dahamwirdensalat

Slyck reports that the United States government pressured the swedish government to take action against the Pirate Bay torrent tracker site.
It is one of the rare cases when a foreign nation influences the local government, prosecutors and police forces to press a criminal charge (or, in this case, take actions in an alleged criminal case) against someone. It is worth noting that there is some serious doubt wether there actually was any suspicion of criminal activity that would have warranted the police action against TPB. After all, there seems to be a broad consensus that providing tracker services is legal under swedish law, and the police apparently used a rather weak crutch to justify their actions. They argued that if TPB enabled others to illegally distribute copyrighted materials, it is quite plausible that TPB personnel themselves engaged in such activities (which I would actually argue as being quite unlikely, if they are intelligent persons).
I think it is highly disturbing that the United States tried (and succeeded) to put up so much pressure against an european government that this government actually put that pressure forward to its own law enforcement agencies. Even more so as the factual basis for such actions apparently is very weak, and there is no formal way for the swedish government to influence the actions of its prosecutors.
The fact that states around the world side with the copyright mafiacontent creators by turning something that is basically a civil law dispute into a fellony is worrying enough. When the one country with the most strict copyright regime starts to bully other countries to fall in line, and succeeds, we need a new term to describe this phaenomenon:
Copyright Imperialism

I’ve written a short post about the new copyright law proposed by the german government, comparing the maximum sentence of three years for downloading and/or distributing digital content to other crimes like manslaughter, assault, neglect or human trafficking. All of these crimes have a threat of punishment that is less or equal to three years.

But then, I deleted it. Because it actually doesn’t matter any more. The copyright mafia content providers will win the government over, if they haven’t already. If you want to change copyright law, you need to fight them where it hurts: Sales.

The shortsightedness of todays economy is your biggest ally. Imagine what would happen to the CEO of Sony/BMG if sales dropped for 50%. In one quarter. That is only three months. Don’t buy any CDs for just three months, and you will see them fall. Hard.

Update: Mr. Vetter offers alternatives to consume while boykotting the music industry for one month.