Mininova Demands Rectification from Dutch Parliament

Written by Ernesto on July 02, 2009 

Last month a working group of the Dutch Parliament published a report in which they made various suggestions on how to deal with online piracy. In their analysis they made several false accusations against the Dutch based BitTorrent site Mininova, who today announce that they will take legal steps if they don’t get a public rectification.

mininovaIn common with most other European countries The Netherlands is trying to find a solution to the ever increasing use of file-sharing sites to share copyrighted material. Presently, downloading movies and music for personal use in The Netherlands is seen as “fair use” and not punishable by law.

In their advice to the government, a working group consisting of four members of the Dutch parliament looked into the matter. They suggested criminalizing downloading once the entertainment industry has come up with sufficient legal alternatives.

The conclusions of the report were widely debated in the Dutch press. Worryingly, also some of the factual errors about Mininova that the parliamentarians dreamed up were recited in the media, which may hurt the BitTorrent site in the ongoing court case against the local anti-piracy outfit BREIN.

For instance, the report claims that Mininova ignores complaints form copyright holders and refuses to remove torrents from their site. This nonsense of course, since the site has had a copyright policy for years and is known to follow up every complaint.

Another inaccuracy in the report is the claim that Mininova adds “reviews” to the torrents their users have uploaded, something we’ve never heard before. The rumors that they actually host copyrighted content and that they filter porn from their site pro-actively don’t hold up either.

The Mininova staff are not happy with these allegations, especially since they are currently involved in a lawsuit against the entertainment industries that covers the same issues. “We are very displeased with the fact that the working group didn’t contact us prior to releasing this report, or even took a look at mininova.org,” Mininova co-founder Erik Dubbelboer said.

“We demand that the spreading of false information related to Mininova will be stopped. In addition, we demand that the working group removes the name Mininova from the report and places a rectification on the website of the Dutch parliament and in several national newspapers,” Dubbelboer added.

“We take this very seriously,” Erik Dubbelboer said. “If these demands are not met, we’ll consider to take legal steps,” he said to emphasize the seriousness of their demands.

Arda Gerkens, the head of the parliamentary working group pointed to her parliamentary immunity when she was confronted with the news. However, legal experts said that parliamentarians don’t have any immunity when they speak out in public, which she did.

Mininova demands that the rectifications are made before the verdict in their case against BREIN is due, so it wont influence the decision of the judges.

Previously: A Glimpse at The Pirate Bay’s Uncertain Future

Next: TorrentReactor Users Suffer Rootkit Attack

56 Responses

1 Jul 02, 2009 at 15:15 by Tpb goes to bollywood

cool story bro :)

2 Jul 02, 2009 at 15:25 by ytb

hope they win~!

3 Jul 02, 2009 at 15:29 by Anonymous

yep hope they win

4 Jul 02, 2009 at 15:29 by mr.ck

f*cking ass*oles with their parliamentary immunity. wtf… does it mean you can talk shit as much as you want while got the immunity? nonsense.

5 Jul 02, 2009 at 15:31 by revolution

You know what, it goes to show once again that the governments are just big corporations little sluts and support them in their attempt to mass rape the whole world. XD

6 Jul 02, 2009 at 15:32 by Anonymous

where the hell do people come up with these kind of ideas, I would assume that they would do some research first. Kinda scary that these kinds of people are in government positions.

7 Jul 02, 2009 at 15:48 by Manky goes to bollywood

@ 1
Mother fucker why you stole my comment !
Screw you ass hole !

Anyways

Cool story bro :)

8 Jul 02, 2009 at 15:53 by ZORG

Who cares, mininova is completely useless nowadays.

9 Jul 02, 2009 at 15:56 by Sharing Is Caring

Go for it Mini, sue the pants off them if they don’t comply & get rid of the filters dammit~

10 Jul 02, 2009 at 16:09 by kikj!

mininova does remove torrents and i am very grateful they were so courteous with removing my media at my request.

Eric himself was very professional,
unlike the guys at the pirate bay.

I am an independent videographer and my business depends on income from my videos to survive as i am not a corporation and do not live on stocks.

they were very fast in removing torrents too at my request.

11 Jul 02, 2009 at 16:16 by Anonymous

“Arda Gerkens, the head of the parliamentary working group pointed to her parliamentary immunity when she was confronted with the news.”

Haha, what a pussy …

12 Jul 02, 2009 at 16:25 by de vuile stoephoer

Parliamentary immunity does not include shooting your mouth off in public radio broadcasts and neither does freedom of speech include unfounded slander in the Netherlands.

Government asswipes like you should have know that Arda Gerkens. And you dare to call yourself a socialist, once again demonstrating that all the main political parties here are corrupt to the bone (as if the Joris Demmink affair hasn’t made that painfully obvious already).

13 Jul 02, 2009 at 16:45 by Anonymous

“We are very displeased with the fact that the working group didn’t contact us prior to releasing this report, or even took a look at mininova.org,”
————-

This is the most serious issue. By law, this is illegal and a serious offense not taking in consideration the opinions and the previous analysis of one of the parties involved, in this case Mininova; and taking as the truth the version of ONLY one of the parties, in this case the media industry.

This is out the law and any order, and this violates the basic human right which all person (or institution) has the right to express their opinions and being listened. This is also discrimination in a high degree… Mininova never was consulted for the elaboration of this report.

Also, we could add that the violation of the law of spreading ‘false testimony’ against one of the parties involved (Mininova) has been made in this case by this Parliament, which is a serious crime.

This proves that I lately have been saying:
The actual systems of governments on the world are obsolete, inefficient and don’t represent the will of the people anymore, and, in the near future they will be replaced for other forms of goverment that really represent of will of the MAJORITY (the people) and not the interests of a few.

14 Jul 02, 2009 at 16:45 by Kanine

“We are very displeased with the fact that the working group didn’t contact us prior to releasing this report, or even took a look at mininova.org,”
————-

This is the most serious issue. By law, this is illegal and a serious offense not taking in consideration the opinions and the previous analysis of one of the parties involved, in this case Mininova; and taking as the truth the version of ONLY one of the parties, in this case the media industry.

This is out the law and any order, and this violates the basic human right which all person (or institution) has the right to express their opinions and being listened. This is also discrimination in a high degree… Mininova never was consulted for the elaboration of this report.

Also, we could add that the violation of the law of spreading ‘false testimony’ against one of the parties involved (Mininova) has been made in this case by this Parliament, which is a serious crime.

This proves that I lately have been saying:
The actual systems of governments on the world are obsolete, inefficient and don’t represent the will of the people anymore, and, in the near future they will be replaced for other forms of goverment that really represent of will of the MAJORITY (the people) and not the interests of a few.

15 Jul 02, 2009 at 16:49 by MovieFOX

LOL @ [b]cool story bro :)[/b]

Join us at http://moviefox.org

16 Jul 02, 2009 at 16:54 by Jasper

everyone thinks that they are supporting artist when they buy a dvd, cd, or software but NO!@!
YOU SUPPORT MULTINATIONALS WHEN YOU BUY SOMETHING ‘LEGAL’

SHARE-
IT’S FAIR

17 Jul 02, 2009 at 17:00 by Hom3r

@9 and that is why you will never make money.

18 Jul 02, 2009 at 17:29 by ...

Oh yeah point at your immunity. F*CK YOU piece of shit.

How about I make up a bunch of BS about you and then point at my cock.

19 Jul 02, 2009 at 17:52 by Cordelia

@1 Why do you always say the same thing (cool story, bro).

How about if you express an opinion or at least vary yourself a bit!

I think everybody who regularly reads this blog is aware that you find all stories “cool”.

So you don’t have to say it every time.

20 Jul 02, 2009 at 17:58 by Cordelia

I have at least 3 uploaded torrents at Mininova which are in violation of US copyright.

They have not been banned or taken off…

21 Jul 02, 2009 at 18:03 by PTO

@Cordelia
Dumb bitch is dumb.

22 Jul 02, 2009 at 18:10 by Anonymous

from her personal “socialist party” page: http://www.sp.nl/ardagerkens/
“…dus toen ik me enorm begon te ergeren aan de arrogantie van een lokale wethouder heb ik gezocht naar een mogelijkheid om actief iets te doen in de politiek.”

roughly translated: “…so when I started getting very annoyed with the arrogance of a local politician, I sought for a possibility to actively participate in politics.”

talk about arrogance and then go hide behind your (misinterpretation of) immunity, what a huge hypocrite.

23 Jul 02, 2009 at 18:11 by Tranquility

@18:

Have you complained to them about it or just sat in your corner vowing e-revenge one day? Because these two choices have very different outcomes.

24 Jul 02, 2009 at 18:23 by Phoenix

they won’t win
TPB didn’t make it and they won’t either !
Judicial system is owned by entertainment industryso why even bother waiting for a verdict we already know what it’s gonna be !

25 Jul 02, 2009 at 18:32 by Calimore

@10

so how much have sales gone up since the removal?

26 Jul 02, 2009 at 18:41 by Jimmy

Hey #18 Cordelia – just leave those torrents be. Someone may still want to download them!

27 Jul 02, 2009 at 18:43 by Anonymous

the only way it seems is to start using vpns, proxies, and darknets. good lookin program. retroshare portable edition :)

28 Jul 02, 2009 at 18:44 by Anonymous

@10

the question is. are you proud of yourself. you just screwed yourself over that was pretty dumb. oh well…

29 Jul 02, 2009 at 18:52 by Made in Britain

Sounds like another foregone conclusion to me.

Remember the Golden Rule? Good luck…

30 Jul 02, 2009 at 18:54 by Anonymous

Miniwho?

31 Jul 02, 2009 at 19:17 by Pirates > RIAA

Man

I use to go on Suprnova.org, got shut down and had to find a new home.

I eventually found a new place at lokitorrent, but sadly that got destroyed.

So I migrated to Torrentspy, that got shut down and I found a even better home.

Went to Piratebay, and might have to abandon ship.

Was thinking about Mininova, but they will be shutdown and back-stabbed by the media and recording industry.

So where will a fellow pirate go now? Demonoid or ISOhunt, PIRACY WILL NEVER BE SHUTDOWN AND I WILL ALWAYS FIND A NEW HOME

32 Jul 02, 2009 at 19:19 by TPB goes to bollywood

cool story bro :)

33 Jul 02, 2009 at 19:56 by tr

COOL STORY BRO :) hey 32 i bet i know what you’re going to say about the next article posted…… COOL STORY BRO :)

34 Jul 02, 2009 at 20:02 by Izkata

This low down in the comments, I doubt it’ll be found, but: “Reviews” may be a reference to the Comments section?

35 Jul 02, 2009 at 20:03 by ...

@ 23 Jul 02, 2009 at 18:11 by Tranquility

No they do not. What would you have me do oceans away? Call? Email? Snail Mail? As if any of that is going to get anywhere..

Here.. I write on a public board.. sure it means jack shit.. but in this particular situation.. its better than nothing.

36 Jul 02, 2009 at 20:06 by voiceqreason

IF anyone from Mininova is reading. . .
Immediately file defamation charges against both the speaker and the newspapers for redistribution. Do not wait. Turn them into the bad guys.There is no immunity for lawmakers once they repeat the falsehoods in a public arena.

It is time for the torrent community to take the offensive. There are just too many legal uses of this product for it to be treated like NApster.

37 Jul 02, 2009 at 20:18 by matt

I seem to recall in Netherlands, there are actually laws against false information much like Germany. So Mininova quite rightfully can take them to court and sue for that. I’m guessing what the Parliament is doing is intentional to make Mininova’s case biased and forcing a retrial, if they have such laws over there against influencing court cases.

38 Jul 02, 2009 at 20:22 by vyvyan

Manky should have got the “cool story bro ;)” copyrighted :P
pwned.

39 Jul 02, 2009 at 20:38 by Mori [France]

At least Mininova isn’t letting their name be totally trashed go them.

40 Jul 02, 2009 at 20:44 by kepners

I said this in an earlier post, but, i have moved to 3rd party meta searches. including forums etc.

i use http://www.Epictorrents.com seems like its a good idea.

As mininova… they rock!! and long live the Nova! and “dont let the barstard grind you down”

41 Jul 02, 2009 at 21:16 by dairRIAA

I wonder what would make bollywood think a story is not a cool bro story.

xD!

42 Jul 02, 2009 at 21:20 by Anonymous

Sounds like ideal terms for slander, hopefully charges will be filed.

I would happy donate something too as should any regular user of bt

43 Jul 02, 2009 at 21:31 by Anonymous

I hope ISOHUNT and Mininova keep on fighting and dont sell us out like some other site…Keep up the good fight…

44 Jul 02, 2009 at 21:36 by Boo

Canadian MPAA rules!:

http://www.mpaa.ca/

45 Jul 02, 2009 at 22:52 by OGC

Looks like we still have some good guys left who’ll keep fighting the war against the filthy RIAA and MPAA scum.

46 Jul 02, 2009 at 23:37 by JOhnson Reilly

Seems pretty fair to me dude!

RT
http://www.anonymize.tk

47 Jul 03, 2009 at 00:59 by Eleriel

‘cool story bro :)’ is the new first :P

48 Jul 03, 2009 at 03:10 by Anonymous

“Mininova ignores complaints form copyright holders…”

Spelling!

49 Jul 03, 2009 at 03:22 by Anonymous

do yourself a favor and get into private trackers from the best filesharing community on the net http://www.thepiratesociety.org

50 Jul 03, 2009 at 09:00 by ref2u

31 Jul 02, 2009 at 19:17 by Pirates > RIAA

Man

I use to go on Suprnova.org, got shut down and had to find a new home.

http://www.suprnova.org is up,

We’re back!
brokep – 2007-08-20 16:08:42

Suprnova has been down for some years due to some heavy pressure from the copyright lobby. The former owner sloncek donated suprnova to The Pirate Bay – and as you know, we like to kick ass and bow for noone!

We were going to keep this site a secret until we had finished it, but of course it leaked, that’s how internet works. So now that the word is out, we’re releasing it!

Please consider these first weeks/months as a beta test. Since we love all you guys and gals so much we decided to keep it an open beta test. That means, please behave, don’t complaint to much and if you discover any weird bugs or problems, let us know.

Some of you have also already discovered our new forum, Suprbay! Which is a joint forum for both Suprnova and The Pirate Bay. Discuss movies, music, love and whatever with your fellow pirates.

Finally, some words for non-internet loving companies:

This is how it works. Whatever you sink, we build back up. Whomever you sue, ten new pirates are recruited. Wherever you go, we are already ahead of you. You are the past and the forgotten, we are the internet and the future.

y’arr!

51 Jul 03, 2009 at 10:03 by Whatever

HAHAHAHA mininova aint fooling nobody! F***ing Sellouts!

52 Jul 03, 2009 at 11:12 by Anonymous

Mininova: Epic FAIL in court!

Bye Bye wankers.

53 Jul 03, 2009 at 16:35 by Anonymous

HAHAHAHA mininova aint fooling nobody! F***ing Sellouts!

YOU SAID IT BRO. NICE. TOTAL AGREEMENT FROM ME :-)

HOPE TO SEE MININOVA BURN, and NOW TPB.

54 Jul 03, 2009 at 21:59 by I think I see myself on CC TV

Interesting story.
However people should support Mininova now when Pirate Bay ovners tries to ruin all torrent sites.

Legalise mariuana, but not torrent :)

55 Jul 04, 2009 at 15:49 by Anonymous

@4

yes they can say whatever they want except if u say something bad about 1 religious group and that is the jews.

Only then you can be thrown into jail without a trial for a long time…

Nederland is het meest hypocriete land ooit.

56 Jul 06, 2009 at 04:35 by anonymous

You all keep commenting about unfair laws and preposterous lawsuits but yet content by not doing anything about it. Just sitting behind computers and allow others to do the dirty work.

Do something about it. Go out and protest, boycott ask the government to prioritize their laws. Millions are still living in poverty, unemployed, tortured, killed, assaulted, abused. Drug cartels are still running drugs and prostitution. Civil war are still raging but yet these crooks you call government main priority is to sue and put citizens in jail for downloading 1s and 0s.

Something is not right here!

Responses are closed

All remaining responses will continue to be archived. Use the TorrentFreak forums if you want to discuss something.