Comments on: Pirate Bay judge ruled unbiased

Swedish court rules the judge in the high-profile Pirate Bay case is not biased. The court will now look at the main appeal of the one-year prison verdict for the men behind the file-sharing site.

[El_Segfaulto]

It must be nice to simply be able to use litigation to keep your bloated and outdated business model afloat for another year.

[AnonTip]

Such blatent, dismissive corruption - another blow for the rule of law in even our supposedly more "civilized" societies.

[mmntech]

I think Sweden has a sever problem with its justice system when it allows a stakeholder to preside over a trial then declares it doesn't make a difference. Of course it does. In the United States and Canada, this would be grounds for an automatic retrial. Freedom of speech and association, particularly here in Canada, do not apply to justices. This is why they cannot run for office while still sitting on the bench. It's also the same reason why juries are so heavily screened and trials are moved. Whether you agree with Pirate Bay or not, this is a miscarriage of justice and raises some red flags about corruption in Sweden. This isn't how justices systems operate in a modern democracy.

[mclaurin10]

agreed, that is like saying he wouldn't be biased if was a member of the "Ban Intellectual Property" club, and then saying that because of that membership he could be very well biased for the plaintiff.

[contentcreator--2008]

Yeah, all robbers should be able to have their judges thrown out --- obviously the judges will be biased because they are all members of a bar society that advocates the laws that will be used to convict the robbers. And only convicted robbers should be allowed as jury, they are the peers, not law-abiding citizens, right?

[tm_anon]

@contentcreator--2008

The two guys who posted above you were making very good points. Did you really have to prove how ridiculous an argument you could make as a counterpoint?

[pentest]

contentcreator,

You have shown that you are an ignorant arse time and again, but this really tops all your other stupidity.

I hope you weren't calling them robbers in your stupid analogy, that is even more dumb then calling them thieves.

[drbyte]

Why do these public torrent site owners even allow these cases to go to court. Why fight, you can't win. The second you get wind there might be a lawsuit brewing you shut the site down, delete server data, and enjoy life. There are too many of these types of public torrent sites to risk jail time defending your right to pretend your blind to whats going on them.

File sharers will not have your back, and neither will the legit businesses that advertise on them.

[codynews]

That's actually why I'm gioing to be SOOOOOOOOOOO happy to see these punk kids go down. I don't think file sharing is the worst crime ever -- and I've even downloaded a movie or two...

That said, these guys were SOOO blatant about it ... and SOOO cocky about it. They were not trying to argue how it should be legal, they were just giving them the middle finger and saying "you can't do **** about it".

I guess we'll see won't we...

[pentest]

Well cody since TPB doesn't host any copyrighted material, what is the problem?

[Daddio2009]

Yo, dude! Theft is theft. Thieves need to be put in prison as punishment for their crimes. What part of that concept do you not understand? It's not a question of big vs. small. It's a question of right vs. wrong.

[El_Segfaulto]

Theft is theft, something is taken and a party is deprived of a good. This is copying, also a crime. Equating the two is extremely disingenuous.

[Darthbane17]

The people in this case have not stolen anything, they just run "search engine" which happens to turn up stolen files. Its not there fault that there are illegal files on the site

[west-town]

Lets put Ford in jail for making the get-a-way car! FAIL!

[karpenterskids]

haha...west-town basically echoed my thoughts and feelings on this matter.

[zelrik]

Data is not something that you can steal, but it's something that you can share. When people will understand that, there will be no more copyrights and that will be a good thing.

[inachu1]

He previously worked for the RIAA YES?

Don't believe the hype.
A track record like this will never be lost and yes he is biased.
He was found to be not biased by biased trail judges and or lawyers district attorneys.
Bunch of CBC's if you ask me....
Do not know what CBC is? Google it in the state of Alaska.

[jdub210]

well here is what i say the pirate bay is simply a search engine that happens to post illegal downloads ok wrong yes but the makers of the piratebay are not responsible because they did not post these illegal downloads and the judge was so biased that his head was up the riaa's a** i mean come on really he not biased at all even though he is a chairman on an anti piracy board come on now

[codynews]

They were not "just a search engine". They were BLATANTLY supporting and assisting in piracy. That's why comparisons to google or Ford (get away car, really? That's the best you have?) are extremely stupid.

Cody

[Jlmc727]

If you are caught after a bank robbery and it is proven that you cased out the bank and planed it but did not commet the robbery should you be convicted?

[bv90andy]

the fact remains that all torrent search engines have traffic only because of illegal content that you can find on these sites. Tell me a single torrent search engine that finds only LEGAL content and is profitable.

And what about Google? They provide links to all sites that have something illegal, links to iligal porn, warez, you can even use Google as a torrent search engine if you type "filetype:torrent" after your query... why isn't anybody suing them?

[redmarine]

Meh, as long as the Pirate Bay wins in the end I'm okay with this setback. It is only a matter if time before the internet will overwhelm these bastards if not then underground and proxies it is.

[drbyte]

Its already like that. A private porn torrent site will have 15,000 registered users within 10 days of going live, with legit businesses putting ads up on it.

[bv90andy]

Why can't those guys who run a torrent search engine just put a line in the code and a blacklist with names of popular singers and movies which the server would not even search for? It is not that hard to make a search engine filter torrents that contain a file of a certain type with a certain name, like an .mp3 or .avi with the word "
eminem" or "matrix".

[pentest]

yeah that makes sense.

Not really. Does ubuntu.torrent mean it is ubuntu, or could it be the matrix?

[bv90andy]

but it would be impossible to find a movie hidden with the name ubuntu + those who will search for ubuntu and come across a movie will rate down the torrent

[DaveHaldolfsen]

I find the best way to evaluate an action is by creating a broader context and applying different terms.

Do publishers sue libraries?

Libraries share books, and while they [libraries] do not recreate copies of books, they do charge money to copy pages (as many as one would want) without giving any of that money back to the publisher. Has the library committed the same crime-facilitating illegitimate recreation? Are libraries exempt by the their long standing process of doing it? If Kindle becomes the next iPod, and all books are offered in a digital format for nominal fee, will the Carnegie Foundation be directed in further expenditures?

This is the desperate attempt of media companies to control access to content. Suing the user has met with very limited success, some telecoms refuse, or aren't required, to comply & the flashy packaging is not working.

The continued action of search engines and users IS a big FU to the media giants (and that is what they are GIANTS, as the little guy couldn't get heard in court, let alone win), and those will are complicit may be called thieves, robbers, pirates, etc., but UNSANCTIONED copying has been an issue since scribes had a guild. Now the understanding involved is greater.

One last thing (of no surprise): on every US military installation in Iraq & Afghanistan illegally copied discs-sometimes entire seasons & series-are for sale. The vendors are subject to innumerable qualifications & rules to open a shop/stand, but NOT profiting from copyrighted material isn't among them. As it US media companies that seem to lead this charge, shouldn't SONY sue the DoD?

[Superbigbob]

Would you arrest someone for giving someone directions to a bank? And that person than robbed the bank?

How about if it was a cop who gave the directions?

Perhaps the "yellow Pages" should be prosecuted for having a directory of possible bank robbery targets.

In all seriousness, they are hosting a database of directory listings only. A great many of the listings are not infracting any copyright law. And the owners of PB do not host ANY illegal content.

Until the day that they outlaw hosting torrent files at all, than in my view they are not breaking the law.

A good point about Google. You can find the SAME torrent files through google. Why isn't google being prosecuted for doing essentially the same thing as PB?

One last thing. It's completely impossible for the judge to be un-biased with his anti file sharing associations. It's like assuming the head of the KKK can be un-biased about a murder trial with a minority defendant.

The truth is in the US this judge could never have even presided over this case with his background.

[IceTheNet]

The legal system of the whole world has been corrupt from the beginning. I am surprised that there are people that are shocked by this. Julius Cesar killed Jesus and was stabbed in the back by his own counsel. That is pretty much how the system works. I am more surprised that TPB didn't see it coming and jump while they had a chance and form a new tracker. BTW Google owns MINI NOVA and is going to court. The only difference is that Google can afford it. And don't think that the US is any better because there not. I Know! I Live there!