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The Pirate Bay verdict is no big deal

By Evan Brown

The big news story of the day is the guilty verdict from a Swedish court against the four guys behind The Pirate Bay. The judge sentenced them to a year in prison for facilitating copyright infringement and also ordered them to pay millions of dollars. The righteous indignation flows like akvavit.

I cannot see any reason why anyone outside the reach of Sweden’s laws should be all that concerned about this case. Sure, it’s grand spectacle to see an act of civil disobedience deliver its agents to purported martyrdom. But as for any legal significance outside Sweden, there is none. And does it teach us anything about the underlying interests that gave rise to the dispute? No. We have known for a long time that there are some who believe copyright law is too restrictive, and that those interests are pitted against the corporate and pecuniary interests of the big media companies.

So if one is to treat as news the fact that the RIAA and other content owners sometimes overreach, or that zealous advocates for copyright reform believe in their cause, please send me some of that sweet oblivion.

Full post as published by InternetCases.com on April 17, 2009 (boomark / email).