The Swedish supreme court has heard and ruled on this case. This author is as uniformed as he is ignorant. No one can download copyrighted content from Pirate Bay. It is not like Kazaa in any way. They do not host any such files, and no can share such files on the Bay. The only shared files (.torrent) have no copyright content, and offer nothing but information.

The US has attempted to impose US law on Swedish citizens, destroying a common idea called NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY. The fact, I am a US citizen, and it pains me to be a part of this hypocrisy.

Freedom! (provided you agree with law dictated by the RIAA and MPAA)

It's all about money.

"The site creates Torrent files..." I think this is incorrect, as the site does not create torrents, users of the site do. The site does store and provide access to the files however.

Negative Posted Comments are Screened Out. Even when factually correct. This article however, is not factually correct. Go to the pirate bay, and try to download a movie, oh thats rights, you cant. They don't offer movies... just .torrent files. no copyrights there.

Long live the Pirates!!!

It makes torrents available for download uploaded by community members.

Pirate Bay is not going down. Pirates rules, MPAA drools.

Mark Raby's article is factually incorrect and you do not post my correction?

Why bother with a comments section, are you looking for us to sing your praises?

This is total bullshit.
They're not hosting any of the illegal content on their servers.
This would be the equivalent of a stranger asking me if i can get him some weed, and me telling the stranger that I know a guy who knows a guy who knows several people who can score him some weed, and that he hangs out down the street in the parking lot of the 7-11 across the street from the discount cigarette store, and next to the laundry mat.

now what that stranger does with the information after i give it to him is an action of his own free will.
if he uses that info to commit an illegal act such as purchasing illegal narcotics, or downloading a copyrighted file from the internet that's his business, and his wrongdoing.
but there isn't a jury on earth that would prosecute me for informing him what i knew.

all of us know someone who is right now breaking the law in some minor, or major way, but do we rat/narc on them? no! so are we criminals for shielding them from the law? technically yes, but if what they're doing isn't that bad in the first place (eg slacking at work, calling in sick when not sick, slanging a little weed, downloading a song from a CD they already bought & own, downloading a screener rip of a movie before deciding whether or not it's worth $10.50 to see in a theater.) then who the fuck cares?

If TPB is convicted, the Majors are in for one f*ck of a global revolt!

You call yourself a journalist?
Learn the facts before you write such rubbish!

Now rapidshare and thepiratebay, tomorrow yahoo, hotmail and gmail for what their users attach and send to friends. Then, why the hell will you want to rip a song from your own cd? To use it onto your portable player? No way, go buy that song again, with drm and stuff, because if you just rip it you might be tempted to give it to a friend. You are not to have the freedom of choice to be good or evil, nothing evil will be allowed to do, ever. Software rippers will be forbidden by law. Having a computer that is not connected to the internet will be forbidden. Players will not allow you to change batteries, and will keep track of time and will require regular updates and control. Radio players will have no option of recording in digital way, or they will just have the preview (10 to 30 seconds) option for recording...
Sorry for drifting towards something like the worst case scenario. I just believe that if we (users, whose right are being violated) give them (big moneymaking corporations) ground, they'll ask for more and more. They can make money by providing better products and all of us will gain, but that's the hard way for those who have to work for R&D. It's easier to just sit back and relax while just collecting.
And true art (since a big deal of this copyright management is about protecting the artist) is not about making money. While in the big joined expensive art efforts (movies/games), there is room for improvement, which creates the money making scheme that will allow such enterprises to happen in the first place.
So what will it be, less money for everybody but more fun and freedom of choice, or more money for those who already have the money so that they can spend it in more fun for themselves, with the result of less fun in the whole world due to less improvement and envy. Oh wait, envy and the consumerism are the foundations of some economies (you know what I'm talking about)...

"This would be the equivalent of a stranger asking me if i can get him some weed, and me telling the stranger that I know a guy who knows a guy who knows several people who can score him some weed, and that he hangs out down the street in the parking lot of the 7-11 across the street from the discount cigarette store, and next to the laundry mat.

now what that stranger does with the information after i give it to him is an action of his own free will.
if he uses that info to commit an illegal act such as purchasing illegal narcotics, or downloading a copyrighted file from the internet that's his business, and his wrongdoing."

If he asks where to get the stuff, you tell him and he does, it is conspiracy. He does not even have to break the law, Just one overt act like driving to 7-11, and it is conspiracy.

RIAA is trying to run free world as jail, where all their customers are prisoners of addiction to RIAA’s supervised music. All people with computers, especially students, are criminals, and if you punish couple of them hard enough ($100k fines, racketeering style settlements $3k) the rest will change behavior.

You're all a bunch of whining babies.
Why do so many people think it's "their right" to download torrents?

No, they don't host the movies etc. But if I made my house available for someone to sell crack in that's illegal. It's called conspiracy.

So when did TG become a hangout for a bunch of uninformed teenagers?

1) providing a network for illegal file sharing makes you liable for your users' actions, especially when you profit from it (advertising).

2) Anarchy_Creator: that's called being a connection, and will rightfully get you put away.

3) this isn't just about music and videos, there's a ton of software warez happening on sites like this, which also affects very, very small companies without much money.

When a small company's software is warez-ed money is taken away from the mouths of the employees and their families, not just the company. This has a tremendous impact on the company, the products, and the employees' future.

Oh, I know the logic, it's not like these people were going to pay for the software anyway, but the point is; nothing is free, if you're unwilling to compensate people for their efforts you have no right using their work. If you spent all day watching people walk into your house and take things you've worked hard for, and then had to listen to the logic “hey, I wasn't going to pay you for this anyway, so it's no big deal”, you'd feel differently.

The sad fact is these guys are only looking at a maximum of two years, instead of much, much more time locked away.

Btw: I hate the music and movie license forced on us too, but that doesn't mean I condone theft.

It is not like kazaa and is NOT a source for users to share or download content, copyrighted or otherwise.
Way to research a story.

how you people can delude yourself into believing the piratebay doesn't support piracy is hilarious.

ok, so, "technically" the actual .torrent file doesn't contain copyrighted content. but it certainly does tell you where to get it. and that's definitely "making available".

they call themselves the freaking "pirate bay", it's so laughable that they could deny connections to online piracy. i'm glad they're getting charged, after years of hiding behind the "oh im from sweden you can't charge me" defense they're getting what they deserve.

the people that run the pirate bay are arrogant idiots.

note, i'm not saying organizations like the MPAA or RIAA are at all correct in their attitudes either. but these fools need to be set straight.

WOOT!

The sooner websites that support and/pr host pirated software, the better.

Maybe then the software will become more cheap for normal consumers, and a greedy pack that want all for free and cracked will have to pay for the software too.

If you developed a program, would you like to have it cracked and spread via sites like pirate bay?

Piratebay is for downloading Adobe CS3 or whatever without having to pay for it. Everybody knows this. In simple terms this debate is about whether you think this is right or wrong!

Find a copy of CS3 on any of PB's servers and I will agree. You won't find any software period. What's on your HD????? aaaa...

I think that its obvious that this copyright battle is fought using the wrong weapons. This approach did not and will not solve the problem of illegal file sharing. As long as there is internet, there will be a server, an application, a site, a country with loose legal system, something that somehow facilitates the exchange of cracked or stolen content. And the trend will just move from the old method to the new method. If the lawyers go too lightly, everybody will know how to do it. If they go too hard, they step on the realm of absolutism, freedom and privacy issues thus creating much public heat. What organizations like RIAA and MPAA are doing is trying to cope and make things manageable: from time to time they hit one of the big players. In the long run this is not a solution. Business models have to change, mentality has to change, education and morality have to be taught, new and flexible laws have to better reflect whats out there. In the mean time this is all a big circus, with dumb clowns like RIAA and MPAA and cool clowns like Pirate Bay, Torrentspy etc.