Pirate's raided

[Pando]

In the morning of 2006-05-31 the Swedish National Criminal Police showed a search warrant to Rix|Port80 personnell. The warrant was valid for all datacentres of Rix|Port80 and was directed at The Pirate Bay. The allegation was breach of copy-right law, alternatively assisting breach of copy-right law.

The police officers were allowed access to the racks where the TPB servers and other servers are hosted. All servers in the racks were clearly marked as to which sites run on each. The police took down all servers in the racks, including the non-commercial site Piratbyrån, the mission of which is to defend the rights of TPB via public debate.

According to police officers simultaneously questioning the president of Rix|Port80, the purpose of the search warrant is to take down TPB in order to secure evidence of the allegations mentioned above.

The necessity for securing technical evidence for the existance of a web-service which is fully official, the legality of which has been under public debate for years and whose principals are public persons giving regular press interviews, could not be explained. Asked for other reasoning behind the choice to take down a site, without knowing wether it is illegal or not, the officers explained that this is normal.

The TPB can receive compensation from the Swedish state in case that the upcoming legal processes show that TPB is indeed legal.

http://thepiratebay.org/
It's all over the Swedish media, but the only news on the subject in english I could find was on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pirate_Bay

one thing is for sure, it will bring publicity to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party

It's a controversial issue, with many divided opinions. What do you think?

[The_Canuck]

ARRRRR! sorry

[Pando]

More info:

ThePirateBay.org Raided - Servers Seized
May 31, 2006
Thomas Mennecke


In their native Sweden, ThePirateBay.org enjoyed a level of immunity from copyright prosecution rarely seen in the file-sharing world. Often defiant in the face of those wishing to enforce their intellectual property rights, ThePirateBay.org would go on to become one of the premier BitTorrent indexing and tracking sites.

As one of the largest trackers, ThePirateBay.org largely replaced the search engine SuprNova.org. SuprNova.org met its demise in late 2004, when it was under pressure from the entertainment industry to shut it operation down. Conversely, such pressure has been ineffective against ThePiratebay.org.

When such political pressure fails, the use of force is typically the next course of action. In a move that many thought would never come, Slyck.com learned this morning that ThePirateBay.org was raided by Swedish police.

“…The police right now is taking all of our servers, to check if there is a crime there or not (they are actually not sure),” ThePirateBay.org spokesperson “brokep” told Slyck.com.

The seizure of ThePirateBay.org’s entire server farm will guarantee this BitTorrent tracker will remain offline until the police complete their investigation. The uncertainty on the part of the police may stem from the fact ThePirateBay.org's servers only host .torrent files, not actual copyrighted material. As a tracker, ThePirateBay.org's function is to index .torrent files and to direct BitTorrent traffic and maintain the swarm (uploads and downloads.) The downloaded .torrent file contains all the necessary information to locate and download the queried file. The legality of indirectly linking to copyrighted material has yet to be tested by Swedish courts.

Whether this will keep ThePirateBay.org offline indefinitely is another matter.

“We are not sure when it will return, but we are moving it to another country if necessary,” brokep said.

According to The Pirate Party, a Swedish copyright reform organization, the raid also seized Piratbyrån's (the Pirate Bureau) servers. Piratbyrån is a educational and quasi-political organization which performs a public servic role similar to The Pirate Party. In addition, The Pirate Party reports "...the servers where located in a protected area, to which the police had no legal right to enter..." Approximately 50 police participated in the raid, which placed into custody two* PirateBay.org personnel.

The premature departure of ThePirateBay.org marks a significant turning point in the BitTorrent community. Although it's not currently known what, if any, entertainment entity is behind this raid, failure to secure ThePirateBay.org's permanent removal will only bolster this tracker’s position of defiance.

edit: * according to more recent information, three people were arrested in the raid.

[d-quik]

well piracy is just stealing.... so its a crime

but is it wrong? ....umm..... NYEARF!

[Matra et Alpine]

More power to PB.

THese guys are great for standing up for FREEDOM of the Internet and NOT letting it be controlled by governments or industries.

Here's hoping they give another group a bloody nose.
It was inevitable that they would get pulled down for somethign as they openly flaunt letters they've traded with MS, Sony, Paramount etc etc telign them plainly what they thought of them

I can record a movie tonight from TV and lend it to a friend to watch.
What's the difference ?
NOTHING !!
What I really am gonna love is if the nazis get their way then it's going to kill the whoel PVR market as each of those are storing copyright material and in effect ARE breakign the law. Class action lawsuit against Sony electronics might make Sony entertainment STFU

Agreed the blatant rip of current copyrighted material for profit and widespread broiadcast/distribution is correct to try to stop. BUT torrent sites let us share anything and everything. It's the best way for clubs to distribute video of events to it's members !!

[Wolf03]

It was one of my favourite sites... But this sort of brings back the spirit: “We are not sure when it will return, but we are moving it to another country if necessary,” brokep said.

I'm glad they're not giving up and are fighting for it...long live the PirateBay

[The_Canuck]

Well anyway for my real opinion, if your going to take something thats not yours and sell it, thats wrong. If your only using it yourself or mabye sharing it with people but making no profit, its fine.

[Pando]

I'm quite sure they will be back. The copyright laws Sweden changed in the beginning of the year but although TPB's activity is questionable it's still not illegal per se. It will be interesting to see how this evolves.

I can record a movie tonight from TV and lend it to a friend to watch.
What's the difference ?
NOTHING !!

Oh, come on. If you'd record a movie and send it to thousands of complete strangers, kept doing this on a regular basis and there were thousands of people like you it could be concidered similar.

[h00t_h00t]

Apparently in Britain its illegal to keep any TV show recorded on video for more than two weeks, although nobody has ever been charged.

When people download these movies and watch them they aren't going to buy the DVD so it is basically stealing?

[Matra et Alpine]

Apparently in Britain its illegal to keep any TV show recorded on video for more than two weeks, although nobody has ever been charged.

When people download these movies and watch them they aren't going to buy the DVD so it is basically stealing?

True.
BUT that doesn't apply to non-copyright or copyleft material.
ie club videos, out of copyright shows etc etc
Torrents are pointers not material.
It would be like arresting the postman beacue you had hardcore porn deliverd to your home ... ( we KNOW you did )

[Zytek_Fan]

Downloading things to make a profit is wrong, but if it is for personal use then I think it is fine.

[Wolf03]

Pirate Bay wasn't making a profit from this. The downloads were totally free...

[Cotterik]

wait..did the police blow up the servers? as in realy take them down? or switch them off

[Pando]

When people download these movies and watch them they aren't going to buy the DVD so it is basically stealing?

Well I (almost) never buy a movie DVD I haven't seen before, and I've bought quite a few. But there is of course a difference whether I watch it in the movies or rent it, as opposed to downloading it, the first time I see it.

[Cotterik]

for all those without a torrent site, do not fear, go here:

http://isohunt.com/