http://arstechnica.com/ne...-cars.html


In addition to facing the wrath of content owners around the world, The Pirate Bay's administrators have recently been facing a much more local threat: camera-toting investigators following them around in cars marked with Danish plates. Is Prince to blame?

Prince loves sticking it to the man—this is the guy who changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and performed with the word "slave" written on his face when he was unhappy about his recording contract. But when "the man" is Prince himself and the one doing the sticking is BitTorrent search site The Pirate Bay, Prince reaches for the lawyer stick. He has declared himself out to "reclaim the Internet," and The Pirate Bay is at the top of his list (fan sites appear to be on the list as well).

Peter Sunde, a Pirate bay admin, tells Ars that the Purple One's legal team has already started leaning on some advertisers to drop support for the site. "We're not even worried, since the Internet is too big for morally upset people to get it their way," Sunde said in an e-mail. "I'm just sad that Prince—whose music I really like—can't understand that he's the new Metallica versus Napster. And we all know who lost that..."

Comparing his site to the original Napster seems a bit strange, since Napster was eventually shuttered and then retooled after legal pressure. Sunde doesn't want to go the way of the original Napster, of course, but similar legal pressures on the site are ratcheting up. The newest wrinkle in the long saga of The Pirate Bay: investigators following Pirate Bay members around in cars with Danish plates. Sunde says that the investigators are taking pictures from inside the car "with a flash, so I'm not sure how smart they are." He notes that something similar happened last year before a police raid on Pirate Bay servers.

He is "quite sure" that this is related to Prince's own announced plan to sue the site (though a Swedish prosecutor has also announced plans to sue the administrators in the next couple of months). "What do they think they can find out by following us around?" Sunde asks. "Everything we do is digital."

It's just another strange day in the increasingly strange life of a Pirate Bay admin.

man, someone please remove all these idiot "yes men" who prince surrounds himself with...this just reads like a bad woody allen movie.

sosgemini said:

violetblues said:

hey, save that for prince...i'm enjoying a good laugh...at his expense.

sosgemini said:

lol, dont worry there's plenty to go around,

im enjoying a good laught at your expence

violetblues said:

why would you be laughing at me? what have i done besides sharing my opinion?

.
[Edited 11/19/07 20:36pm]

The Napster comparison is ....odd

"we all know who lost that", uh Napster? I doubt Prince will shut them down, but that's just weird.


.
[Edited 11/19/07 21:02pm]

Prince has secret agents that hound?

ElCapitan said:

i think the point he was trying to make is that everybody got the nuts in a knot over Napster in 1999 and 2000, and even though Napster did have to shut down and come back as something else, it did absolutely nothing to stop the spread of pirated music on the internet.

Nice how the "journalist" attributes mysterious Danish cars following them around to a Prince action without ever finding out the truth. What ever happened to journalists printing only facts? Pirate Bay has been under scrutiny by many organizations. Every month someone else is after them. Maybe this is their way of lashing out because they know they have no legal ground to stand on.

And um yeah, Napster definitely lost that battle.

deepabove said:

Since when did journalists only print facts ?


I suggest you have a look at their legal page, they seem to differ. In fact, they haven't broken any laws. And if Prince is relying on Web Sheriff to tackle them I don't think it'll happen, not after the pasting ole' Sheriff got from them the last time (all the email exchanges between them and Web Sheriff are on their legal page in full hilarous detail).


Napster may not have won, but the point being made is that neither did Metallica. It's just as easy to download their stuff now as it ever was.

ufoclub said:

Even though the JW's don't come a-knocking around my house all that often,
I find that the few times that they did,
was enough.

tock said:

tock said:

ufoclub said:

"The newest wrinkle in the long saga of The Pirate Bay: investigators following Pirate Bay members around in cars with Danish plates. Sunde says that the investigators are taking pictures from inside the car "with a flash, so I'm not sure how smart they are."

AsylumUtopia said:

Exactly! Not to mention that Metallica lost a good percentage of their fan base.

Hahaha

poor prince.. what a joke

deepabove said:

Um forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but if they have no legal ground to stand on why are they still in business?

Despite numerous Police raids and incredible scrutiny from every law enforcement agency they are still uncharged let alone unconvicted

I dont condone what they do but it is legal

Markland said:

Jeez c'mon get off it already.
you know how bit torrents sites work, they direct you to the computer that actually contains the information, so no, they dont have it, they just take you to it.

laws move slower than technology, and likewise, as new technology emerges it also calls into question whether new laws are needed.

Apparently Danish authorities are working to rectify this.
Secondly, you say that since there is nothing anybody can do about it then it is foolish to try and stop it.

It is foolish NOT to try and stop it..... believe me nobody likes lawsuits, they take a lot of time and money even IF your in the right.

If you are in a bussiness that is constantly facing lawsuits, its only a matter of time before you call it quits, and Prince and Microsoft and Dreamworks evrybody being ripped off need to keep bombarding them till they get they get message.

Lastly you said that you dont like people telling you what to do?
Do you live alone in a bubble? LOL
You are either very young or very stupid. either way there is hope

violetblues said:

It is pointless launching spurious law suits until the law is changed

All that happens if you go down that road is you end up getting sued yourself

Courts also take a very dim view of those type of tactics

So isn't the sensible course of action to bring pressure to bear on legislators rather than tie up courts with cases you have no chance of winning?

As for torrenting, its been around for years and is hardly new technology

As for being told what to do, I have the luxury of not having to tolerate that

Could you also refrain from the personal insults?

It kind of undermines any validity in the points you raise

Markland said:

Agreed...

Markland said:

When napster, limewire, etc., etc., first arrived the believed they were well within the law, … or so they thought.

LAWSUITS made them rethink the way the approached what they did. Napster ended up paying a lot of money,

As for having the luxury of not having to tolorate not bing told what to do ,...
Well, that's funny as hell, because as a society we live by rules, be it the law, your wife, your kids, your boyfriend or girlfriend, boss or client, we wake up being told what to do, that is.....
unless you live in a verrrrry luxurious bubble.
[Edited 11/21/07 8:26am]

BlaqueKnight said:

lol, the Internet was created in part by govenment, and was "given" autonomy more or less

i say "given"

what can be given, can be taken away,.... as you know the new internet is close to implementation, and this very issue of autonomy to govern itself without government intervetion is a sticking point, not just because of piracy, but also because concerns the governmant has regarding national security.

The Internet as we know will keep evolving just like the laws and everything else.
[Edited 11/21/07 11:16am]
[Edited 11/21/07 11:57am]

the original napster went away and returned as a goodie 2 shoes ..but in it's wake other sites opened up and opened up. even if prince won against pirate bay, who's 2 say that another won't take it's place. it's a case of trying 2 chase ur own tail ...and who's 2 say that way down the line after prince's death, will it b his estate that will employ the likes of barney fife 2 protect his "rights"?

violetblues said:

The problem is napster et al were breaking the law

This is where your point falls down, in Sweden, The Pirate Org isn't breaking any laws as has been tested in the courts

Thats the fundamental difference

And yes I am fortunate enough to be in a situation where I dont have people telling me what to do

And there is a difference between choosing to live within the law and having people tell you what to do

Noone tells me what to do

Nice try, no coconut

Markland said:

lol,

we disagree, but you are articulate and polite , you have won me over.

markland, i like you anyways

violetblues said:

Too kind