Just encase you weren't aware, the owners of torrent website http://thepiratebay.org have been in Swedish court fighting charges of copyright infringement for several days now. This trial which has been a year in the works started out with prosecutors falsely accusing them of hosting movies music & software for download for profit showing only that they have no idea what a torrent is or how it works. Of no surprise Hollywood, the music industry, and software companies are all watching closely.

I thought I'd spread the word of what's going on by posting this statement from Pirate Bay. IMHO, a conviction could have far reaching repercussions much like the Napster trial did but file sharing was not stopped then, it was not stopped when they took down Kazza, and it was not stopped when they took down www.SuprNova.org. I doubt it will be stopped now. Still it will be sad to see The Pirate Bay (http://thepiratebay.org) closed.

Mutt

http://www.sternfannetwork.com//media/banners/tpb.jpg (http://thepiratebay.org/)

The Bureau for Piracy and The Pirate Bay

The trial against The Pirate Bay that started Monday, 16.02.09, in Stockholm, Sweden is one of the most important issues of our time. Our adversaries basically wants to close down internets and remodel it into something similar of a sodamachine serving entertainment. During the trial, the prosecutor together with a coterie of representatives for a disabled business model will put up a tacky theater by telling stories designed to convince the court that The Pirate Bay infact is a menace to society.

What differs this trial from most earlier trials is that everything in and surrounding it will whirl round and round in diverse channels of communication; to be discussed, reinterpreted, copied and critizised. Every crack in their appeal will be penetrated by the gaze of thousands upon thousands of eyes on the internets, in all the channels covering the trial. Old cliches from the antipiracy lobby wont stick. You won’t be able to say stuff like, ”you can’t compete with free” or ”filesharing is theft” without a thousand voices making fun of you.

We will create numerous scenes where quite different plays will take place. In local channels like spectrial.bloggy.se where the immediate physical surroundings of the court are being discussed. ”Which cafés nearby will give us connection?” ”How can we get electricity to the bus?” But also in international channels like Twitter, where right now the torrent of information is being translated into fifteen different languages. Translations and coverage being made by ordinary users of internets. Volunteers sign up to make trial-tourist guides to the surroundings, drive the bus or hook up audio. People fly in from far away countries to cover the trial and tell the world their video story of the Sweden they see.

Here all participants are potential actors in the Spectrial. Our channels form a meltingpot of reporting and engagement.

Our communication around the spectacle aims in no way towards an objective report on an external chain of events. Rather, the trial is a hub around which a whole new network of actors is instigated. Neither is the spectacle a question of old media against digital, social medias. Our social medias include a paper fanzine and a 32 year old bus, connecting us and others physically.

It’s not about the protocols nor the technology. It’s about using these to create new congregations, where anyone is invited and anyone can find their role, build new scenes and make their own performances.

The future is built by us. Us who participate in conversations. The future is built by us who explore how information and performativity is coming together. To refuse a debate and still expect to be able to charge consumers is since long a closed door. To also try and outlaw certain types of conversations is downright disgraceful.

The coverage of the trial is not unique in these qualities. More and more areas see the creation of conversations on and the exploration of new stances on culture and cultural economy. A gigantic collective exploration has set sails. Every route differs from the other. But they have one thing in common: The industry interests that the state is representing are never present in these conversations. This is why they wont be part in building the future.


The Bureau for Piracy and The Pirate Bay
via the internets

this article was translated by proud peers of The Pirate Bay
http://trial.thepiratebay.org

Charges against The Pirate Bay partly dropped: torrent search engines 'cannot be guilty of copyright infringement'
Posted By: Milo Yiannopoulos at Feb 17, 2009

Wow. It looks like the guys from Swedish file-sharing site The Pirate Bay might actually win. From Mashable:

It’s only their second day in court, and The Pirate Bay already seems to be winning the legal battle against the plaintiffs - Universal, Warner Bros, MGM, EMI, 20th Century Fox, Colombia Pictures, and Sony BMG.

According to TorrentFreak, half of the charges against The Pirate Bay have already been dropped due to lack of evidence. Therefore, the prosecutor has dropped all charges related to “assisting copyright infringement,” with the remaining charges being related to “assisting making available.”

It seems that the prosecutor was simply unable to prove that the .torrent files - which are important evidence in this case - are in any way related to The Pirate Bay’s torrent tracker.

So, the Swedish court seems to have recognized that a torrent search engine, which doesn’t store actual copyrighted files, cannot be guilty of copyright infringement. This is already a huge victory for The Pirate Bay, even if they lose on other charges - which now seems unlikely. What seemed to be a long legal battle might turn into a short (and sweet, for The Pirate Bay) affair.

This is excellent news.

BitTorrent, BitTorrent search engines, trackers - and even the very notion of peer-to-peer (P2P) data transfer - are widely regarded in the media and by businesses as "the tools of pirates". Sure, they are used for illegal purposes. But there's so much more to this technology than that.

Record companies need to stop filing lawsuits and start innovating.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/milo_yiannopoulos/blog/2009/02/17/charges_against_the_pirate_bay_partly_dropped_torr ent_search_engines_cannot_be_guilty_of_copyright_i nfringement

[hr]

Record labels accuse The Pirate Bay of 'purposeful crime on a grand scale'
Posted By: Milo Yiannopoulos at Feb 18, 2009

Yesterday, Peter Danowsky, legal counsel for the music companies suing The Pirate Bay in Sweden dropped the accusation of copyright infringement, "simplifying" the charges against The Pirate Bay:

It's a largely technical issue that changes nothing in terms of our compensation claims and has no bearing whatsoever on the main case against The Pirate Bay. In fact it simplifies the prosecutor's case by allowing him to focus on the main issue, which is the making available of copyrighted works.

Responding to criticisms in the press that the trial was conflating the BitTorrent protocol with piracy, Danowsky said:

It's not the BitTorrent protocol that is accused today. Like all comparable systems that can be used legally or illegally it's not the technology itself but the people who use the technology in an illegal way - that is what this trial is about.

But here's a statement I was sent today:

Pirate Bay trial - music companies' lawyer outlines "purposeful crime on a grand scale"

18th February 2009

Legal counsels for the music and film companies today outlined their compensation claims against the four defendants in the trial of The Pirate Bay.

Peter Danowsky, representing the music companies, said that investigations made following the police action in May 2006 had concluded that "The Pirate Bay was aiding and abetting the extensive infringement of copyright".

"The business that The Pirate Bay was undertaking led to an extensive injury and an extensive loss of sales and marketing ability," Danowsky said. The investigation had found that the defendants were contributing to making available copyrighted works for download, and that was the basis for the compensation claim of the music companies.

Danowsky said the activities of The Pirate Bay affected the music companies' legitimate sales of CDs and online recordings, as well as the potential to develop new online sales.

The music companies are claiming compensation of 2.1 million euros, based on a sample of 23 tracks selected by the prosecutor. "But the real loss is greater than that", Danowsky said. The Pirate Bay had created an "unassailable competitor" which led to reduced possibilities for online music sales and new digital music services.

Many recordings had been made available for download before their legitimate release, further compounding the damage to the music companies.

"This is about a purposeful crime on a grand scale with significant income as a result", Danowsky said. He dismissed claims by the defendants that they would be unable to pay the damages, pointing to the fact that The Pirate Bay website was continuing to display adverts after the police raid of May 2006.

The record labels are spinning a good line. But will it be enough?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/milo_yiannopoulos/blog/2009/02/18/record_labels_accuse_the_pirate_bay_of_purposeful_ crime_on_a_grand_scale

[hr]

Pirate Bay trial day 5: Peter Sunde also feigns ignorance, distances himself from the site
Posted By: Milo Yiannopoulos at Feb 20, 2009


More news from The Pirate Bay trial in Sweden. From a source close to the case:

The court ruled yesterday that the change made by the prosecutor to the charges is merely an amendment to existing charges - not dropping independent charges - and therefore there is no possibility to apply for an acquittal verdict due to the amendment. That confirms the initial view of Peter Danowsky, who represents the music companies, issued on Tuesday that the amendment is of little importance to the overall case.

Today, one of the defendants, Peter Sunde, was cross-examined by the prosecutor Peter Danowsky. Among the highlights, he claimed The Pirate Bay trial was a "political trial" and repeatedly tried to distance himself from the operation and its ownership and funding. Asked repeatedly about his role in the running of The Pirate Bay, he said he was only the press spokesman and not responsible for the running of the operation.

This is interesting, because the same thing happened yesterday:

Fredrik Neij was questioned by lawyers who tried to paint him as the point man for The Pirate Bay operations. Peter Danowsky, who represents the music business, pointed out that Niej owned The Pirate Bay's domain and then showed him a contract he had signed saying that he would oversee operations for the site. Neij's response? "But I didn't read it."

Neij was also asked about a speech he gave back in 2006 (watch it on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DU34yVRd7J3g&prev=hp&usg=ALkJrhjcpzXluTwNqIZlZPfAKGoBH3in4Q)) in which he said that the site had received many threatening letters over the years from copyright owners. Lawyers tried to use the speech to show that Pirate Bay admins were aware the site hosted links to copyrighted content. Neij's response? "I just read the text which someone at the Pirate Bureau had written." (Neij says he's dyslexic and has difficult writing his own material.)

The defendants' strategy seems to be denying knowledge and involvement. This is a risky - and probably stupid - idea.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/milo_yiannopoulos/blog/2009/02/20/pirate_bay_trial_day_5_peter_sunde_also_feigns_ign orance_distances_himself_from_the_site

according to Wikipedia

The Pirate Bay is the relaunched Suprnova. I did not know that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suprnova.org

[hr]

Since the man is trying to take down torrents, we might as well support them.

What is a torrent? I don't fucking know but it's some bullshit that with the right software people like you can share files on their computer with other people on the net. With software like Napster the software would find 1 person who had the file you wanted and you would download it from them. With as torrent, the software find hundred or thousands of people with the file and you download it from all of them while sharing with all of them at the same time.

TORRENT SOFTWARE
http://www.utorrent.com
http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/


How do I do it? Once you get the software installed, it's not obvious what the hell you should do. With software like Napster it was easy. You would open the program and do a search for a song. This doesn't work that way. With torrents, you need to search the net to see what's available and then have the torrent software download it. It's more like window shopping.

TORRENT SITES
http://www.mininova.org
http://www.demonoid.com
http://www.btmon.com
http://thepiratebay.org

Here's a Google Torrent search (http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=003849996876419856805:erhhdbygrma)


Is it legal? Don't be stupid. of course it's not legal. Didn't hear about all those people who get busted for stealing music & movies online or get threatening letters from their ISPs? You didn't see the commercials or the promos right on the DVDs? It's very bad and you can get fined or go to jail. If you really have no clue, ]go watch these cartoons from Champ Chaos concerning the Napster trials.

Napster Bad (http://www.campchaos.com/blog-archives/2006/05/napster_bad.html)
Napster Bad - Metalicops (http://www.campchaos.com/blog-archives/2006/05/napster_bad_metallicops.html)
Napster Bad - Metalica Millionaire (http://www.campchaos.com/blog-archives/2006/05/napster_bad_metallica_milliona.html)
Napster Bad - Good or Goblin (http://www.campchaos.com/blog-archives/2006/05/napster_bad_good_or_goblin.html)
Napster Bad - Sue all the World (http://www.campchaos.com/blog-archives/2006/05/napster_bad_sue_all_the_world.html)
Napster Bad - Napster Dead (http://www.campchaos.com/blog-archives/2006/04/napster_bad_napster_dead.html)
Bizzaro Napster Bad (http://www.campchaos.com/blog-archives/2006/04/napster_bad_bizarro_napster_ba.html)

I don't torrent.

I hope you have a nice weekend. I will read that a little later.

R.

saved space

Is this space being saved for later when things slow down a little. :p

I don't torrent. Ivarr does, do you think that he will be on trial at a Swedish court someday as well?

Hey Mutt,

Why can't I change my av?? Thanks in advance!!

Sincerely,

Mr. Fister

:pirate:

What's a torrent?

If torrents go, it wouldn't stop shit. There will always be ways to get shit for free on the internet.

prosecutors falsely accusing them of hosting movies music & software for download for profit
Yeah. That's false. There's no advertising (for Wii, pheromones spray, guitar hero, etc) on PB and no movies, music or software torrents be found. :rolleyes:

Rapidshare is where it's at.

You've still gotta pay for that if you don't want to limit yourself to three downloads per day.

Yeah. That's false. There's no advertising (for Wii, pheromones spray, guitar hero, etc) on PB and no movies, music or software torrents be found. :rolleyes:

they certainly make money from advertising. that's just not what they claimed. the trial started with them saying that pirate bay was distributing & selling bootlegs. that's simple not accurate.

You've still gotta pay for that if you don't want to limit yourself to three downloads per day.

duh, and its worth it :doh:

u stop 2 guys, 1800 more spring up

You've still gotta pay for that if you don't want to limit yourself to three downloads per day.

There are alternatives like megaupload.

Also, it's worth paying for. It's only about $50 for a year long subscription. I'd pay $50 for a fast direct-download of anything I want from the intranets.

Someone makes a better radar, and someone else creates a better radar detector, this has been the way things have gone forever. Technology evolves, sometimes too much for our own good, and other times not fast enough.

mininova, demonoid, etc....

Mutt, I was very surprised you posted this, but amen. You are on the right side. The laws have not caught up with technology and Google is technically the largest torrent site!

even if they lose ( which i doubt ), they'll just find another country to host in and maybe change ownership, much like demonoid did

ISPs are monitoring your torrent downloads now. They'll decrease your bandwidth or drop you as a customer if they catch you sharing (it's the uploading that's a problem) a torrent. There are ways to hide it, but I don't think most people use them.

That is the way they'll be fighting piracy in the future.

fuck that and fuck them
piracy will never die

i thought this was about real pirates. :(

arr, i be wrong.

guess it's back to buying cam rips on DVD from africans on the sidewalk :mad:

they certainly make money from advertising. that's just not what they claimed. the trial started with them saying that pirate bay was distributing & selling bootlegs. that's simple not accurate.

Thanks Mutt for the info.
I noticed Pirate Bay searches were not working for the past week or so.

For the record! I only download movies from torrent sites because my DVD's have been scratched and unplayable.
When I call Hollywood for a replacement disk...they hang up on me.

I think when you buy a DVD, it should be yours for life and you should be able to view it in your home to any guest you invite.
...Is that Illegal sharing of copyright material?

I would hope not!, or else take my 8-tracks, and album collection too!

BTW, I like uTorrent to download and TorrentPond to search.

There are alternatives like megaupload.

Also, it's worth paying for. It's only about $50 for a year long subscription. I'd pay $50 for a fast direct-download of anything I want from the intranets.
Fuck that.

The RIAA and MPAA = MAFIA

We Swedes are fighting for your rights and for a better tomorrow for all of us.
It´s time to make a stand against the corporations that rules this world.

Viva la Pirate Bay !

ISPs are monitoring your torrent downloads now. They'll decrease your bandwidth or drop you as a customer if they catch you sharing (it's the uploading that's a problem) a torrent. There are ways to hide it, but I don't think most people use them.

That is the way they'll be fighting piracy in the future.

Time Warner and Cablevision are already investigating "capping" or issuing bandwidth charges for "heavy" users.

Mostly this will affect gamers, but DLers will also be affected.

Here's the difference between Napster and torrents and why Napster had to go away.

Napster was a central server point.

I logged in and made my directory public. You logged in and went through Napster to view my directory. So Napster acted as a repository. And that's illegal.

For torrents, I have a file and the torrent link is listed on a site (say mininova.org). You click on the link and start downloading. You can grab pieces of the file from me or from people who are also downloading or hosting the exact same flle (and are running torrent software).

The studios and corporations are shitting because this forces them to sue on either a person-by-person basis, or to go after the individual torrent hosting sites. And for every site that they shut down, 10 more spring up.

This is why the studios that own cable services are going to charge for bandwidth: they know the genie is out of the bottle; they want their share of the cash any way they can get it

First off, The Pirate Bay isn't going anywhere. They have backup servers in several countries. A few years back when the Pirate bay's servers were raided and thought to be shut down, it sprung back online a few days later.

I think sites that host torrents are illegal. Torrents are files that people search for and find on these sites that enable the end users to connect to others for downloading copyrighted material. Say its a portal.

The plus side of torrents and file-sharing in general, is that it allows me to discover new movies (indies) and artists that I would never find out about.

I have been at every level of file sharing (including FTP sites). Torrent files I think are great in spreading files around. Kudos to Bram Cohen for conceiving the idea.

Pirate Bay guys rock, but sadly they will probably be taken down by The Man. If they get out of this unscathed, I will be pleasantly surprised.

remember to use something like peer guardian when downloading

remember to use something like peer guardian when downloading i've got mine to start with windows

if my computer is on, peer guardian is on :btu:

how do you use peer guardian, do they have a version for vista?

Mutt, I was very surprised you posted this


i'm fucking AMAZED he started this thread in the lounge :jj:

how do you use peer guardian, do they have a version for vista? i don't know anything about vista

dl PG, set it up for your own preferences ( i just set mine to P2P )
and decide if you want to turn it on manually or not


it blocks IP addresses from seeing you, but doesn't affect up-loading

PeerGuardian 2
PeerGuardian 2 is Phoenix Labs’ premier IP blocker for Windows. PeerGuardian 2 integrates support for multiple lists, list editing, automatic updates, and blocking all of IPv4 (TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc), making it the safest and easiest way to protect your privacy on P2P.


http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/

they have one listed for vista

i use da vista one an it kinda fucked up. hard to get it to load sometimes. i really doubt that peer guardien does shit though.

i've got mine to start with windows

if my computer is on, peer guardian is on :btu: Same here!

peer guardian is for wuss. If somebody wanted to, they can bypass it and see whatcha uploading.

i use da vista one an it kinda fucked up. hard to get it to load sometimes. i really doubt that peer guardien does shit though.

It blocks some stuff, but your ISP can still tell you are DLing large files

"Just encase" "jj"

It blocks some stuff, but your ISP can still tell you are DLing large files

has u ever heard of peerguardian ?

"Just encase" "jj"

god dammit, really? am I still spelling shit wrong? is it in case?

god dammit, really? am I still spelling shit wrong? is it in case?
Han Solo was encased in carbonite.

i don't know anything about vista

dl PG, set it up for your own preferences ( i just set mine to P2P )
and decide if you want to turn it on manually or not


it blocks IP addresses from seeing you, but doesn't affect up-loading

they have a beta for vista. It hasn't been updated in a very long time and it's unclear if it really does anything. but yes, there is a vista version. you have to jump thru hoops a little more but it will run.

get it here
http://phrosty.phoenixlabs.org/pg2-rc1/

you need to be careful how you use it. it's very touchy

disable it before turning it off.
turn it off before shutting down vista.
disable it before updating it. one of your files doesn't download or you get an error, pause and try again. it may take several times.

every now and then when it gets fucked up and won't start you need to start over. you'll know it's time when you can't get it to show up in the task bar. you need to ctrl alt del, open the tak manager, and close ever pg.exe you find. then browse tot he peer guardian dir & delete some shit. (cache.p2b, the history dir, & lists dir)

then you can get it to restart but you'll have to re-update all your files. it's a pain in the ass

I mean I think it would be because I would never know of such things.

the attached txt file is supposed to automate the cleanup process. save it and change the .txt to .bat. once you close all the pg.exe files in task manager, go to this file, right click, and choose run as admin. it should delete all the crap you need deleted.

i thought that they where gonna web cast the trail?

Han Solo was encased in carbonite.

am I gay for wishing I had a reproduction of the carbonite han to hang on the wall jabba the hut style?

am I gay for wishing I had a reproduction of the carbonite han to hang on the wall jabba the hut style? :banplz: Trick question.

ooohhhh who lives in a pineapple under the sea?