Browse by topic

News

Swedish prosecutors to charge Pirate Bay owners as accesories to copyright violation

27 January 2008 19:32 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 17 comments

This week Swedish officials plan to charge the individuals responsible for running Pirate Bay, a large torrent Tracker originally operated in that country, as accessories and conspirators in breaking copyright law. Since a 2006 raid by Swedish police the servers have been moved to locations reportedly not even known to those in Sweden who are apparently going to be charged in the case.

Public prosecutor Hakan Roswall told Reuters "It's not merely a search engine. It's an active part of an action that aims at, and also leads to, making copyright protected material available." He added "It's a classic example of accessory -- to act as intermediary between people who commit crimes, whether it's in the physical or the virtual world."

"It's idiotic. There is no legal ground (for the charges)," Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde told Reuters.

Prosecuter Roswell isn't fooling himself about the impact convictions in the case would have. He said it could take more than convictions in Sweden to stop Pirate Bay. "Because the infrastructure is scattered among several places around the world... no separate country will be able to stop the site."

Permalink to this article | Topic: Lawsuits & Legislation

Pirate Bay taunts International Olympic Committee (19 August 2008)

Key witness against The Pirate Bay was employed by plaintiff (21 April 2008)

Update: Pirate Bay sees increase in Danish traffic (11 February 2008)

The Pirate Bay fights back against ISP block (7 February 2008)

Update: Pirate Bay calls big revenue claims false (4 February 2008)

Prosecutors: The Pirate Bay makes $4 million a year (31 January 2008)

Nearly 200,000 USD claim for Pirate Bay (31 January 2008)

TPB wants Demonoid in Sweden (16 January 2008)

The Pirate Bay doubles number of peers in 2007 (26 December 2007)

The Pirate Bay no longer running on Hypercube (8 December 2007)

Update: Pirate Bay loses IFPI domain (30 November 2007)

Swedish prosecutors to target Pirate Bay with charges before 2008 (13 November 2007)

Prince wants to sink Pirate Bay (12 November 2007)

The Pirate Bay is developing a new P2P protocol to replace BitTorrent (8 November 2007)

The Pirate Bay starts "miivi.org" tracker (30 September 2007)

The Pirate Bay to start pay site (30 April 2007)

Swedish file sharer guilty of copyright violations (26 October 2005)

Swedish file sharing case causes confusion (12 October 2005)

« Previous news article
Amazon MP3 to go international in 2008

Next news article »
Qtrax misses launch time - do they actually have a product yet?

Post your comment

Discuss this article!
gamename (Senior Member) 27 January 2008 20:11
*Quote:* "Because the infrastructure is scattered among several places around the world... no separate country will be able to stop the site." sounds good to me, what about you? im not sure about swedish law, but maybge it will be just a fine. if so, tpb could take up donations to help pay. im pretty sure i could spare a few bones. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27 January 2008 20:11
Pop_Smith (Senior Member) 27 January 2008 20:12
*Quote:* "Because the infrastructure is scattered among several places around the world... no separate country will be able to stop the site." This is exactly why TBP went and starting spreading servers all over the world. They knew that one day though might get in legal trouble, even if only temporarily, and spread the servers all over the globe to prevent the shutting down of TBP. I will like to see the outcome of any trials, lawsuits, etc. that come against the website or its owners just to see how well it does after a legal battle. Peace [ + quote]
windsong (Member) 27 January 2008 21:04
They should have just put all the servers in Antigua (think thats how it is spelled) the same as Slysoft did. Problem solved. Just looked up the tiny nation in Google Earth..my god, it looks like the sort of island where one is shipwrecked with a handful of palm trees with sharks swimming around...cant be that different than in Sweden! ;) [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 27 January 2008 21:08
*Originally posted by windsong:* They should have just put all the servers in Antigua (think thats how it is spelled) the same as Slysoft did. Problem solved. Just looked up the tiny nation in Google Earth..my god, it looks like the sort of island where one is shipwrecked with a handful of palm trees with sharks swimming around...cant be that different than in Sweden! ;) Have the media industry setup shop there and buy laws. :P [ + quote]
gallagher (Member) 27 January 2008 22:56
well, they better press charges against Google, Yahoo, and every other search engine. These "conspirators" help find torrents and even child porno. [ + quote]
shummyr (Member) 27 January 2008 23:37
TPB is one of the GREATEST torrent Sites Around There also one of the Smartest sites around TPB FOREVER Peace Out Shummyr [ + quote]
xSModder (Junior Member) 28 January 2008 1:47
They simply cannot do that. Every search engine in the world is an accessory to something. These companies just never quit. It's pathetic. If they breathe like we do it must be a coarse wheezing. We've left them in so much dust, at this point, they're practically choking. They'll do anything to stay alive. The traces of looking human are scraping off with every second they crawl to keep up. Eventually they'll be so disfigured and grotesque that not even the vultures will humor their corpses. It's a nice way to think about it, hm? [ + quote]
Amir89 (Senior Member) 28 January 2008 7:41
So if I look up instructions on how to make a Molotov Cocktail on Google and then torch my neighbor's house, Google is an accessory to that act? What a load of BS, by that same logic that makes the Government accessories to all car accidents as they supply the roads upon which cars drive. All Pirate Bay do is supply a means to search and find data on the Internet. They don't host torrents and their not connected to those uploaders of copyrighted materials. You can't sue someone just because they give people a means to potentially brake the law. Guns give people a means to potentially kill others, so should Gun Makers be held responsible for every gun death, as they provided that means? Insanity... Current Specs: Intel82801BA Mobo, Intel D 945G @3.4Ghz, 2x2Mb L2 Cache, 1Gb DDR2 SD RAM @677Mhz, 250Gb WD Caviar @10,000Rpm, GeForce7600GT 512MB GDDR2, ASUSTek Tiger Digital/Analog TV Tuner, Samsung SyncMaster941BW 19" LCD, LG H20L DVD�R/RW DL LightScribe, LG GSA-4167B DVD�R/RW DL, Logitech Z-5500 505Watt 5.1 Surround [ + quote]
duckNrun (Inactive) 28 January 2008 9:42
*Originally posted by Amir89:* So if I look up instructions on how to make a Molotov Cocktail on Google and then torch my neighbor's house, Google is an accessory to that act? What a load of BS, by that same logic that makes the Government accessories to all car accidents as they supply the roads upon which cars drive. All Pirate Bay do is supply a means to search and find data on the Internet. They don't host torrents and their not connected to those uploaders of copyrighted materials. You can't sue someone just because they give people a means to potentially brake the law. Guns give people a means to potentially kill others, so should Gun Makers be held responsible for every gun death, as they provided that means?... A possibly more accurate anology would be: Guns give people a means to potentially kill others, so should people who tell other people where to get these guns illegaly be held responsible for every gun death caused by the people it assisted in illegaly obtaining a gun, as they provided that means? In this case I think you could find the people saying 'get a gun illegaly here' considered accessories... of course only a trial would determine this scenario's outcome as well as the one facing TPB [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28 January 2008 9:48
banned4Lf (Inactive) 28 January 2008 13:01
*Originally posted by windsong:* They should have just put all the servers in Antigua (think thats how it is spelled) the same as Slysoft did. Problem solved. Just looked up the tiny nation in Google Earth..my god, it looks like the sort of island where one is shipwrecked with a handful of palm trees with sharks swimming around...cant be that different than in Sweden! ;) They CAN get them in Antigua I would think. I thought they were British owned but just checked........simply a "British outpost" but close enough. Palestine, Pakistan, Iran are choice. They don't give a rat's behind about 'other' countries laws. They say........"you gotta problem..........talk to my AK-47. Otherwise piss off!" [ + quote]
joe777 (Member) 28 January 2008 18:19
Long live TPB Long live the Hydra [ + quote]
Notcow (Newbie) 28 January 2008 21:04
Miserably pointless. they've been tried and tried again,they ARE NOT breaking any laws,and the USA needs to get over it. if the people of the USA want to file share,the government cant do anything about it?thats what a democracy is! besides,in Sweden there was practically a riot when TPB was shut down for 3 days! [ + quote]
joonbugg (Junior Member) 29 January 2008 1:10
TPB is the shizzle. For rizzle. My nizzle. [ + quote]
SkyLynx (Junior Member) 29 January 2008 17:28
Where's Palestine? Last I checked, there was no country named Palestine. [ + quote]
Amir89 (Senior Member) 31 January 2008 12:10
When was the last time you checked.. 1948? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Is-wb-gs-gh_v3.png Current Specs: Intel82801BA Mobo, Intel D 945G @3.4Ghz, 2x2Mb L2 Cache, 1Gb DDR2 SD RAM @677Mhz, 250Gb WD Caviar @10,000Rpm, GeForce7600GT 512MB GDDR2, ASUSTek Tiger Digital/Analog TV Tuner, Samsung SyncMaster941BW 19" LCD, LG H20L DVD�R/RW DL LightScribe, LG GSA-4167B DVD�R/RW DL, Logitech Z-5500 505Watt 5.1 Surround [ + quote]
RNR1995 (Inactive) 3 February 2008 16:22
Just looked up the tiny nation in Google Earth..my god, it looks like the sort of island where one is shipwrecked with a handful of palm trees with sharks swimming around...cant be that different than in Sweden! ;) Been there.Inquired about Slysoft, I actually wanted to buy the company lunch! No one ever heard of them, or just would not give them up? FYI the Island is beautiful! [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 19 February 2008 22:49
Well if all the other countries are under the EU then the prosecution may have a chance in this case. [ + quote]