July 30, 2010
Published: 17 Apr 09 16:02 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20090417-18703.html
Calling it a victory for artists, the German entertainment industry has welcomed Friday’s guilty verdict in the case against four men behind Swedish file-sharing website The Pirate Bay for copyright infringement.
External link: The Local Sweden's full story on the Pirate Bay verdict. »
DDP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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Your comments about this article:
This verdict is an indication that the people charged with making such decisions don't know enough to be making them.
In Sweden I though filesharing without the intent for profit and gain was LEGAL.
The crux of this conviction is that they somehow showed TPB was for profit thus ILLEGAL.
Since that is such a strange thing to prove, wouldn't it have a good chance of being overturned by a higher court?
Who'da thunk it - Sweden and Somalia hotbeds of piracy. Where next - Miesbach?
Google would fit.
Same for any discussion board that allows posting URLs.
Maybe the ISPs and Telecos that enable the network could be targets for not filtering P2P?
Intel, Apple, Microsoft as well? Computers assist in the distribution of content...
I just don't understand how telling someone where to look for *potentially* illegal stuff is against the law. Crazy.
However, the main thing is that however much of a temporary success this is, it appears that the majority of the people in Sweden are unhappy with the verdict and it appears that the Swedish Pirate Party is looking good for the upcoming European Parliamentary elections at the moment.
I am against file sharing of copyrighted material but if it wasn't for people doing it I would not be able to buy a single MP3 from the various online shops. I would have to buy either a single or a whole album.
Even though it may be illegal I would say it has brought about a better system from a customer point of view.
This is going to go to appeal and what can the recording industry do if Sweden (as in the people living there) are against the case? What would happen if the law in Sweden changes so that there is no longer a case to answer?
I love the way the record companies paint the picture of struggling artists having the bread stolen from their mouths. They were already doing that, there is just less bread than there used to be.
As I said, it may be illegal but the industry has started to change. Imagine being told in a clothes shop that you cannot just buy those jeans, you have to buy the shoes, socks, the top and the matching hat.
Everyone with an attention span longer than the creative input of a girl band album knows what the music industry (big hint in the term there) is up to, and it has got nothing to do with standing up for artists' rights.
Basically the whole industry needs to become more streamlined, with the product being delivered direct from artist to punter. Technology will kill off the EMI's of this world. No loss really as far as I am concerned.
So you can be creative and still be copied and ripped off.
The Artists may well be creative but the people running the industry have yet to prove they are capable of it.
Exceptions I know of are Radiohead (well, it's easy when you're riding on top) and an Israeli outfit called Asaf Avidan and the Mojos (highly recommended for Joplin fans), which are unfortunately only selling CDs in their online store.
Judge In Pirate Bay Trial Biased
I'm an author. I spend a lot of time, effort, and money to write a book. I sign a contract with a publisher, who agrees to pay me a percentage of the sales as compensation for the work I did. That money allows me to live, and to write something else. In turn, I grant the publisher the right to print the book, distribute it, and make a profit from the sales.
Now, suppose somebody decides to scan the book and offer it on line for free. The publisher, of course, loses sales. I lose my income. Everybody gets the book for free, and can read it online or download it as they chose.
Two things happen here. I can no longer protect my work, so...I just stop writing. Why should I? Assuming I'm doing it to "make a living" I can't pay the bills anymore. I'll go become a bus driver or something else. The second thing is that nobody writing can make a living, so we all quit.
While you can object to the "obscene profits" the "industry" makes, remember that somebody had to pay the artist, make the recording, and put some effort into marketing the band you've never heard of before. Sure that can be done on YouTube and such, and some of that may well be the next business model, but it doesn't change the fact that the artist has been victimized. If someone stole your work and deprived you of your paycheck in the process, how would you feel? Would you be inclined to keep showing up for work every day? Doubtful.
It is true that the whole business model for the music industry is changing, and no one has figured it out yet. However, when the artist can no longer get paid for his/her work, the artist will stop producing. None of us, even artists, can live on zero income. Regardless of where the new solutions come from, stealing is stealing...always has been, always will be.
It's the same as making the company that built the road liable because the road allowed the bank-robbers to escape...
Monty Python Puts Free Videos Online, Sells 23,000% More DVDs
I'm an author. I spend a lot of time, effort, and money to wri…
If I tell you where you can scan and copy your book you can't send me to jail.
It is though an interesting business plan but it all still boils down to the legal fact that a copyright owner can and should be able to decide what he does with his products.
If I tell you where to scan and copy your book and make money by doing so...
Everything is wrong because people are just too stupid to understand how things work.
PS. I am not a pirate sympathizer, I just hate when people do not get it.
Or should we sue Google for showing me ads when I search for torrents or pedophilia or cr…[/quote]"Get it" means to understand how technology works, what you clearly do not understand.
I happen to own a collection of about (legally bought) 1000 CDs and maybe 200 DVDs. That does not make me stupid enough to give opinions on technology without first understanding how they work.
The world changed, you can't stop the future from happening.
And it is quite naive to think that once I own a DVD or CD or book or some other copyrighted article that I won't do with it as I like. I've lost quite a few dupes over the years due to scratches or even getting stuck in the CD changer and having to pry it out with force. I will continue to make copies of my CDs to use in my car, make music mixes according to my own personal taste, and I will continue to loan out my books, CDs and DVDs, and borrow others in return from friends. To think otherwise is naive.
To follow up on the Monty Python example: There have been many, many occasions when I have borrowed something from a friend and liked it so much that I went out and bought my own copy.
Bipa don't confuse the issues by bringing in non-commercial reproduction and "real" peer to peer exchange and what PB is all about. One is the best form of marketing and not only accepted, but hungered for by the "big companies", precisely for the arguments you have given. The other isnt.
Anyway, I feel arguments chasing tails here. Or rather the nerds and geeks and people who go W00T and LOL sharpening their google links. Time for the weekend!
"We always need more books" "Read it then bring it back for others to enjoy"
Now presumably buying it from charity shop and not new deprived the author (John Le Carré in case you're interested) of a sale and when I take it back and they sell it again he will be deprived of another sale. So why aren't all charity shops and second hand book sellers being persecuted for profiting from someone else's work without paying for it?
Tim.
(pun intended )
If someone definitely won't buy something you can't do anything, you can't stop piracy. If the Internet was not there, they will just wait until the movie comes on TV or the song is played in the radio.
There is not technical way you can stop piracy, deal with it.
Media makers will always get payment, because there will be always people who want to buy the "real" thing. Just accept that some people will get it without paying for it. The Internet is at the end not that different than a library or public TV or radio.
If I tape a TV show and play it again in the privacy of my home, am I "stealing"?
Are TiVos illegal?
There's no legal or technical solution that would actually work without killing the internet and creating a police state. Drug dealers still use telephones, y'know. It's the reality of an open network.
Bipa don't confuse the issues by bringing in non-commercial reproduction and "real" peer to peer exchange and what PB is all about. One is the best form of marketing and not only accepted, but hungered for by the "big companies", precisely for the arguments you have given. The other isnt.
The problem here is that we aren't dealing with "real" peer to peer exchange. Exchange, in its classical meaning, would suggest that I trade a book I own to you, and you either read and return it, or give me a book you own in its place. That's fine. Each of us paid for a book, and we have the right to share it with others.
In this case, however, we are not "exchanging" anything. I have a copy, and I'm allowing you to make an additional copy. The writer, by contract, assigned that privilege to the publisher, and the publisher must pay the author when he does it. Therein lies the difference. In truth, and they have always admitted it, TPB exists for one reason, and one reason only: to openly facilitate theft! While Google might serve similar purposes for those who chose to head down that road, it was not the intent, nor is it the primary intent of the site.
If the original was gone, then nothing was "stolen." If the original remains, then somebody is illegally duplicating copyrighted material. This is nothing more or less than outright theft.
That said, however, I understand that anyone who doesn't make their living on the "other side" of this discussion will struggle to understand it. After all, you get your movies, music, or books for free, and you don't confront the person from whom you are stealing. What a deal! It is true the internet is changing all of these traditional business models, and I have no problem with that. I do, however, still have a problem with someone stealing something from me. I suspect you would also, assuming you were the victim.
WA
As for Pirate Bay, tracking sites are pretty much obsolete anyway with Google, Tribler, and iPredator which is coming soon from the PB guys.
(attached image)
(attached image)The Pirate Google
(attached image)
I know that's not "evidence" in a court of law, but it is likely to color the thinking of a judge or jury. It's little different than naming your pawn shop something like You Stealem and I'll Fence'em. You might be a completely legal business, but it does look questionable.
We must have been just plain lucky that nothing illegal happened while we were there the last two times.
On the 24 July 2009, an Order was made by the High Court requiring eircom to block or otherwise disable access by its subscribers to the w…