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Mr Walker
04-17-2009, 03:34 PM
Guilty Pirate Bay Defendant Still Calls Verdict 'Epic Win' - News and Analysis by PC Magazine (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2345485,00.asp)

One of defendants convicted in "The Pirate Bay" piracy case has called the guilty verdict the first step in "an epic win" for the site and its users.

Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom were all sentenced to one year in prison and collectively ordered to pay 30 million Swedish crowns, or about $3.58 million, in a closely-watched trial that involved one of the Internet's most notorious sites for linking to illegally-copied works.

The site runs its own "trackers" of pirated materials, including music, movies and software, that provide a master list of individuals trying to download them using the popular BitTorrent software. The four defendants had been charged with violations of Swedish copyright law and other offenses.

But in a "press conference" conducted via Twitter soon after the verdict was read, Sunde vowed to burn everything he owned before paying anything to the Swedish authorities.

In a statement, the site called the verdict the work of "the dice court," a reference to what Sunde called an essentially random verdict. "So, the dice courts judgement is here. It was lol to read and hear, crazy verdict," the site said alongside a character from the movie "The Karate Kid". "But as in all good movies, the heroes lose in the beginning but have an epic victory in the end anyhow. That's the only thing hollywood ever taught us."

The MPAA took a different view. "We welcome the court's decision today because The Pirate Bay is a source of immense damage to the creative industries in Sweden and internationally,"it said. "This is an important decision for rights-holders, underlining their right to have their creative works protected against illegal exploitation and to be fairly rewarded for their endeavors. This decision will help to support the continued investment in talent and in new online services, and the creation of new film and television shows for enjoyment by audiences around the world."

According to Sunde, the verdict will be followed by demonstrations in Sweden, organized by representatives of "Piratpartiet," or Sweden's "The Pirate Party," both in Stockholm and Lund. Piratpartiet also plans to stand in the June elections in the EU.

Sunde said that the prosecutor's case had been built on hearsay, rather than direct evidence.

"To boil down what I think is the problem: it's a small elite, they all sit in a room and just talk to each other," Sunde said. "There is this guy and he's telling the next guy and it separates a bit and it separates some more and all of a sudden we're killing small innocent kids and eating the remainders. It's so far out and they actually start believing it, because they say I can heard it from my friend and he s a credible guy, and he can say I heard it from my friend, he's a credible guy."

Sunde said that he had spoken to Warg and Neij, but that "Carl [Lundstorm] I barely know". The Pirate Bay operations are as decentralized as its user base is, he said: "If we're going to be convicted or organized crime, that s stupid. At least convict us of disorganized crime," he said.

Sunde also claimed that he and his cohorts had been working on an online payment scheme, apparently to compensate copyright owners. "The prosecutor tried to make every thing we do into something mystical, something very scary, super criminal, when its like oh, they're actually working on payment methods for online content, that type of stuff."

In one of the two "press conference" videos, Sunde held up a mock IOU for his share of the assessed fine, which is as close as prosecutors are ever going to get to his share, he said. "Even if I had money I would rather burn everything I own and not even give them the final dust from the burning…the ashes, not even the ashes," he said.

The Web site with the press conference concludes that the verdict was actually an "epic win" for the site. As the site did, Sunde compared the verdict to "The Karate Kid": "In the beginning there are these bullies who are bullying Daniel-san," he said. "He gets beaten up, and that's wher we're at right now. And at the end we're going to have this epic end where we have this crane [kick]…we're going to stand there with a leg – a wooden leg, probably – a bit hurt, but we're going to kick their ass."

Mr Walker
04-17-2009, 03:36 PM
The dude made a good point elsewhere...

Pirate Bay founder points to Google
Peter Sunde says search giant could be in similar position

By Andre Paine, Billboard

April 17, 2009, 03: 05 PM ET
LONDON -- The Pirate Bay's spokesman, Peter Sunde, sentenced to a year in prison for his role in the BitTorrent tracker, was defiant in his response to the Swedish court's verdict and raised the issue of Google providing links to copyrighted material.

During an online press conference, Sunde referred to the 30 million Swedish crowns ($3.5 million) in damages handed down by Stockholm district court, in favor of the music and film industries, by holding up an IOU and stating "that's as close as they are going to get to any money from us."

With an appeal pending, Sunde said he does not believe the prison sentence will ever happen. "In the next level we will win and at the supreme court afterwards," he said.

The Pirate Bay claimed 22 million users, but its defense in court was based on the fact the site does not host copyrighted content and only provides access to content for P2P file-sharers. As such, Sunde claimed that Google could find itself in a similar position to the Pirate Bay.

"I think if someone sues Google, it will be very, very interesting," he said. "I think it's kind of a shame that Google didn't actually volunteer to help us out in the court case. They are going to be sued some day in Sweden and now it's probably easier than ever to sue someone for copyright infringement in Sweden. I think a lot of companies are in big trouble."

Google/YouTube is being sued in Germany by composer Frank Peterson over alleged copyright infringement, but has not commented on the case.

"I heard there is going to be a demonstration," Sunde added, in reference to protests in Sweden by Internet freedom campaigners about Friday's verdict.

Sunde said the Pirate Bay team would be holding a post-verdict party in Malmo this evening.

Golden AWe
04-17-2009, 04:39 PM
What would we do if they'd ban Google? Seriously! I'm addicted to it...

Coyote
04-17-2009, 04:56 PM
What would we do if they'd ban Google?

Get a life?

Golden AWe
04-17-2009, 04:58 PM
Get a life?

What's it like?

Coyote
04-17-2009, 05:08 PM
What's it like?

I've heard rumors of someone actually seeing muff up close...
and he didn't even have to pay for it! :headlights:

Panamark
04-17-2009, 10:41 PM
A lot of these sites really are "Fuck you, come and get us"
So its not really that surprising when they do go and get em...