The Pirates of Sealand

[Dregor Thule]

The Pirate Bay, one of the world's most popular websites for the illegal downloading of films through filesharing, has said it wanted to buy its own island in a bid to avoid copyright laws.

"It's not only about Pirate Bay, it's more about having a nation with no copyright laws," one of those behind the site, who gave his name only as Peter, told AFP Friday.

The group said it would consider any territory in international waters to avoid copyright legislation.

"For Pirate Bay it would be awesome to have no copyright law. All countries today are based on the old economy and old ideas and we want to do something new," he added.

On Friday the group established a website -- http://www.buysealand.com -- as a discussion forum and to raise funds to buy Sealand, a former British naval platform and self-proclaimed principality six miles (10 kilometres) off the eastern coast of Britain.

No country recognises Sealand.

"We would love Sealand because its history is perfect for us as pirate radio used to be broadcast from there. If we don't get enough money for Sealand we are going to try for a small island somewhere," Peter said.

Pirate Bay was undeterred by Sealand's two-billion-dollar price tag.

The amount was a "show price," Peter said. "We would love to move there and move all our servers there."

The Pirate Bay site -- http://www.thepiratebay.org -- was shut down by Swedish police in May 2006. The site then reopened using servers in The Netherlands before returning to Sweden in June.

The Pirate Bay provides instructions on how to share music and film files using links offered on the site and attracts some 1.5 million users throughout the world everyday.

In 2005 the Scandinavian country passed a law banning the sharing of copyrighted material on the Internet without payment of royalties, in a bid to crack down on free downloading of music, films and computer games.

Filesharing in Sweden carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

I saw the new logo for this on thepiratebay.org the other day (after having read about the "nation" of Sealand being up for sale) and thought it was an amusing joke. Then I read this article, and it moved from amusing to hilarious.

[kyoukan]

"For Pirate Bay it would be awesome to have no copyright law. All countries today are based on the old economy and old ideas and we want to do something new," he added.

The "old economy" being the one that they steal 100% of their content from.

[MooZilla]

I cringe every time i have to look at a major label release. You'd be surprised at how little they make off of a single CD. If i remember correctly, they make somewhere around three cents per sold disc. They have to pay for their own transportation, recording time, advertising, and accomidations (sp). Major artists don't get the huge paycheck that they want us to think. They definitely don't make their money off of records - i'll tell you that.

[Truant]

I cringe every time i have to look at a major label release. You'd be surprised at how little they make off of a single CD. If i remember correctly, they make somewhere around three cents per sold disc. They have to pay for their own transportation, recording time, advertising, and accomidations (sp). Major artists don't get the huge paycheck that they want us to think. They definitely don't make their money off of records - i'll tell you that.

Not directly no, but indirectly record sales have a huge impact on their income.

Tours make up an overwhelming majority of a music artist's income, and their ability to book venues is based on a number of factors, not the least of which is record sales. (we're not talking about long running successful acts who can still do a massive world tour after a mediocre album, just before someone tries to argue the exception as the majority)

[kyoukan]

But what abous succes- MOTHER FUCKER

[Truant]

But what abous succes- MOTHER FUCKER

[Winnow]

Four Pirate Bayers given 1 year in jail and lotta money fines but Pirate Bay still up and running:

http://i.gizmodo.com/5216062/pirate-bay ... und-guilty

[Aslanna]

Well they aren't in jail yet... There are still appeals. According to one interview I heard it would be 4-5 years before it was said and done.

[Deward]

It would be a lot cheaper to higher Blackwell to "evict" everyone currently on sealand. Last I heard it was just a few hippy squatters there.

[Aslanna]

http://www.stockholmnews.com/more.aspx?NID=3100

The judge in the much noted Pirate Nay trial could have been biased. According to public radio SR is Judge Tomas Nordström member in several associations treating copyright issues.

- It is my belief that the judge should have resigned from the trial. It is a clear situation of conflict of interests, says attorney Leif Silbersky to public radio SR.

Judge Nordström is a board member the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property and member in the Swedish Association for Copyright, where other members are Henrik Pontén, Peter Danowsky and Monique Wadsted who all represented copyright owners in the Pirate Bay trial.

The association says to be “a meeting place for qualified discussions on copyright”.

- I have judged in the trial since I have evaluated that there is no conflict of interests. What is said about my membership in the Swedish Association for Copyright is no ground for conflict of interests. It is an association that shall foster knowledge about copyright and be a place for discussions. I am a member because I want to follow the development and the debate, says Tomas Norström.

He also firmly refuses the accusations that he uses to privately socialise with the attorneys of the complainers in the trial.

- No, it is not correct, Norström says.

One of the original lay assessors, a composer, had to leave his assignment since it was rated that there would be a conflict of interests.

The Pirate Party demands that the trial shall be retaken.

“This is corruption and abuse of power on an inexcusable level. The judge in the most noticed trial of the whole year is member of an association who is a part in the trial. The whole trial has to be retaken”, writes Rick Falkvinge, party leader, in a press release.

[Fairweather Pure]

They were given prison time for posting links. This should concern a lot more people.

I think that eventually they will walk.

[Aslanna]

Yeah I was confused.. Was it a civil trial or a criminal trial? At least in the US you don't get jail time out of a civil trial. I don't know the laws in Sweden!

[Aslanna]

The Pirate Bay looks set to have new owners in August

File-sharing site The Pirate Bay has been sold to a Swedish gaming company.

Global Gaming Factory (GGF) has paid 60m kronor (£4.7m) to take over the site from its founders.

Once it has taken control, GGF said it would start paying copyright fees for the movies, music and games linked to via the site.

In April, The Pirate Bay owners were found guilty of promoting copyright infringement, fined 30m kronor and were sentenced to one year in jail.