Judge Slams Administration For Ignoring Orders In Warrantless Wiretapping Case

Another Day, Another Bizarre Twist In The Pirate Bay Case

from the ain't-nothing-normal-going-on-here... dept

Wed, May 27th 2009 2:27am — Mike Masnick

It seems like not a day can go by without another oddity popping up having to do with The Pirate Bay trial in Sweden. There was the labels pretending the ruling said stuff it didn't. Then there were the charges of a biased judge -- followed up by charges of bias against not one but two of the judges put in charge of figuring out if the original judge was biased. Oh, and then there was that oddity where Warner Music apparently hired the lead police investigator in the case while he was still investigating the case. The latest such news is that Sweden's Cultural Minister told a gathering of entertainment industry folks that she supported the ruling. Now, to many of us outside of Sweden, that may not seem like a huge deal, but apparently the laws in Sweden state that a gov't minister cannot influence ongoing litigation -- and these comments could be seen as an attempt to support one side of the case. It seems like the oddities around this case are not going away any time soon.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: bias, pirate bay, sweden
Companies: the pirate bay

11 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Tor (profile), 27 May 2009 @ 2:51am

I don't believe the Cultural Minister face any legal danger in this case since she can always say that she just meant that the court's unanimous decision clears up the legal status in the general case and that this is what she welcomes. However she said in a radio interview that "There might have been those at the dinner who didn't share my opinion", so I'm not 100% sure that her statement won't lead to problems.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tor (profile), 27 May 2009 @ 2:58am

Laws
"apparently the laws in Sweden state that a gov't minister cannot influence ongoing litigation"

Btw. this isn't related only to ongoing litigation, but all administrative work of government agencies in individual cases. For example, the minister of justice may decide that fighting copyright infringement should be priority for the police, but he can absolutely not tell the police to do something about the Pirate Bay or any other specific site (the ministers just establish the framework). The former minister of justice has been accused of exactly that, but it never lead anywhere.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Mike Masnick (profile), 27 May 2009 @ 3:04am
  
  Re: Laws
  Thanks for clarifying. That's useful info that definitely adds context. Thanks!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 27 May 2009 @ 4:01am

If I sign up for a profile can I have a profile picture next to my comments?

I have one picked out-- This is me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- al, 27 May 2009 @ 6:05am
  
  Re: pic
  ahhhh u is part of the lee brothers....ug lee that is....
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Killer_Tofu (profile), 27 May 2009 @ 5:45am

The more stuff they pull
The more stuff the entertainment industry tries to pull here and the more of this that comes out, it only makes TPB look that much more like the good guys.
Just more shooting themselves in the foot.
Would expect nothing less.
Adapt or die bitches.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 27 May 2009 @ 5:56am
  
  Re: The more stuff they pull
  It's easy to look like the good guys when you are helping to give away stuff for free. It's the same reason Santa Claus is so popular.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 27 May 2009 @ 6:05am
    
    Re: Re: The more stuff they pull
    At least the pirate bay puts everything out there on the table. We know they hate the RIAA MPAA middle men, we all know they believe in the free distribution of ideas. We don't know where the middle men stand.
    
    That puts them one up in my book. That, and they are trying to let the trial follow its natural progression and not buy off judges.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - bshock, 27 May 2009 @ 8:47am
    
    Re: Re: The more stuff they pull
    Apparently it's also easy to look like the good guys when the other side is corrupt.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 27 May 2009 @ 9:45am
      
      Re: Re: Re: The more stuff they pull
      So I guess the government looks good compared to mass movie, software, and music infringers?
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
spaceman spiff, 27 May 2009 @ 7:16am

Tar Baby
This situation kind of reminds me of the Uncle Remus story about the tar baby. If you touch it, you are stuck! I think that a lot of public officials in Sweden are going to find that the Pirate Bay case (and by inference, copyright issues) is their tar baby, and the backlash from the public, once woken up to the issues that truly apply, is likely to astound them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]