New Piracy Law Hits Net Traffic Hard

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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New Piracy Law Hits Net Traffic Hard


A new anti-piracy law in Sweden has caused internet traffic to drop by a third.

The new law allows copyright holders to demand the personal information of file-sharers from internet service providers, allowing the copyright holder to pursue pirates as they see fit. The law came into effect on Wednesday and Netnod, a Swedish firm that monitors internet traffic in and out of the country, said that traffic fell from an average of 120Gb per second to 80Gb per second, a reduction of 33%.

Christian Engstrom, vice-chairman of the Swedish Pirate Party [http://www.piratpartiet.se/international/english], was confident however, that the drop is only temporary, "Today, there is a very drastic reduction in internet traffic. But experience from other countries suggests that while file-sharing drops on the day a law is passed, it starts climbing again," he said, "One of the reasons is that it takes people a few weeks to figure out how to change their security settings so that they can share files anonymously," he added.

Reactions to the new law have been divided. Speaking to the BBC, Kjell Bohlund, head of the Swedish Publishers' Association, said that before the new law came into effect, copyright holders were very limited in what they could do to protect their intellectual property.

"Before 1 April, the only thing we could do about illegal file sharing was to refer it to the police, who were very reluctant to take it on," he said, "now we can go get the courts to force ISPs to disclose the user information of an IP address. In two weeks time, we will know exactly who owns that IP. We can then do nothing, ask him to stop, or sue him for damages. We won't do this for small offenders, this is just for the big fish," he added. One big fish that might be impacted by the new law is the torrent site Pirate Bay, whose trial is still ongoing.

On the pirate side, Mr Engstrom described the law as "a disaster", saying "dealing with illegal file-sharing is a job for the police. It is their job to enforce the law. Now we have given private corporations the legal right to go after our civilians. That's not how Western democracies work."

Mr Bohlund acknowledged Engstrom's concerns, agreeing that the law was not a long term solution, "Ultimately we have to change people's perception on file-sharing," he said.

Source: BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7978853.stm]




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sirdanrhodes

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Nov 7, 2007
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I want to see a legal service where we pay a flat rate yearly, and then we can share files between ourselves legally.
 

Dogstile

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Jan 17, 2009
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"Christian Engstrom, vice-chairman of the Swedish Pirate Party, was confident however, that the drop is only temporary"

yep, he's hit the nail on the head there
 

guardian001

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Oct 20, 2008
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Good luck to TPB, they're gonna need it now. I don't think this will ultimately change anything. No matter what you do, if people want something bad enough, they find a way to get it.
 

Pumpkin_Eater

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Mar 17, 2009
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It would be nice if the rest of the entertainment industry would wise up like Valve and view piracy as something to compete with rather than hemorrhage resources trying to stamp it out.
 

Skrapt

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May 6, 2008
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Handing law enforcement over to private corporations is simply wrong, especially when they are so reluctant to admit that they can target the wrong people or that their CEO's are idiots who truly believe that 1 pirated copy = 1 lost sale.

law enforcement is the domain of organizations that can remain objective whatever the situation, this kind of law turns the supposed victim into the judge, jury and executioner.
 

CymTyr

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Mar 22, 2009
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I agree this is out of line. Imagine Sony with that kind of power.... After all the spyware they've produced because of their malicious views, I shudder to think what kind of damages they'd view as "acceptable" for a first-time offender on his or her first torrent.

I'm not saying torrenting is right or wrong, but no private company should have that kind of power. That's violating privacy here in the US (at least for the time being) but I guess since it didn't happen in the US that point is moot. For now.
 

Rhayn

Free of All Weakness
Jul 8, 2008
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Pumpkin_Eater said:
It would be nice if the rest of the entertainment industry would wise up like Valve and view piracy as something to compete with rather than hemorrhage resources trying to stamp it out.
But how does one make people buy music rather than pirating it? There is hardly anything you as a publisher can offer to make the CD more attractive. Sure, the booklet that comes with some CDs contain lyrics and other intresting stuff, but whatever's on there is usually up on various lyrics sites and youtube in less than a day.

That does not however mean I do not agree with you. I like to buy my games so I can get the box and manual. If the manual doesn't contain more than the controls and credits, I often feel robbed.

But this isn't about me. Back to the point. As I said, it's hard to make buying the CD more attractive. Hell, even iTunes store is quite popular. I say CDs are becoming old by now. Perhaps it's time to invent something new?

I'm not really into the whole music industry, but from what I understand bands receive barely more than nothing from CD sales, and gain the most from gigs. Giving away tickets with the CD is hardly a good idea with the tickets alredy being ridiculously overpriced (150 euros for ONE Eagles ticket, damnit). So what can you do?
 

CymTyr

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Mar 22, 2009
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Rhayn, the next "big thing" was supposed to be the mini-disc, which did a brief stint several years ago.

I'm sure they'll come up with something though :)
 

husenki

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Apr 4, 2009
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I think going after uploaders is all fine and good, it makes sense. But trying to take out downloaders is stupid. It solves nothing.
 

griffinmills

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Apr 7, 2008
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Kwil said:
Eh? Are you seriously saying no private company should have the power to sue someone they think has broken their contract?
Yes, I do think that they should have to do more than simply "think" someone has broken their contract. Gathering evidence and making informed decisions first would be great!

Then again, none of this makes sense because, hey, it's happening already. Companies can sue because they "think" someone is violating a contract and, as it happens, they are sometimes slapped back either with frivolity suits or because they LOSE. I think a point along the lines of, "I do think that they should have to do more than simply "think" someone has broken the law..." would make more sense in the topic and discussion at hands.

Gov't may be stupid but at least it follows due process rather than just going, "Hey, I think that guy might be stealing... *GLOMPSUIT!*"
 

CymTyr

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Mar 22, 2009
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Kwil said:
CymTyr said:
I agree this is out of line. Imagine Sony with that kind of power.... After all the spyware they've produced because of their malicious views, I shudder to think what kind of damages they'd view as "acceptable" for a first-time offender on his or her first torrent.

I'm not saying torrenting is right or wrong, but no private company should have that kind of power. That's violating privacy here in the US (at least for the time being) but I guess since it didn't happen in the US that point is moot. For now.
Eh? Are you seriously saying no private company should have the power to sue someone they think has broken their contract?

Hell, I'd far rather Sony be able to launch a civil suit than the gov't be able to launch a criminal case.
No, my point was that it doesn't specify how much in damages the private companies would be entitled to demand, so that was why I was using that phrasing.

I'm not pro-piracy, so please do not misunderstand me. I'm simply saying that giving a lot of power with little regulation to private companies has usually not been productive.
 

Sixties Spidey

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Jan 24, 2008
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Piracy is a problem that will never go away. No amount of DRM, legal suits, or crackdowns are ever going to solve piracy. It's in itself a reaction against DRM and retail stores. Not allowing people to have something only increases their need to have it.

People hate paying for things, regardless if it's online or on retail. People feel afraid of paying for something, realizing it's crap, and losing money. Want proof? Alright. Almost 75 percent of my Wii games (15)are torrents.

It's not my fault I don't want to pay 50 bucks (well, 250+ dirhams)for something I don't know I will like or not. (I have a 100 dirham a month allowance. (37 dollars a month) )And to make things worse, if you buy something, rip the packaging off, play it, and/or dissatisfied with the product/it doesn't work, they won't give you a refund. Retail stores are half the problem these days, along with the current economic situation.
 

Taylorcrw

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Jan 30, 2009
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"We won't do this for small offenders, this is just for the big fish"

what do they mean by that?
 

Nimbus

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Oct 22, 2008
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buy teh haloz said:
...if you buy something, rip the packaging off, play it, and/or dissatisfied with the product/it doesn't work, they won't give you a refund. Retail stores are half the problem these days, along with the current economic situation.
Then I guess your country needs to refine it's consumer law then, eh?
 

goodman528

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Jul 30, 2008
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If each file sharer contributed a few pence into a legal fund for suing these other legal firms that survives on suing filesharers, then who would win?