I know I’m a bit late to the party since I haven’t really paid any attention to Forumwarz in the last month, but I’m going to clear some things up anyway since I am here in Sweden and have been following the trial since the beginning.

First off, the title of this thread is incorrect. The founders of TPB have not been jailed yet. In Sweden, a verdict does not become lawful until all appeals have been processed, and the district court (Stockholms Tingsrätt) is just the first step of the ladder. Furthermore it has been revealed that the judge was biased due to being a member of the pro-copyright organization SFU (Svenska föreningen för upphovsrätt) together with the prosecution, so a retrial may be allowed.

Secondly, the trial wasn’t all bad. It dramatically increased awareness of the file-sharing issue in the public, and subsequently the Pirate Party’s membership has skyrocketed. At this point they actually have a chance to get a seat in the European Parliament. I am not making this up!

Anyway, what I’m saying is, don’t whine about the verdict. It doesn’t mean anything. The Internets will survive. File sharing will survive. Even the Pirate Bay itself will probably survive. Meanwhile, the ranks of the Pirates continue to swell. And if the lawmakers of Sweden decide that “bumisting making available copyrighted content” is illegal, which is exactly what every search engine on the Internet is doing, we’ll change the ****ing laws.