Swedish Police raid ThePirateBay.org

[raven27]

http://i.afterdawn.com/v3/news/the_pirate_bay_logo.jpgSlyck.com has learned that the popular Swedish BitTorrent tracker, ThePirateBay.org, is currently being 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. With the servers gone, the site will remain offline until the police complete their investigation.

Up until now, ThePirateBay has been viewed by BitTorrent users as almost immune to legal troubles. The site even posted and ridiculed legal threats from entertainment and software companies on its site. In 2005, a new anti-piracy law went into effect in Sweden, but ThePirateBay was defiant weeks before it came into effect, leaving this message on the site: "By the way, we will NOT shut down the 1st of July."

It is unknown if this raid will take the site offline for good or just temporarily. "We are not sure when it will return, but we are moving it to another country if necessary," brokep said. Back in June last year, the site had a few major upgrades to make it faster and far more user friendly. The Google-style layout was also complemented with the addition of 10 languages besides English.

One thing that BitTorrent users should be reminded of however, is that ThePirateBay does not, and never has hosted/distributed any material that is subject to copyright. BitTorrent sites offer only "torrent" files that contain information on how a user can download and share specific files.

Update: According to a report by SVT, the Swedish national TV company, 50 police officers participated in the raid at a dozen locations across the country. Three people have been held for questioning. They are suspected of copyright violations or accessory to copyright violations.

Sources:
Slyck
SVT (http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=22620&a=601194&lid=puff_401860&lpos=rubrik)

[egarrard]

http://i.afterdawn.com/v3/news/the_pirate_bay_logo.jpg

One thing that BitTorrent users should be reminded of however, is that ThePirateBay does not, and never has hosted/distributed any material that is subject to copyright. BitTorrent sites offer only "torrent" files that contain information on how a user can download and share specific files. But...if Sweden has laws similar to the RICO laws in the US, ThePirateBay will be saddled with conspiracy charges. They are facilitating the crime. Just like the driver who gets charged with bank robbery, he may not have done the deed, but he facilitated the getaway.

[Maro]

I don't think the laws are the same which is why they were so brazen. I've visited the site and read the letters.

I think the Swedish govt has been pressured to act.

[Karagoth]

A little update on how things are progressing.

Piratebay.org is again up and is active in four countries, Russia and Holland amongst them.
In Sweden there is alot of arguing about if the police had rights to confiscate piratebays servers or not. In the raid they did not only take piratebays servers but also about a 10 or so more, which have resualted in that Fragbite.se, Swedens biggest gaming community, is currently unavailable.
In resualts to this the police website was attacked and went down, Thomas Bodström, a minister in the goverment who is suspected to have orderd the police to raid piratebays serverhalls, in Sweden however, ministers are not allowed to order authorities such as the police, which is why Thomas Bodströms mail-inbox is now full of angry letters :Blah

And yes, it is suspected that Bodström was forced to act by (most likley) the MPAA.

First post, Hello all :wavey

[egarrard]

First post, Hello all :waveyWelcome!
Thanks for the update and inside information. :thumb

[Maro]

Excellent news - keep up the fight! :thumb

[deathrow]

Did the sweedish change the laws or something, last time i remember they didnt have a big copyright law like many other countries

[Karagoth]

Did the sweedish change the laws or something, last time i remember they didnt have a big copyright law like many other countries
Yeah, last year they changed the copyrightlaws, but only 3 people have actually been caught sharing copyrighted material. Now alot of things are happening, politicians are making this a political question and alot of the parties think that the copyrightlaw should be changed once again, because now about 10%+ of sweden are commiting crimes every day, thats not right now is it.

[deathrow]

Yeah, last year they changed the copyrightlaws, but only 3 people have actually been caught sharing copyrighted material. Now alot of things are happening, politicians are making this a political question and alot of the parties think that the copyrightlaw should be changed once again, because now about 10%+ of sweden are commiting crimes every day, thats not right now is it.

the way i see is if the companies that make the software are to stupid to make it not possible to copy it from a cd to pc or make copies period then they cant complain. Hell i cant even burn a a copy of billy idol for my dad becuase of some ecryption and that was in 2001 (yes i bought the original)

and i could have sworn the law states i am allowed to make physical copies for friends and family as long as i dont charge or make more than 5 or something

[Drizzt]

...
and i could have sworn the law states i am allowed to make physical copies for friends and family as long as i dont charge or make more than 5 or something

:lmao Making copies for family and friends is exactly the thing they want to prevent! Think about it - if you give away copies to family and friends, then the authors of that disk don't make any money except from the one sale to you.

The copyright laws are governed by the license agreement that you accept when you are paying the licensing fee. Most license agreements allowed for the creation of an archival backup to protect your investment as long as it never left your possession. Unfortunately that archival backup clause has been so abused that most do not allow that anymore either. If you damage your media, you have to get one from the publisher. Even then a lot of them refuse to give you one so you are S.O.L. They want you to buy another copy (in my eyes this is extortion) :grumble

[deathrow]

Ripping and burning CDs for personal use is perfectly legal in the United States. But Thomas Hesse, president of global digital business for Sony BMG, says it accounts for two-thirds of all piracy. "The casual piracy, the schoolyard piracy, is a huge issue for us," he told the Reuters news service last year.

maybe i havent had my coffee but dosent that just state that we are allowed to

*i also find it funny how this thread has over 100 hits and the others about the earth dont :lmao :jawsdown

[Drizzt]

It says you are allowed to for personal use -- not to give away to family and friends.

By the way it is bad form to post a quote without revealing the source... ;)