THE PIRATE BAY BITTORRENT TRACKER APPEARS TO BE DOWN AGAIN
This story has been developing for quite some time now and it seems Anti-piracy laws are once again rearing their ugly heads in Sweden. The CCBW of
THE PIRATE BAY has long been an advocate for freedom on the internet, in fact he seems to enjoy the controversy it brings, often thumbing his nose at international law firms and publicly outing all the attempts at
SHUTTING DOWN THE PIRATE BAY by posting letters on
THE PIRATE BAY.
This is not the first time
THE PIRATE BAY HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN, back in May of 2006, Swedish authorities
RAIDED THE PIRATE BAY and confiscated their computers. Now it appears
THE PIRATE BAY is scheduled to be back in court on Monday February 16th, why then the current
SHUT DOWN OF THE PIRATE BAY. Visitors to the popular
BITTORRENT TRACKER PIRATE BAY are currently being greeted with a message stating
"Could not connect to caching server" Either there is a server problem at
THE PIRATE BAY or court authorities got a jump on the February 16th court date.
*** *** *** Translation
IT business owners claim 2 million from the state
Today at 12.00, the IT business owners who had their servers seized during the Pirate Bay raid are gathering.
They're demanding that the state pay them almost 2 million in damages.
- Some have been afraid of bankruptcy because they have been unable to operate their company, says Clarence Crafoord, their legal council.
The police took all the servers on the premises - including the ones having nothing to do with the activities of The Pirate Bay.
It has spelt devastating consequences for several small business owners in the computer industry, who are completely dependant on the proper functionality of their servers.
Centrum för rättvisa [literally "Centre for justice"], an organisation that handles issues where [the rights of] citizens or businesses have been violated free of charge, has accepted their case. Today, tens of companies meet in order to agree on their demands. They demand between 10 000 [1336 USD] and 200 000 [26 730 USD] each.
- According to our estimates, it's a matter of a couple of millions. The numbers are not quite settled. Also, more business owners could join in, Clarence Crafoord says.
Very critical
He is very critical to the fact that the police took all the servers - instead of copying the information on them. Or figure out what ones belonged to the activities of The Pirate Bay.
- It's like a parking lot with pre-rented spaces where the police want a couple of cars. But then, they take every car in the whole lot. It's completely out of proportion, he says.
- These are small computer businesses, with one or a few employees. For them, being closed down for a week could be the difference that brings bankruptcy. Centrum för rättvisa has not yet decided if the claims are to be sent to Justitiekanslern ["Chancellor of justice"] today, or if they will wait for more business owners to join in.
*** *** *** End translation