Sweden: A Safe Haven for Pirates

Written by Ben Jones on February 18, 2007 

Sweden is considered to be a safe haven for Pirates, and received a special mention in the piracy report that was published this week by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA).

sweden flagThe IIPA report highlights the political debate following the raid on Sweden’s popular BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay.The copyright industry is said to be deeply concerned that the Social Democratic party and the Moderate party during the fall have made positive remarks on the idea of a fee on broadband as an alternative to keeping piracy illegal.

The raid on the Pirate Bay, and the rise of the Pirate Party clearly left their mark on Sweden’s political climate. The extremely fast resurrection of the Pirate Bay was a slap in the face of the IIPA, MPAA, and other anti-piracy organizations. In the report we read:

Sweden also is the host country to ThePirateBay.org, the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker and one of Sweden’s largest web sites. Operators of the site proudly flaunt their role in facilitating infringements, often taking pot shots at rights holders from whom they receive notices of infringing activity. ThePirateBay was raided in mid-2006 by the Swedish police, and although the site is back up and running, it is expected that its prosecution will take place in the middle of 2007

The IIPA can not yet see an end to the widespread piracy in Sweden. According to the organization, 490 000 movies were downloaded during the third quarter last year, an increase from 468 000 movies the year before, the report says, not specifying any source.

The situation is further complicated, according to the organization, by the fact that Swedes are tolerant towards piracy, something that according to the report is evident in media and in public opinion. The politicians are not thought of as having understood the extent of the file sharing problem. The organization however claims to be looking forward to cooperating with the new government in finding new ways in the struggle against piracy.

Previously: Mosts Popular DVDrips on BitTorrent (wk07)

Next: Integrating BitTorrent in Vista Media Centre

25 Responses

1 Feb 19, 2007 at 14:40 by elusive

What there is to understand about the file sharing problem is that the solution lies not with the people that are sharing (because they’ll never stop) but with the media companies that are waging a war against their own customers. When I hear about Sony installing crap on my computer and suing people for bringing their music abroad, of course I’m not going to buy their products.

Since it’s so obvious that they can’t beat us (the people, the customers), why don’t they join us already?

2 Feb 19, 2007 at 15:03 by joe mom

yeah, Sweden is a great country…
….the few, the proud

3 Feb 19, 2007 at 15:23 by Jonesy

Go Sweden! Keep on fighting the good fight.

4 Feb 19, 2007 at 15:25 by Jeff

So who can recommend a good hosting company in Sweden? I’d like to contribute to their economy by renting part of a server in a data centre there…

5 Feb 19, 2007 at 15:28 by corey

even though im not from Sweden i admire the country for being able to see through the piles of crap that the IIPA, MPAA, and other anti-piracy organizations throw out into the world. I believe that Sweden is not a safe haven for pirates but a safe haven for freedom… If your from the USA and believe that “land of the free” balls your an idiot… think about it you cant do anything without your phone lines being tapped, emails read, etc. Even when on the itnernet you even go near a website with “torrent” in the name your a pirate… even being in a torrent swarm is enough to have you prosocuted…

BTW im fromt he USA so dont hit me with some partriotic bullshit..

6 Feb 19, 2007 at 16:35 by peter

Sweadan rocks and screw the MPAA!!!!

7 Feb 19, 2007 at 17:42 by mark

@corey

Dude today is President’s day and you have nothing better to do than to get online and bash the US? For all its flaws, America is still a great country. There are millions of people who would (and do) give up everything to come here and to live the dream. The land of the free – that is exactly why I love my country.

8 Feb 19, 2007 at 18:22 by Ronnie

The Pirate Bay doesn’t host any copyrighted material on any of their servers. Their Trackers to not have any copyrighted materials either. The torrent file gives you a blueprint of a file or group of files you want and a lin kto the tracker. The tracker connects you to other people using that torrent. The sharing goes on between individuals, thus the copy-infringement is at the user level. Not the site or tracker.

Also, they allow anyone to upload any file to their site. Only torrents that are deleted are those with incorrect names.

The lawsuit is frivilous.

9 Feb 19, 2007 at 19:09 by E

Yo, Mark, I wonder which presidents you’re celebrating. Probably the likes of Lincoln (dictator who killed 640,000 of his own people) or maybe Bush, who’s following in Lincoln’s footsteps, except he likes to murder Iraqis.

America is a great country, but it suffers from a corrupt and freedom hating government.

10 Feb 19, 2007 at 19:25 by J

Go PirateBay! I hope the MPAA rots in hell.

11 Feb 19, 2007 at 20:04 by AnonymousChicken

Damn straight it’s President’s Day. I’m not celebrating Bush and Clinton, though. I’m celebrating Washington, Lincoln and the like — people that DID make this country great.

Consider this.

Our presidents have allowed large multinational companies and Dow Jones fatcats to outsource their procurement and operations to other countries.

Now we as private consumers could get our accounting, health care, entertainment, pharmaceudicals, etc in the same manner — from abroad.

The difference? Business is encouraged to do it, and we are slammed & sued when we try it as people.

Until the government steps in and keeps big business doing their business here, they have no right to force me to keep my needs here.

12 Feb 20, 2007 at 02:57 by Oliver

I’m proud of living in Sweden ^^

If you didn’t know PRQ hosts the Piratebayservers, http://prq.se/

Go socialism, Go Sweden ! =D

13 Feb 20, 2007 at 04:31 by Chad

@mark – the USA is not such a great country… maybe it’s all the patriotic crap americans get fed that keeps them from seeing this, I don’t know… If I were to choose a westernised country in which to live, I would look for countries without guns, with decent support for people with little or no income, with universal health care, with peaceful intentions. I’d take Sweden over the USA any day.

Regarding the article… is having a fee/tax on broadband particularly different to Canada’s approach of charging a levy on blank CDs? It’s a much better idea than leaving the MPAA/RIAA to sue people left, right & centre.

14 Feb 20, 2007 at 05:10 by aCiD

can any body tell me How much India is safe for pirates?

15 Feb 20, 2007 at 08:48 by dibblah

yes ..sweden is a paradise :)

low cost 100/100 Mbit lan connection

no search warrants for filesharing .. because it´s not a crime that can get u jailtime

sigh … if only wintertime was a ccoupla months less :D

16 Feb 20, 2007 at 12:25 by sm

[quote comment="52504"]can any body tell me How much India is safe for pirates?[/quote]

Its pretty much safe. The law is too complicated to the point of obfuscation, so everyone just ignores it when it comes to daily life. Piracy is rampant, but in an unorganized way – if you are looking to start something like tpb, i think its still safe, but always consult a lawyer first. And you can take my word – there’s always going to be a loophole somewhere ;)

17 Feb 20, 2007 at 20:18 by djzaf

Go sweeden…. The uino mostly says “say no 2 racism”..Bit torrents p2p are perfect example of mutla respect….I also dont like piracy in that scnario in whiich a person leeches then sell it to every1 in the market for some money..We all love torrent ..why???..cuz we cant afford,2:- access to that files(spftwares/moviez,music,ebook) in our nearby areas..
downloadin/uploadin is my life…but i never did anythin wrong,,i never sell it to anyone..i jus share so that others can also enjoy but on a personal level..sorry for my english…Long live pirate bay l0ong live p2p..nobody can stop this and i sware a time will come mpaa will accept the fact as a truth..

18 Feb 21, 2007 at 04:37 by s&m

Today in Sweden, we’re charged apx £11-£20 or $25-$40 for a movie. And we’re among the top ten most taxed countries in the world (actually, I thing we’re in the top five, but who gives)´

Hmm..since I’m a musician too, maybe I should do my own version of Fuck the MPAA :lol:

(ref. NWA – Fuck the Police)

19 Feb 21, 2007 at 05:25 by aCiD

[quote comment="52674"][quote comment="52504"]can any body tell me How much India is safe for pirates?[/quote]

Its pretty much safe. The law is too complicated to the point of obfuscation, so everyone just ignores it when it comes to daily life. Piracy is rampant, but in an unorganized way – if you are looking to start something like tpb, i think its still safe, but always consult a lawyer first. And you can take my word – there’s always going to be a loophole somewhere ;)[/quote]

thanks for the information! can any body tell me what is require to start a new site like tpb? any comment would be appreciated!

20 Feb 21, 2007 at 05:26 by aCiD

[quote]

Its pretty much safe. The law is too complicated to the point of obfuscation, so everyone just ignores it when it comes to daily life. Piracy is rampant, but in an unorganized way – if you are looking to start something like tpb, i think its still safe, but always consult a lawyer first. And you can take my word – there’s always going to be a loophole somewhere ;)[/quote]

thanks for the information! can any body tell me what is require to start a new site like tpb? any comment would be appreciated![/quote]

21 Feb 21, 2007 at 20:27 by Bush

Sweden – land of the free, home of the brave!

22 Mar 21, 2007 at 19:48 by ace

[quote comment="52223"]The Pirate Bay doesn’t host any copyrighted material on any of their servers. Their Trackers to not have any copyrighted materials either. The torrent file gives you a blueprint of a file or group of files you want and a lin kto the tracker. The tracker connects you to other people using that torrent. The sharing goes on between individuals, thus the copy-infringement is at the user level. Not the site or tracker.

Also, they allow anyone to upload any file to their site. Only torrents that are deleted are those with incorrect names.

The lawsuit is frivilous.[/quote]

wanker

23 Mar 26, 2007 at 10:21 by Elementalist

… Somewhere, in your odd little min ‘ace’, I’m sure that made sense to you.

And America isn’t -that- bad. My brother and I have been filesharing for YEARS, both hosting AND downloading, and no problems. Now, I’m in Mongolia, but that’s for other reasons.

Sweden should be a country we all look up to.

Hehe, Piracy is rampant in Mongolia too. They sell pirated games/movies on the streets here by the dozen!

24 Mar 26, 2007 at 10:22 by Elementalist

Er… “Mind”.

Dangit.

25 Oct 01, 2007 at 17:07 by Statusphere

[quote comment="52967"][quote]

Its pretty much safe. The law is too complicated to the point of obfuscation, so everyone just ignores it when it comes to daily life. Piracy is rampant, but in an unorganized way – if you are looking to start something like tpb, i think its still safe, but always consult a lawyer first. And you can take my word – there’s always going to be a loophole somewhere ;)[/quote]

thanks for the information! can any body tell me what is require to start a new site like tpb? any comment would be appreciated![/quote][/quote]
Python and some spare time :)

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