Guilty for the internet facilitators of piracy.  The smug internet pirates of Sweden.  One year in jail and 3.6 million dollar fine.  Sounds about right to me.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

i still say there shouldn't be penalties for pirating material unavailible for sale (unless it's a leaked product with an impending release date, or course) and that copyright laws are out of control.

on the other hand, fuck these guys. they didn't care what they were distributing

no, i'm totally with you on that, i'm just saying "well they refuse to release it in the price/format i demand" isn't a valid excuse for piracy.

In the news (from the Beeb );

Judge Tomas Norstrom is a member of the Swedish Copyright Association and sits on the board of Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property.

But the judge has told Swedish Radio: "These activities do not constitute a conflict of interest."

Wait, they don't? Well if the judge said so it must be true.

I find it fairly funny that this new technology that is, hypothetically, making it possible to make a profit like never before, removing just about everything between the companies and the consumers, is the same tech that  makes it so easy to rip the companies off.

I feel bad for artists who are hurting and not getting their due. I feel nothing (well, very little) for the companies with their bloated middle management who will often do whatever they can get away with, including fucking the artists much harder than they pirates ever could, to max out their profitability.

Much more could be said but to what end?  I'll leave you with this;

Defoe relates that a pirate named Captain Bellamy made this speech to the captain of a merchant vessel he had taken as a prize. Bellamy had wanted to let the captain keep his ship, but his crew had voted to burn the sloop. The captain of the merchant vessel had just declined an invitation to join the pirates.

"I am sorry they won't let you have your sloop again, for I scorn to do any one a mischief, when it is not to my advantage; damn the sloop, we must sink her, and she might be of use to you. Though you are a sneaking puppy, and so are all those who will submit to be governed by laws which rich men have made for their own security; for the cowardly whelps have not the courage otherwise to defend what they get by knavery; but damn ye altogether: damn them for a pack of crafty rascals, and you, who serve them, for a parcel of hen-hearted numbskulls. They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference, they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage. Had you not better make then one of us, than sneak after these villains for employment?"

When the captain replied that his conscience would not let him break the laws of God and man, the pirate Bellamy continued:

"You are a devilish conscience rascal, I am a free prince, and I have as much authority to make war on the whole world, as he who has a hundred sail of ships at sea, and an army of 100,000 men in the field; and this my conscience tells me: but there is no arguing with such snivelling puppies, who allow superiors to kick them about deck at pleasure."

 (Emphasis added)

"It's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind." - D. Cooper

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." - P. Atreides

"Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe" - L. tzu

Anyone else get the feeling the entertainment industry just wants revenge on people who they know are smarter than they are?

R_Flagg

A fine example of one problem with a parliamentary system. 

Susan

Sweden's Pirate Party captures Euro seat

By Veronica Ek

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's Pirate Party, striking a chord with voters who want more free content on the Internet, won a seat in the European Parliament, early results showed on Sunday.

The Pirate Party captured 7.1 percent of votes in Sweden in the Europe-wide ballot, enough to give it a single seat. The party wants to deregulate copyright, abolish the patent system and reduce surveillance on the Internet.

"This is fantastic!" Christian Engstrom, the party's top candidate, told Reuters. "This shows that there are a lot of people who think that personal integrity is important and that it matters that we deal with the Internet and the new information society in the right way."

Previously an obscure group of single-issue activists, the party enjoyed a jump in popularity after the conviction in April of four men behind The Pirate Bay, one of the world's biggest free file-sharing website.

The case cast a spotlight on the issue of internet file-sharing, a technique used to download movies, music and other content. The defendants have called for a retrial.

Despite the similar names, the party and the website are not linked. The party was founded in 2006 and contested a Swedish general election that year, but received less than one percent of the vote.

Engstrom credited the party's appeal to young voters for its success. "We are very strong among those under 30. They are the ones who understand the new world the best. And they have now signalled they don't like how the big parties deal with these issues."

The Pirate Party will take up one of Sweden's 18 seats in the 785-seat parliament. "We will use all of our strength to defend personal integrity and our civil rights," Engstrom said.

(Reporting by Veronica Ek, writing by Adam Cox)

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin