Is Pirate Bay really sunk?
Updated on 17 April 2009
So Pirate Bay's founders were found guilty of promoting copyright theft by others and sentenced to one year in prison and landed with a £2.5m fine.
But Pirate Bay's founders weren't really jailed. One of the four founders is in Cambodia, two others are apparently out of the country and the fourth is hundreds of miles away from Stockholm.
And via webcam, Peter Sunde, Pirate Bay's front man wrote an IOU note out to the record and film companies, then said he'd burn it.
So without anyone actually spending tonight behind bars and no money actually being paid, what does today's judgement mean? Was it really just a show trial as the defendants claimed?
It shows that a European court has found that the mere act of assisting others to break the law by pointing them in the direction of pirated content is illegal. Sure it will be challenged in an appeal but I think the precedent might stick.
Sweden has already instituted new laws to allow copyright holders to force internet service providers (ISP) to reveal details of users sharing files.
'It's like using a tiny plaster to mend a broken bone. In the real world, it's totally ineffective.'Vanessa Barnett, partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner Law
It is claimed that overnight, traffic to Pirate Bay and other sites from Sweden went down by a third. Users are starting to understand the seriousness of copyright theft.
But it's an isolated action, not mirrored in other countries. As one expert told me, "It's like using a tiny plaster to mend a broken bone. In the real world, it's totally ineffective."
We either need global regulation and action or else the music and film industry needs to change its business model to adapt to this new reality.
As we'll show tonight, big artists believe the latter is the case and the Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting, Lord Carter, echoed these views.
Got to write my script. More tonight at 7pm including a brilliant interview with Pete Waterman...
Go to http://twitter.com/benjamincohen to discuss the verdict with Ben.
