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Swedish ISP Refuses To Block The Pirate Bay

torrentfreak.com — After forcing a single ISP in Denmark to block The Pirate Bay, it now appears that the IFPI has a plan to sue all of the major Swedish ISPs to force them to do the same. Telia Sonera, a large Swedish ISP is refusing to be bullied, stating that such blocking and filtering actions are illegal under EU law.

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  • AsSubtleAsABrik, on 03/27/2008, -4/+87The Pirate Bay is my hero.
    • EarlOfLade, on 03/27/2008, -1/+32The problem is caused when one tries to apply what would be OK in USA to Europe. European privacy laws are way more strict and much more restrictive than in the US. It's about time this charade from IFP gets shot down, once and for all.

      The problem is in reality, that Americans accept to be screwed over and over again and then bend over and ask for more. These companies are so used to being supported by US courts and outdated laws that does not have the consumer in mind.

      • Kurlumbenus, on 03/27/2008, -6/+2Non-sequiter.
        • avasol, on 03/27/2008, -1/+4Which in latin means "It doesn't follow", but unfortunately this is not the context to use it in which makes it rather pathetic.
          Ron Burgundy's "When in Rome" comes to mind.
          • Kurlumbenus, on 03/28/2008, -0/+2How does "european privacy laws" follow "Pirate Bay is my Hero?" The two topics, while related to the main topic, are only tagently related to one another. The followup has nothing to do with heroship or the pirate bay.

            So, non sequiter.
          • avasol, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1@Kurlumbenus
            You admit they're related and then insist on using a single context that means that they're not.
            Step away from the keyboard.
          • Kurlumbenus, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1Just because two things are related does not imply they follow, and in this context (the one that we're discussing), they do not.

            Step away from the conceit.
    • Impossis, on 03/27/2008, -0/+4i think Pirate Bay is a pretty cool guy. eh wins legal battles and doesn't afraid of anything.
    • stonedslacker, on 03/28/2008, -0/+2Actually in this case, the ISP that refused to buckle down is an even bigger hero.

      I had made a comment on the Torrentspy Shuts Down story listing hundreds of torrent sites. Here they're all compiled in a blog post as requested by many commenters there:
      http://singularweb.blogspot.com/2008/03/list-of-pu ...
    • Oppslagsverk, on 03/28/2008, -1/+2The pirate bay is actually a ***** tracker, at least I think so. Seems like the pirate bay is more of a political organization, than a tracker.
  • Shreyasva, on 03/27/2008, -3/+107god bless the swedes
    • worthone, on 03/27/2008, -1/+18Bless the EU and the Swedish jurisdiction. Bless the corporations that aren't acquiescing to the will of single-minded lobby groups, that actually follow and understand the law. Also, I'd probably want the Pirate Bay to be blessed as well for putting up a good fight.
    • Radan, on 03/27/2008, -4/+14Vi uppskattar er tillgivenhet, oh simpla dödlige. Tor ska för detta seriöst överväga att inte längre spendera torsdagkvällarna med att förgöra era själar.
      • Kurlumbenus, on 03/27/2008, -6/+18Oooga booga chooga shooga jibba jabba bork bork bjork!
        • verkon, on 03/27/2008, -2/+11That's racist against my people, the Swedes! Just because you hate our blue eyes and blond hair!
        • Dustmuffins, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1BWAHAHA
      • falafelkiosken, on 03/27/2008, -0/+4lol bra, jag vill inte missa fredag :)
    • Jandels, on 03/27/2008, -0/+10With 85% of Sweden's population being atheist/agnostic, I don't think it'll be god who blesses the swedes.
      • tratten, on 03/27/2008, -0/+14That's right. We are blessed with logic instead of religion.
      • avasol, on 03/27/2008, -3/+10Funny how the larger the population that don't put their faith in logical fallacies and mythical stories, the larger the awareness and empathy for social issues and will to create an environment for all.
        (This does not apply just to Sweden and Sweden is by no means perfect. We only appreciate paying for the exorbitant amounts of welfare we have when we go to the US and other third-world countries and see for ourselves what happens without it).

        • Flummoxer, on 03/28/2008, -2/+6Yeah, the US is a third world country... And I thought WE (USA) were supposed to be the arrogant ones.
        • sinrtb, on 03/28/2008, -0/+6@ Flummoxer: Lack of health care, Welfare only for those willing to make it a full time job, poor education, illegal wars of aggression, what is your definition of a third world country?
    • Oppslagsverk, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1Well this happens in Norway as well. Norwegian ISP's are actually holding back information from the police, to protect the privacy of their customers. Some times it feels like it is not the police that is the force, but the ISP. At times, i love living i Norway.
  • alm0, on 03/27/2008, -11/+10Pirate Bay is invincible.
  • NorthStateGonzo, on 03/27/2008, -2/+15Good Aye Mate!!! " Fly the Jolly Roger" Long Live the Pirate Bay ;-)
  • CYG101, on 03/27/2008, -1/+138What, an ISP that actually cares for its customers??
    • xOKxWhy, on 03/27/2008, -2/+37Bizzaro Comcast
      • Neoanarchist, on 03/27/2008, -6/+1BIZZARO BIZZARO! Lmfao, I love that episode :D.
    • bxblox, on 03/27/2008, -3/+4Also cares about EU fines.
    • boobyman, on 03/27/2008, -0/+10Actually, their costumer service sucks ass. But hey, I think I'm going to call them, wait in the phone line for 2 hours just to tell them that I love them.
      I pay $40 a month for 24mbit. It's about time I get my money worth of interwebz.
      • renegadeafk, on 03/27/2008, -0/+4I'd say that's your money's worth, here in america with comcast I get to pay more than that for 6 mbit
        • Tenoq, on 03/27/2008, -0/+5And here in Australia you pay that to get 512kb/s with limited downloads (anywhere from 400MB to 10GB). But I'm not sure what that has to do with costumes?
        • Tippis, on 03/28/2008, -0/+4Here in Sweden, though, it's not quite worth it. With the right ISP, you can get 100Mbit for less.
          Heck, I pay $10/month for my 10/10 connection.
    • verkon, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3Well, seeing that if they would block the pirate bay, alot of people would switch carriers. And seeing that Telia mostly has copper networks, which is a dying technology, they would be out of the game pretty fast.
    • rohanch, on 03/27/2008, -0/+2In Europe, most ISPs seem to.

      It wasn't long ago that Telefonica took the Spanish-RIAA-equivalent to the EU courts rather than handing over their subscriber's details, and won the case: http://torrentfreak.com/european-filesharers-anony ...
    • falafelkiosken, on 03/27/2008, -2/+1This was the right thing to do, nevertheless, Telia sucks ass, I had probably 24+ hours of downtime last year when I used their services
      • hexydes, on 03/28/2008, -0/+5LOL

        Seriously?

        I know people in the US that are with Comcast, and they often lose their connection for 12 hours at a time, once or twice per month, every month.

        24 hours? LOL.
    • jetsetter883, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1uh, it's not that ISP's don't care about their customers. it's just that they DO care about lawsuits.
  • Equinox1, on 03/27/2008, -10/+5Telia Sonera is one of the best mirrors on RapidShare, go TS!
    • Neoanarchist, on 03/27/2008, -1/+9GO TS but... ***** RS! Seriously though, I ***** hate rapidshare.
      • Jeldtoft, on 03/27/2008, -1/+6Just because you don't have a premium account. Full speed downloads, maxing out my 15mbit connection. Yes, that is pretty nice, compared to crap-torrents.
        • emildorbell, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1Torrentleech, dude. Torrentleech.
  • wisedude, on 03/27/2008, -1/+48Damn if they came here I'd choose them over comcast any day
  • iruber1337, on 03/27/2008, -12/+2The Pirate Bay is back? Let's all go to the b-ARR to celebrate!
  • airburst, on 03/27/2008, -0/+58As an American I am ashamed that all of the 'fighting' for free speech is coming from overseas and that America has become a censor.

    I wish a new president would change this, but frankly I don't think he is the problem. Until we get big-business out of government I don't expect anything to change.
    • Tenoq, on 03/27/2008, -0/+4And until you change how presidents and Congress are elected, I don't think that's going to change either :p
      • Xenufield, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1We need to go back to having senators appointed and not elected for starters.
    • hexydes, on 03/28/2008, -0/+3Do you honestly think anyone running for President even has any idea of what a "torrent" is? My guess would be they would answer:

      1. A large, incoming quantity of something.
      2. A type of car.
      3. The action of renting something ("to rent").
      4. ?

      There are very, very, very few people in elected positions that know anything about this, and the few that do, know of it in a negative stereotypical light, because they are receiving compensation in some way or another from the very companies looking to control peoples' actions to begin with.

      The problem isn't the elected officials, the problem is YOU. If YOU would spend less time bitching on Digg, and more time actively making your officials aware, then they wouldn't be swayed because they only have one opinion presented to them (along with a nice pile of cash or other compensation). Don't worry, I'm just as guilty of this as you, but at the end of the day, it is our fault for not making this problem known to those that we have elected to represent us.
      • Flummoxer, on 03/28/2008, -3/+1Sorry, but fighting intellectual property rights isn't one of my priorities. There are more pressing matters in the world.
        • hexydes, on 03/28/2008, -0/+4That's ok, someone's fighting it for you. They're called the "MPAA", "RIAA", etc.

          I don't think you'll like the outcome they're fighting for, though...
        • insurgente, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1Fighting private property is the most important thing in the world, be it material or intellectual property.

          Out of private property grow all ills of society.
  • mrelusive, on 03/27/2008, -8/+61***** the RIAA!
    • dcollins, on 03/27/2008, -3/+8wow thats the first time i've seen this statement in the right place.
      • ComradeGoby, on 03/28/2008, -1/+1Everyplace is the right place for that statement.
  • Scanner771, on 03/27/2008, -7/+14Isint the internet free, why do the people in the US let the company's and the government control them.
    • bwdd, on 03/27/2008, -0/+4You think we HAVE control of it?
    • Neoanarchist, on 03/27/2008, -0/+9Uhh have you gotten a bill from your ISP lately? Yea, I thought so. It's not free jackass, and if you notice, all avenues of ***** you, involve your ISP. ISPs have us by the balls and in most (if not all) cases, ISP are huge corporations that care more about money than customer satisfaction or free speech.
    • SpectreFire, on 03/27/2008, -0/+7You DO realize that the internet isn't really a series of tubes and you can't just break into one and steal all the content from it.
      • wellyuk, on 03/27/2008, -0/+4SILENCE FOOL! Dost thou deny the Internet is a series of tubes?! I should have you taken away and flogged within an inch of your life for such insolence! I'll make you eat your words if it's the last thing I do!

        Guards! Take this fool away to the tower...
      • lovestospooge, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3Technically, you could tap into any cable/fibre carrying internet traffic, and then use a hacked modem to connect to a DNS server using a compromised IP address.
        • wellyuk, on 03/27/2008, -0/+2What is this "internet" you talk of.. ? You're not one of my vassals... who are you?
    • OrangeTide, on 03/27/2008, -0/+6The internet is free? wtf?
  • SomeImagination, on 03/27/2008, -1/+10When are these retarded anti piracy organisations gonna realise they can't keep fighting pirates, they might win a few little battles every now and then but they'll never win the war.
    • hexydes, on 03/28/2008, -0/+2My guess would be about three seconds after their organization declares bankruptcy...
  • KlogereEndGrim, on 03/27/2008, -2/+17Wow, an ISP that does not just bend over and pretend its a thermometer?
    Nice to see a bit of integrity and some bravado, it is too easy to just troll people legally using copyright law!
    Xenu be praised! ;)
    • Neoanarchist, on 03/27/2008, -0/+8I'm pretty sure you ***** up your thermometer in ass analogy but whatever.
    • Xenufield, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1YEah not sure what your analogy was suppose to be, but it's always nice to get praise.
  • dcollins, on 03/27/2008, -1/+5 haha!

    /nelson
  • Picer, on 03/27/2008, -1/+23EU>IFPI
    You can't rob us of our rights that easily assholes!
    • wellyuk, on 03/27/2008, -6/+1Which rights are those? The right to piracy?
      • hexydes, on 03/28/2008, -0/+2Tell that to the 90-year-old lady who was accidentally sued.

        It doesn't matter if you did it or not; it's cheaper for the MPAA to just sue you, and if they find they can't win, they just dismiss the case (nevermind that you're now $20,000 in the hole trying to protect yourself).

        It's the age-old problem with our court system. In civil court, there are no consequences to suing someone, except money. If you are a mega-corp that makes $12 billion per year, what's $100,000 to throw out an exploratory lawsuit?

        The courts need a new law for civil cases: anyone can bring a lawsuit against anyone else, but if you lose the case, you have to pay 10% of your net worth in damages to the other party. Watch the MPAA lose a case and owe someone $700 million, see how enthusiastic they are to bring exploratory lawsuits against people in the future...
    • Xenufield, on 03/28/2008, -2/+1You mean like your rights to self defense, free speech, privacy...etc?

      I'm pretty sure in some parts of the EU, those don't exist.
  • Owwmykneecap, on 03/27/2008, -1/+15Go EU I choose you.
  • Lubinski, on 03/27/2008, -1/+2***** YEA!
  • statikeffect, on 03/27/2008, -0/+6I just don't understand where these companies got the idea they can start to monitor the internet... I mean, really?
  • aajjcckk, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3Hang on, Pirate Bay servers are all over the place in multiple countries. What on earth is the point in trying to block one or even all Swedish ISPs? Are the IFPI that thick? It's like trying to block a couple of the holes in a sieve to stop it passing water.
    • BlaenkDenum, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1Are they? I thought they were just in Sweden, which was why they were able to stay up.
    • Tippis, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1"Are the IFPI that thick?"
      Yes.
    • Suricou, on 03/28/2008, -0/+2Precident. Once they have a few ISPs blocking TPB, they probably intend to use the threat of expensive lawsuits to intimidate hundreds more all over the world into doing the same.
  • Jeffler, on 03/27/2008, -0/+16Can I have Telia Sonera in Canada instead of Bell please?
    • da_bradler, on 03/28/2008, -0/+2Canadian Government "Bell could you block the pirate bay?"
      Bell 'What's the point? we already throttle the ***** out of all bit torrent traffic anyway... not to mention all Voice over IP traffic that we don't own... and video on demand that we don't provide..."
  • skyshock1, on 03/27/2008, -0/+2Jury Nullification bitch! Suck it IFPI!!!!!!
  • hellbent88, on 03/27/2008, -0/+4for every one shut down two more will take its place
  • uberfu, on 03/27/2008, -0/+4What we need is the IFPI to come to the US and push this issue against Comcast and maybe there might be enough backlash from it to qiuet Comcast's temper-tantrum down about the whole BitTorrent scene_ Too bad the US can't be a part of the EU - huh ?
    • Neoanarchist, on 03/27/2008, -0/+2Now that is a whole other can of radioactive worms. Thats the beginning of the end my friend. World government would doom us all but thats where we're headed. Look up some information on the "New American Century" and you'll see what's up.
      • goffy59, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1KMFDM has ab amazing song called New American Century. Its goes over all the issues, as well as Real I.D.
  • Stormwern, on 03/27/2008, -0/+4Telia dsl is a great service, though a little pricy.
    • HonoredMule, on 03/27/2008, -0/+5Good service and protection of freedom and privacy is worth its weight in gold.
  • offspring06, on 03/27/2008, -0/+9***** the IFPI.
  • MAGZine, on 04/22/2008, -0/+5Good to see a strong voice that won't bow down and that will stand up for TPB.
    Arr, indeed.
  • Genma, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1we salute you telia sonera, if media corps want to make money off the law you can tell it like it is, instead of using them as an excuse to profit just the same.
  • adml_shake, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3Even though I'll never use it, I want an account with these people.
  • harvinator24, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3***** the IFPI.
  • yessuz, on 03/27/2008, -0/+7Haha IFPI should understand some things about Europe:
    This is not America. THIS IS SPARTAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

    oh, Sweden FTW
  • malademental, on 03/27/2008, -0/+2Pirate Bay will never die =)
  • knetworx, on 03/27/2008, -0/+4I'm surprised nobody has posted this yet, considering it shows how thepiratebay really feels about legal threats (totally awesome): http://thepiratebay.org/legal
    In case someone is afraid to check out the link for some reason, it's a list of all the legal threats they've received, and their quite humorous replies to said emails.
  • Okkido, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3The great thing about this story is that Telia Sonera is owned by the Swedish state (45%) and the finish state (13%) and before 2000 it was completely owned by the Swedish state (100%).
    • insurgente, on 03/27/2008, -0/+6Democratic state ownership > private tyranny ownership.
  • karolisonline, on 03/27/2008, -0/+6telia sonera isn't just an ISP, it IS biggest telecommunication company in Scandinavia and Baltic. it is like local microsoft. they can ***** IFPI, they don't care, because they know who is who.
  • grindmygears, on 03/27/2008, -0/+5Well done Sweden. Until now I was only impressed by their culinary skills. :)
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=sY_Yf4zz-yo
  • Niteryder, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3BAN IFPI in all of Europe is the solution!
  • WhiteRaven, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1Just for the record, Priate Bay is badly, badly misinterpreting the law. While the Infosoc Directive does "allow copying in routers", that is based on the presumption that the sender has a legal right to send it in the first place. In other words, the clause in question acknowledged that technically, any IP transmission can be construed as a series of copies but went on to declare that this process should not be considered copying for the purposes of copyright law. All well and good and completely reasonable. However, IF the data being transmitted is something that is *already* an illegal copy then it is not unreasonable to accuse the ISPs of participating in a copyright infringement by facilitating the transfer.
    • Lazydriver, on 03/28/2008, -1/+1The Pirate Bay is a search engine for Torrents in general.

      You assume that Gimp, OpenOffice, Ubuntu, GAIM and so forth are illegal to host a tracker for because all things on Pirate Bay /must/ be illegal.

      (Which most are, but *****, it's not my problem if the juggernaut music industry can't turn, though I have serious problems with movie/game torrenting because it takes a huge work of effort to do those things, but each to their own and there should be no copyright laws. Copyright laws should be considered 10-year patents and nothing more.)
  • robthom, on 03/28/2008, -0/+3Aarrrgh matey!
  • czeman, on 03/28/2008, -0/+3I heard a talk-show host on the radio say today that Comcast is now doing the right thing, but...
    Comcast did the wrong thing multiple times and lied about it! Comcast would NEVER have done the right thing had they not gotten caught. Thier service sucks and so do they! ***** THE RIAA AND COMCAST!!! I'm glad I live in a Time Warner service area.
  • fayerboll, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1yeah ***** the RIAA..***** the IFPI...the IFPI arguments is somewhat baseless. it just like suing bmw,merz etc. because criminals use the car made by them to transport illegal stuff.. well, im exaggerating it a bit but what the hell.
  • Scheissen, on 03/28/2008, -4/+1***** socialists.
  • LightSpeed4, on 03/28/2008, -3/+0GO RIAA, ***** YOU PIRATES, FAGGOTS
  • AvangionQ, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1"Patrik Hiselius of Telia Sonera explains "The rules say that we as Internet carriers are not allowed to listen in on what our customers are sending to each other or are talking with each other about. That's something police and prosecutors are allowed to do after a decision has been made about it in court." Unfortunately for the IFPI, the law is very stringent when it comes to wiretapping communications. Eavesdropping is allowed, but only in cases of very severe crime." ... once again, the IFPI has overstepped their bounds -- and once again I am forced to say that lawsuits cannot repair their antiquated business plan -- IPFI: adapt or go extinct ...
  • m4s4, on 03/28/2008, -0/+0Freedom of speech comes 1st, rit?
  • darthom, on 03/29/2008, -0/+1Stick it to the IFPI, MPAA, RIAA and any other anachronistic achronym.
  •  

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