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Forum Index ~ Garrulous Geeks ~ Pirate Party wins surprise Euro seat, calls for Web freedom |
| Reg |
 Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:00 am |
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From CNN:(CNN) -- A Swedish political party which wants to legalize file-sharing on the Internet scored a surprise victory Sunday when it took a seat in the European parliament.
The Pirate Party won 7.1 percent of the Swedish vote to claim one of the country's 18 seats in the European parliament.
"Together we have changed the landscape of European politics," Pirate Party leader Rick Falkvinge told file-sharing news Web site TorrentFreak after the win.
"The citizens have understood it's time to make a difference."
The single-issue party was founded in 2006 through anger in Sweden at controversial laws that criminalize file-sharing.
The party's popularity increased markedly in April this year after the four founding members of the Sweden-based The Pirate Bay, a file-sharing site used by millions worldwide, were found guilty of collaborating to violate copyright law and sentenced to jail.
Shortly after the conviction, Tomas Norström, the judge who presided over the case was removed for bias when it was revealed that he was a member of industry copyright-protection groups.
A second judge, Ulrika Ihrfelt, who was assigned to investigate whether the four men should be granted a retrial was also removed from the case after it was found that she was a member of the same organizations, it was reported in a Swedish newspaper
The membership of the Pirate Party more than trebled following the verdict and now stands at more than 48,000 members, according to TorrentFreak.
The Pirate Party's aims include free file-sharing, abolishing the patent system in Europe, reform of copyright law and outlawing digital rights management, which inhibits the ability to copy computer files. |
Reg Natarajan
www.RegNatarajan.com
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| Albo_Gater |
| Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:40 am |
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| "Web freedom"... what a cutesy little euphemism for stealing. |
"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." --Mark Twain |
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| Reg |
| Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 4:30 pm |
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I don't think it's necessarily stealing. People sometimes act as though copyright law was codified in the Bible right beside those other 10 commandments. The reality is that, as human history goes, copyright law is relatively new, and in my opinion, has generally been a failure.
We're told by the pro-copyright crowd that, without copyright, there would be no great music or writing. Reality, however, gives the lie to this assertion. International copyright began (generally speaking) in 1886 with the Berne Convention. Before this, we had Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach. We had Shakespeare and Jane Austen. With minor (mostly local) exceptions, works from these artists were freely copied. Since the Berne Convention, we now have Britney, Madonna and Avril. We have Harold Robbins and Howard Stern. We have giant media conglomerates peddling garbage to children, and if any of this crap gets copied, the RIAA sues your kids.
Beyond the apparent empirical failure of copyright law to advance society, I also have a fundamental problem being assigned the role of collection agent for Metallica, which is what is effectively happening. Why should society step up to the role of making sure nobody copies Lars' crap? I don't give a rip if Lars' stuff gets copied, aside from a bit of minor amazement that anyone would want to.
I'm not sure I'd go all the way over to a free-for-all the way these Swedes want, but either way, I think a change of rules is in order. |
Reg Natarajan
www.RegNatarajan.com
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| Albo_Gater |
| Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:26 pm |
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| That was some of the most eloquent nonsense I've ever read. |
"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." --Mark Twain |
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| Albo_Gater |
| Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:37 am |
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Music industry wants cut of Pirate Bay sale
The music industry will attempt to seize money paid to acquire the Pirate Bay, according to a high-level music industry source and a spokesman for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the trade group representing the music industry worldwide.
Global Gaming Factory, a Swedish software company, made big news two weeks ago by announcing that it would acquire the Pirate Bay, the popular outlaw file-sharing site, for $7.8 million.
What remains to be seen is how that sale might be affected by attempts by the music industry to collect the $3.6 million damages that a court in Sweden awarded it in April.
On the other side, the Pirate Bay's founders have said that they haven't owned the company for years.
"We never had any interest in earning money from the Pirate Bay," Peter Sunde told Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish newspaper. "We haven't owned TPB since the search and seizure in 2006... Those who will get the money, friends in a foreign company, have agreed as a condition to put the money in a foundation for future internet projects."
The legal adviser for Global Gaming has said that the Pirate Bay is owned by a company in the Seychelles called Reservella.
Jacob, from the IFPI, says it makes no difference who owns the Pirate Bay. He said: "The judge found the four operators guilty and ordered them to pay the damages."
That's who the IFPI will try to get the money from. |
"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." --Mark Twain |
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| Reg |
| Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:53 am |
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| Albo_Gater |
| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:39 am |
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| Reg |
| Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 3:33 pm |
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| Albo_Gater |
| Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:58 am |
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*update*
Hollywood hunts The Pirate Bay; site down again
The Pirate Bay was inaccessible most of the day Monday after a group representing copyright owners forced the BitTorrent search engine's bandwidth provider to cut off service, according to a published report.
NForce, the Pirate Bay's latest Internet service provider, complied with a request to shut off service to The Pirate Bay made by Netherlands-based antipiracy group Brein, according to online news site Tweakers.net.
Monday's outage followed a three-hour blackout of The Pirate Bay on Friday. The blackouts are the result of work performed by attorneys based in Sweden who are employed by the big movie studios, according to my film industry sources. The lawyers are hunting down whoever provides bandwidth to The Pirate Bay and then using the threat of lawsuits to pressure the ISPs to stop.
Black Internet, the Pirate Bay's onetime ISP, was threatened with fines in Sweden unless it cut off service. The Pirate Bay then moved to an a Ukrainian ISP, which also received threats, according to the blog TorrentFreak. NForce was next and now that company has had to comply.
Just where The Pirate Bay will go next or how long the site will be down isn't clear. The founders of the site have vowed to continue operating the site no matter what.
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"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." --Mark Twain |
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| Reg |
| Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:58 am |
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Of all groups, you'd think movie and music people would understand the optics of a tiny group which lets kids download stuff for free being hunted down by big bad corporate nazis.
Go Pirate Bay! Current copyright law helps nobody but media moguls. It's time for a change. |
Reg Natarajan
www.RegNatarajan.com
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| Reg |
| Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 6:05 pm |
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From CNET:In a decision that could mean sweeping changes to file sharing in the United States, a federal court has found the company that operates file-sharing service LimeWire liable for copyright infringement, according to court records reviewed by CNET.
U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood, for the Southern District of New York, on Tuesday granted summary judgment in favor of the music industry's claims that Lime Group, parent of LimeWire software maker Lime Wire, and founder Mark Gorton committed copyright infringement, engaged in unfair competition, and induced copyright infringement.
"The evidence demonstrates that [Lime Wire] optimized LimeWire's features to ensure that users can download digital recordings, the majority of which are protected by copyright," Wood said in her 59-page decision. "And that [Lime Wire] assisted users in committing infringement."
The court decision could represent the biggest threat to online file sharing in years. According to a survey by the NPD Group, LimeWire users account for 58 percent of the people who said they downloaded music from a peer-to-peer service last year. At CNET's Download.com, the LimeWire software has been downloaded more than 200 million times. In the last week along, the software was downloaded nearly 340,000 times.
Wood's ruling could at the very least mean a shift in the downloading habits of millions. The logical next step by the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group representing the four largest recording companies, is to get a preliminary injunction and force Lime Wire to cease LimeWire's file-sharing functionality.
LimeWire responded predictably with strong opposition to the judge's decision and said it looks forward to a scheduled June 1 status conference with Wood.
"LimeWire remains committed to developing innovative products and services for the end-user and to working with the entire music industry, including the major labels, to achieve this mission," it said in a statement.
What may spell serious trouble for creators of music and video Web sites in the future is Wood's decision to hold Gorton personally liable. If the ruling stands, it could set a precedent that might dissuade other entrepreneurs from challenging the entertainment sector's copyrights when developing new technology.
The RIAA has said it is entitled to the maximum statutory damages, which is $150,000 for each registered work that was infringed. The number of infringing works they could try to claim is likely in the millions.
The RIAA first filed suit against Lime Group in August 2006 and a month later the company filed a countersuit, claiming the top labels engaged in unfair business practices designed to scare away Lime Wire's users. |
Reg Natarajan
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| Reg |
| Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 9:19 pm |
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From CNET:As expected, The Pirate Bay returns
The Pirate Bay, the highly controversial BitTorrent search engine, re-emerged Tuesday in typically defiant fashion after Hollywood film studios helped trigger a day-long blackout of the site.
The Web site, which is targeted for elimination by content owners nearly the world over, presumably has found a new bandwidth provider. The service, which has helped millions of people locate and eventually download scores of pirated films, had been temporarily subdued Monday after German authorities ordered its then-Internet host to cease providing Web access to the site.
On Tuesday morning, the Pirate Bay posted a photo of a cat and a note--in a sort of a lolcats patois--to those who pursue a strategy of taking down the site: "Ims ins yours skynets, lollings aways ats yours futile attempts ats controllings ours Internets."
The cat photo is appropriate because The Pirate Bay has played a cat-and-mouse game with content providers for years. This is at least the third time a bandwidth provider was forced to take down the site and the third time the site has returned. One has to question whether the studios are actually playing into the the hands of The Pirate Bay operators with these attempts to knock out the site. Every time they do, The Pirate Bay rises again, and to the file-sharing community these comebacks boost the site operators' reputation as unconquerable heroes.
Later this year, Swedish courts are expected to rule on an appeal made by the four founders of The Pirate Bay. The four were found guilty of copyright violations last year, sentenced to a year in jail, and ordered to pay the equivalent of $3 million. |
Reg Natarajan
www.RegNatarajan.com
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| Albo_Gater |
| Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:56 am |
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Radiohead predicts music biz death
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke is warning the music industry is on the brink of collapse, insisting young musicians should resist signing record deals because the major labels will "completely fold" within months.
The British rockers broke away from their longtime label, EMI, in 2007 and went on to embrace the new digital era with the release their seventh album, In Rainbows, which they offered up over the internet and allowed fans to choose the price. Yorke has now issued a warning to upcoming artists, urging them not to sign traditional record deals because they would be tying themselves to "the sinking ship."
In an interview for a new high school textbook called The Rax Active Citizen Toolkit, which aims to inspire youngsters to become more politically literate, Yorke claims the music industry is on the verge of a major crisis and could collapse completely within "months".
He says, "It will be only a matter of time - months rather than years - before the music business establishment completely folds. (It will be) no great loss to the world."
source |
"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." --Mark Twain |
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| Reg |
| Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:56 pm |
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| I hope they're right, but I think it will be years and not months. |
Reg Natarajan
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| Albo_Gater |
| Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 7:44 am |
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The Pirate Bay hacked, user information exposed
Popular BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay has been hax0red. A group of Argentinians with l33t skillz reportedly gained access to the site's administrative control panel. From there, they were able to manage torrents listed on the site and view the email and IP addresses of more than four million users.
Hacker Ch Russó has posted a video of the exploit, but he claims there was no malicious intent. The user information exposed by the hack won't be sold to the RIAA or other entertainment industry groups.
“Probably these groups would be very interested in this information, but we are not [trying] to sell it,” Russo told KrebsOnSecurity.com in a phone interview. “Instead we wanted to tell people that their information may not be so well protected.”
Interestingly, Sweden's Pirate Party currently provides bandwidth for for The Pirate Bay. There are also plans to move the site's servers into the Swedish parliament building if members of the Pirate Party win seats in upcoming elections. |
"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." --Mark Twain |
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