The Pirate Bay verdict - GUILTY!

[Robert]

See http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-trial-the-verdict-090417/


All four defendants were accused of "assisting in making copyright content available".

Peter Sunde: Guilty.
Fredrik Neij: Guilty.
Gottfrid Svartholm: Guilty.
Carl Lundström: Guilty.

The four receive 1 year in jail each and fines totaling $3,620,000.


I am a little bit surprised the verdict is that tough. I thought they were going to get away with this much easier.

What will this verdict mean for the future of illegal sharing of digital media?

[SuperSwede]

And a LOT more people will get the same treatment with the new IPRED law.

I still think that the music/movie industry shouldnt be able to monitor internet users activity on the net.

[t_ross33]

It's a blow, to be sure, but the only ones benefiting from all this litigation are the lawyers. The Songwriters Association of Canada has been promoting a proposal to monetize file sharing in such a way that creators and copyright holders are able to receive fair compensation for their works. A much more fair, and realistic approach. Read about it here (http://www.songwriters.ca/studio/proposal.php).

[Robert]

Would be good if that worked, Trev.

The Pirate Bay case is still years from being finalized, I imagine. The Pirate Bay guys will of course appeal.

[ragnarpk]

they're gonna start suing ISP's and shit. ugh. this is gonna get very over-the- top very soon

[t_ross33]

Would be good if that worked, Trev.

It's gaining some momentum. I like the fact that it is a response to what's going on in the world today, rather than an attempt to beat the masses into submission and back to the paradigm of yesterday. The times, they are a-changin' and old models either don't work or no longer exist.

It's interesting to note that copyright laws, as they pertain to music, were developed to protect printed copy (i.e. songbooks and sheet music). From what my tiny brain understands, the legal-ese hasn't changed much and we are a long, long way from distributing music via the printed page.

[t_ross33]

they're gonna start suing ISP's and shit. ugh. this is gonna get very over-the- top very soon

oh, it's gone over-the-top already. Like suing 9 year old kids and 80 yr old grandmothers. Yeah, that helped :thwap:

[marnold]

As a pastor, I know firsthand that dealing with copyright laws is a nightmare. No one seems to know with any certainty what is legal and what isn't but the consequences are akin to what would happen if you would commit murder. Trying to get permission to copy something is awful because you have to determine which company handles that and pay an exorbitant annual fee. Even making tapes of the services for our shut-ins is technically illegal if the hymns we sing that Sunday are not in the public domain. Then I wonder how much of that money actually gets back to the original artists/authors.

I don't agree with the way Pirate Bay went about things, but unfortunately their methods seem to be the only way that some actual discussion of these matters is happening.

[Jipes]

In France the debate is getting hot on the Chamber of Deputy the first presentation of the Law has been rejected due to the lack of deputies from the government side (Mr Sarkosy tribe) but soon it will come again and this time the law is gonna get much tougher for everyone downloading music or films

[R_of_G]

According to this article, one of the lawyers representing the Pirate Bay is calling for a retrial.

http://www.thelocal.se/19028.html