Category Archives: General

ACTA Battle Nears Climax in Europe

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The European Parliament’s international trade committee has rejected a proposal by David Martin, an MEP who is drafting the Parliament’s position on ACTA. Martin wanted to ask the European Court of Justice for its opinion on the controversial anti-piracy treaty, but the committee decided yesterday that wasn’t needed and will now vote in June on whether to approve ACTA. Opponents of the treaty see the development as a victory.

In a February announcement, EU trade chief Karel De Gucht said that following discussion Image is Loading....with fellow Commissioners, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) would be referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

The treaty, which is aimed at harmonizing global copyright enforcement globally, has largely been formulated behind closed doors and its critics fear it will only lead to censorship and surveillance of Internet users.

The plan was to ask the ECJ to look at ACTA and decide if it conflicts with the EU’s fundamental rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression and right to privacy.

Separately, David Martin, a UK MEP who is drafting the Parliament’s position on ACTA, made a proposal to put ACTA before the European Court of Justice to get its opinion, but the committee decided yesterday that wasn’t needed and will now vote in June on whether to approve ACTA.

The European Parliament’s trade committee rejected the plan with 21 MEPs voting against, 5 in favor and 2 abstentions. This means that ACTA could now be put before Parliament in a matter of months. Had ACTA been immediately referred to Europe’s highest court, it would have meant a delay of one, maybe two years.

This, according to activists, would have dampened the momentum of their anti-ACTA work which reached unprecedented levels and Europe-wide protests earlier this year.

“Referring ACTA to the court is no substitute for the political procedure needed to check this agreement and determine democratically whether its entry into force is in the European interest,” said Pirate Party MEP and Shadow rapporteur on ACTA for the Greens Amelia Andersdotter.

“Only a democratic ratification process via the European and national parliaments is able to provide such a judgment, and we therefore welcome today’s decision to continue with this process,” she concluded.

ACTA will now be pushed through committees in the European Parliament during April and May and then to a final full Parliament vote at its June plenary session.

“If ACTA dies in European Parliament, then it’s a permakill, and the monopoly lobbies will have to start fighting uphill,” said Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge in a comment. “If ACTA passes, the same monopolists get tons of new powers to use, and close the door for the foreseeable future behind the legislators for a very necessary reform of the copyright and patent monopolies.”

After its existence was first discovered by the public in 2008 after documents were uploaded to Wikileaks, ACTA’s opponents now have just 10 weeks to pull out the stops.

This article has been updated to clarify the involvement of David Martin MEP

Pirate Bay ‘Financier’ Will Serve Sentence Electronically Tagged

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Carl Lundström, one of the persons convicted in The Pirate Bay trial, will not be going to jail for his role in the operations of The Pirate Bay. The millionaire, who gave the site a crucial helping hand with hardware and other services in its early days, was sentenced to four months in prison but will now spend that time in a Swedish apartment. He will be electronically monitored and allowed to leave in order to attend a government-arranged job.

While Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Svartholm were grabbing most of the Image is Loading....headlines, a fourth defendant in The Pirate Bay trial – Swedish businessman Carl Lundström – was trying to keep a lower profile.

That would not prove easy. Famous in his own right for being the grandson of Karl Lundström, founder of the world’s largest crisp bread producer Wasabröd, Carl Lundström made a fortune when the company was sold in the early 80′s. But it would be his involvement with The Pirate Bay that would shoot him onto the international stage.

Lundström provided an early Pirate Bay with structural support through his company Rix Telecom/Port80 and in 2009 he paid the price for that assistance when a Swedish court found him and his co-defendants guilty of copyright infringement offenses.

In 2010 the Court of Appeal upheld the original guilty verdict but reduced Lundström’s sentence from 1 year in jail to 4 months and ordered him to pay his share of 46 million kronor ($6.78m) in damages. Last month a Supreme Court appeal was rejected and Lundström’s sentence was made final.

Now Lundström is ready to serve his sentence and perhaps surprisingly he won’t be going to jail at all. Under Swedish law anyone sentenced to spend less than six months in jail can apply to serve their time in the community. Lundström applied and was accepted as a suitable candidate.

The businessman, who will turn 52-years-old next month, will leave his home in Switzerland and return to Sweden to serve his sentence. There he will spend four months electronically tagged in a Gothenburg apartment. He will only be allowed to leave in order to attend a job arranged for him by the authorities.

“He will have employment arranged, it is a regulated schedule that is very strict,” probation officer Sven Simonsson told us.

Although Lundström is liable to pay his share of 46 million kronor ($6.78m) in damages, Swedish authorities have only been able to find assets worth 225,000 kronor ($33,149).

The three other defendants – Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Svartholm – are yet to be informed how their sentences will be served. None are currently living in Sweden and Svartholm hasn’t been heard from in a long time, leading Sunde to speculate recently that he might even be dead.

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NinjaVideo “Head of Security” Avoids Prison

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The former head of security at the now-defunct movie streaming site NinjaVideo has been sentenced by a federal court in Virginia for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. The Government demanded a prison term for 33-year-old Jeremy Andrew, but the court decided that three years probation is sufficient as he was not motivated by monetary rewards.

At the end of June 2010, nine sites connected to movie streaming, including NinjaVideo,Image is Loading.... were targeted by the U.S. Government.

It was the first round in the ongoing “Operation in Our Sites” through which more than 300 domain names have been seized to date.

After the site’s domain was seized, five people connected to the movie streaming site were arrested last year. With the sentencing of Jeremy Andrew, all have now been sentenced.

Andrew was accused of taking part in the NinjaVideo conspiracy and pleaded guilty to a copyright infringement charge last October. Andrew, known online as “Htrdfrk,” started out as a regular visitor to the site but was later recruited as staff member.

His tasks were to secure the servers and moderate the forums, which the prosecutor described as important roles.

“Like the other charged defendants, Andrew filled an important role in the NinjaVideo conspiracy; Andrew served as “Ninja Head of Security”, which involved setting up, managing, and securing servers used by the conspiracy to store infringing content.”

“Andrew also served as one of the moderators of the NinjaVideo forum board; in that role, he provided technical support to website visitors, which included assisting visitors with accessing infringing content.”

The prosecutor admitted that, compared to the other defendants, Andrew played the smallest part in the conspiracy. Nevertheless, he asked the court to sentence Andrew to several months in prison. The defense on the other hand argued that a short probation term would be more appropriate, as Andrew has no criminal past and was not motivated by monetary rewards.

The court sided with the arguments provided by the defense and sentenced Jeremy Andrew to three years probation and 150 hours of community service. In addition, he has to pay the MPAA $5,250 in damages.

“The defendant did not seek out to join the conspiracy and was not motivated by any monetary rewards,” was one of the reasons Judge Anthony John Trenga gave for the lower sentence. “The defendant has accepted responsibility for his actions and is remorseful, which the Court believes is sincere,” he added.

The Judge further noted that letters from Andrew’s friends and family that were submitted to the court aided in the lower sentence. While the ruling will probably be welcomed as relatively good news by Andrew, satisfaction at the Department of Justice will be dampened. Unlike in previous cases, the DoJ opted not to issue a press release.

Now that the last of the five arrested NinjaVideo admins has been sentenced, we can give a complete overview of this landmark case.

The harshest sentence was handed to NinjaVideo founder Hana Beshara, who will spend 22 months in prison followed by 2 years of probation and a payment of $210,000 in damages. Fellow admin Matthew Smith received 14 months in prison, two years supervised release, and was ordered to pay back just over $172,000.

Joshua Evans received 6 months in prison, two years probation, and was ordered to pay the MPAA $26,660 restitution. Justin Dedemko was not listed as part of the NinjaVideo conspiracy but will spend 3 months in prison followed by 2 years of probation, and has to repay the MPAA $58,004.

One indicted NinjaVideo admin, Zoi Mertzanis from Greece, is still at large.

The case against NinjaVideo is crucial for several other previously arrested streaming site admins including UK student Richard O’Dwyer who will soon be extradited to the US. Brian McCarthy, the owner of ChannelSurfing.net and Yonjo Quiroa, who operated 16 streaming sites, are both yet to be sentenced.

Note: the original verdict came in last month but has not been reported in the media.

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