"The raid was carried out on Thursday at the Stockholm offices of Bahnhof, Sweden's oldest and largest ISP, which U.S. copyright protection experts have considered a haven for high-level Internet piracy for years.

"This was a very big raid," said John Malcolm, worldwide anti-piracy operations director at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which represents Hollywood's major studios. "

Farther down in an article on this news, it says
"The servers seized during the operation contained a total of 1,800 digital movie files, 5,000 software application files and 450,000 digital audio files -- amounting to 23 terabytes of data.

The MPAA says the film industry loses $3.5 billion a year to videotapes and DVDs sold on the black market, but it has no estimate for how much Internet piracy costs the industry."

Used under Fair Use provisions of limited amounts of quotations from an article from Reuters....
================SNIP=================
More claptrap and balderdash. The MPAA has, unfortunately, joined common cause with the other sleazy miscreants including the BSA and RIAA, and will enjoy the same lack of success.

I am foursquare against criminal copyright infringement, but, so long as people are constantly copying and distributing written articles and materials, en toto (i.e. not just snippets, but entire articles from magazines) without permission of the copyright holder, without a damn thing being done to them, I hold that such a double standard is untenable.

THERE IS NOTHING SACRED ABOUT THE DIGITAL FORMAT AS OPPOSED TO ANALOG, TANGIBLE STORAGE OF DATA...AND I FOR ONE AM SICK OF THE DMCA AND THE OTHER DIGITAL DIVAS SAYING DIGITAL COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL SHOULD HAVE ANY MORE SPECIAL PROTECTION THAN INK AND PAPER. END OF RANT :)
~Code

I am boycotting MPAA movies btw...I haven't gone to the movies in months, and used to go every weekend just about it. Sure, it doesn't hurt the MPAA that I'm not seeing their crap, but if we all did this, it WOULD have an impact!

so.. what operation was this that it didn't show up on the news?

23 terabytes? of what? where? i didn't hear squat.. or notice squat.

yea ive boycotted for years

I only see major movies on DVD from the library for free. This should be encouraged. Hurt the MPAA in the pocket. So what if I don't get to see a new film until a year after it has been released? How many movies are really worth going out of your way to see? Too many are worth going out of your way NOT to see.

They say, if "piracy" grows, we can't afford to make more movies. I say, GOOD. Stop making movies. I dare you. You don't make them, and then nobody can copy them. Problem solved. Everybody should be happy.

I boycotted them ever since they shut down LokiTorrent, and have no plans to stop unless they recognize digital rights.

For those who don't know how much a terabyte is, it is 1,000 gigabytes, so their raid collected about 23,000 gigabytes of files. Of course, those have been uploaded to other computers, so they never win.

I even cancelled HBO and Showtime.

I seldom ever go see a movie anymore. but I've gotta admit I'm breaking the boycott when star wars III comes out. gotta see that one.

Propaganda Propaganda! Sweeden is a small country.

How could it be a major blow?

23 terabytes of music and 1800 movies is negligeable considering a billion of file exchanged each month on what the enemy call "illegal P2P" networks. I have nearly a terabyte of capacity and now 180 gigabytes of MP3 file and movies just to bother the RIAA and the MPAA. I upgraded specially for them! No news from the bullies though. Are they affraid? I too boycott the MPAA and keep convincing people to do the same. Anyway we will show these parasites soon what a major blow really is and they will understand too late what a mistake they made. (Investors: stay away from Warner!)

Comp, I'm surprised the MPAA doesn't make Lucas make Star Wars 3.5 showing how downloading really brought down the Old Republic.

"Jar Jar Binks, you're convicted of downloading every movie ever made without permission. You've bankrupted the Republic. The penalty is death."

While I don not intent to do this I realized that I could perffectly have upgraded to this 23 TB capacity right where I am! This is major blow when the microscopic brain of the MPAA is measuring I guess!

HAHAHA this almost sounds like a drug bust where you can measure the effectiveness of the raid in ounces. 23TB yea WOW! Thats soo... nothing at all.

"They say, if "piracy" grows, we can't afford to make more movies. I say, GOOD. Stop making movies."

I agree %100. Up to last month I used to go to the movies 2-4 times a month every month. But I have finally realized that these movies I am paying for SUCK! I hit a string of about 5 movies that were so lacking in any creativity, that I have decided to change my 2-4 a month into 2-3 a year (I mean I have to see stuff like Star Wars ). If the parent coporation of all these companies that are making movies decided to close them all down on the grounds that they are no longer profitable, I would just laugh.

While this hasn't been in the news, I know of it. I have been waiting for the news to come out. I didn't figure they could resist a reason to crow.

I would remind folks that this bust is most likely just as every other one is. The valve inflated to make it sound like something was really accomplished when in truth it is most certainly not the real figure, either in value nor in amount. I would suspect that these figures are the initial size of the total capacity of all computers seized.

I would recall you to the earlier case where the lady already possessed much of what she had d/led in purchased cds. I would suspect that her bust also was touted as some major haul before figures were "adjusted" to reflect what she didn't actually already own. It seems they dodged the thorny question of her music being on the hard drive being fair use by not including those items in the claim of infringement.

There is no actual difference in analog as opposed to digital as far as use goes. It is only that it was necessary to invent an excuse before seeking infringement charges to make their cases stronger that it was even sought. It has been most carefully stepped around when dealing with fair use as they are deathly afraid that if it raises its head in one of these cases that they will not only be on unsteady ground but that it could very easily go against them should some court choose to rule that some item is indeed fair use and the laws that they have gotten put in place struck down as being illegal. They are well aware that the ground they tread is not stable. It is one of the reasons they step so carefully when dealing with this.

That being said, the best thing I have heard in years is that each of the majors are dealing with sales being far below what it was in its day. They have forgotten it is the fan that keeps the sales strong. It is also the fan that can bring them to financial ruin.

Interestingly, I heard a short on the radio last night. It seems there was a gentleman called Mr. Boycott. That during the depression he was demanding that those whose leins he held either pay or vacate the premises they called their homes. This sort of attitude came together when the townspeople decided not to do any more business with Mr. Boycott. Mr Boycott went bankrupt as a result of this action by the townsfolk.

How true this story is, I have no idea. It does indeed demonstrate what we all hope to achieve in actively boycotting the major music and media corporations that chose to use legal terrorism against their very own customers. Each and every crow of this or that bust touted across the media only instills within me the idea we are hurting them much worse than they would like us to know. The crow of a bust is nothing more than an attempt to convence you that they feel there is nothing wrong with their product nor price. I beg to differ. It is my sincere hope that the difficult days the majors have seen to date is only the start.

In related news, in no particular order:

The persons responsible for authorizing this raid has been reported for miscunduct.

The organization APB has been reported for illegal keeping and maintainance of a database.

The ISP raided was hosting APB's homepage, until it got DDOS'ed They're in the same building as well.

On tuesday 15 there will be a debate between APB and PB, I think they're going down

None of the allegedly present files were found, it is doubtful if the search was legal.

http://visionweb.se/jo/

Too lazy to translate so....

2757 signs and counting

Yet again another blow to our freedom. My heart goes out to the lives that are shattered by the MPAA and RIAA and BSA again. To the untold thousands of REAL DOLLARS this will cost them and thier families.

"Piracy" hurts no one, it only exchanges where money goes from server hosting companies to broad band providers to blank dvd manufacters. Bootlegging needs to be and should be stopped. Personal use is fair use.

Words from a programmer who's supposed to believe copyrights are the only thing protecting my job possiblities. pffttt just like musicians we care about people using what we made, the people that respect us will pay for it and spread the word to others. What "artist" of anything would accept the blood money the copyright cartel wishes to sieze from people?

Seems you guys missed this one.
---

Australian ISP Is Raided in File Swap Hunt
Mike Corder

Australian recording industry investigators raided an Internet service provider on Thursday suspected of having used high-speed file- swapping technology to allow the pirating of hundreds of thousands of songs and video clips, an industry official said.

The raid was believed to be the first on an Australian Internet company involving popular BitTorrent file sharing software.

The investigators raided the headquarters of Swiftel Communications in Perth, the capital of Western Australia state, Music Industry Piracy Investigations said. MIPI is part of the Australian Record Industry Association.

"These raids are a new and important development in our fight against Internet music piracy," MIPI General Manager Michael Speck said.

BitTorrent is a software program which allows the downloading of large files from multiple sources at the same time, thereby speeding up the transfer. Users connect directly to each other, but there is a central server which coordinates the transfers.

Speck accused Swiftel of using BitTorrent technology "to link infringers to music clips and sound recordings. We believe hundreds of thousands of downloads have been conducted during the last year in breach of copyright laws."

He said his investigators seized "digital evidence relating to Web pages and Internet transactions consisting of both illegal sound recordings and illegal video clips."

Swiftel Communications could not immediately be reached for comment.

The raids were conducted with rarely used search warrants known as Anton Piller orders which are used exclusively in civil proceedings. No police were involved, and the record industry sent its own investigators to carry out the search and seize evidence.

Last year, Speck's organization used Anton Piller orders to raid offices and homes in Sydney linked to the Kazaa file-sharing network. The recording industry is involved in an ongoing civil trial against Kazaa that is expected to wind up later this month.

Lawyers for the recording industry say Kazaa's owners are allowing the network's millions of users to illegally exchange billions of copyrighted music files each month.

Kazaa's owners say they are not responsible for the actions of people using their software.

Speck said Thursday that among music videos found traded on Swiftel were "Kids" by Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue and "Sometime" by Britney Spears.

"The record industry will continue to take legal action to protect its copyright whether it's on the internet or elsewhere," Speck said. "We will continue to act against ISPs who we believe are set up as vehicles for piracy."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ECTION=BUSINESS

Should be

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AUSTRALIA_FILE_SWAPPING_RAID?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=BUSINESS

can sombody make a calculation and see if the reported movies/music/software will actually amount to 23 terabytes, i doubt it.

Some more notes:

AUH has siezed control over APB's domain and has published what they claim are e-mail from the organisation.

Bahnhof may sue APB, hope they do.