Music industry to test Sweden's anti-piracy law

Someone, somewhere, is about to become a guinea pig for Big Media, the Swedish government that sucks up to it and the discredited Swedish legal system.

""We've been able to download about 50 songs from him. He has made 10,000 songs available as well as films. DC is still very popular in Sweden and he is a rather normal DC user," IFPI lawyer Magnus Mårtensson told TT"

He should be prosecuted - He has admitted illegal file downloading.

If I was the judge I would give him and his money grabbing scumbag employers 5000 years hard labour

Maybe the Swedish Courts need to look into this blokes pro audio history with recording studios & distributors. Check his Fed Ex history in the US & the UK. Check his criminal background record in the US.

He's been shipped back to Stockholm!

http://www.topix.com/alerts/forum/se/kristianstad/TN8403UGILQMEIQ39

nice one rick,it seems this rep of the music industry has just admitted to "illegal" file sharing!

Rick and "green Swede", to download something is not to share it. Plus, they are probably only interested in material they have rights to, which means it's not illegal for them to download it! If they are downloading material they don't have any rights to, then yes, they should rightfully be sued.

I can't believe how some people expect to get stuff without paying for it, and then cry their behinds off when someone calls them out on it! Jeez. You are NOT entitled to other's work!

mrp

I am a software developer and so have a vested interest in preventing illegal downloads. I have NEVER downloaded anything which I have not paid for.

My beef against the control freaks of vested interest in the Entertainment industry is they are hell bet on undermining the privacy laws of every country.

In Sweden they have used planted judges who are copyright group members to push through decisions that 'protect' big business.

This is all the thin edge of the wedge and individual freedom and privacy is being eroded

To see exactly what is happening around Europe under you nose see the following link to European Digital Rights

http://www.edri.org/

the music industry are a bunch of crunts

I agree that some of them seem like control freaks, and I hold individual freedom and privacy in the highest regard. But those rights are also for the artists to enjoy, those who actually create new value. The "lunacy" is a reaction to the unfettered piracy that undermines the market and prevents new services from being developed.

I also put trust into our judicial system--I don't think it has been corrupted. I see no reason to believe so. Personally, I think the rulings have been the right ones, though the main case isn't res judicata yet.

PS: I'm also a software developer, and I wish software was more prominent in the piracy debate.

@ Rick Methven

I agree with you. They have admitted illegal downloading. If they do not prosecute the person who did the illegal downloads, they are showing themselves for what they are.

Also some of the proposed patent laws that are coming online will affect smaller independant developers, adversely.

I can see the new laws start to adversely affect open source software, which I am in the middle of switching to. I am literally switching from 3DS max/autocad to blender and from windows to linux, which will save me a fortune on upgrade cycles. I don't want to see that developemtn stifiled.

I think it is a good idea to have a central European patent database which is cheaper and quicker to apply for a patent, but I do not believe they have thought this through.

How it is going in the Swedish courts is a disgrace. I can see the entire system ending up in the European Courts. It is like they are determined to bring the Swedish justice system into disrepute.

mrp

The problem with the way that the Entertainment moguls are trying to push things is the subjugation of artist to their will. Just look at the way that artists that want to give away tracks as a taster who are pressurised by the likes of Sony etc. They want the music buying public to just buy what makes the most money. innovation is out. It makes no money for the moguls.

It does not affect me personally as the music I listen to is Folk music that always has and always will be much more free of the grip of these guys. I am a Folk singer of old that has seen and suffered from the so called 'Music Industry' who give not a damn for music only profit

@mrp

I think in its most simplistic form,or from the laymans perspective,this is just a product of the hi tech age we live in ,the advent of cyberspace and the extensive access to it by the general population,ie those people who don't have a vested interest in copyright. In an obsecure way i understand, given the work you do,but the way I look at it, who here amongst us did not record songs off the radio or movies from the tv in the 80's or copy a friends cd or dvd in the late 90's.surely this is just the 00's version of the same.The greatest hypocrites are the likes of sony themselves,They have always put recordable features on their vhs and dvd "recorders" either direct record or record to tv in order to make money and now get highly pissed off when tecnology allows people to take it to the next level.

MTV Cribs is my justification

haha, they r still going after losers using DC++.

as usual, they are 5 years behind, hahahaha!

and for those actually even thinking about feeling sorry for the music industry, read this article and that should change your tune.

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/735096--geist-record-industry-faces-liability-over-infringement

the labels are thieving greedy pirates who don't even pay their employees (artists) what they are due. i hope they all go to jail!

The music industry is not just made up of a few large corporations. Actually there are, or rather there were hundreds of inovative independant lables a few years ago with well know artists on their rosters. These indy lables are under increasing threat and many are simply out of business thanks to people stealing, yes that is the right word for it , music mp3s through illegal downloading. As a musician I constantly am at pains to make people aware of the fact that the those that suffer the most due to this are those who are trying to make a living from writing and performing music. And in time in turn the public themselves will suffer. It may come as a surprise that it is not the act of the so called money grabbing corporations that are destroying the music industry but the fans themselves who with their egotistical attitude of self serving consumerism far outweighing any personal responsiblity that they might attatch to their actions continue to grab as much illegal content as they can in an almost orgyistic manner. My immediate thought was that if I was a legislator faced with this type of a response to digital theft I would have to come to the conclusion that the means by which people are stealing ie the internet would have to be changed in order to protect the industries and livelyhoods that are currently under threat. In other words draconian measures will eventually come into force. It must be born in mind that the broadband companies saw a huge increase in profits and customer base thanks mainly due to illegal filesharing on networks such as Direct Connect etc. The then governments unwillingness to tackle the issues of illegal file sharing and the like in Sweden and Finland and most other counries at that time poured flames onto this fire and gave a green light to the public to behave in a manner contrary to existing law. These same broadband companies today are unwilling to allow legal forces the right to gather information upon the downloading activities of known criminals as it may interfere with their profit margins not because they have a care for protection of personal data. Data which they themselves use for marketing, reseach and development and promotional purposes. Prior to broadband most downloading was more costly to the perpetrator and limited to small file sizes due to low band width availability. So sadly it seems almost inevitable that access to the internet will in the future be limited despite our freedom of speech laws etc. Or the miracle may happen that people will be educated out of this negative behaviour of downloading illegally thus preventing any legal course of action. I guess it is up to each of us to make a choice to protect our digital environment with a responsible manner in the hope that in the future there will continue to be that incredible world of informational choice

sure sure sure, people ARE stealing music but guess what, the music labels have been bending over the music fans for years while charging retarded amounts for a CD.

so you will have to excuse a lot of people if they see this as their way of getting back at the labels. i was a devoted CD purchaser for over 10 years and guess what, the labels tried to stop me from copying my own music that i purchased onto my mp3 player, or burn a cd to listen to in the car by putting in their stupid DRM.

besides, artists usually make something like 7% of sales from each CD sold so please, tell me how its THE FANS hurting the artists??? once again, it comes full circle to the labels and its only proven further by the latest lawsuit going on in canada (read linked article above).

i have another 5 years left of 'not buying' music to make my voice heard. hopefully by then the labels have changed their dinosaur business models and given back some FLEXIBILITY to the music fans.

I think it's sad that the pirate-bay people got longer and harder sentenses than most rapeists...

Haven't seen the figures and numbers that would indicate that the labels isn't making as much money as ever, just that a couple of artists now have discovered that they are being screwed by the labels.

The government is FOR downloading as long as they can control what we download.