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ThePirateBay Will Rise Again?

Posted by Zonk on Thu Jun 01, 2006 08:31 AM
from the can't-keep-a-good-torrent-down dept.
muffen writes "IDG.se has an interesting article up giving more details about the raid on PirateBay, and a little history of the organization. The news organ reports that nearly 200 servers were taken, and many of them had nothing to do with the torrent-serving group. After yesterday's raid, the site is back up with a single page explaining the situation. Brokep, one of the people behind PirateBay, claims that the site will be up and running within a couple of days. He also says that there is no legal basis for the raid against them and that he is certain that the case will not go to trial." From the site: "The necessity for securing technical evidence for the existence of a web-service which is fully official, the legality of which has been under public debate for years and whose principals are public persons giving regular press interviews, could not be explained. Asked for other reasoning behind the choice to take down a site, without knowing whether it is illegal or not, the officers explained that this is normal."

Related Stories

[+] ThePirateBay.org Raided and Shut Down 1189 comments
An anonymous reader writes "ThePirateBay.org, a longtime fixture of the BitTorrent community, is currently under investigation. Slyck.com is reporting their servers have been seized by the Swedish police." What's really interesting about them is the strange political power that they held in their homeland. There was much discussion even of a political party. This will be interesting to watch unfold.
Offsite: BBC Coverage
[+] Pirates, Web 2.0, and Hundred Dollar Laptop 339 comments
A few quick updates on some recent Slashdot stories in Slashback tonight. We have some additional information on the ever-interesting hundred-dollar laptop, the ongoing flap over the trademarking of 'Web 2.0' for conferences, and the shutdown of the Pirate Bay site. Read on for details.
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  • Cross Link & Clickies (Score:5, Informative)

    I know that yesterday's article [slashdot.org] is most likely linked above but I would like to point out Christian Engström's post [slashdot.org] (the vice chairman of the Piratpartiet) which was in reply to my own post [slashdot.org].

    I myself live in America and the only way I can find information on this political party is online. I wish that there were more official resources in English aside from their site [piratpartiet.se]. There seems to be one page with the content exactly the same as Christian Engström's post.

    Is it possible that this party is popular via lack of information? I would like to see them explain their strategy & give very detailed specifics about what they would like to see changed and why. I think that if this was posted, it may cause them to lose some support but would definitely let Sweden & the rest of the world know a lot more about the Pirate Party. I like their desired end results but how to plan to achieve these goals?

    I don't want to sound like an ass but in my opinion, having 200 servers of a controversial party raided and confiscated by the local government is one of the best things that could happen to said party. Especially since nothing incriminating was found on them. Do political parties now earn "street cred" like this? Certainly would strike a chord with the youth & idealists.
    Asked for other reasoning behind the choice to take down a site, without knowing whether it is illegal or not, the officers explained that this is normal.
    Hmmm, sounds like pretty unlawful search and seize action ...

    Dennis: Come and see the corruption inherent in the system. Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
    King Arthur: *seizes the servers* Bloody file sharers!
    Dennis: Oh, what a giveaway! Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about! Did you see him repressing me? You saw him, Didn't you?
    • Re:Cross Link & Clickies (Score:4, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:41AM (#15444148)

      Popular via lack of information? It's a Swedish party, for Swedes. If you can't read Swedish, you probably won't be able to vote for them either.

      And that's the way it is. There's plenty of information there, but it's in Swedish.

      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Cross Link & Clickies (Score:5, Interesting)

      by psergiu (67614) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:50AM (#15444234)
      We would very much like such a party in Romania. It would be hugely popular in the wake of the lastest events: In order to please the EU, the police concluded that all computers connected to local unregistered LANs are used for hosting/trading illegal software/movies/mp3s and began breaking the doors and seizing the computers of anyone not connected to the Cable operators who "sponsored" this operation.
      Link Here [gardianul.ro] (in romanian - but the picture is worth a thousands words)
      The jail term for software piracy in romania is up to 15 years (more than rape) and in a few days the police arrested almost 100 people for this - with the only proof being an IP address.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:Cross Link & Clickies (Score:4, Informative)

        by ozamosi (615254) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:14AM (#15444469)
        (http://flukkost.nu/blog/)
        The Piracy Party has stated that one of their goals is to get into EU, and to get there, they want to help out starting Piracy Parties all over Europe. So you (or other persons interested) should probably contact them if you want to start one in your country.
        [ Parent ]
      • Translation, please - ! by catman (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @09:30AM
        • Re:Translation, please - ! (Score:5, Informative)

          by tibike77 (611880) <tibikegamez@@@yahoo...com> on Thursday June 01 2006, @10:57AM (#15445661)
          (Last Journal: Friday November 10 2006, @06:20AM)
          I could translate that, but it would take a long while. So I'm just going to (loosely) translate (some of) the relevant paragraphs... even by Romanian standards, that article is pretty shabby in legalese and IT-term-wise anyway.
          If it sounds strange to you, don't worry, that's what they actually wrote.

          They are targetting LAN DC++ users (and LAN hubs) right now.
          It is unknown wether they will extend this to torrent users of well-known ISPs or not.
          ___

          The following is the translation of the bolded text in the article:

          A hysteria broke all across the country following operations directed towards those who illegally use the "share" option in the so-called neighbourhood networks (translator note: LANs spanning users from a few buildings up to a few city blocks). Sources from the MAI (translator note: Ministry of Internal Affairs ? well, the police anyway) have declared the operation is code-named "The Gramophone".

          Because in the IP-rights category Romania got a "yellow flag" warning from the EU, Romanian Police has enacted measures regarding weekly raids organisation in order to control this phenomenon, in all counties.

          Within the scope of this endeavour, policemen and prosecutors will work together with ISPs and hub operators. Another method used by the cops to penetrate the hubs is by assuming innocuous user identities.

          In Iasi (translator note: rather large city, "capital" of the county with the same name in the NE of the country, region called Moldova), cops and prosecutors have made several household searches, seizing HDDs, computers and switches. In Tulcea (translator note: city by the Black Sea coast/ Danube Delta), over 20 Internet users have ended up with penal records, and cops have confiscated "dozens" of HDDs.

          The chief of the IP department from the "Parchetul General" (translator note: the higher prosecuting autority), Monica Otava, has declared that prosecutors all across the country will start [such] actions, benefitting from both legal grounds and the necessary logistics for the "annihilation" of LANs.

          The only other relevant (and worying) bit is the following:

          "- Sa inteleg ca de-acum incolo orice utilizator dintr-o asa-zisa retea de cartier se poate trezi la usa cu un procuror cu un mandat de perchezitie in mana?
          - Da, oricand, se poate trezi la usa cu un mandat de perchezitie."


          That loosely translates into something like this:

          *Interviewer* : So, are we to understand that from now on anybody who is connected to a local LAN can end up with the police holding a search warrant at their door?
          *Monica Otava* : Yes, anytime, he can end up with a search warrant at his door

          Well... no comment.
          [ Parent ]
      • Re:Cross Link & Clickies by magetoo (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @11:38AM
      • Re:Cross Link & Clickies by evil_Tak (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @01:05PM
      • Re:Cross Link & Clickies by Owy (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @03:23PM
      • Re:Cross Link & Clickies by Zaatxe (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @05:52PM
      • Re:Cross Link & Clickies by The Cydonian (Score:2) Friday June 02 2006, @02:30AM
      • Re:Cross Link & Clickies by interlingua.ro (Score:3) Thursday June 01 2006, @11:31AM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • The the pirate party? by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @09:03AM
      • Good luck (Score:4, Funny)

        by LunaticTippy (872397) on Thursday June 01 2006, @10:09AM (#15445085)
        There are countless signs in Los Angeles referring to "The La Brea Tar Pits."

        Or, as anyone who knows a smidge of Spanish calls them, "The The Tar Tar Pits."

        [ Parent ]
        • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Cross Link & Clickies by udoschuermann (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @09:04AM
    • Re:Cross Link & Clickies (Score:5, Informative)

      by Oldsmobile (930596) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:06AM (#15444398)
      (Last Journal: Friday June 01, @05:25PM)
      "Hmmm, sounds like pretty unlawful search and seize action ... "

      Though I am not an expert on Swedish law, I doubt there was anythign exactly illegal in this operation, though it was obviously heavy handed. European law works quite differently compared to US law, so any comparisons are useless.

      If there was no reason for this seizure, of course compensation will be paid and if the evidence used to justify it was flawed or faked or the wrong kind, senior police officers may or may not face disiplinary action.

      Of course, the police in Sweden have been caught lying and faking evidence before, such as when covering their backs after shooting someone (who was unarmed) in Gothernburg during a demonstration there a few years back.

      I'm not sure how that ended up.

      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Cross Link & Clickies by extintor (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @10:09AM
    • Re:Cross Link & Clickies by nilenico (Score:3) Thursday June 01 2006, @12:52PM
    • PRIATE BAY IS BACK UP!!! by sternone (Score:1) Saturday June 03 2006, @03:21AM
    • the illegal drugs... by zogger (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @10:03AM
      • Re:the illegal drugs... by lgw (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @12:52PM
        • you are SO wrong (Score:5, Insightful)

          by zogger (617870) on Thursday June 01 2006, @01:54PM (#15447515)
          (http://technocrat.net/ | Last Journal: Saturday November 10, @06:08PM)
          You are automatically equating protest with the word disruptive. Look what you have written. This alone proves you have little idea what you are talking about, nor have you been paying attention to the long past history of political "protesting". And before the knee jerk denial that you said that, look what you wrote.

          I have personally witnessed this violation of rights BS and been the target of cops at *completely* peaceful protests where they went apeshit under some orders and attacked the crowd, going back to civil rights days, pre-anti nam war days, and from then onwards. Not to say violent protests don't happen as well, I won't deny that, but by no means are they all, most usually at least start out peaceful until the overt or covert(yes, this happens) functionaires start the violence, giving them the excuse to go nuts. I have seen it too many times now to not know this isn't SOP with them.

          It does no good if you can't assemble where the action is, 10 miles down the road behind a fence is not "the right to assemble",the government has placed illegal and unconstitutional restrictions on a right, they have said you need "permission" to exercise a born-with right. This is illegal. That right no where states you have the right to assemble where THEY tell you to assemble. That's something they just started doing because they got the guns and follow orders from their "superior beings" whomever those entities are.

          "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

          It does not state you have "some" rights to assemble or that you can only assemble in some designated "zone". Show us where it says that, I have provided the full quote. If you can, I'll concede gracefully, but I have read that numerous times in my life, and can't seem to see those little clauses you insist are there. If it is public property, you have a right to assemble there (obviously personal private property is a different subject entirely), you have the right to your speech, and the right to be heard with your petitions, whether the petitions are oral, written, or visual, as petitions could take any or all of those forms. We the people have a right to tell our elected folks what we think about what is going on. Period. If they keep trying to dodge the petition, they are violating their duties as elected people, no matter what media form the petition is in. They can't refuse the petition. They can't legally order their mercenaries to keep you away from them when you are trying to deliver your petition to them, but they constantly do that. I know why of course, it's because by and large they are mostly corrupt crooks and want to keep their cushy well paying jobs and positions of "rule" over people.

          If you got a political beef, you and your peers have a right to assemble, and to petition the government. That's it, it is that simple ancd clearly the intent of the founders. they were just coming from a time where the redcoats broke up crowds, told them they couldn't be in the town square in a group, arrested "ring leaders' for their "speech", kept them from "petitioning" the crown's authorities, etc, that's why the amendment was written exactly like that. It is beyond clear. They do NOT have the right to restrict you in such a way that they are dodging their duties as governmental workers/politicans/or functionaires, they are REQUIRED to listen to your petitions as acceptance of their official office, to follow the laws. Yes, they have to listen. They still might not agree with your petition, but they have a duty that goes with their oath. And if you come in a group, to show solidarity and the numbers,i.e., an assemblage, too bad, that is a free persons right.

          They are NOT RULERS, we are NOT SUBJECTS, much as they and apparently you seem to believ
          [ Parent ]
        • Re:the illegal drugs... by popeguilty (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @02:49PM
    • Re:Cross Link & Clickies by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @10:54AM
    • 4 replies beneath your current threshold.
  • This looks like a job for Captain Copyright! [captaincopyright.ca]

    Seriously - of course the pirate bay will rise again - what they were doing was not illegal under Swedish law.
  • This is bad... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Quintios (594318) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:33AM (#15444077)
    (Last Journal: Tuesday June 06 2006, @11:38PM)
    I think the selling of Pirates is bad. The site should stay down!
  • We can all freely download all those shows and movies and music and software produced by the companies represented by the RIAA and MPAA and BSA! We can continue this amazing paradox in which we bash the quality of their product while we spend exorbinent amounts of time and energy figuring out ways to get it quickly and freely!
  • "criminal police?" Oo (Score:5, Funny)

    by plasmacutter (901737) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:40AM (#15444130)
    (Last Journal: Tuesday November 06, @02:39PM)
    from TFS: Swedish National Criminal Police

    the police are criminal?
    well at least in sweden they tell it like it is.. i guess Oo
  • Sounds familiar... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gasmonso (929871) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:44AM (#15444176)
    (http://religiousfreaks.com/)

    "...the site will be up and running within a couple of days" Hmmm, thought I heard that once when ShareReactor got raided a couple years ago.

    http://religiousfreaks.com/ [religiousfreaks.com]
  • They were ready (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:46AM (#15444194)
    Im sure the folks at TBP were totally prepared for this raid. Their hilarious abrasiveness in the face of criticism only angered and further instigated the detractors. I am confident this group had prepared statements, lawyers already ready for the case, and these guys knew exactly how to react.

    At least, I hope so.

    Best of luck to them
  • Don't make me ask (Score:3, Funny)

    by Fiznarp (233) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:46AM (#15444196)
    The news organ reports

    Exactly where on the author's anatomy is this organ located?
  • MPAA (Score:5, Informative)

    by muffen (321442) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:47AM (#15444200)
    The MPAA's statement after the takedown of thepiratebay. [mpaa.org]

    Seems like Swedish authorities gave in to the pressure from **AA groups. This may be good as it will put the general public on the side of TPB.

    A poll [aftonbladet.se] in the largest evening newspaper in sweden shows what people think of the takedown of TPB. The question in the poll is, is it right to "attack" people that are involved in filesharing. Ja = YES and Nej = NO. The results speak for themselves.
    • Re:MPAA by NeoSkandranon (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @08:55AM
    • Re:MPAA by Overzeetop (Score:3) Thursday June 01 2006, @09:19AM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:MPAA by BetterThanCaesar (Score:3) Thursday June 01 2006, @09:21AM
    • Re:MPAA by milamber3 (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @09:27AM
    • Re:MPAA by z0idberg (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @09:46AM
    • Re:MPAA by retrosteve (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @10:16AM
      • Re:MPAA by Petrushka (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @06:14PM
    • MPAA Document title : (Score:5, Funny)

      by alexhs (877055) on Thursday June 01 2006, @10:27AM (#15445313)
      (http://dr-tools.sourceforge.net/ | Last Journal: Tuesday January 23 2007, @10:27AM)
      SWEDISH AUTHORITIES SINK PIRATE BAY

      Hmm... How are you going to sink a bay ? Isn't it already full of water ?
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:MPAA by thePowerOfGrayskull (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @11:07AM
    • Is that libel actionable? by Mateo_LeFou (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @12:43PM
    • Re:MPAA by wheany (Score:3) Thursday June 01 2006, @10:22AM
    • right ... but wrong. (Score:5, Informative)

      by hummassa (157160) on Thursday June 01 2006, @10:30AM (#15445354)
      (http://slashdot.org/~hummassa | Last Journal: Wednesday August 22, @05:11AM)
      RIGHT: Unauthorized redistribution of copyrighted works is in violation of the Berne Convention, which Sweden is a signatory,
      WRONG: so it IS illegal for Pirate Bay to do what they are doing.
      Pirate Bay was NOT, under no circumstances, authorizedly or unauthorizedly redistributing copyrighted works. There were NO copyrighted works in PB's servers. ".torrent" files are just files that contain the following information: "the tracker XXX is keeping files YYY, ZZZ, TTT available for bittorrent swarm downloading." And "contributory infringement" is NOT part of the Berne convention... it's an USofAn "innovation". BTW, down here in Brasil there is no "contributory infringement" either.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:MPAA by retrosteve (Score:3) Thursday June 01 2006, @10:39AM
    • Re:MPAA by Suzumushi (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @11:12AM
    • Re:MPAA by mkro (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @11:33AM
    • Re:MPAA by trewornan (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @05:57PM
    • 6 replies beneath your current threshold.
  • The Purpose of Copyright (Score:5, Insightful)

    by amoeba1911 (978485) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:47AM (#15444211)
    (http://www.bitbar.org/)
    The media companies make it sound like copyright is a way of limiting your rights, but it was created with the intent of creating more diversity in content by limiting the rights of the content distributors (like MPAA). It used to have clauses which ensured the consumer's rights wouldn't be stifled (such as fair use). Why was copyright law created?? Because with the invention of the printing press things could be mass replicated much easier, the idea behind copyright was to limit who could print/sell stuff, taking power from printing press/distributor and giving it back to content creator, to allow people to create and distribute new content instead of letting the printing press have a field day selling us the same old crap making huge profits. Copyright law was created so that the content creator would be properly compensated. So that the consumer wouldn't be subjected to the same crap over and over again with no new works being created. The copyright law was made to protect the content creator and the content user. The copyright law was created to stifle the content distribution companies like MPAA, not the consumer. I don't know when this changed, but whoever had the wonderful idea of copyright would probably jam a sharp stick in his eyes if he saw what crud the content distributors have turned this law into. The copyright law has obviously failed in the past half a century and content distributors have too much power now. It's time for another copyright law with the original intent of protecting the consumer and the content creator and to make sure media conglomerates like MPAA don't make huge profits from nothing. There's no reason why a CD should cost $20 (and only a dime going to the creator) when the manufacturing cost of CD is in pennies... just my two cents. Sharing is caring. Let's try to put an end to the tyrannical misuse of copyright law. Thanks for reading!
  • by Qa1 (592969) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:54AM (#15444266)

    The MPAA can hack servers and harvest private information [slashdot.org] if it wants; not a single MPAA employee would suffer any sort of police harrassment. But someone ostensibly assists violation of MPAA copyrights and BAM! - 200 servers are confiscated by police authorities.

    The reason for this is explained in Sterling's account of the first major institutional crackdown [chriswaltrip.com] on hackers, ezine publishers and other dispensers of information which some powerful corporation don't want to see in the wild. From the text:

    Another problem is very little publicized, but it is a cause of genuine concern. Where there is persistent crime, but no effective police protection, then vigilantism can result. Telcos, banks, credit companies, the major corporations who maintain extensive computer networks vulnerable to hacking -- these organizations are powerful, wealthy, and politically influential. They are disinclined to be pushed around by crooks (or by most anyone else, for that matter). They often maintain well-organized private security forces, commonly run by experienced veterans of military and police units, who have left public service for the greener pastures of the private sector. For police, the corporate security manager can be a powerful ally; but if this gentleman finds no allies in the police, and the pressure is on from his board-of-directors, he may quietly take certain matters into his own hands.

    So police is acting as mercenaries for the big corporations, since otherwise they'd hire their own. Not a very comforting thought, especially considering you are nowadays likely to be arrested for suspicion of violating corporate copyrights. Remember when police and laws were used to protect citizens, not criminialize millions for hurting corporate profit machines...?

  • by Lazy Jones (8403) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:54AM (#15444275)
    (http://pobox.com/~mjy | Last Journal: Thursday August 02, @02:40PM)
    so don't bother reading it, we already know that stuff ...

  • Piratebay should have (Score:1, Insightful)

    by FudRucker (866063) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:55AM (#15444283)
    mirrored their data to another machine in another nation where the authorities can not touch it...
  • They were forced to leave DNA (Score:5, Interesting)

    by eddy (18759) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:57AM (#15444305)
    (http://gazonk.org/~eloj/ | Last Journal: Tuesday June 07 2005, @01:18PM)

    The most amazing thing of all is that the persons that were questioned, were forced to leave DNA. That's totally unheard of, and make one think that maybe this was done, and this will sound completely conspiracy nuts, on request from the US ("MPAA"). Collection of DNA has been reserved for severe crimes; Rape, murder, etc.

    Personally I believe the goal here is to make an example of the ISP, PRQ. Taking non-related servers makes perfect sense in that context. They want to make sure no one dares host trackers, even if it's found to be legal! I believe the charges as they relate to "TPB" will be dropped, but they'll go ahead with materal found on the suspects home computers (sadly, it seems they weren't smart/careful enough to not sample their own warez, so to speak). However, for PR reasons they'll blur this issue, making a case against the individuals based on their home computers seem like a win against trackers.

  • by spurtle15 (899792) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:02AM (#15444358)
    If I were them, I'd rebuild those servers. No telling what backdoors and spy software those RIAA-MPAA goons/law enforcement officials put on the machines while they were searching for incriminating evidence.
  • Will rise abroad, they say (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Bromskloss (750445) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:05AM (#15444384)
    In a swedish article on the same site, one of the pirates states that they will open again, abroad [www.idg.se] (outside Sweden, that is, duh).
  • by base3 (539820) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:06AM (#15444388)
    As a *AA/police honeypot.
  • Damn Wiggles (Score:1, Troll)

    by Medievalist (16032) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:06AM (#15444392)

    I've had enough of their paedophilic shenanigans... Captain Feathersword? Please!!!

    Keep Pirate Bay shut down and put the Wiggles in prison where they belong!

    Er, what? Oh... I see. Never mind!
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Geek or lawyer? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by nbuet (944469) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:06AM (#15444393)
    Now the big question behind all that: if you want to make a living in the computer world as it is today, should you rather be a programmer or a lawyer?
  • The drama unfolds (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ch-chuck (9622) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:09AM (#15444409)
    (http://slashdot.org/)
    Yep, just like this old fogie predicted, the piracy issues is evolving along nicely parallel to the 50's-60's "legalize marijuana" drug movement. Good luck, but we already know how it's going to turn out. I admire idealistic youth - they're young, they'll learn.

    • Re:The drama unfolds by muffen (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @09:21AM
    • Re:The drama unfolds by Saint Fnordius (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @09:27AM
    • Re:The drama unfolds by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @09:38AM
    • Re:The drama unfolds (Score:4, Interesting)

      The movement for the legalization of marijuana isn't over. It continues all over the country and it's making headway, if not in law (although several states have enacted legislation to decriminalize marijuana at their level) then in mindshare among the american public. Most of the time you can win [rational] people over by showing them statistics on yearly deaths in the US due to alcohol and to marijuana. Alcohol: 85,000, or between 1 and 2 percent of the US population every year. Marijuana: 0. FUCKING ZERO. Oh, it's possible that people have died of lung cancer caused by smoking marijuana, but then, people who don't smoke die of lung cancer, so it's not possible to show a link there. It might be, if the Federal government wasn't in the habit of suppressing all marijuana research in the states. Research done everywhere else in the world (well, just about everywhere) shows that it has numerous health benefits whether you're suffering from some illness or not.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:The drama unfolds (Score:5, Informative)

        by The Darkness (33231) on Thursday June 01 2006, @10:17AM (#15445199)
        (http://www.treeofice.net/)
        Alcohol: 85,000, or between 1 and 2 percent of the US population every year. Marijuana: 0. FUCKING ZERO.

        Let me say up front that I'm for legalizing Marijuana as a substance similar to the way Alcohol is legal.

        I checked what I believe is the source of your data:
        http://www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm [drugwarfacts.org]

        The "zero" number you quote is only for deaths directly related to smoking it. The number for alcohol (85000) includes car related accidents. The number of direct alcohol deaths is more like 68400 - not an insignificant number. The number of car accidents related to "illicit drug use" including Marijuana is included in the 17000 number near the bottom. If we count every incident as a "Marijuana related car accident" (which I know is unreasonable) then we still end up with a number comparable to alcohol. What that says to me is that no matter what substance you have available to let people alter their minds with there is a percentage of the population that will do stupid things like drive and take other people out.

        I think it's stupid that smoking it is illegal but perhaps something a little more realistic than "it's harmless" should be the message. If you tell people its harmless and the statistics start to show more indirect deaths due explicitly to Marijuana then you risk backlash.
        [ Parent ]
      • Re:The drama unfolds by drinkypoo (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @12:00PM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:The drama unfolds (Score:4, Interesting)

      by CAPSLOCK2000 (27149) on Thursday June 01 2006, @10:05AM (#15445049)
      (http://www.zvdk.nl/)
      I'd like to remark that most of the Dutch think that our marihuana policy is essentialy correct. Ofcourse we have many different views, but the general opinion is that marihuana itself is not a real problem.

      It's not entirely without issues, but in general alcohol and tabbacco cause more problems. Most of the marihuana related problems are legal problems (you can get a license to sell marihuana, but not to grow it. Growing is still done in a criminal setting).

      We have far less problems with marihuana users then the countries that surround us. I have never seen any form of violence in a coffeeshop, while pub fights are almost normal.

      What I'm trying to say is, look at the facts. Don't believe what some company with a big stake in the outcome tells you.
      [ Parent ]
    • Mod parent redundant by Robotron23 (Score:3) Thursday June 01 2006, @10:33AM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Ever hear of the volstead act? by plasmacutter (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @11:19AM
    • Re:Think Prohibition (Score:4, Insightful)

      by vertinox (846076) on Thursday June 01 2006, @11:21AM (#15445967)
      (http://mp3bat.com/)
      Yep, just like this old fogie predicted, the piracy issues is evolving along nicely parallel to the 50's-60's "legalize marijuana" drug movement.

      Actually, you couldn't be more wrong. Most people back then didn't do drugs if they were Joe Six-Pack. However, most people already break the law when it comes to pirating.

      Not only that, the RIAA and MPAA want to get rid of fair use.

      They want to make time shifting and recording TV shows illegal because using the DMCA they have made it illegal for Joe Six-pack to by pass the DRM.

      This is stuff that grandma, Bob the Blue Collar worker, and Sara the Single Mom already do and they don't think its morally wrong. This was stuff they were doing in the 70s and 80s with the VCR and tape recorders.

      So this is more like Prohibition of the 30's. People, young and old, don't think it is wrong and they actively do it every day without thinking twice.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:The drama unfolds by chefren (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @02:04PM
    • 3 replies beneath your current threshold.
  • Global Warming (Score:4, Funny)

    by Aceticon (140883) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:09AM (#15444411)
    Please get the Pirate Bay back up, 'cause less pirates means higher global temperatures [venganza.org]
  • Pirate bay will rise again (Score:2, Funny)

    by Strategos (978492) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:12AM (#15444438)
    What we need is a server in orbit sharing the links on a stealthed satellite. That'll screw them. Try shutting down the bit torrent links then.
  • The police in Sweden didn't just take the Pirate Bay servers... they also confiscated servers belonging to other, unrelated businesses as well. This, without even being sure (according to the police themselves) that the Pirate Bay people had broken any Swedish law.

    Some of the other servers were related, insofar as they were also torrent servers. The site known as Karagarga was affected, as was the Asian DVD Club. There was no warrant against these sites, but they are down nonetheless... and I repeat, according to the police themselves, they are not even sure that the Pirate Bay, which they did have a warrant for, was violating any of the laws in Sweden.

    What Pirate Bay did more than anything else to bring this massive shitstorm down upon their heads was not facilitate filesharing; rather, they taunted the MPAA/RIAA and their lawyers egregiously and often, and no doubt caused quite a bit of apoplexy among these people over the last few years.

    Me, I'm not interested in the films that come out of Big Hollywood. I like old classics, I like arthouse, I like cult, I like rarities. The torrent site I frequent specializes in those genres, and doesn't even allow people to share Big Hollywood product. The site owners don't like the DMCA, but they do comply with it, and consequently have never been bothered by MPAA/RIAA about their activities. In their private forums, they have had a running poll going for most of a year now, which is somewhat illuminating... and overwhelming percentage of the members there (82%), people who are all quite familiar with where and how to download anything they want for free, still buy commercial DVDs and CDs! This data corroborates findings of researchers at major US universities, who have concluded that filesharing does not necessarily hurt the sales of traditional media. The research indicates that filesharing of majorly hyped Big Hollywood releases (like a new STAR WARS movie, for instance) has a small but noticeable negative impact on ticket sales and DVD rentals, but that filesharing of more obscure fare actually has a significant POSITIVE impact on ticket sales and DVD rentals -- it exposes more people to the work in question, and consequently, more people go out and buy a commercial copy of it.

    It seems that the real problem is not that filesharers are evil 'pirates' who are cutting into MPAA/RIAA profits due to their wicked refusal to pay for culture... the problem is that when you buy a cinema ticket or buy/rent a DVD, and you have never seen the film or heard the album before purchasing, you are far more likely to spend money on movies and music that you ultimately find disappointing, and people don't like that. Filesharing should properly be regarded by Big Hollywood as pressure to stop making such a tremendous amount of recycled garbage, stop using marketing as the ultimate focus and raison d'etre of every film and CD produced, and get back to the old school traditions of making fine art for fine art's sake, with marketing a strictly post-production affair that has no say in what scripts get chosen or how directors do their jobs.

    Would you buy a car without taking it for a test drive? Would you pay for clothes without trying them on? How many times have you walked out of a theater after a film, or ejected a DVD from your DVD player, and wished for your money back? All the actual hard data that has been collected shows that even hardcore filesharers DO go out and buy commercial DVDs and CDs; they like to own the tangibles and they like to support the artists and companies whose work they appreciate... so filesharing isn't piracy, it's more akin to trying something before you buy it, and rejecting it if it's poorly made. MPAA/RIAA's strident insistence that filesharing is piracy is simply their bid to retain their obscenely high profits without doing the tough job of making products worth buying. They prefer to work according to formulae and sell the same tired bullshit again and again, with explosions and special effects in lieu of actual

  • by Qbertino (265505) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:22AM (#15444557)
    ... is asking for it, imho. It does nothing to help get the concept of fair use and evil market restriction technologies through to the elder blockheads in politics.
    I really can't say if I should wish for these guys to be put away or sued to chunky kibbles at least.
  • by alaloom (966252) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:36AM (#15444706)
    "When society sends its police at the young generation for listening to music and watching movies, it's not the young that are in error. It's society that needs to get a grip." - Rickard Falkvinge I think he offers a good argument.

  • PDF Warning: MPAA Gleefully Issues Press Release Detailing the "Sinking of Pirate Bay"

    http://www.mpaa.org/press_releases/2006_05_31.pdf [mpaa.org]

    By the time this is picked up by the media, PB will be back online. I *love* it.

    -[d]-
  • by gjuk (940514) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:39AM (#15444728)
    The BBC site says that the raid was carried out by 50 police officers. In one way, it's good to know that Britain's not the only country which mismanages its police resources so badly, but it still seems hugely disproportionate (techy types not known for their violent resistance tactics). Presumably, the operation would have been just as effective (and arguably, just as wrong) with a couple of officers, a couple of techy coppers, and a couple of big blokes to hump off the servers. It does send out a signal about the recording industry's perverse hold on the authorities. I'd love to the monopolies commission going to the HQ of a big record company with 50 officers to seize a few price-fixing files. Somehow I think it won't happen.
  • Very odd (Score:1)

    by fullofangst (724732) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:56AM (#15444937)
    In my opinion it's quite strange how much interest the Pirate Bay generates...

    As a techie, I'm all for peer-to-peer sharing earning itself a 'good' reputation, and not being seen as pure evil, in any context, by the mass media, hollywood, recording industries, next door neighbours etc.

    So I'm happy when legitimate uses for P2P (e.g. Sky by Broadband) are introduced.

    But absolutely bewildered why a torrent site blatantly for downloading copyrighted works for free gets SO MUCH ATTENTION.

    • Re:Very odd by cockroach2 (Score:1) Thursday June 01 2006, @10:15AM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • by tddoog (900095) on Thursday June 01 2006, @10:21AM (#15445260)
    I often go to the library and borrow copies of books, dvds and cds for free . I do the same off of bitorrent. I download files and watch/read/listen to them and then I throw them away instead of returning them.

    Many times the library does not have the title that I am looking for and so I go to TPB or the like and usually they have it. Instead of maintaining an unreasonably collection at a large brick and mortar library, libraries could run torrent trackers and provide most of their collection online at very little cost to the public.

    I have a large cd and dvd collection that is filled with things that I want to own but some things I do not want to own. I only want to enjoy them once. I suppose if it were up to the **AA, they would shut down public libraries as well.

  • by chris311 (87683) on Thursday June 01 2006, @10:43AM (#15445510)
    This is clearly a conspiracy to keep people from seeing "An Inconvenient Truth", the new Al Gore movie. George Bush and his oil company cronies don't want the truth to get out. ManBearPig! I'm Serial.
  • by Newer Guy (520108) on Thursday June 01 2006, @10:45AM (#15445541)
    Some will consider this offtopic, but it really isn't when the discussion moves to filesharing being a sort of: "try b4 you buy". Anyone that goes to a movie is entitled to a FULL REFUND of the ticket price if they go to the box office within a 20 minute window AFTER the movie starts and demand one. Not the trailers, etc., but the actual film. They are REQUIRED to give it to you, no questions asked!
  • by ngdbsdmn (658135) on Thursday June 01 2006, @11:08AM (#15445811)
    I think many people would like to donate them money so that they can be helped in this state-sponsored oppression. I know I do, so I would like to know if there is any way to do this. Warning! Answers to this post may lead to phishing sites so beware.
  • by SageMadHatter (546701) on Thursday June 01 2006, @11:09AM (#15445820)
    Huh? It's normal to barge into private premises, arrest people for no reason and siege their property? In a totalitarian government, ya... But I don't think that's the kind of system that is running in Sweden.
  • lol two edged swords! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Codename.Juggernaut (975811) on Thursday June 01 2006, @11:16AM (#15445921)
    From the MPAA's statement: "The bottom line is that the operators of the Pirate Bay and others like them are criminals who profit handsomely by facilitating the distribution of millions of copyrighted creative works and files protected under the law," said John G. Malcolm, Executive Vice President and Director of Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations for the MPAA. "We applaud Swedish law enforcement for their effort to stop egregious copyright infringement on The Pirate Bay."

    The only Criminals who profit handsomely by facilitating the distribution of millions of copyrighted creative works and files protected under the law in this story are the MPAA. Piratebay is a search engine. You have to break a law to be 'Criminal'
  • by payndz (589033) on Thursday June 01 2006, @11:29AM (#15446047)
    Of course it will! They can just put up a torrent... oh, wait.
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • by Colin Smith (2679) on Thursday June 01 2006, @11:47AM (#15446226)
    fully replicated servers in multiple countries...
  • Latest Update (Score:1)

    by earthstar (748263) on Thursday June 01 2006, @12:52PM (#15446870)
    (Last Journal: Saturday December 24 2005, @01:18PM)
    I dont know if this can be called official,but thepiratebay.org itself has this message put up :

    SITE DOWN - WILL BE UP AND FULLY FUNCTIONAL WITHIN A DAY OR TWO


    http://thepiratebay.org/ [thepiratebay.org]
  • It will not rise in Sweden (Score:5, Interesting)

    by liangzai (837960) on Thursday June 01 2006, @01:03PM (#15446994)
    (http://www.xingfu.se/blogge/)
    As it turns out, the illegal action against the pirate bay was on direct order from the swedish justice department (this is also illegal in Sweden), which in turn acted on a request from the US government, which in turn acted on behalf of MPAA.

    This is all classified, but leaked to a very authoritative (as BBC) TV channel in Sweden.

    Therefore, the swedish government is determined to ignore the law, as has happened so many times before.

    Look for the pirate bay in the free world, i.e., in china or something.
  • by davycroc (978585) on Thursday June 01 2006, @03:56PM (#15448622)
    How short our internet memory is... http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Indymedia/ [eff.org] Remember when the US went through the UK to get Italy to seize servers?
  • For those of you who live near Stockholm. We're (me and others, not behind TPB) arranging a demonstration against the razzia. on saturday 13:00

    More info:
    http://www.jpl.se/~dalen/demo.html [www.jpl.se]

  • ...pirates raid YOU!
  • by Quintios (594318) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:39AM (#15444122)
    (Last Journal: Tuesday June 06 2006, @11:38PM)
    Wait wait wait... Is the RIAA posting here now too?

    Anyone that grabs someone by the shirt in a store is going to get sued... I don't believe this story is credible. Plus, someone that sells christian music and calls a patron a "bitch". (Not that christians don't cuss, but again, if the guy is having problems clothing his kids I doubt he's scare off a customer.)

    [ Parent ]
  • Dude, that joke hasn't been funny [kuro5hin.org] for years. (I mean why didn't you pull out BSD is dying?)
    [ Parent ]
  • by Vo0k (760020) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:43AM (#15444164)
    (Last Journal: Wednesday August 18 2004, @07:52AM)
    What kind of idiot buys 1h of music on a disk, when they can get, legally or not, 16, without need to swap the disks? If you were selling vinyl records, you'd be just in the same situation. Compressionless music is in decline. Same as horse coaches replaced by trains. Piracy may have its hand in it but not as much as a source of -free- music but as a source of -music as mp3-.
    Damn me if I'm going to waste 60 megabytes of data storage space for one 3-minute song.
    [ Parent ]
  • by mitch0 (237776) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:44AM (#15444175)
    Erm, nice sad story and all, but probably you should just realize that this will only get worse (from your perspective), so you'd better find another business model...

    just 2 random thoughts:
      - online music stores make a nice profit
      - CDs are overpriced

    regards,
    mitch

    ps: I know there's a fair chance that I'm replying to a troll, but what the heck ;)
    [ Parent ]
  • This evening, my daughters asked me. "Why do the other kids laugh at us?"

    I wanted to tell them the truth - it's because they wear old clothes and have cheap haircuts. I can't afford anything better for them right now.

    "It's because they are idiots, kids", I told them. "Don't listen to them."

    When the kids went to bed, my wife asked me, "Will we be able to keep the house, David?"

    I just shook my head, and tried to hold back the tears. "I don't know, Jenny. I don't know."
    My grandparents and ancesters have been dirt farmers as far back as I know. Now I'm a computer programmer. Why? Because of corporate farming in America.

    Boo hoo.

    Do I cry that my 5th generation industry was stolen out from under my feet? Do I cry that my grandparents and parents endured hardships? No. They rolled with the punches and my dad worked construction/trucking. Maybe you should look into another industry. You smell the times changing, so react (you are allowed to do that, you know). Here's your plan: Get into another business and do it fast. You can keep your house if you're smart. No one is going to be crying over your family drama on Slashdot. Don't be emotionally soft and don't feel sorry for yourself. Pick yourself up and move on. Sell the store or change your business. It was a fun 12 years but the trend is over.
    [ Parent ]
  • by Spad (470073) <slashdot.spad@co@uk> on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:47AM (#15444214)
    (http://www.spad.co.uk/)
    The may be "guilty" of it, but there's no law in Sweden that prevents them from doing it.
    [ Parent ]
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • by Opportunist (166417) on Thursday June 01 2006, @08:58AM (#15444329)
    As sorry as I may feel for you, but you have to share the sympathy with all the typesetters, the shoemakers, the tailors, the editors, the layouters and all the others whose profession has become obsolete by technology.

    Do you honestly ask for technology to be rolled back so you can keep your job? If so, how far shall we roll back? To the time before computers so we need more traffic cops (no coordinated traffic lights without computers), too? Or before the industrial revolution, so weavers can get back into their profession?

    Sorry buddy. Time's past you, learn something that's still in demand if you want to stay in business.
    [ Parent ]
  • by A-Trav (874605) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:02AM (#15444353)
    Assuming that this is not a fake (which it most likely is), the store was doomed to failure from the start. Here are several basic flaws in your business model:

    1. Clean music, like Christian Rock, does not sell nearly as well as non-clean music
    2. Your store made the same fatal mistake as the entire Music Industry, it attempted to resist the sell of music online.
    3. CD's have not been the perferred way to store music for several years.

    As to why you business is in immediate danger:

    1. You should not threaten customers. When word gets around, considering that you sell "Family Music," you will lose about three forths of your business.
    2. If your having money troubles, then you should have let go of some useless employees, scaled back the size of the store, and/or spent more to advertise
    3. Most importantly, if the threatened customer has any sense, you and your business will be charged with assult.

    The lesson, dont keep an out of date business plan....
    [ Parent ]
  • Re:BAD name (Score:1)

    by vrai (521708) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:04AM (#15444376)
    (http://acherondevelopment.com/)
    Cry fowl? In response to their servers being seized they made chicken noises?
    [ Parent ]
  • When the kids went to bed, my wife asked me, "Will we be able to keep the house, David?"
    I just shook my head, and tried to hold back the tears. "I don't know, Jenny. I don't know."
    Man, that had me in stitches.
    [ Parent ]
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Re:STANDBY (Score:2)

    by HaydnH (877214) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:13AM (#15444454)
    If you gon't care about any of this stuff why on earth are you reading /.?!?
    [ Parent ]
    • Re:STANDBY by tomstdenis (Score:2) Thursday June 01 2006, @09:47AM
  • Re:STANDBY (Score:1)

    by base3 (539820) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:14AM (#15444468)
    What are you doing about all those ills you're judging the rest of us for not helping fix? Besides osting tripe here, I mean.
    [ Parent ]
  • Re:BAD name (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Vintermann (400722) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:15AM (#15444479)
    (http://vintermann.paranoidkoala.org/)
    Sure they were being deliberately offensive, but they had solid, legal swedish case law behind them, so seeing whether they would last was a test of the integrity of the legal system (and the speed of the political system in making what they did actually illegal).
    [ Parent ]
  • Dr Michael Hfuhruhurr [kuro5hin.org] Notice that in the comments someone says, "I saw this on Slashdot a while ago". And that name? Clearly a reference to a thread-ending historical figure. QED
    [ Parent ]
  • by Guysmiley777 (880063) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:35AM (#15444693)
    Legal or not, the internet will eventually kill your business anyway. You should have recognized that oh, about 6 years ago. If the record industry had an ounce of sense they would have gone to online distribution years ago and put you out of business.
    [ Parent ]
  • Re:BAD name (Score:5, Insightful)

    by asuffield (111848) <asuffield@suffields.me.uk> on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:40AM (#15444752)
    Come on, the PIRATES bay?!?!?!?!?

    they were just sayin g NA NA NA NA NA NA: you cant catch us!


    Yes, that is exactly what they were doing. It's roughly similar to civil disobedience.

    They were saying: We are the people, we want things this way. A democratic government is obliged to respect our wishes because we are a majority of the population. Foreign corporations cannot make up ethics and laws to suit their business plan, they require our consent.

    They have always been treating this as a political battle, not a legal one. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Sweden is unusual in that a large portion of the populace is informed about this issue and supports TPB rather than the MPAA. I don't think this is over yet.

    This is the stuff that brings down governments.
    [ Parent ]
    • Re:BAD name by wheany (Score:3) Thursday June 01 2006, @10:35AM
      • Re:BAD name by asuffield (Score:3) Thursday June 01 2006, @04:03PM
  • by 9Nails (634052) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:49AM (#15444862)
    I bought a DVD music video of a popular band, it contained a virus.

    I bought an MP3 on-line from a major site, I couldn't listen to it on my portable player.

    I bought a CD from a music store, it contained a root-kit which gave hackers access to my computer.

    The RIAA sued a Grand Mother for Piracy, and she didn't even own a PC.

    Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Want me to still buy your music after all that has happened? Think again.
    [ Parent ]
  • by Jon_A_Mnemonic (907850) on Thursday June 01 2006, @09:49AM (#15444867)
    They have fought the war on drugs with skill? Surely you jest. After spending a trillion dollars since the beginning of the war on drugs, all drugs are more available than they were before the war began, and potency is, if anything, improved. If there is a war on piracy, and it is fought as skillfully as the war on drugs, then in 30 years or so we'll have a few more million people to clothe and feed and shelter in prison, we'll be out another trillion dollars, and piracy will have increased.
    [ Parent ]
  • Re:BAD name (Score:2)

    by Creepy (93888) on Thursday June 01 2006, @10:26AM (#15445304)
    (Last Journal: Monday October 22, @12:27PM)
    It's memorable and there are already legal examples - Pittsburgh Pirates, Disney's Pirates of the Carribean, etc. I certainly haven't seen any raids on Disney's site [go.com].

    Back in the 1980s I even knew a sysop that ran a legal BBS called Pirates Harbor. He promised "booty" as you progressed levels up in the system including download privledges, but all the software available was legal. A lot of the software hosted there was actually created by pirates, but made for use by gamers. I remember stuff like a Wizardry Scenario Editor, an Ultima sprite editor (I know the author of that one), a booklet of hack codes for different games (assembly calls for stuff like infinite lives), and also the one that got me in trouble in Jr High - the BBS version of the Anarchist Cookbook. In a nutshell, I printed 3 pages on bombs and a black powder recipe for a friend at school and then he made photocopies and started selling them. Someone got caught and turned in people up the food chain until I was fingered. I had a scared chat with a police officer and the Principal, but nothing illegal was done and there was no school policy banning information (until the next week). It was long before Columbine - I'd have been expelled and straightjacketed if I brought such a thing today. Incidentally, I did build one bomb - a smoke bomb (saltpeter and sugar) - which was pretty much where my interest in the subject ended.
    [ Parent ]
  • Re:BAD name (Score:1)

    by JakeX (978243) on Thursday June 01 2006, @10:47AM (#15445562)
    (http://www.biernacki.ca/)
    Whats wrong with 'Pirate Bay' ? They were never saying 'Na Na Na', they were saying they are a search engine, and plus under Swedish law, they didn't do anything wrong. I fail to see any merit to your comment other than to be flamebait.
    [ Parent ]
  • by Jesus_666 (702802) on Thursday June 01 2006, @11:30AM (#15446049)
    My business faces ruin. Troll sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many trolls as they did just a year ago. Revenue is down and costs are up. My store has survived for years, but I now face the prospect of bankruptcy. Every day I ask myself why this is happening.

    I bought the store about 12 years ago. It was one of those boutique troll stores that sell obscure, lame jokes that no-one laughs about, not even the people that make them. I decided that to grow the business I'd need to aim for a different demographic, the geek market. My store specialised in trolls - stuff that geeks find hilarious and/or annoying. I don't sell sick stuff like Goatse or Tubgirl, and I'm proud to have one of the most extensive In Soviet Russia sections that I know of.

    The business strategy worked. People flocked to my store, knowing that they (and their children) could safely purchase trolls without anuses or violent diarrhea. Over the years I expanded the business and took on more clean-cut and friendly employees. It took hard work and long hours but I had achieved my dream - owning a profitable business that I had built with my own hands, from the ground up. But now, this dream is turning into a nightmare.

    copy Every day, fewer and fewer customers enter my store to buy fewer and fewer trolls. Why is no one buying trolls? Are people not interested in pop culture references? Do people prefer to watch TV, see films, read books? I don't know. But there is one, inescapable truth - Slashdot is mostly to blame. The statistics speak for themselves - one in three trolls world wide appears on Slashdot. On Slashdot, you can find and read hundreds of dollars worth of pop culture references in just minutes. It has the potential to destroy the lame joke industry, from artists, to troll companies to stores like my own. Before you point to the supposed "economic downturn", I'll note that the karma store just across from my store is doing great business. Unlike trolls, it's harder to copy karma on Slashdot.

    A week ago, an unpleasant experience with space ninjas gave me an idea. In my store, I overheard a teenage patron talking to his friend.

    "Dude, I'm going to post this troll on Slashdot right away."

    "Yeah, dude, that's really lete [sic], you'll get lots of +1, Funny."

    I was fuming. So they were out to destroy the troll industry from right under my nose? Fat chance. When they came to the counter to make their purchase, I grabbed the little shit by his shirt. "Zo...you ah going to post zis to your frends on Slushdot, punk?" I asked him in my best Arnold Schwarzenegger/Kindergarten Cop voice.

    "Uh y-yeh." He mumbled, shocked.

    "That's it. What's your name? You're blacklisted. Now take yourself and your little bitch friend out of my store - and don't come back." I barked. Cravenly, they complied and scampered off.

    So that's my idea - a national blacklist of space ninjas. If somebody cannot obey the basic rules of society, then they should be excluded from society. If space ninjas want to steal from the pop culture reference industry, then the pop culture reference industry should exclude them. It's that simple. One strike, and you're out - no reputable troll store will allow you to buy another troll. If the pirates can't buy the trolls to begin with, then they won't be able to post them on Slashdot, will they? It's no different to doctors blacklisting drug dealers from buying prescription medicine.

    I have just written a letter to the GNAA outlining my proposal. Suing space ninjas one by one isn't going far enough. Not to mention space ninjas use the fact that they're being sued to unfairly portray themselves as victims. A national register of space ninjas would make the problem far easier to deal with. People would be encouraged to give the names of suspected space ninjas to a hotline, similar to Bust Your Boss. Once we know the size of the problem, the police and other law enforcement agencies will be forced to take space ninjutsu serio
    [ Parent ]
  • So now, when they grow older and get a job, and can actually afford $17 cds full of Christian crap, they wont be able to spend it because you wont let them. So you will force them to borrow it from a friend, or simply download it from the NEXT person who will put it up on the internet.

    Yeah. Really smart. No wonder your store is failing. Those people were about to BUY your cd and now you wont sell them anymore in the future. You're an idiot.

    I own over 400 real cds, and haven't stepped foot inside a recordstore since the 1990s. You're in an industry that does not need to exist anymore; get out now while you can.

    And if you have any stock in telegraph companies, or abacus companies, I suggest you divest yourself of that as well.

    [ Parent ]
  • When you bought the store you adapted it to become more profitable. You found a niche and fit into it well. Markets change and if you're going to be successful, you've gotta change your buisiness model with them. I think you're probably realizing this too late, but I'd say figure out how to fit the new market. Say... sell MP3 players at low prices, provide some computer stations for kids without credit cards to legally download music in mp3 form to their newly bought MP3 player. Start selling things that can't be pirated, like services. Get into recording and publishing. Get a starbucks franchise in your store and build a little stage for upcoming superstars to show their stuff. Learn to be cool and relaxed. Make your store a cool place for kids to be kids, but also safe a safe place so that parents don't worry about letting their kids hang out there. There are a thousand ways you can make profit if you're as willing to change as you were at first. You got stuck and comfortable and now you're afraid of change. You can't fill your wallet or your stomach with tears, new laws or black-lists, but you can fill them by meeting percieved market needs. I might mention that socializing sells. Every new and great money making idea in recent years revolves around social needs, from starbucks to reality shows.
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  • by Weaselmancer (533834) on Thursday June 01 2006, @12:56PM (#15446911)

    You know, across the mall or down the sidewalk? You just catch her out of the corner of your eye. She's got a nice short skirt on and a snug shirt and you just can't help but notice her. She's got really nice legs and you take a moment or two out and just let your gaze linger on them for just a brief before walking on.

    Well, you're guilty in spirit of adultery. I'm telling your wife.

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  • by crabpeople (720852) on Thursday June 01 2006, @02:45PM (#15447981)
    (Last Journal: Friday January 30 2004, @06:40PM)
    you people know this is a well known troll post right? just like bsd is dying.

    Heres the google search [google.ca] of it.

    I think the first time i saw it i naievely replyed to it as well.

    [ Parent ]
  • by ultranova (717540) on Thursday June 01 2006, @04:08PM (#15448737)

    In the tradition of taking obvious trolls seriously, here's my answer to you.

    My business faces ruin. CD sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago. Revenue is down and costs are up. My store has survived for years, but I now face the prospect of bankruptcy. Every day I ask myself why this is happening.

    I bought the store about 12 years ago. It was one of those boutique record stores that sell obscure, independent releases that no-one listens to, not even the people that buy them.

    Well, let me help you out: you are facing banckrupty because you are, according to your own statement, selling CDs no one wants to listen to. Furthermore, many independent artists nowadays either give their music away freely to act as promotion, or simply sell directly to customers.

    You can avoid this by either getting CDs people want to listen to, or, preferably, by getting out of the CD business completely and selling something else. CD business is becoming obsolete, buying from iTunes or downloading (legally distributed music) is simply a supreme way of getting music.

    On The Internet, you can find and download hundreds of dollars worth of music in just minutes. It has the potential to destroy the music industry, from artists, to record companies to stores like my own. Before you point to the supposed "economic downturn", I'll note that the book store just across from my store is doing great business. Unlike CDs, it's harder to copy books over The Internet.

    Actually, it is a lot easier to copy books than music over the Internet, since even the whole Wheel of Time series (11+ books) is only 11MB as a PDF file.

    No, the real reason why books sell better is that there are a lot of good books being written all the time, and you don't need to worry about a book containing rootkits or DRM crap.

    For example, I just recently purchased several Pratchett's Discworld novels for 8 euros apiece, and have spent several enjoyable evenings reading each.

    "That's it. What's your name? You're blacklisted. Now take yourself and your little bitch friend out of my store - and don't come back." I barked. Cravenly, they complied and scampered off.

    Throwing customers out propably won't help your sales any either.

    I wanted to tell them the truth - it's because they wear old clothes and have cheap haircuts. I can't afford anything better for them right now.

    I wear old clothes and a cheap haircut. Few people laugh at me. It's all about style - some people have it and some don't.

    You just need to show your girls old episodes of Happy Days, and tell them to watch Fonzie closely. Learn from the master. You don't expect to become a martial arts master without training under some crazy old Japanese man, so why would you expect to have style without training under Fonzie ?

    When my girls ask me questions like that, I feel like my heart is being wrenched out of my chest.

    You might want to see a doctor about that.

    But knowing that I'm doing the best I can to save my family and my business is some consolation.

    Unfortunately, by this account, you are a lousy businessman.

    Some people are offended by my blacklist system. I may have made my store less popular for pirates and sympathisers, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to save my industry from destruction. I am inspired by artists such as Metallica that have taken a stand against the powerful pirate lobby. When everyone believes 2 + 2 = 5, to simply state the truth, that 2 + 2 = 4, is a courageous act.

    Coming to think of it, I haven't heard a new song from Metallica for years, and had nearly forgotten they exist. That's th

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