Pirate Bay Trial

[spurster]

Anyone else keeping track of Pirate Bay's trial in Sweden:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7893223.stm

How The Pirate Bay sailed into infamy

By Flora Graham
BBC News

The Pirate Bay was launched in 2003 and has established itself as the world's most high-profile file-sharing site. But its founders are now on trial for copyright violation and face imprisonment, if found guilty.

...

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45482000/jpg/_45482822_lamont-bay.jpg

[spurs_2108]

Only into its second day, the criminal copyright infringement case against file sharing site The Pirate Bay has already begun to crumble.

Exposing a clear misunderstanding of how .torrent files work, the prosecution was forced to drop all charges except those of "making available," a term common among all file sharing suits.

The Pirate Party's Rick Falkvinge summed up the shortened day by saying, "After this morning's total collapse of the prosecution, I'm shocked to think how Roswell [Håkan Roswall, Swedish Chamber of Prosecutors] may have just wasted three years. Three Years! To have prepared everything in three years just to be forced to abandon half of it after only twelve hours of negotiation?"

Roswall's arraignment of the Pirate Bay was fundamentally flawed, and the .torrent files used as evidence could not be connected to the site's tracker. The Pirate Bay's Fredrik Neij pointed out that the prosecution did not fully understand how the technology worked, and that the evidence did not prove any culpability in the reproduction of copyrighted works. Tech blogger Oscar Swartz noted that the prosecution seemed to be completely unaware of much of the torrent technology that Neij brought up.

IFPI, the organization leading the prosecution issued a statement this morning that said, "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."

So "Making available" rears its head again. The concept which became central in the RIAA's case against accused file-sharer Jammie Thomas focuses on intent rather than actual infringement. The RIAA won the case on these grounds, though it was later deemed a mistrial specifically because the "making files available" concept was improperly explained to the jury.

It is indeed soft ground upon which to base an indictment, as it deals with file sharing in potentia rather than in reality.

http://www.betanews.com/article/Half_of_charges_against_Pirate_Bay_dropped/1234886588

[koriwhat]

all good ol' pb.

[exstatic]

I want to see them win, but it won't matter. Allegedly, they've farmed out all of their stuff to other sites worldwide, so if they get taken down, which I consider only a remote possibility, the torrents will still be available.

[TheTorrentBuster]

I will be following up on everyone who post in this thread.

YOU ARE BEING WATCH

[jman3000]

I hate being watch.

[Cry Havoc]

I hate being watch.

http://trinotron.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/depressing-watch.jpg

Picture of jman3000.

[lefty]

Since my Internet provider throttles torrent downloads.....

......oh well