Four Years In, How Successful Has Hollywood's Attack On The Pirate Bay Been?

from the not-very... dept

TorrentFreak alerts us to the news that May 31st was the four year anniversary of the raid that took down The Pirate Bay. So it seems worth checking in to see how well that went. As you may recall, right after the raid happened (very much because of MPAA pressure), the MPAA put out a statement, insisting that this raid was a huge victory for the MPAA:

"The actions today taken in Sweden serve as a reminder to pirates all over the world that there are no safe harbors for Internet copyright thieves," said Dan Glickman, Chairman & CEO of the MPAA. "Intellectual property theft is a problem for film industries all over the world and we are glad that the local government in Sweden has helped stop The Pirate Bay from continuing to enable rampant copyright theft on the Internet."

Of course, Glickman was overstating things just a bit. The raid did not stop The Pirate Bay from continuing anything. In fact, the raid merely took the site down for a couple days, but the publicity from the raid massively increased visitors to the site. I have to admit that, at the time of the raid, I'd never heard of The Pirate Bay myself. Since then, of course, there have been multiple attempts to take the site down, all of which have failed. The latest of which resulted in the Swedish Pirate Party taking on hosting duties for the site.

And, of course, there's the infamous lawsuit. While it did result in guilty verdicts against four people associated with the site, it hasn't stopped the site from operating at all, and recent attempts to collect money from the defendants in the lawsuit have mostly turned up nothing. While it's a bit disturbing that the entertainment industry was able to hand the fines over to debt collectors while the case is still on appeal, those debt collectors have only been able to seize $30,000 of the over $6 million owed -- and all of it's from Carl Lundstrom, who was only loosely associated with the site in the first place.

It really does make you wonder why the MPAA and the RIAA have bothered with all of this. It hasn't even remotely slowed file sharing down. In fact, their actions have helped advertise The Pirate Bay worldwide and made those running it into celebrities. And, even if they eventually do shut down the site, a dozen others will quickly step up to take its place. At some point, you have to wonder when they will realize it's time to figure out ways to focus on building a better business model rather than trying to do the impossible and deny what technology allows.

Filed Under: entertainment industry, file sharing, pirate bay
Companies: mpaa, the pirate bay

Italian Pirate Bay Block Leads To Massive Traffic Boost For Competing Torrent Sites

from the whac-a-mole dept

A decade into the entertainment industry's massive game of whac-a-mole when it comes to file sharing sites, you would think that people would realize that blocking or banning any particular site doesn't do a damn thing to slow the pace of file sharing around the globe. Instead, it does two things: (1) informs more people of the social norm of unauthorized file trading and (2) causes people to scatter to more sites, usually further underground and even more difficult to identify and stop. And, indeed, that appears to be the case in Italy. You may recall that the Italian Supreme Court recently decided that it was okay for a lower court to block The Pirate Bay (the lower court is now deciding what to do), but in response, it appears that users have already figured out how to scatter to other sites, as many other torrent sites have seen an influx of Italian users. Another mole whacked, and yet, more keep popping up. It's difficult to see how this is a particularly good strategic policy.

Filed Under: bittorrent, italy, pirate bay, traffic
Companies: the pirate bay

Rednex Release New Single On Pirate Bay, Explain Why Record Labels Will Die

from the pirate-eyed-joe dept

If you're a NY Yankees fan, for at least the past decade, you've probably become familiar with the song "Cotton Eye Joe" that is played in the middle of the eighth inning of every game. That version of the old southern folks song is done by a Swedish band, Rednex, and the song was quite a hit for the band back in the mid-nineties (hit number 1 on the charts in 15 different countries). Since then, the band has sold millions of albums -- but it has decided to go in a somewhat different direction with its latest music: it's promoting it on The Pirate Bay along with a massive 28 page pamphlet explaining why record labels will die (pdf), but file sharing will thrive -- and they want to be in front of that wave.

The explanation shows that the band really does seem to be embracing both aspects of the CwF + RtB mantra. The band says that some of the reason the old record labels don't like them is that they don't try to hold themselves out as being better than their fans, but really like to hang out with the fans and party with them. As for the "RtB" part, the band isn't just giving away its music for free, it's got a variety of ways for fans to support the band and get value back. The band claims that it has no idea how to make money, but that doesn't appear to be the case in reality seeing it offers up a whole bunch of ways to support the band:

At our website one can also get a membership. You can be a free member but also a paying member for anything between 3 to 666 Euro. For this you can get free stuff, such as a cap with a cow that says, "I want moooore!!!" ( ... We didn't say it was funny, just that you could ... ) or free downloads of music, pics and videos, chat with us, read articles and interviews, win backstage passes or even order a prank call from us to your boss in the middle of the night! At the website we also have ads where we get some money if they are clicked on.

But the band also realizes that perhaps its fans might have some good RtB ideas as well:

But also -- we want your ideas!! So how the hell can we make a living on our music now?? Tell us. Help us. Call your local bar and tell them to book us for a show! Call Jack Daniels and ask him to sponsor us! Call the circus and ask for vacancies! Any support we can get are we happy for...

But in the end the band is sure that file sharing isn't just the future, but that it benefits everyone. While I don't fully agree with the band's claim that record labels will disappear in 12 years (perhaps a more accurate version is that record labels as we know them will disappear in that time), the entire explanation of what's going on in the music business is well worth reading. The band points out, quite accurately, that file sharing is not going away, and the moral and legal questions people raise are pretty pointless. It points out that the big four major record labels have basically done everything wrong with little effort to really adapt. Then, amusingly, they suggest that any employees at such labels might want to bail out sooner rather than later -- to prevent having such a dead end company on the resume for too long. They also suggest that new bands avoid signing with the majors, knowing that from here on out they'll just be stuck in the rapid decline phase.

And, in the end, the band is thrilled about all that opportunity:

Well, well, sad tunes, huh? Actually, not at all! The fact is that this development is only bad news to a few individuals. For the rest of us it's fantastic and hugely beneficial, and not simply in terms getting free access to music and film, but in relieving all costs, borders and delay to obtain access to ALL information across the globe. The benefit to mankind is so monumental that it cannot be compared to anything that we have experienced before.

This movement is part of something much greater and we all need to expand our perspectives to realise the enormous value and potential that lies within it.

I'm just quoting a few select parts, but an awful lot of the arguments made in the paper sound like what we talk about here. Take, for example, this section on copyright:

This debate needs to be taken to another level. It is no longer relevant or even interesting to discuss whether someone has the moral right or not to exclusively demand rights to one's music or ideas. It is not at all as clear-cut as the music business and various law enforcement institutions claim.

The copyright is definitely not a holy natural right that people acquire at birth. The concept that as soon as someone has an idea they also have the right to it is absurd. Copyright is something that is claimed and needs supporters to then assert the claim. There is nothing wrong in trying to capitalise on one's ideas but it is important to realise that this is not a given right that everyone automatically must agree to and respect.

It's a good read, and definitely great to see yet another band that seems to have embraced what the technology allows, and are jumping fully into new business model experiments.

Filed Under: business models, music, pirate bay, rednex

Another Day, Another Bizarre Twist In The Pirate Bay Case

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

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.

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

Pirate Bay Judge Accused Of Conflict In Another Case As Well

from the oops dept

Following the revelation that the judge in The Pirate Bay case may have had a serious conflict of interest, it looks like the Swedish press has decided to investigate some of his other decisions as well. So now they've turned up another recent case (article in Swedish, here's the Google translation), this time involving BMW, where the judge appears to have been connected to the lawyers representing BMW as well. It's not clear how close the connection was, but it does bring into question why a judge, who's in charge of interpreting laws, should be associated with any group that is advocating a specific change in the law -- because it's difficult to see how he could be impartial in any related case.

Filed Under: conflict of interest, judge, pirate bay, sweden

Warner Brothers Hires Lead Police Investigator On The Pirate Bay Lawsuit

from the conflicts-of-interest dept

Stephen Holthaus writes in to point us to a press release from The Pirate Bay about the fact that the chief police inspector who built the case against the Pirate Bay in Sweden has now been hired by Warner Brothers. Unfortunately, it seems like the folks at the Pirate Bay may be overplaying this news, implying that he was employed by Warner Brothers while conducting the investigation. Instead, the details show that he merely switched jobs last month. That's not as scandalous as the Pirate Bay folks make it out to be. While they do have a point in suggesting that some of his investigative work may have been part of the "job interview," it's not unreasonable that Warner Brothers would decide to hire someone who had the experience this investigator had. After all, the RIAA and all of the major record labels have a history of hiring former law enforcement officials (no matter how pointless their "anti-piracy" efforts are). So, while it may call into question the guy's objectivity during the trial, the guys at the Pirate Bay probably should tone down the moral outrage on this one.

Filed Under: investigation, pirate bay, sweden
Companies: pirate bay, warner brothers

The Pirate Bay Launches Blog System For Those Worried About Censorship

from the standing-up dept

You have to hand it to the folks who run The Pirate Bay. They certainly don't hesitate to stand up for themselves and refuse to be pushed around. They've spent so much time fighting back against attempts to take them down and sue them, that they figured they might as well make use of that "core competence" in other areas. So, apparently, they're setting up a censorship-free blogging platform, which they claim will be available for those who don't want to worry about weak-willed hosting firms pulling down a blog at the first legal threat. There have been a few hosting firms who have advertised similar services, but the Pirate Bay guys have the reputation to live up to their word.

Filed Under: blogs, censorship, pirate bay, takedowns
Companies: pirate bay

Pirate Bay Wants IFPI To Pay Up For Danish ISP Block

from the poking-ifpi-with-a-stick dept

The folks behind the Pirate Bay certainly aren't ones to shy away from a fight. In fact, they seem to enjoy it. The latest is that they're demanding compensation from the IFPI for downtime associated with the IFPI's successful efforts to force Danish ISPs to block access to The Pirate Bay. The Pirate Bay says it will ask for a "reasonable" sum, rather than an extraordinary amount as is typical of the entertainment industry. It also says it will use any money it gets from the IFPI to fund Danish artists who want to give away their works online. While the guys at the Pirate Bay reasonably complain that the entire lawsuit between the IFPI and Danish ISPs never involved The Pirate Bay or gave the site a chance to make its own argument (despite being entirely about the site), this request for compensation may be pushing the boundaries a bit -- especially considering that even The Pirate Bay folks have admitted that the ban eventually resulted in more traffic. Perhaps they should send some money to the IFPI to thank them for all that "free" advertising.

Filed Under: blocks, compensation, denmark, pirate bay
Companies: ifpi, pirate bay

Sweden Becoming Less Friendly To File Sharing

from the all-that-lobbying-pays-off dept

Despite having politicians who seem to actually understand the real issues at stake surrounding file sharing (hint: it's not a legal problem having to do with "pirates"), it appears that some in the country are getting fed up with the entertainment industry trying to portray Sweden as a "haven for pirates" thanks to the Pirate Bay (which isn't even hosted in Sweden any more). Earlier this year charges were filed against The Pirate Bay, even though it's still not clear if they actually violated any laws. And, now, some Swedish politicians are saying that ISPs should be required to cough up the information of those accused of sharing files. Oddly, this comes so soon after the EU decided that IP addresses are private info and various other countries in Europe have ruled that ISPs shouldn't hand over info, as user privacy is much more important than propping up the entertainment industry's business model.

Filed Under: file sharing, isps, pirate bay, privacy, sweden
Companies: pirate bay

Did Yahoo Delete The Pirate Bay From Search Results?

from the making-friends?--or-enemies? dept

There's a lot of buzz going around concerning reports that Yahoo has deleted The Pirate Bay from its search index, though it appears not everyone is seeing it. There hasn't been an official explanation just yet -- and it could be an accidental move or simply a hiccup, but it raises some questions about Yahoo's search index when such a site disappears. This is especially true given the controversial (deserved or not) nature of The Pirate Bay, and the efforts by the entertainment industry to shut the site down. Initially, we're willing to give Yahoo the benefit of the doubt, but a full explanation of what happened would be useful at this point.

Filed Under: missing sites, pirate bay, search index
Companies: pirate bay, yahoo