The Pirate Bay must block traffic to the Netherlands

A judge in the Netherlands has ruled today that the three founders of the The Pirate Bay torrent tracker must begin blocking all traffic to the region before August 9th.

The ruling says specifically that the founders must "each separately and together, stop and keep stopped the infringements on copyright and related rights of Stichting Brein in the Netherlands." If they do not, they will face a fine of 30,000 euro, per day.

Stichting Brein is an anti-piracy group, funded by Dutch copyright holding groups.

Despite the ruling, it is still not clear how the court can enforce the order if the Pirate Bay boys decide to decline, or how they will even get the traffic blocked if they choose to follow the ruling.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 31 Jul 2009 1:11

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11 comments

nonoitall

Next time on The Wacky World of Brein:

Brein: The Pirate Bay must pay us...
[Camera zooms in on Brein spokesman's face]
Brein: One-hundred billion dollars!
[Dramatic music plays and Brein spokesman holds pinky finger to his lips]

Seriously though, this is silly. TPB hasn't infringed on anyone's copyrights.

31.7.2009 03:18 #1

Ryoohki

even if they are an anti-piracy group they aren't run by the government right? why the hell should tpb give a shit. that threat means nothing.

31.7.2009 08:28 #2

iamgq

this is off the topic, but dutch women, dddddddddaaaaaaauuung son!

31.7.2009 09:18 #3

Mysttic

Oy... This would be all simpler if they simply let the TPB permanently close down for good. All these judges with their stupid suggestions and demands about something they clearly lack knowledge about is simply showing just how sad the average person's technical knowledge really is.

31.7.2009 10:51 #4

joe777

Brein and the courts have a snowballs chance in hell of geting that money.
All that can happen is that the 3 boys will not be welcome in the netherlands. I live here in the netherlands and I think thats not a bad thing with the way things are going here.
Mind you the judges must have been smoking something to even let this case be heard and do they not realise that blocking TPB is virtually impossible. It would be like trying to fix the hoover dam with sticky tape and prayers.

31.7.2009 11:17 #5

varnull

You raise an interesting point Joe. I also have friends who live there and they say that downloading copyrighted content for "personal and non profit motives" is not actually illegal in the first place. So where do the courts stand with illegally blocking access to sites and content which it is not illegal to access?
I smell a constitution issue brewing here which could have very interesting consequences given the Europe wide freedom of access to information laws. Just because something says copyright doesn't allow any body to deny access to the information by members of the public.. It only exists to prevent people from selling it on or taking credit for the work.. not accessing it.

Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work.
I would rather you hate me for who I am than love me for what I am not.
�It is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday facilitate a police state.� - Bruce Schneier

31.7.2009 11:38 #6

mystic

am I the only one who thinks the events of the past week kind of run together lets see someone wanted to buy TPB then they backed out and just days later some judge makes this ruling. its like if they closed TPB want to bet someone would open it as a pay as you download site in just a few blinks of an eye... so no they should not close the site just cut off axcess to anyone from that country who trys to log on and send a reply like "due to your government that you voted in you can't come here any more..." and lets see what the masses think when its election time in thier country... power to the masses most will want free if not move your surrounded by idiots....

long live TPB for all to enjoy

31.7.2009 11:51 #7

mystic

31.7.2009 11:52 #8

joe777

Varnull I think the only way brein won this case is because TPB never turned up. Its like a default judgement and in holland this always is the case if the 2nd party fails to show up. I personally cant understand why this even went to court in the first place. The government over here has already told the industry that there must be more and cheaper alternative for the public to access digital media before they will criminalise file-sharing. The laws here are quite strange though. I am not sure how the law interprets filesharing for personal use. Some say that if 2 people own the music track then they can share it with each other and others say its try before you buy and more say that its a free-for-all as long as its only for personal use. I dont think the government know themselves. Its like cannabis is not legal here!!!!! Yeah you hear right illegal. Its decriminalised, but the shops still have to pay tax on their profit!!
he he he he he he he you would need a Philadelphia lawyer to work out the law here. Anyway I think brein are trying to set some kid of precedent here, so they can shut down as many sites as possible off the back of this decision. They are trying to bend TPB over a barrel and it will fan the flames of the bit torrent world to come up with a more decentralised method which will eventually render all these copyright police's ideas and ideals useless. I hope.

31.7.2009 11:56 #9

bam431

Proxy time

31.7.2009 15:59 #10

cart0181

Originally posted by nonoitall: Next time on The Wacky World of Brein:

Brein: The Pirate Bay must pay us...
[Camera zooms in on Brein spokesman's face]
Brein: One-hundred billion dollars!
[Dramatic music plays and Brein spokesman holds pinky finger to his lips]

Seriously though, this is silly. TPB hasn't infringed on anyone's copyrights.LOL, good one.

In the same spirit, bam431's comment brings to mind. It's Proxy Time by MC Hammer. You can't touch this! (ripped off music plays) Can't touch this!

1.8.2009 17:16 #11

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