Word: sweden
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...criminal trial underway in Sweden is testing a very American notion: that artifacts that carry a copyright should not simply be lifted or stolen - that their use requires permission and compensation. That definition of intellectual property may appear almost quaint in these days when it is easy to find almost anything on the Internet and just as simple to download. But the founders of ThePirateBay.org - three geeky Swedish would-be cultural revolutionaries who were funded in part by user donations - are in the process of finding out whether they face prison time for facilitating that process for their users...
...they simply bring users together to who have files they are willing to share. If users choose to find illegal content and trade it, the site's operators say, that's their business. Not so, say the Hollywood and music-industry heavies who brought the civil case that accompanies Sweden's criminal prosecution, it's really our business. (See the 50 best inventions...
...suits are likely to proliferate. And while Swedish court decisions won't have any binding effect on cases in the U.S. or other countries, what happens in Stockholm is expected to become a bellwether in the ongoing fight over who owns the information on the Internet, especially given that Sweden, like the U.S., has tightened its anti-piracy laws partly in response to heavy pressure from the recording and entertainment industry. (See the 50 best inventions...
...lose, Sunde and others have said The Pirate Bay will continue. Its trackers - the digital components that enable users to quickly find media on the Web - have been sent to users in other countries. If the site is closed in Sweden, they've promised it will reappear elsewhere...
That may be true, but the prosecutors and industry plaintiffs are just hoping that by the time The Pirate Bay drops anchor in a new haven the men who have captained the ship in Sweden will be much poorer - and perhaps in prison...