IFPI wins against case “Tele2,” forcing it to prevent its internet subscribers from accessing the Swedish BitTorrent tracker site.
In a remarkably odd and hollow victory for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry(IFPI), a Danish court has ordered ISP Tele2 Denmark to begin blocking subscribers from accessing The Pirate Bay.
According to the Danish Computerworld magazine (Danish), the order is a result a year-long case before the ‘fogderetten’, a Danish court which hears economic disputes. The IFPI initiated the case after Tele 2 refused to block The Pirate Bay or any other site unless explicitly ordered to by law.
On the IFPI’s Danish site it also notes that it expects other ISPs in the country to comply with the court ruling and block access to The Pirate Bay as well. “The provider had agreed to follow the order and it is expected that other Internet service providers will voluntarily follow the court order.”
In response to the development, Sebastian Gjerding, spokesperson for Piratgruppen, a pro-piracy lobby, told Ernesto over at TorrentFreak that “The verdict is absurd. It will block access for danish users to the worlds largest distributor of culture and knowledge – copyrighted or not.
“It’s true that you can access copyrighted material through The Pirate Bay, as you can with Google or Rapidshare,” he continues. “Should they be blocked as well?”
“It’s very frightening that IFPI can get through the courts with something like this. In Turkey and China its the state that decides what information the people can access and what should be censored. In Denmark its apparently the record industry,” Sebastian adds.
Attempting to block access to a site in an otherwise democratic country is not only a laughable affair, but also an exercise in futility. There are a gazillion proxy servers and other possible work arounds that make it virtually impossible to fully block access to The Pirate Bay or any other site.
If the people of China are able to develop methods of breaching that country’s formidable firewall then what chance does a free society like Denmark have of doing any better? Moreover, is that a road that Denmark is prepared to go down, the one where corporate interests are allowed to dictate what websites citizens can and cannot see?
[via TF]
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Are they blocking just users in Denmark or all users world wide?
@YWD67
only Danish users who have Tele 2 as their ISP
Unfortunately that’s the road all so called democratic countries will be going. Lobby groups just have too much money and money talks when it comes to politics.
Its a sad day when only the privileged few decide on the rules of the land. I thought we had all agreed such tactics should be vanquished after the middle ages. You know when a democracy came into play and people were supposed to choose their ruler in the hope they would pass laws in their interest.
Just another reason why the Internet needs to be an anarchy as it was in the beginning. Take the bad with the good because the good far outweighs the bad and is the most essential. We need to find a work around the whole Internet. I’m sure that somebody’s working on it.
That graphic is awesome! MPAA Grave!
@ #5.
I tend to agree with you there. Anyone who remembers the internet the way it was back in 1994 ish well more than 10 years ago would know how much these control nutters have changed the landscape.