Court jails Pirate Bay founders
The BBC has an excellent write up about The Pirate Bay case/verdict.
Now on to my little blurb on the subject....
The Pirate Bay for years have basically told law enforcement agencies to kiss their ass, and flaunted it on their website. They thought there wasn't a court in the land that would find them guilty of not only providing links (torrents if you will) to the masses, but promoting piracy.
There are those that will say TPB has done nothing wrong because the don't actually host any pirated software. Or that Google should face the same punishment because you can find torrents on their website. Here is the vast difference between TPB and Google. Google, may contain torrent links to pirated material, they make an honest effort to remove the offending links. TPB added illigal torrents, and based on their legal threats page laughed at the mere thought of removing anything. Apparently someone isn't above the law after all.
They scoffed at the media, the law, the warnings.. all while making a pretty hefty profit from piracy. The website was a revenue stream for the owners. It wasn't a hobby website. Other than selling shirts, providing links to pirated material in the way or torrents, or laughing at all the legal threats they got, there was nothing to the website but a picture of a Pirate Ship and a search gateway to all the illegal material one could want.
What I don't understand is the outpouring of support for these guys?!?!? They are criminals. They exploited every single user that came to their site by forcing advertising on them, or outright asked for donations. So the idiots that wouldn't pay for software if their lives depended on it, were basically paying these guys for the opportunity to download it. Great wisdom there boys.. way to "stick it to the man!"
It never surprises me the length that someone will go to not pay a company directly for their products, but are more than willing to pay someone else to hold their username and password to a website that will allow them to steal it from the corporations. Paying is paying right? What happened to your stance on all software is supposed to be free? Or that you aren't actually stealing because Joe next door is doing the same thing as you, so how could you BOTH be stealing something that someone else is going help themselves to as well?
To all the knuckleheads and morons out there, let me fill in the blanks for you:
1. There are costs associated with making software or media. These include: costs for packaging, shipping, advertising, the heath benefits to the employees, company parties... you know EMPLOYMENT RELATED COSTS. Maybe you don't because Mom and Dad still let you live in the basement hoping that one day you will shower, let alone go out and get a damn job.
2. Theft hurts everyone! The prices for merchandise is high because they have to rise the price due to the level of theft. I know this because I have been told by major corporations that if piracy of their product dropped even 20%, it would reduce the actual cost at the register for all those law abiding people. It would also allow them to pay Jow Blow down in shipping more money because he works hard. It would allow them to offer Jow Blow's son who is dying from cancer, better medical coverage so he can get the treatment options that normally his Father can't afford. Piracy is theft and it affects more than just the bottom line price. It affects everyone... and I mean everyone.
Do you see it now? Probably not... This why I will be here tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that.
I would however like to thank the TPB for showing that the law does work. It might be slow and methodic, but it does work.
So enjoy your time away from the rest of society, and remember when your asses are being sold for cigarettes in the yard, that the "scene" is still behind you. Everytime your cell mate is using your chin as a nut rest, the "scene" is still behind you. Everytime your cellmate is making sure you don't shit right for the next week, the "scene" is behind you.
Thank god for the "scene". :)