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Pirate Bay Shifts Connections From Sweden To Ease Heat on Pirate Party

An anonymous reader writes with this news (excerpted from IT World) that follows up on the report of pressure put on Sweden's Pirate Party for its connection to The Pirate Bay: "The Pirate Bay has opened two new gateways to its internal network in order to shield its current Internet provider, the Swedish Pirate Party, which had been threatened with legal action if it did not stop providing Internet access to the torrent search site by Tuesday. The Swedish Pirate Party had provided bandwidth to The Pirate Bay for about three years because it was hard for the site to find anyone else who would do so. But last Tuesday the Rights Alliance, an organization that represents the film industry, gave it an ultimatum: The Pirate Party had to cut off Internet access to the torrent search site or face legal action. The Pirate Bay's administrators said in a post on Facebook that, because of the legal threat and the potential cost of fighting it, 'We've taken the decision to move on to Norway and Spain.'"

22 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Takeaway: You might be a pirate by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 2, Funny

    But don't f*ck with ABBA.

    1. Re:Takeaway: You might be a pirate by Nodsnarb · · Score: 2

      Your saying this may be the Pirate Bay's Waterloo?

    2. Re:Takeaway: You might be a pirate by Vulch · · Score: 2

      They're not sending out an SOS yet...

    3. Re:Takeaway: You might be a pirate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      More like the Pirate Bay's evacuation of Sicily.

      In the grand scheme of things, its a shiny political win but economically and practically hurts Pirate Bay nowhere near as much as it hurts Sweden. Why setup servers in Sweden if there's a constant threat of being targeted and having your servers shut down? If TORRENTS can get you hit with legal action, digital storage sites like Dropbox and Amazon (which actually host the infringing material) are probably looking at this and blacklisting Sweden from ever hosting servers.

  2. Anybody remember the Fifth of November? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It seems like with all the lawsuits getting thrown around these days, even dedicated organizations run scared at the first mention of 'legal action'. We need to stand up for what is bullshit to begin with. Sure, people will go to jail, but without sacrifice there can be no victory. If you aren't prepared to do whatever is necessary for what you believe in, don't join a national organization dedicated to supporting it(supposedly no matter what the consequences). The world is getting hairier and hairier with legal steps these days, we just need cut through all the crap and focus on what is important. EVERYBODY has to help though. Artists, consumers, everyone is important because without them all, the big guys win. And nobody wants that. People shouldn't be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people. Peace.

    1. Re:Anybody remember the Fifth of November? by Troed · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There are multiple angles to this issue. The Swedish Pirate Party is part of an international movement (with sister parties in ~60 countries) and we're represented in the European Parliament. Thus we are already well on our way to through political means change society to be more Internet friendly.

      While providing Internet connection to The Pirate Bay is a political statement, it won't help our overall goal to have the party economy, as well as that of our leaders and administrators, in ruin. It makes for a less effective election period next year, when we have both EU and national elections during the span of a few months.

      Luckily, we didn't have to make that choice. The Pirate Bay choose themselves to switch to other ISPs making the result of our internal debate moot.

      /me - board member of the Swedish Pirate Party

  3. They're afraid of going after downloaders. by concealment · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Pirate Bay through its unfortunate but iconic name will always be a target. If they'd named it "Generic Torrents," we wouldn't see this.

    However, as someone who uses TPB to distribute legal content, I don't want it to go away. It is the most high-profile torrent tracker in the world and that makes it useful for spreading information.

    I don't know how much of its content is legal, but I think the roles here are reversed. If someone uploads a torrent of illegal information (child porn, piracy, state secrets, etc) and other someones download it, then those are the people who should be prosecuted.

    The recording industry is attacking TPB instead of attacking the someones who are doing the illegal acts, because those someones are mostly the children and college students of middle America. It would be politically unpopular to attack those.

    1. Re:They're afraid of going after downloaders. by cellurl · · Score: 2

      Generic Torrents, cool name.
      They are enjoying "thumbing their nose at it all". I get it, live fast, die young.
      But
      I don't know why they don't go full bore.
      For example, why not charge a little money for downloading, and donate it to starving kids somewhere.
      Then when they get shut down, kids die.
      That would be thumbing their nose at Hollywood and their self-righteousness (Oscars, Streisand, Clooney, Freeman).

      Help eliminate stupid speeding tickets

    2. Re:They're afraid of going after downloaders. by heypete · · Score: 2

      It is the most high-profile torrent search engine in the world and that makes it useful for spreading information.

      Slight clarification bolded above.

      TPB hasn't run a tracker since 2009. With a few exceptions (such as torrents with less than 10 seeds), they don't even host torrent files anymore: they only provide magnet links which a client can then use to find a torrent file in the DHT, over peer exchange, or other methods.

    3. Re:They're afraid of going after downloaders. by PPH · · Score: 2

      Watch my words! Misuse the image of Mickey Mouse just one more time and Walt Disney is just going to give up producing new content.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    4. Re:They're afraid of going after downloaders. by Flammon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How about, giving the users the ability to donate to the content creators?

  4. Lawsuit threats work by schneidafunk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Moral of the story? Just the threat of a lawsuit motivates people to do things against their will.

    --
    Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
    1. Re:Lawsuit threats work by fibonacci8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      From Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: Extortion noun (Concise Encyclopedia) Unlawful exaction of money or property through intimidation or undue exercise of authority. It may include threats of physical harm, criminal prosecution, or public exposure. Some forms of threat, especially those made in writing, are occasionally singled out for separate statutory treatment as blackmail.

      --
      Inheritance is the sincerest form of nepotism.
  5. That's not a bad strategy by JohnnyComeLately · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Have some intel on how far their legal teams are getting to filing, and then right before they file.... move. Now, they have to start over in the new country. Watch them, wait for them get ready to file.... move. Eventually they'll realize they're spending millions on legal teams and not getting anywhere. Eventually, you start over, but since time has progressed (as I'm sure technology will for distribution in some way) they'll have to re-review or start over.

  6. Money Law by Phrogman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just another case where the courts are being used to threaten/bully someone into conforming to the will of our corporate masters. Sad to see.

    --
    "The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
  7. Long live TPB by vswee · · Score: 2

    Down with absurdly overpaid software giants and entertainers

    1. Re:Long live TPB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      except copyrighted material is by definition not an open market but a (formerly) limited-time monopoly, so Smith-style supply-and-demand doesn't apply.

  8. Just so I get this straight... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    They're threatening a political party? Is it me or is that just begging to be slapped silly with bad PR? Something along the lines of "Some US organization threatening our democracy".

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Just so I get this straight... by PPH · · Score: 4, Informative

      Keep your priorities straight. This isn't just democracy we're talking about. Its the Film Industry.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  9. Blackmail by DustPuppySnr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is it only called blackmail if you are not a registered corporation?

  10. Re:Counter attack. by Kiwikwi · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Rights Alliance is in effect threatening a political party to a government. Any obligations Sweden has to that organizations hosting country, could become null and void as a result.

    The Rights Alliance (Rättighetsalliansen) is a Swedish organization, with sister organizations in other countries (e.g. RettighedsAlliancen in Denmark).

    You must realize that Sweden's obligations to the USA trumps Sweden's obligations to its own population.

  11. It boggles the mind by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 2

    I still don't understand how an entire Nordic country would so willingly become lackeys of not only the US government, but the fucking US entertainment industry too?

    I expect ignorance, apathy, and doing what you're told from my fellow USians, but not from enlightened, progressive folks of a country and culture that still has a real education system. Mystifying.