Abandon Ship!!! The Pirate Bay is sunk!

Aaarghh, Matey! It had to go sometime, I supposes. Aye, with the recent decree of the Swedish landlubbers that all pirates in the Swedish Commonwealth be surrenderin', many a fine file-swapper be goin' to the hangin' ladder. But it be not only the file-swappin' pirates this unjust parchment be targetin', but anything that allows a copyright or copy protection to be dodged. Our penguin-toutin' brothers and sisters be gettin' the short end of a plank as well, for commercial DVD's and certain CD's be including copy protection that has to be gotten around to work right with most Linux distro's. Anything that includes Xine or Mplayer or the like is a target for this new law, striking a foul blow against the grand community that is open-source. This cruelly-binding legislation goes into force on July 1, 2005, and similar scribblin's are in the air. The wind be blowin' from the wrong quarter in this battle, me hearties, and nae bodes well for freedom on the high Net.

As Sweden was one of the last bastions of p2p resistance to the RIAA/MPAA hegemony, legal precedent is gaining momentum. At the moment, another last haven is under attack--Canada. The Canadians have issued a press release that in effect says that since privacy rights prohibit them from checking what is being shared, there is no way to be sure what is being posted is illegal. The decision is a dike set against the tide of Recording Industry and Film Industry actions, but how long it will last is yet to be seen. Aaaargh! [Britt Godwin]