OT - Guys behind Pirate Bay convicted + $3.6 mil in damages

[TheEqualizer]

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090417/ ... pirate_bay

STOCKHOLM -

The entertainment industry won round one Friday in a legal battle against file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, with guilty verdicts and one-year prison sentences handed down to four men accused of running and financing the popular site.

The defendants vowed to appeal, setting the stage for a lengthy copyright dispute between music and movie corporations and an online swap shop they say has deprived them of billions of dollars in lost revenue.

In its landmark ruling, the Stockholm district court convicted Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom of helping millions of users illegally download music, movies and computer games.

All four received one-year terms and were ordered to pay damages of 30 million kronor ($3.6 million) to entertainment companies, including Warner Bros, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI and Columbia Pictures.

"We can't pay and we won't pay," Sunde said in a defiant video clip posted on the Internet. Mockingly, he held up a hand-scribbled "I owe U" note to the camera. "This is as close as you will get to having money from us," Sunde said.

With an estimated 22 million users, The Pirate Bay has become the entertainment industry's enemy No. 1 after successful court actions against file-swapping sites such as Grokster and Kazaa.

Lundstrom helped finance the site while the three other defendants administered it.

Defense lawyers had argued the quartet should be acquitted because The Pirate Bay doesn't host any copyright-protected material. Instead, it provides a forum for its users to download content through so-called torrent files. The technology allows users to transfer parts of a large file from several different users, increasing download speeds.

The court found the defendants guilty of helping users commit copyright violations by providing a Web site with "sophisticated search functions, simple download and storage capabilities, and through the tracker linked to the Web site."

The case focused on dozens of works that the prosecutor said were downloaded illegally. They included songs by the Beatles, Robbie Williams and Coldplay, movies such as "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and computer games including "World of Warcraft — Invasion."

Judge Tomas Norstrom told reporters that the site was "commercially driven," which the defendants have denied.

John Kennedy, the head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, called the verdict good news for anyone "who is making a living or a business from creative activity and who needs to know their rights will be protected by law."

The Pirate Bay had assured users the trial wouldn't affect the site, and it remained operational after the verdict. Authorities temporarily shut it down in May 2006 after seizing servers and computer equipment during raids in several locations in Sweden. But it soon reappeared, running on servers elsewhere.

Andre Rickardsson, a computer expert and former investigator for the Swedish security police, said the ruling could encourage the entertainment industry to threaten Internet operators with lawsuits unless they block access to the site.

File-sharing wouldn't go away, he added, but users would likely turn to more advanced technological tools to hide their activities.

"It's not as if people will turn around and say 'oops, I'll have to stop file-sharing now.' Instead the reaction will be 'oops, what can I do to protect myself from getting caught'."

Sunde's lawyer Peter Althin said he was confident that higher courts would dismiss the case against The Pirate Bay, which he described as a battle between the corporate world and "a generation of young people who want to take part of new technology."

The verdict comes as Europe debates stricter rules to crack down on those who share content illegally on the Internet.

Last week French legislators rejected a plan to cut off the Internet connections of people who illegally download music and films, but the government plans to resurrect the bill for another vote this month.

Opponents said the legislation would represent a Big Brother intrusion on civil liberties, while the European Parliament last month adopted a nonbinding resolution that defines Internet access as an untouchable "fundamental freedom."

Earlier this month, Sweden introduced a new law that makes it easier to prosecute file-sharers because it requires Internet Service Providers to disclose the Internet Protocol-addresses of suspected violators to copyright owners.

The country of 9 million has one of Europe's highest rates of Internet penetration, but has also gained a reputation as a hub for file-sharers.

Statistics from the Netnod Internet Exchange, an organization measuring Internet traffic in Sweden, suggested that daily online activity dropped more than 40 percent after the law took effect on April 1.

[luddite lady]

Ha! That Sunde guy is really defiant. I heard on the radio news that after his statement with the little IOU prop he went on to say something like, "and if you try to make me pay, I'll burn everything I own. And then I won't even give you the ashes!"
That's a pirate for you!

[sockii]

>That's a pirate for you!

Arrr!!!!

[smax]

Macca gave the verdict the thumbs up...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/music ... 007950.stm

Paul McCartney has labelled last week's Pirate Bay verdict as "fair".

Four men were found guilty by a Swedish court of breaking copyright rules and ordered to repay damages to entertainment companies on 17 April.

The file-sharing website made millions of music and film files available to users for free.

Speaking to Newsbeat McCartney said: "If you get on a bus you've got to pay. And I think it's fair, you should pay your ticket."


What do you think about Pirate Bay?

Artistic reward

Sir Paul McCartney, speaking before headlining US festival Coachella, said: "Anyone who does something good, particularly if you get really lucky and do a great artistic thing and have a mega hit, I think you should get rewarded for that.

"I'm in favour of that sort of thing."

He added: "The problem is you get a lot of young bands coming up and some of them aren't going to last forever so if they have a massive hit that's going to pay their mortgage forever.


"They're going to feed the children on that and if they don't get that money, if they don't see that money, I think it's a bit of a pity.

"I've been very lucky because my main era with the Beatles was at a time when everyone did get paid.

"Particularly for young bands and they've got a young family, I don't want to see them destitute after a couple of years when they were mega. So I think it's fair."

Jules De Martino from The Ting Tings - also playing the American festival - agreed that new bands are the bracket most affected by illegal file sharing.

He said, "When you're a new band it really sucks, it is really hard.

"You should value art, even if it's a penny. Art has to have a bit of value, whatever that cost is."

The Tings Tings' lead-singer Katie White also commented: "I think there should be a five play rule or something. If you play a record more than five times you should buy it because you're getting pleasure from it."


"Anyone who does something good, particularly if you get really lucky and do a great artistic thing and have a mega hit, I think you should get rewarded for that" :Sir Paul McCartney

However, some bands are more sympathetic towards internet users sharing files free of charge.

White Lies' lead singer Harry McVeigh said: "The band still makes money and they can still carry on making music so its not actually the worst thing in the world."

Four jailed

Following last week's trial site founders Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde were all sentenced to 12 months in jail for breaching copyright and order to pay £3 million in damages.

Speaking after the verdict about the compensation, one of the men, Peter Sunde said, "We can't pay and we wouldn't pay."

The Pirate Bay website currently continues to operate.

Entertainment companies argued that the guilty verdict sent out a warning message to other file sharing websites.

The four Pirate Bay founders have already said they will appeal against their sentences.

[dontboxmein]

I think what that got was fair...

They have set up away for people to steal...because let's just face it ...you are stealing when you download and do not pay for it.