This fits right into the recent shock and awe campaign against Internet piracy (read about OnSmash and RapGodFathers if you haven’t already). Yesterday, founders Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, Carl Lundstrom, and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg of The Pirate Bay Bittorrent site were denied their appeal to their jail sentences, having been found guilty of assisting the piracy of copyrighted material last year, and are facing hefty charges for their crimes.
The Swedish pirates (minus Gottfrid, who was stricken with “illness”) appeared in court yesterday and were awarded ten, eight, and four month jail sentences respectively along with a hefty £4.1 million ($6.3 million American dollars) fine for their crimes against various record labels.
Francis Moore, CEO of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry represented the music industry at the hearing, and gladly applauded the sentences doled out to the Swedish music pirates:
“Today’s judgement confirms the illegality of The Pirate Bay and the seriousness of the crimes of those involved,” she said. "We now look to governments and ISPs to take note of this judgment, do the responsible thing and take the necessary steps to get The Pirate Bay shut down."
Yes, The Pirate Bay is still up and running, and according to their blog, the site is “the most resilient bittorrent site” on the Internet. It’s a good site for what it does (I may or may not have used it), and is ranked as the 91st most popular website in the world, having over 4 million registered users. If you’ve never visited, it’s a website that indexes Bittorrent files including music, movies, video games, and various other “illegal” things." Though it still operates, it has been banned in a handful of countries including Germany, China, and the U.K.
No, ICE, I'm not condoning the use of the website.