Village People Hire Web Sheriff for Assault on The Pirate Bay, ABBA on Standby
Written by enigmax on February 15, 2008In a twin assault, the Web Sheriff anti-piracy outfit is looking to recruit Swedish group ABBA to fight against The (Evil) Pirate Bay, and at the same time launching legal action on behalf of The Village People. Please note Mr Sheriff, they sang “In the Navy” – they don’t really have one.
The Web Sheriff likes to appear to be different with its methods to stamping out Internet piracy. The Sheriff, aka John Giacobbi, first appears to employ a more considered approach by attempting to negotiate the removal of unauthorized content with the site owner, but in a friendly way.
The big, gold Web Sheriff badge is worn with pride on Giacobbi’s chest but with an almost comedic quality which may help to tip the balance with a site admin as he laughs at the situation, rather than panics. “We’re trying to be more civil,” Giacobbi told CNet last year. “We have good relationships with most of the file-sharing and blogging sites, and when we ask them to take down material, the vast majority of them respond straight away. In some cases, the sites give us access to their databases, and we remove content ourselves.”
One site that does respond to them right away is The Pirate Bay. You can read their hilarious exchanges here, but the real point is – when does a ‘civil approach’ turn into something else? Well, as it turns out, as soon as you refuse to comply.
“There is no way that they will have any defense because it’s blatant piracy” said Giacobbi, as he announced legal action against The PirateBay on behalf of the artist, Prince. “They’ll either have to come out and fight or just try and ignore it. In that case, we’re going to win a default judgment against them. This could be a ticking time bomb for them. They can’t outrun this. We are very confident.”
Essentially, “See you in court”. Back to business as usual for the anti-pirates, then.
Now, John Giacobbi, CEO of Web Sheriff has said in an interview with e24.se that he’s hired lawyer Lars Sandberg from Stockholm law firm Södermark to work on the case in Sweden. “We are suing for damages of millions of dollars, and they will be filed at both Swedish as well as US courts.” he added.
Interesting is Giacobbi’s attempt to recruit Swedish (I think I can use the words) mega-group, ABBA, to become some type of positive, cleansing influence to counter the dark forces of The Pirate Bay. This is good versus evil on a scale never experienced before, or at least the chosen imagery implies as much.
“It would be also be good/appropriate if the members of ABBA could take up the fight against these pirates, as they personify the Swedish music industry’s successes and are renowned ambassadors for Sweden, contrary to The Pirate Bay.”
Then, as if dragging ABBA into this bloodbath wasn’t enough, to level things up against The Pirate Bay ‘Four’ – the Sheriff has recruited a police officer to fight them – and he’ll be bringing some friends: an American Indian chief, a cowboy, a construction worker, a man dressed head to toe in black leather and even a guy from the military. Oh boy.
Yes, the Web Sheriff is teaming up with Prince and style-icons The Village People to claim back damages for every one of their albums that have been made available via The Pirate Bay. The Village People want compensation for losses on their single ‘YMCA’ and Prince wants compensation for about 40 of his albums (including some Greatest Hits albums).
When faced with the quote from U2 manager Paul McGuinness who told the Financial Times that the industry should focus on ISPs instead of filesharers, Giacobbi said: “I totally agree. For years, we have said that web hosts, who earn millions and billions in hosting sites, must take responsibility and control these sites.”
When it was put to Giacobbi that public opinion on filesharing had changed and that generally people feel it should be legalized, he responded: “People ask themselves why they should buy something when they can get it for free. But then they aren’t taking into account that someone has created the music or the movie and has invested big money in it. It is also the producer that owns the rights themselves to decided how and to whom their creative work should be distributed.”
It didn’t do ABBA’s image any good when their label was accused of picking on fans in 2006, so you have to question why they would get involved when The Pirate Bay is so popular with music lovers, especially in Sweden.
If you line them all up – The Pirate Bay Four, The Web Sheriff, Prince, ABBA and The Village People, if nothing else, it’s certainly a memorable image.
But you knew that, didn’t you John ;)
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79 Responses
Sounds like a cheap advertising trick.
WHO THE HELL LISTENS TO VILLAGE PEOPLE?
…damn.
It looks like everybody is suing the pirate bay,
Oh boy.
Faggots defending faggots. Web Sherriff is an idiot for trying to stick his nose back in it. Appearantly he didn’t learn the first time around. I guess he likes public humiliation for publicity.
Seems that Hire-a-cop-no-brains-nor-brawl, mr Web sheriff still thinks that Americas law is the internets law. The PirateBay four stands accused of “assisting filesharing” not even filesharing. Will he ever learn the difference? Stay tuned for more wacky guest stars!
I doubt that they will have any luck with it.
Seriously if the lawyers in Sweeden can’t get TPB, how the hell should “mr. I’m soo good kids-web sheriff” be able to?
lol, i love the idea of getting in a bunch of redundant artists that nobody listens to anymore. I’m sure that with such brilliant backing this will do wonders for the fight against “piracy”. Next they’ll be recuiting other crap, like the spice girls…
oh god the moderation caught me
I think the pirate bay is safe so long as its only goons with phony gold badges. I mean come on, does he even kno what dignity is. It just draws attention to his failure to get into the law business for real.
Hahahaha, is so easy to claim for help, they just don’t know what to do at all.
If an band has a song downloaded for free, they wont accept paying to record on a studio, instead they might wait on a long line to record on a free studio of some good soul…
And thats the problem, big companies don’t want to have a free competition, like microsoft doesnt want free-linux, etc etc.
Lats say torrents got all legal, would the world of music end? No one would start a new band?
Of course not!
Everyday the equipments get cheaper, so the only ones in hurry are big companies that sometimes pay less then 9% (of total CD income) to the artist!
Ok, i created this 9% lol, not sure about, but i don’t doubt some even charge instead of pay…
LMAO village people are you serious??
Didnt they all die of aids. I had no idea they were still around. Whatever web sherrif keep up the battle Faggot.
BitTorrent will never die.
sounds like every one wants a piece pf TPB :/
Wow, Village People? Does anyone even listen to them anymore? I hate how greedy artists are nowadays.
WHYYYY-EM-CEE-AYYY!
=]
They cant stand a legal site and competition, hash files are evul and freedom of speech is so aswell.
I highly doubt anything done to TPB in US courts can make them do something, they are based in sweden…
One cant file court cases all over the world and expect people to defend themselves when they dont have to defend themselves in other countries then the one their operating in.
TPB will win the swedish court, sweden has excellent laws and TPB hasnt broken them, hence why they are legal in sweden.
And law changes wont come anytime soon, and because the majority of the swedish people supports filesharing they are very unlikely to be successfull.
The people have the power! Something thats missing in the US as of late, maybe they should fix their lobbying corperate powerhouse by giving more rights to the people? nah let them imagine they have rights sounds like a better idea…
Maybe Obama or whoever will be the next president will restore some power to the american people and remove some from the banks and corperations ;)
[quote comment="290598"]WHYYYY-EM-CEE-AYYY!
=][/quote]
WHYYY-AR-TEY-GAAY!
:p
They are both old screwed over artists trying to get their name out there any way possible. And to think I once liked ABBA!
[quote comment="290524"]Sounds like a cheap advertising trick.
WHO THE HELL LISTENS TO VILLAGE PEOPLE?
…damn.[/quote]
who the hell would seed them?
This is obviously more of an annoyance than a threat… here comes the “me too” bandwagon.
ABBA, do you want public humiliation like Lars Ulrich of Metallica and Paul McGuinness from U2? If you are to get involved in this farce, this is what you will get from the public.
As for Paul McGuinness flop, there is a response to it floating around The Web, one instance being posted at
http://www.mediafuturist.com/2008/02/welcome-to-paul.html
I would like to ask everyone to re-post the whole text of that article to as many forums and blogs as possible and translate it to as many languages as possible (another post that had a wide circulation is titled “When Pigs Fly” from demonbaby).
We are Anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.
Okay, so sharing gay music gets you into jail where your cell mates fuck you all night. Explain again, please, is this a threat or an offer?
The Web Sheriff again?? Hahahahahahahahahahahaha…
[quote comment="290627"]As for Paul McGuinness flop, there is a response to it floating around The Web, one instance being posted at
http://www.mediafuturist.com/2008/02/welcome-to-paul.html
I would like to ask everyone to re-post the whole text of that article to as many forums and blogs as possible and translate it to as many languages as possible (another post that had a wide circulation is titled “When Pigs Fly” from demonbaby).
We are Anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.[/quote]
http://englishrussia.com/?p=1776
We is dead hard.
[quote comment="290633"]Okay, so sharing gay music gets you into jail where your cell mates fuck you all night. Explain again, please, is this a threat or an offer?[/quote]
Hahahahahaha I think the idea is to convence gay people not to share. Jail isn’t a good think even if you ejnoy rape… wait, even if you enjoy BEEN raped. Because if you enjoy rape, well, then… forget. LOL
Filesharing will never die!
“In some cases, the sites give us access to their databases, and we remove content ourselves.”
LMAO! Oh, please. Only in the Web Sheriff’s twisted little wet dreams. Please tell me what tard would actually give that scumbag Giacobbi access to their database?
First Media Defender. Now, I think it’s time the Web Sheriff got his comeuppance. Don’t f*** with us or be prepared to pay the price.
[quote comment="290638"]The Web Sheriff again?? Hahahahahahahahahahahaha…[/quote]
Agreed. This loser is a joke. Oooh! The big, bad Web Sheriff. I’m peeing my pants right now! :P
The Web Sheriff is like a shotgun, one cock and he blows.
Why is all so much hate being shown against gay people in the comments.
Relax, and try to keep your comments about the legality of John Giacobbi, Prince, ABBA, and The Village People’s claim, rather then their sexual preferences. Negative comments of this manner show no proof that your opinion is an informed one, but make it seem that you are uninformed and ignorant.
That being said, I offer support to the TPB in their current and future legal matters.
Its the mentality of an animal. Attack when your victim is hurt. Thats what the copyright lobby is doing to TPB……
Who the f|ck is this Guy I mean SheriFF, I’ve just read some of his letters to TPB and I got the impression that he might be good at something but law…
Let him hire Mick Box who said at Moscow live TV show Rock Against Piracy: “The source of piracy is unlimited greediness of labels”. One cannot have said better. Hi, Mr Sheriff, here is the case to investigate: what in the hell way they use to have market pricing at media market???!!! The prices are obviously monopolistic, and giving copyrights supremacy over anti-trust may have too severe implications: EVERYTHING CAN BE DECLARED AN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, so EVERYTHING CAN BE MONOPOLIZED — for example IPing H5N1 virus as a countermeasure against monopolizing drugs to cure birds flu :(((
what did the village people sing? ah yes…. “you can’t stop the music.. nobody can stop the music..blah blah blah blah.. tell the rain fall up cos its easier to do” remember that one?
[quote comment="290524"]WHO THE HELL LISTENS TO VILLAGE PEOPLE?[/quote]
I’ll drink to that!
If the Village People have enough money to hire a company like Web Sheriff, who I’m sure charge obscene amounts of money, why the hell are they always staying at the YMCA?
I just hope TPB is safe..
I just shit my pants…..from laughing too much
websheriff@websheriff.com
SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM!!!!
[quote comment="290540"]Faggots defending faggots. Web Sherriff is an idiot for trying to stick his nose back in it. Appearantly he didn’t learn the first time around. I guess he likes public humiliation for publicity.[/quote]
Please learn better words to describe people you despise. My best friends are faggots and I can’t seem to see how that word works in this situation.
Ass.
Hahahahaha
Didn’t Village People died couple of decades ago?
Let`s All Hope So. Come On TPB.
Oh boy, who is against The Pirate Bay is against progress.
Long Live the Pirate Bay!
“for every one of their albums that have been made available on The Pirate Bay” – ok so how come there are 40+ comments to this article and no one has noticed this yet? ON THE PIRATE BAY??? This is the exact statement that is used over and over again by p2p opposers to misinform peole and courts!! I’ve never expected to hear this comming from an TF author.
Ok, once again, there is no illegal/infringing content ON the pirate bay servers. The albums/movies/whatever are not made available ON TPB. They are available THROUGH the metadata that is available ON TPB. It makes a huge difference from the law point of view.
Cheers, and please correct this. If the intention of the author was to say that this is what the firms/**AA, or other sherrifs of tha net claim, it should either be quoted, or made explicit.
[quote comment="290588"]Wow, Village People? Does anyone even listen to them anymore? I hate how greedy artists are nowadays.[/quote]
You called them artists….ROTFFLMYO
[quote comment="290633"]Okay, so sharing gay music gets you into jail where your cell mates fuck you all night. Explain again, please, is this a threat or an offer?[/quote]
Thats it, I wanna go in Jail and get it free, give 2, uh ah…
That is really absurd! Would almost certainly have to find a way to control it! Enters this link and watch the video!
[quote comment="290718"][quote comment="290540"]Please learn better words to describe people you despise. My best friends are faggots and I can’t seem to see how that word works in this situation.
Ass.[/quote]
I like meatballs too.
http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=35412
[quote comment="290633"]Okay, so sharing gay music gets you into jail where your cell mates fuck you all night. Explain again, please, is this a threat or an offer?[/quote]
HAHAHA A GAY JOKE. ABOUT RAPE. FUNNY.
No wait, I’m kidding. You sound like a fucking moron. What are you, 12?
[quote comment="290992"]http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=35412[/quote]
lol at that
maybee they will send “the Navy” they are in… because the paper swords that they are attacking the pirate bay with dont seem to hurt.
http://www.walrusgoat.com
[quote comment="291128"]http://www.walrusgoat.com[/quote]
ABBA are one of the biggest recording artists ever, right up there with Elvis and The Beatles. So they aint short of a few pennies. I’m sure they can live with file sharing.
All and all pretty gay …
I thought the gay cowboy rode into town and shot up the sheriff?
Ahhh right, now I get it…
who is the VILLAGE PEOPLE , never heard of them . probably consist of people from rural area
HA! Giacobbi’s on crack.
What does this Web Sheriff even do?
Is he even authorized to do anything besides sending letters to various torrent websites?
Incredibly sad sheriff I must say.
“It is also the producer that owns the rights themselves to decided how and to whom their creative work should be distributed.”
Naturally. Because it was never about the art, just the monies.
[quote comment="290615"][quote comment="290524"]Sounds like a cheap advertising trick.
WHO THE HELL LISTENS TO VILLAGE PEOPLE?
…damn.[/quote]
who the hell would seed them?[/quote]
Could I get a seed on this Boney M over here, already? It’s been days stuck at 4.5%
[quote comment="290718"][quote comment="290540"]
Ass.[/quote]
Baiter
whyyyyyyyyy eemmmm seeeeee GEY !
I really think TPB should go underground…the admins should chaqnge the location of the servers and keep them secret…and saying sorry to these idiotic sues…because sorry TPB isnt official anumore…
seriously..
This is a joke right? April aint for another month and a half.
No one cares what poofters think!
Go fuck yourselves!
Oh, you already do that!!
Whatever..
How do you cope with the shit under your foreskin?
Do you then suck each other off?
Anyway, go back to your weird lives and leave the file sharing to real PRO’s
lol at web sheriff.. Who the f**k use a name like that? Want to impress a 5 yrs old kid?
When Eric Clapton sings I shot the sheriff” it will take on a whole new, and enjoyable meaning. As well as recordings of Bob Marley…
But never mind the sexual orientation of recording artists, do people actually share VP torrents? ROIOs ones as well as official? Really??
Sorry about the gay puns but “who would seed the Village People?” is quite a clever one – unintentional I believe.
One thing. What about the artists actually being hurt by piracy? Does this not happen?
Sheriff gets schooled.
I will be sure to get all the albums that were stolen from me at uni. from Pirate Bay before the gay sheriff has his way with the Pirates… this is all sounding a little wrong… at the back of me head I think some hackers should shoot down the sheriff, and bypass any deputies.
I will be sure to get all the albums that were stolen from me at uni. from Pirate Bay before the gay sheriff has his way with the Pirates… this is all sounding a little wrong… I think some hackers should shoot down the sheriff, and bypass any deputies.
Who’s ABBA ? ;)
Now really, who cares about an old retired band nobody listens to these days..
I’m brave (No, not the Indian). I’ve seen the Villiage People in concert a couple of times recently and they put on a great show. A good portion of that is the visual though. I don’t think I would download a show of theirs. It wouldn’t be the same.
I do understand Web Sheriff’s motives and they are definitely shaking things up in BT world. I only download bootlegs so it really doesn’t matter to me if they get the legitimate recordings banned from any site. They should have control of their own music to the degree that their official releases aren’t available without paying. That’s their major source of income. What I take exception to is their banning of the boots. Most of these are audience recordings and they wouldn’t release them anyway.
I think Village People has made a really bad decision, BUT IT DOESN’T JUSTIFY HOMOPHOBIC COMMENTS ON THIS PAGE, just get over it ffs
The Village People and ABBA. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
All considering, websheriff isn’t an appropriate name. That name implies the service is for the common good, like the sheriff’s department. But these guys charge obscene amounts of money for their service. Does the word “mercenary” come to mind? How about changing the name to WEBMERC?
What’s the dig freaking deal with all the homophobic shit here? I have good friends that are gay too, and I use the word faggot sometimes. It’s just a fucking word.
What’s the dig freaking deal with all the homophobic shit here? I have good friends that are gay too, and I use the word faggot sometimes. It’s just a freaking word.
well they first fire off a copy/pasted email to the comments section on the site and when they start laughing at his spelling errors he subsequently fires off the same copy/pasted email to there webhost who instantly go all shakey at the thought of being sued to oblivion by this sheriff they hastedly oblige and pull the site down oh the joy.
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