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Downloading culture scuppered as internet pirates walk plank to jail

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Published Date: 18 April 2009
By Stephen McGinty
THE entertainment industry struck a major blow against the growing culture of illegal downloads of films, songs and computer games yesterday after four men were jailed in Sweden.
Viewed by millions as a "victimless crime", the men behind The Pirate Bay (TPB), the world's most successful file-sharing website, discovered the consequences of breaking copyright law when they were sentenced to a year in prison and fined 30 million kronor (about £2.4 million) in damages.

Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde, the founders of the website, which has been used by 22 million people, remained defiant.

They vowed to maintain the site while refusing to pay damages to global entertainment companies such as Warner Brothers, Sony Music, EMI and Columbia Pictures whose songs and films The Pirate Bay's patrons have enjoyed for free.

Speaking at an online press conference, Sunde said: "It's so bizarre that we were convicted at all and it's even more bizarre that we were (convicted] as a team."

Although the companies involved had sought the equivalent of £12 million in damages and interest on lost sales of albums, DVDs and cinema tickets, Sunde said they would not get the £3 million ordered by the Swedish court.

"Even if I had the money, I would rather burn everything I owned and I wouldn't even give them the ashes." In a defiant video clip posted online, he held up a handwritten "I owe U" note to the camera and said: "This is as close as you will get to having money from us."

Lundstrom helped finance the site while the three other defendants ran it. Defence lawyers had argued the four should be acquitted as TPB does not host any copyright-protected material. Instead, it provides a forum for users to download content through "torrent" files. This allows users to transfer parts of a large file from several users, increasing download speeds.

But the court found the defendants guilty of helping users commit copyright violations by providing a website with "sophisticated search functions, simple download and storage capabilities, and through the tracker linked to the website".

The case focused on dozens of works prosecutors said were downloaded illegally. They included songs by The Beatles, Robbie Williams and Coldplay, films such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and computer games. Judge Tomas Norstrom said the site was "commercially driven", which the defendants had denied.

John Kennedy, head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, said the verdict was good news for anyone "making a living or a business from creative activity and who needs to know their rights will be protected by law".

TPB had assured users the trial would not affect the site, and it remained operational after the verdict.

Andre Rickardsson, a computer expert and former investigator for the Swedish security police, said file-sharing would not go away, but that users would probably turn to more advanced technological tools to hide their activities. "It's not as if people will turn around and say, 'Oops, I'll have to stop file-sharing now'. Instead the reaction will be, 'Oops, what can I do to protect myself from getting caught'."

Sunde's lawyer, Peter Althin, said he was confident that higher courts would dismiss the case against The Pirate Bay, which he described as a battle between the corporate world and "a generation of young people who want to take part of new technology".


SITE PROVIDES LINKS AND FORUM FOR FILE-SHARING

THE Pirate Bay, which is arguable the world's most high-profile file-sharing website, is essentially an online forum which allows people to post music, films, computer games and other media, which can then be downloaded by other users.

The site itself does not contain the copyrighted material, but provides links so that the material can be found elsewhere.

The system is based on "bit torrent" software, which enables a number of people to download the same programme at the same time.

Once a user has downloaded a piece of data, another user can then download it from them, without waiting until the file is complete.

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1

For Scotlands Future,

Vote For The SNP 18/04/2009 00:28:46
Kind of difficult to convince someone you are not involved in pirating songs and films when you name your company "Pirate Bay".

I doubt if the "downloading culture" will be "scuppered". Does the Scotsman mean "pirate downloading culture" perhaps??

Killing Napster didn't stop it, just spurred people on to do it even more.
2

For Scotlands Future,

Vote For The SNP 18/04/2009 00:45:57
World has got to wake up. The game has changed. All the governments and courts, all the rules and regulations are only trying to keep things the same - in a world where, 30-years ago, the vast majority of people didn't know what a personal computer was.

That's about the last time I bought a newspaper!!

The pace of change is increasing too. In 2-years time I-Pods/I-Phones will be obsolete, and something else will incorporate entirely new functionality. Facebook and Twitter will be passing fancies as new, smarter ways are invented to talk to each other.

In many cases, those making up the rules and regulations can't even find the power-on button on a computer, and have to get their grandchildren to teach them how to retrieve their cell phone messages.

The rules of buying and selling will have to change too.
3

Woolly Ian,

18/04/2009 07:34:00
Lost sales of albums, DVDs and cinema tickets?

No. The reason sales of these are down, and have been for some years, is the cost of them. That's what started the downloading culture. I am sure sales were dropping long before downloading became realistically possible.

Very few people that download music, films etc. would have bought them had they not been able to download them. Indeed, some people use downloading as a means of trialling a film or cd to see if it is worth buying rather than spending £20 on something that turns out to be rubbish.

I will never believe that downloading has realistically cost the industries millions. Just because a film costing £20 in the shop has been downloaded 50,000 times does not mean a loss of £1m.

The millions paid to actors etc for "just doing their jobs" I find far harder to take. Addressing that could bring down the cost of dvd's and save the industry millions, thus addressing the problem for both sides.

Maybe it is just easier to target the public and those that facilitate something they couldn't otherwise afford.
4

,

18/04/2009 08:38:01
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
5

Chuck.U.Farley,

18/04/2009 09:05:37
"Scuppered" I think not, the site is still up and running.
I wish these lads every success with their appeal.Should the worst come to the worst for them,
a year in a Swedish is a doddle you get out at the weekends.
As for the music/film industray fat cats,I for one will continue to download,for too many years I lined the degenerate pockets of the likes of Tam Paton,Johnathan King,Micheal Jackson et al.
6

Chuck.U.Farley,

18/04/2009 09:14:25
#7.O M F G !
So this is the end of civilisation as we know it?
7

drew 33,

duddingston 18/04/2009 09:32:10
Fortunately there are plenty of "pirate" sites, indeed "The Pirate Bay" is still up and running and benefiting from this massive free publicity.
As to copyright it is largely the rich ripping off the poor. After all when a labourer digs a trench and installs a water main does he collect "royalties" on the water flowing through it for the rest of his life?
8

Alexander,

Edinburgh 18/04/2009 10:17:42
#10
My 9 year old grandson has just been downloading from http://thepiratebay.org/ this morning he tells me it is business as usual.
If he wasn't downloading films for free he certainly wouldn't be buying them!
9

drew 33,

duddingston 18/04/2009 10:43:49
12 danielrober
"No the water company collects income forever"

The "pirate" website collects advertising revenue "forever" just the same but different business model.
10

For Scotlands Future,

Vote For The SNP 18/04/2009 11:22:08
Everyone is entitled to copyright their unique product, and have the right to expect to receive royalties from it. However, that only works if people are willing to pay for it.

The vast, vast majority of people will take something for free rather than pay for it, even if the cost is 1p.
11

broadgait,

gullane 18/04/2009 11:50:41
I remember when a band or an artist made thier monies by appearing live and didnt have the luxuries of recorded material, they need to get off thier ass and work for a living.
12

fermat,

18/04/2009 12:00:46
Downright hypocricy and lies from artists and the music business.Hollywood and the music industry are way too big and powerful as it is. They need to be knocked down a few notches. When I see the same music stars who cry about how rich people suck (if they're not liberals) and all our money needs to be shared, whining when they loose money themselves - money they have plenty of - I have absolutely no sympathy.
13

Alexander,

Edinburgh 18/04/2009 12:05:47
The real problem is that the media companies' reaction to new technology has been to stick their collective heads in the sand and hope it will go away. In some ways it is surprising we are not still using the wax cylinder.I download legal music, but it is so painful. They place so many restrictions on how I can use it, and if my computer crashes, I am in danger of losing my money.
14

drew 33,

duddingston 18/04/2009 12:16:09
15danielrober
"But it is not their work."

And the water company did not dig the trench!
15

yoric,

18/04/2009 14:03:24
If you illegally take money from the film industry, then the film industry will over time cease to exist.
Nothing is free.
16

Cauchy Riemann,

Wales 18/04/2009 14:56:58
Downloading & file sharing is here to stay. Movie and record companies need to recognise a different business model and stop trying to turn back the tide. It isn't working.
17

,

18/04/2009 18:17:27
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
18

,

18/04/2009 18:21:56
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
19

googler,

18/04/2009 20:46:22
#22 "Everything that is tracked on TPB is not copyright."

Exactly. Whilst copyrighted material MAY have been passed around via Pirate Bay, that doesn't mean that EVERYTHING there is subject to copyright.

It's perfectly possible to file-share LEGALLY, by sharing non-copyright material.

File-sharing itself is not an illegal activity.
20

KampungHighlander,

Jakarta 19/04/2009 17:58:49
No need to Download music and films in Indonesia, you can buy them for 50p a DVD/CD.

Which is the real cost of production.

The Entertainment Industry whines about loosing money to piracy, when at the same time they use lobbyists to extend patent and copywrite laws to ridiculous levels.

There needs to be a debate about when art becomes "common culture" as opposed to private property.

Meanwhile claims of poverty by Hollywood and the recording industry get laughter, not sympathy.

 

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