill where Congress wanted to shut down Wikipedia!", assuming they even remember the whole ordeal at all (which is a pretty huge assumption), INCLUDING those who contacted their Congresspeople. You won't get "that bill sponsored by the record labels and movie studios where they wanted to introduce truly Draconian regulations to restrict the internet and...". In fact, most of those answers won't go anywhere NEAR the RIAA/MPAA.

    5. Re:Non news by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      I think you may be referring to Parliamentary privilege, as per the Bill of Rights, 1689. I know of no interpretation of the notion of Parliamentary privilege that would extend beyond the bounds of Parliament itself, and remember that even if it did, Parliament itself has the power to override privilege of its members, and does not protect a member from prosecution for criminal action.

      Even if the party were successful in arguing that it is immune from lawsuits, the party would still be bound by Parliamentary rules, and I'm sure the Speaker would have little issue with ordering the proxy shut down or the members in question facing contempt of Parliament.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    6. Re:Non news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Absolutely correct. It is also entirely predictable human behavior too. This is because laws are tools for control which are accessible only through a high individual barrier to entry. A person must dedicate a significant part of their life to affect change and be part of the process. It is a specialization. Furthermore, as with all public choice equilibrium equations, the cost of the law is wide, but shallow; it often targets all people but it only affects them slightly(or with low probability as with legal action for piracy). On the other side, the benefits are extremely concentrated; the beneficiaries are both a minority and the privilege they receive are significant.

      So the incentives for human action are minimal for those being targeted while the incentives for those who perpetuate these laws are high. In other words, for you or I to stand against a single group of people whose entire income depends on some set of laws, we would have to have motivation equal to that. However, we do not. Those of us that get involved in politics (or more loosely the philosophy of politics) in order to oppose people who would use state violence to profit have a sort of masochistic bent that is outside of strictly material economic incentives. We have some sort of itch we cannot ignore(call it dedication to morality, truth or whatever). However, most people aren't and cannot be like that. The vast majority of people cannot spend so much time on each little thing that threatens to take another drop of blood. There is no way one would expect that a majority of people would even know about SOPA and all the recent variants(some of which have passed in european nations by the way).

      If you doubt this, if you don't think the game is stacked against us, just consider how many laws are active in the US. The federal register is over 100,000 pages. How many of you who care so much about SOPA, how many of you know the number of people the FDA kills each day by threatening innocent people into withholding treatments from willing patients in the US while the very same treatments are saving lives in Europe and other nations? How many of you know what laws enacted in the 1980s began to force money from workers into the stock market, changing it from an institution of knowledgeable investment into casino that has distorted the fundamental incentives for all businessmen to the point where stocks themselves drive corporations rather than productivity? How many of you know of the violent government monopoly and subsidization of sugar production has lead to the collapse of the industry and the installment of fructose corn syrup as a replacement which is a significant source of the obesity and health problems this country is so famous for? I could fill pages full of just references to the near countless number of laws that all have disastrous consequences to us but my point is not to show how well read I am on such matters. I want to show you that it is not sensible to expect most people to be aware of and combat the things that harm them when the costs to do so greatly exceed the benefits. The incentives for those who lose in these laws is to simply take it. The incentive for the beneficiaries is their entire means of living. Public choice demonstrates that things like SOPA will continue to creep into the law books, bit by bit.

    7. Re:Non news by coofercat · · Score: 2

      It's non-news, unless you're the one getting sued. I appreciate there's a certain amount of outrage-fatigue, but this is the first time the BPI has gone after someone credible (as far as I know, at least). I for one hope they go all the way to court and then lose - PPUK will make some political/publicity capital out of it, and we can all go home happy. For that to happen, the UK Pirate Party is asking for help (http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/help), it would be remiss of me not to suggest you head over there and help out if you can.

  2. Re:Even if the proxy goes down.. by Art+Challenor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are are hundreds of other TPB proxies out there. Taking one down will cause issues for 1 or 2 days until people find another proxy site.

    There's a big list of TPB proxy sites here: http://proxybay.info/

    Yes, but it's important that BPI sue people on a regular basis so that this information stays in the news.

  3. Re:corporation sues political party by jythie · · Score: 2

    Well, if they don't accept 'contributions' then they need SOME way to remind the politicians who is boss.....

  4. Re:so um by Charliemopps · · Score: 3, Insightful

    actually, that probably on the horizon.

  5. Re:Surprise surprise by CanEHdian · · Score: 2

    "*snip* in the face of an expensive legal battle" Well, at least they're subtly acknowledging that, as per the status quo, the ruling will be decided by who has the most money to throw at a lawsuit.

    There's already a Call For Help out by the PPUK itself. And they will need it; the music industry is a mega-billion-pound industry, the poor artists are starving-near-death, so you figure out where the money went...

    --
    When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
  6. Re:Even if the proxy goes down.. by nogginthenog · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Or just download the Tor Browser Bundle. Takes 2 minutes. Opens TPB from anywhere.

  7. Noone has defined the acronym "BPI" by cshay · · Score: 2

    ... not the slashdot summary and not the article linked. C'mon people, unless an acronym is widely known, you should define it.

    1. Re:Noone has defined the acronym "BPI" by viralburn · · Score: 2

      oops ... read that as the 'British Pornographic Industry'

  8. Re:*Takes Notes* by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 2

    In the Netherlands, the Pirate Party is sued into bankruptcy by Brein (the local mafiaa). So the next talk-like-a-pirate day could feature a lot more silence.

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!