And this is why...

And this is why I would never dream of using a new Pirate Bay with a business model that involves giving as much as a penny to the entertainment mafia industry, and why, for that matter, I haven't bought one single cd or dvd over the last couple of years:

– Skadeståndskravet är personligt och vi kommer att kräva pengarna av de här personerna under hela deras livstid, säger Ifpi:s vd Lars Gustafsson till SvD.se.

Stop feeding the monster.

Pirate Bay goes Napster

Unless this is some well choreographed stunt, it appears the Swedish company Global Gaming Factory X will be buying The Pirate Bay, and turning it into a 100% legit paysite (probably meaning DRM-infested MP3's, poor video streaming and everything else you expect from a website under the control of the entertainment industry). The purchasing price is apparently 60 million SEK, which is kind of strange considering GGF's financial situation...

I think it's fair to guess that the entertainment mafia industry has finally realized that all the corrupt judges, policemen and politicians in the world can't shut down the website, and decided that "if you can't beat them, buy them", and that they're the ones providing the money to finalize the deal.

So, what will happen to The Pirate Bay, which is today one of the hundred most visited websites in the world? Well, do you remember Napster? No? Exactly.

Democracy the EU way

Found this little clip on Youtube that shows how the EU democracy works: "The voters are stupid and don't know their own good. That's why we'll completly disregard them and do whatever we want anyway. There's too much political prestige in this to respect the democracy". Way to tell them, Wallström!

The red-green coalition kick off their election campaign

The three parties forming the red-green coalition, Socialdemokraterna, Vänsterpartiet and Miljöpartiet, kicked off their election campaign today by announcing that if they win the election next year, they promose to - in good socialist manner - re-introduce the ridiculously unfair housing tax, and thus seeing to it that only the filthy rich will be allowed to inhabit a house with a taxable value of over 4,5 million SEK (which means quite a lot of the properties in the Stockholm region...). Good on them. I mean, who cares about the old grandmother who's lived in that big old house in Lidingö her whole life? About bloody time she sold it and moved to a nursing home, isn't it?

Funnily enough the tax on apartments is suggested to be lowered. So the big picture here is that those who don't make a fortune shouldn't live in houses, they should sell it and settle for an apartment. Preferably a small, grey, boring one in a depressing suburb. Nice, socialist way of thinking.

Brilliant work, guys. You're sure to gain votes on this one!

Me - a pirate

That' it. I'm officially a pirate. Just signed up as a volunteer. I can't take the corrupted justice system anymore, and I can't take the politicians bending over and spreading their butt cheeks wide open for the entertainment industry to screw them, and more importantly us - the people - senseless. It's disgusting, and it has got to stop.

Goddammit.

Censorship here, censorship there

The Chinese government shut down the search engine Google.com yesterday, as it makes it possible for the Chinese population to do searches on topics the Chinese government dislike. Dutch copyright organization Brein wants to shut down the search engine The Pirate Bay, as it makes it possible for the Dutch population to do searches on topics the Dutch copyright organization, and presumably also the Dutch government dislike.

Since when is China a role model for Europe when it comes to censorship?

Another miscarriage of justice

The Swedish ISP Ephone has in an utterly bizarre verdict by Solna tingsrätt ("Framgång för bokförlagen i det första Ipred-ärendet", skriver tingsrätten i ett pressmeddelande) been forced to provide personal information about the owner of an internet subscription to five publishing firms. Why? Because someone using this internet subscription had set up an FTP-server, a private server requiring authentication to access its content. Supposedly this FTP-server contained copyrighted material, which Antipiratbyrån gained access to, presumably either through hacking or just by plain and simple threats. Remember that the next time you upload that MP3-file, image or XVID-movie to your personal online storage facility - the mafia entertainment industry might hack into your account and then accuse you of making the material accessible to the public.

Anyway, this personal information will of course help the publishing firms hunt down and take legal action against the owner of the internet subscription (not the actual perpetrator, mind you!), and most likely be responsible for yet another miscarriage of justice. We all know the court will find him or her guilty without a shred of credible evidence, a screen shot and an assumption that the internet subscription owner and the perpetrator are the same, is enough these days. Recent verdicts in the previously civilized part of the world has shown that one is in fact no longer presumed innocent until proven guilty when it comes to acts of copyright infringement. Instead, we've taken a giant leap backwards in time and embraced the principle of "guilty until proven innocent". Makes it all a lot easier for the court, doesn't it? "So, you can't prove that you're innocent? Can't prove that somebody else was using your WLAN that night? Too bad, that'll be 15 millions in fines. Next!"

Also, I can't help but wonder how the judge in Solna tingsrätt is affiliated with the mafia entertainment industry in this particular case. Or perhaps he too was promised a well paid pro forma job in the industry if he helped them along by making a decision that went against all common sense?

If anyone should be on trial here it should be Antipiratbyrån and Henrik "Pirate" Pontén, as they have illegally gained entrance to a private FTP server. Somehow these computer crimes, regularly performed by Antipiratbyrån to secure "evidence", are never an issue.

Clearly, those with enough money and lobbying power own the justice system.

Spotify for iPhone

If you're one of those people choosing overpriced hype instead of features, chances are you might be the owner of an Apple iPhone. If you also happen to be a Spotify-user (if not, check this out), you'll finally be able to use it with your iPhone - not thanks to Apple or Spotify, mind you!

A brilliant mind has created an open source Spotify-client for the iPhone called Spot. Of course you will need to jailbreak your phone in order to use the application, but then again this is something you have to do anyway if you want to unlock your ridiculously expensive phone's full potential.

Check out the demo below, and download the software here.



Or you could just wait for the official version of the mobile Spotify application, which is gonna cost you though.

Iran is a role model for Europe

Nokia Siemens Network have built Internet infrastructure for the Iranian government, and as a part of this project they have implemented sophisticated ways to monitor the network, allowing the government to save and index information on individual users and their communication.

I'm guessing the Swedish government, and all of EU for that matter, is all ears. Perhaps they could arrange a seminar and exchange information and experiences on Internet censorship and surveillance, and get some good ideas on how to further tighten the screw on innocent citizens? Hey, while you're at it, invite China as well, they might have some valuable input. After all these two beacons of democracy seem to be the ideal for European politicians these days.

Office Management

Office Management is a company that really gets on my nerves. I have to admit I have no clue what kind of services they deliver, or if they do a good job, and I have no intentions to find out either.

What bugs me is the fact that they equip their employees with company cars that are way beyond their miserable driving capabilities. You know, those silver grey BMW's, Audi's and VW Touareg's with the red and black Office Management logo, that swivel around on the roads, erratically changing lanes without giving a sign, driving in the bus lanes, speeding and doing all kinds of stupid stunts.

Seriously, this is not good publicity for your employer. When I see the complete lack of judgement you guys demonstrate out on the roads, I wouldn't dream of hiring any of you baboons to do whatever it is you do.

And to the management: Stop handing out these kinds of cars to this kind of people. They're obviously not mature enough for them. Give them a Toyota Prius or something instead, with limited capabilities to cause harm and destruction. Or at least remove the Office Management logos from your cars so you're not associated with the kind of behaviour your employees show in traffic. Thank you very much.