The IPTF (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) have this to say on the subject of Piratebay.
The international recording industry today hailed action by the Swedish police to shut down The Pirate Bay, which claims to be the world’s largest BitTorrent search index and a huge source of internet piracy globally.
Today’s action saw raids by 50 police officers on 10 separate locations across Sweden. Police collected evidence and have detained three individuals for questioning.
The Pirate Bay, available in 25 language versions, has been large-scale engine of copyright theft of movies, music, audio books, televisions broadcasts, games and software. The site boasted one million visits a day, facilitating the downloading of a vast range of copyrighted material by users around the world and acting as a tracker for the world’s top 100 BitTorrent sites.
The Pirate Bay has consistently defied legal warnings by copyright holders over recent months, its Swedish operators making no secret of their contempt for copyright laws. The site was nonetheless a commercially-run operation, running banner advertising on its pages.
Today’s police actions followed the submission of several reports by IFPI, working alongside the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau and MPA.
IFPI Sweden Director-General Lars Gustafsson said: “The Pirate Bay has been facilitating illegal file-swapping of copyrighted material on very large scale and with blatant disregard for both music creators and copyright laws. This is a very good development for the Swedish music industry and for the real innovators and entrepreneurs who are trying to build a legal online digital business”
Chairman and CEO John Kennedy said: “This is a very important development for Sweden, a country with a fantastically rich music culture yet which has more recently acquired a reputation as a haven for copyright infringement. The Pirate Bay has damaged the legitimate music industry on an international scale and I am very pleased that the Swedish authorities have today taken such decisive action against it.”
Big bold statement done in the manner to be expected, hailing their triumph at another victory over Internet file sharers, whilst at the same time make a powerful statement to the little guy, “Beware, big brother is watching you.“. Whilst many companies try to promote a convivial persona, these guys really want to scare people to further their cause.
I would love to see Piratebay win this case; the smack in the mouth it would deal the US recording industry would be unprecidented. Even in the event that they lose, Piratebay will have done their bit in promoting the evils of Copyright laws and the global domination that US corporations seems to hold over the rest of the world. What’s the recording industry going to do when software is developed that will enable people to anonymously host services like Piratebay? It already exists and no doubt a test case is looming in the distance.
Lars Gustafsson said: “The Pirate Bay has been facilitating illegal file-swapping of copyrighted material on very large scale and with blatant disregard for both music creators and copyright laws.” Brilliant deduction there Lars, it’s good to know you are earning your keep. I hate to point out the obvious, but facilitating illegal file-swapping in this context could be applied to Internet core routers, DNS servers, and a whole host of other services that connect computers together. Your mouth facilitates the spreading of bullshit, perhaps it should be sewn up.
Note: The IPTF is really just a front for the RIAA. I guess they prefer to supress the America bit when acting internationaly.