Report: Pirate Bay Co-Founder Arrested in Sweden

[Steven Bogos]

Report: Pirate Bay Co-Founder Arrested in Sweden

The Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde has reportedly been arrested by Swedish authorities following a raid on his home.

The Pirate Bay is probably the most famous public bit torrent tracker in the world, and the Sweden-based outfit has had its brushes with the law in the past [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119415-Pirate-Bay-Co-Founder-Busted-in-Cambodia]. Now, it looks like co-founder Peter Sunde, better known by his username Brokep, has been arrested by Swedish authorities following a raid on a country farm.

The raid took place in Sweden's southern region, and follows a two-year manhunt, reports Nationwide Swedish tabloid Expressen. The 35-year-old has been wanted by Interpol since 2012 when he was handed down an eight-month prison sentence by a Swedish criminal court for his involvement with The Pirate Bay.

According to the report, a representative from the Swedish police confirmed that Sunde was in custody. It had been suspected that Sunde had been on the move and living in Berlin since being sentenced back in 2012. Sunde's arrest would mean that of the four convicted Pirate Bay co-founders, only one - Gottfrid Svartholm - remains at large. Svartholm was sentenced to a year in prison and is believed to be in hiding in Asia.

Despite the sentences and arrests, the co-founders repeatedly deny any wrongdoings, and The Pirate Bay website is still fully operational.

Source: Slashdot [http://yro.slashdot.org/story/14/05/31/2248212/pirate-bay-co-founder-peter-sunde-arrested-in-sweden?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed]

Permalink

 

[evilnancyreagan]

It would be a refreshing shift in polarity if powers at be attacked the issues global healthcare an education with as much furor as they pursue the dreaded media pirates.

Apparently;

"This world is all fine an dandy until you interrupt that upward flow of money."

 

[Ken_J]

Good. I don't like digital piracy. Never have never will. Especially since i'm half way towards a game design degree.

 

[Ken_J]

It would be a refreshing shift in polarity if powers at be attacked the issues global healthcare an education with as much furor as they pursue the dreaded media pirates.

Apparently;

"This world is all fine an dandy until you interrupt that upward flow of money."

I'm not sure if you've been listening to the news lately

 

[martyrdrebel27]

ugh, not what i wanted to read today. and ken_j, i feel as though you haven't read a single article about piracy in your time here at the escapist. criminal charges, drm, none of that is going to prevent piracy, the only way to combat piracy is to offer a product worth buying and treat your customers with respect. besides, i know of people who aren't me that are other people that use things like pirate bay to watch the latest episode of game of thrones when it comes out because they don't have hbo. without the pirate bay, these people that aren't me would never have gotten so addicted to the show and waited excitedly for the dvd's, and the merchandise and just started reading the books, and have no damn idea why they waited TWO WEEKS between episodes this time right after such an epic fucking moment, and tyrion's speech.... holy shit!

ahem...

in conclusion, in my opinion, you are on the wrong side of the fight here.

 

[Zontar]

in conclusion, in my opinion, you are on the wrong side of the fight here.

Problem is, you're only looking at it from the micro scale. On the macro, every industry, music, movies, television and video games, have seen a very large bite in income since the era of online pirating began.

Though there have been a lot of blunders which have not only failed to prevent piracy, but actively encouraged it (Uplay), that doesn't change the fact that the entertainment industry is in a state where piracy is unquestioningly costing large sums of money despite the quality of the products in question.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

in conclusion, in my opinion, you are on the wrong side of the fight here.

Problem is, you're only looking at it from the micro scale. On the macro, every industry, music, movies, television and video games, have seen a very large bite in income since the era of online pirating began.

Though there have been a lot of blunders which have not only failed to prevent piracy, but actively encouraged it (Uplay), that doesn't change the fact that the entertainment industry is in a state where piracy is unquestioningly costing large sums of money despite the quality of the products in question.

but you're only vilifying piracy, try to look at the good side of it, which DOES exist. you know why music piracy became popular? because the industry had the nerve to charge $20 for a 12 track album, only 3 of which you actually wanted. the industry took a good hard look at itself and we got consumer AND industry friendly services out of the deal. without piracy to FORCE change, we'd still be paying those crazy fees without the option to buy one track at a time, like we have now, because it was working for them, WHY CHANGE?

gaming piracy is doing the same thing, creating a culture that says "respect us, or we will circumvent you."

i'm not saying piracy is inherently good, nor is it inherently evil. but it has placed power back into the hands of the masses where previously we had none, and that alone is worth fighting for.

 

[Zontar]

in conclusion, in my opinion, you are on the wrong side of the fight here.

Problem is, you're only looking at it from the micro scale. On the macro, every industry, music, movies, television and video games, have seen a very large bite in income since the era of online pirating began.

Though there have been a lot of blunders which have not only failed to prevent piracy, but actively encouraged it (Uplay), that doesn't change the fact that the entertainment industry is in a state where piracy is unquestioningly costing large sums of money despite the quality of the products in question.

but you're only vilifying piracy, try to look at the good side of it, which DOES exist. you know why music piracy became popular? because the industry had the nerve to charge $20 for a 12 track album, only 3 of which you actually wanted. the industry took a good hard look at itself and we got consumer AND industry friendly services out of the deal. without piracy to FORCE change, we'd still be paying those crazy fees without the option to buy one track at a time, like we have now, because it was working for them, WHY CHANGE?

gaming piracy is doing the same thing, creating a culture that says "respect us, or we will circumvent you."

i'm not saying piracy is inherently good, nor is it inherently evil. but it has placed power back into the hands of the masses where previously we had none, and that alone is worth fighting for.

I know the history and why it's the music industry's fault, but the thing is, it didn't stop at the music industry.

It might sound like I'm vilifying piracy, but when you look at the relationship between piracy and the video game industry, it's not wrong to do so, because while some games did have DRM, overall it was piracy which started the trend of everything having DRM in it.

When it came to video games, the question "why change" really did apply, because the illegal downloads where not in response to any DRM when it all started. And now it has forced things like Uplay and Origin on those of us who have the decency to pay for our games. I might not buy a game which has too much DRM, but I sure won't pirate it either.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

ugh, not what i wanted to read today. and ken_j, i feel as though you haven't read a single article about piracy in your time here at the escapist. criminal charges, drm, none of that is going to prevent piracy, the only way to combat piracy is to offer a product worth buying and treat your customers with respect. besides, i know of people who aren't me that are other people that use things like pirate bay to watch the latest episode of game of thrones when it comes out because they don't have hbo. without the pirate bay, these people that aren't me would never have gotten so addicted to the show and waited excitedly for the dvd's, and the merchandise and just started reading the books, and have no damn idea why they waited TWO WEEKS between episodes this time right after such an epic fucking moment, and tyrion's speech.... holy shit!

ahem...

in conclusion, in my opinion, you are on the wrong side of the fight here.

While I disagree, I do understand your opinion. And I thank you for being respectful and not being a condescending jackass like that little shit above you.

And yes that was an epic moment.

no problem, i think the only way to get a dissenting opinion respected is by presenting it respectfully.

in conclusion, in my opinion, you are on the wrong side of the fight here.

Problem is, you're only looking at it from the micro scale. On the macro, every industry, music, movies, television and video games, have seen a very large bite in income since the era of online pirating began.

Though there have been a lot of blunders which have not only failed to prevent piracy, but actively encouraged it (Uplay), that doesn't change the fact that the entertainment industry is in a state where piracy is unquestioningly costing large sums of money despite the quality of the products in question.

but you're only vilifying piracy, try to look at the good side of it, which DOES exist. you know why music piracy became popular? because the industry had the nerve to charge $20 for a 12 track album, only 3 of which you actually wanted. the industry took a good hard look at itself and we got consumer AND industry friendly services out of the deal. without piracy to FORCE change, we'd still be paying those crazy fees without the option to buy one track at a time, like we have now, because it was working for them, WHY CHANGE?

gaming piracy is doing the same thing, creating a culture that says "respect us, or we will circumvent you."

i'm not saying piracy is inherently good, nor is it inherently evil. but it has placed power back into the hands of the masses where previously we had none, and that alone is worth fighting for.

I know the history and why it's the music industry's fault, but the thing is, it didn't stop at the music industry.

It might sound like I'm vilifying piracy, but when you look at the relationship between piracy and the video game industry, it's not wrong to do so, because while some games did have DRM, overall it was piracy which started the trend of everything having DRM in it.

When it came to video games, the question "why change" really did apply, because the illegal downloads where not in response to any DRM when it all started. And now it has forced things like Uplay and Origin on those of us who have the decency to pay for our games. I might not buy a game which has too much DRM, but I sure won't pirate it either.

you're not wrong there, gaming piracy didn't have nearly the level of justification as music piracy did, but there is still some justification, and it still is the fault of the industry. the problem here though is that the scattershot approach to piracy doesn't mean the offenders are the ones who get the negative effects of their deeds. to begin this argument, i start with this chart...


we are members of a hobby that has an exceedingly high entry fee to participate in, with consoles and pcs costing hundreds of dollars as an initial investment, and then every game costing $60, about half of which goes to the publisher who in the eyes of the jilted consumer, blows that money on million dollar CEO paychecks, so why should they feel bad about pirating the game? on top of that, if you go by that chart, $19 dollars COULD be knocked off of every digital sale for retailer margin and cost of production and distribution. but the industry doesn't do that, it again disrespects it's customers, further reinforcing the "fuck em" attitude of some pirates.

add to that invasive and draconian DRM, and you DESERVE to have your game stolen and cracked. the dirty secret of the gaming community is that steam IS DRM, but it's a drm we deal with because it respects the consumer on every level. we've all read stories where the only working versions of games WERE pirated, cracked copies. in my opinion, you are asking for every bit of theft that happens. just recently PC users of Watch_Dogs were screwed out of their game saves by shitty drm (by the way, the irony of that, in a game that is essentially warning people about the dangers of controlling hyper-connectivity is AWESOME), and in that moment, Ubisoft created a pirate, somewhere in the world.

the unfortunate truth is though, that some companies are unfairly caught in the crossfire, but every war has civilian casualties, and i don't think it's fair or okay to go belly up to industry demands because a few innocents were harmed along the way.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

8 months? Man I would've just bit the bullet rather than live in hiding. Is it really worth avoiding the law over a few months in jail (meaning you'll probably get it worse afterwards?!)

Well there's always the possibility that that they'll be extradited to America and given a life sentence. Money is more important than anything else over there.

Also, I don't understand how piracy takes away a corporations profit. It's not like they're breaking into a person's home and stealing shit at gunpoint. I don't see how not making a sale counts as losing sales. Especially when the person probably wouldn't have bought the thing anyway.

 

[Zontar]

you're not wrong there, gaming piracy didn't have nearly the level of justification as music piracy did, but there is still some justification, and it still is the fault of the industry. the problem here though is that the scattershot approach to piracy doesn't mean the offenders are the ones who get the negative effects of their deeds. to begin this argument, i start with this chart...


we are members of a hobby that has an exceedingly high entry fee to participate in, with consoles and pcs costing hundreds of dollars as an initial investment, and then every game costing $60, about half of which goes to the publisher who in the eyes of the jilted consumer, blows that money on million dollar CEO paychecks, so why should they feel bad about pirating the game? on top of that, if you go by that chart, $19 dollars COULD be knocked off of every digital sale for retailer margin and cost of production and distribution. but the industry doesn't do that, it again disrespects it's customers, further reinforcing the "fuck em" attitude of some pirates.

add to that invasive and draconian DRM, and you DESERVE to have your game stolen and cracked. the dirty secret of the gaming community is that steam IS DRM, but it's a drm we deal with because it respects the consumer on every level. we've all read stories where the only working versions of games WERE pirated, cracked copies. in my opinion, you are asking for every bit of theft that happens. just recently PC users of Watch_Dogs were screwed out of their game saves by shitty drm (by the way, the irony of that, in a game that is essentially warning people about the dangers of controlling hyper-connectivity is AWESOME), and in that moment, Ubisoft created a pirate, somewhere in the world.

the unfortunate truth is though, that some companies are unfairly caught in the crossfire, but every war has civilian casualties, and i don't think it's fair or okay to go belly up to industry demands because a few innocents were harmed along the way.

The problem with the 19$ off part is that, at least with distribution like Valve and GoG, it would be only 13$ since the retailer in that case gets 10%. Then there's the fact that digitally distributed games go on sale or have prices reduced pretty fast, to the point where it isn't uncommon to see a triple A game go 40% off one month after release.

As for your comment about some companies being unfairly caught in the crossfire, I wouldn't call it a few civilians when pretty much every game developer out there has had their games pirated, and a lot of the start-ups went under from not being able to actually turn a profit, not all of which would have done so had people not stolen their games.

Besides, even before piracy became the problem for the industry that it is today there where already companies starting to move towards easy and fast digital distribution.

At the end of the day piracy is an issue which has an uphill battle by default to defend itself, and for video games in almost all cases it's inexcusable.

 

[OManoghue]

Dammit, this better now fuck up tomorrow's Game of Thrones.

 

[CriticalMiss]

8 months? Man I would've just bit the bullet rather than live in hiding. Is it really worth avoiding the law over a few months in jail (meaning you'll probably get it worse afterwards?!)

Well it is only 8 months now but when Murica shows up demanding blood and extradite him to the USA they could give him a death sentence for crimes against money! Think of those poor little multi-billion dollar industries that lost some of their profits that definitely couldn't have been caused by anything other than piracy, they're just so defenseless

Despite the sentences and arrests, the co-founders repeatedly deny any wrongdoings, and The Pirate Bay website is still fully operational.

That doesn't suprise me. The UK made a big song and dance about shutting down access to the site, which those crafty buggers found a way around in about a day.

 

[Alterego-X]

in conclusion, in my opinion, you are on the wrong side of the fight here.

Problem is, you're only looking at it from the micro scale. On the macro, every industry, music, movies, television and video games, have seen a very large bite in income since the era of online pirating began.

This is just flat-out untrue. The entertainment industry has been rapidly growing [http://www.businessinsider.com/rupert-murdoch-is-wrong-heres-proof-that-digital-media-isnt-cannibalizing-showbiz-2012-1?op=1] through the past decade by every possible wider measure.

The only way to show decline is to focus on very specific obselete issues such as "album sales", but otherwise you are doing what you are accusing others of, focusing on the micro scale.

Bringing video games into this is especially weird, "since the era of online pirating began", the console userbase has widened, mobile gaming has appeared, PC gaming underwent an indie revolution, etc. Unlike movies or music that were merely growing by stable margins like they did for a century, the modern video games industry has pretty much been entirely grown out of zero through the "era of online pirating".

So I don't really see how you could demonstrate that "bite" in the incomes that they have constantly grown in the past decades.

 

[Jamieson 90]

In general I don't like piracy but then I can't see how throwing people in jail is going to help anyone or solve anything.

 

[tzimize]

in conclusion, in my opinion, you are on the wrong side of the fight here.

Problem is, you're only looking at it from the micro scale. On the macro, every industry, music, movies, television and video games, have seen a very large bite in income since the era of online pirating began.

Though there have been a lot of blunders which have not only failed to prevent piracy, but actively encouraged it (Uplay), that doesn't change the fact that the entertainment industry is in a state where piracy is unquestioningly costing large sums of money despite the quality of the products in question.

If thats the case how come the gaming industry is making more expensive games than ever before? Where is the money coming from, eh? You're talking about a theoretical loss. There is NO WAY to reliably predict how many pirates would have actually bought the finished product, and how much money they would have spent. Theoretical income is NOT income.

Since this is all theoretical it is entirely possible that piracy has had ONLY a positive effect on sales, seeing as it might have brought more customers into the fold ready to be milked.

If piracy is such a threat, why is gog doing so well?