Shut Posten down now!

Right, that's it. I've had it. The postal services need to be shut down immediately if they do not manage to block packages containing illegal substances. I don't care if they need to open each and every envelope to do so. If they don't, they're guilty of accessory.

On second thoughts, though, drugs aren't really that bad. And opening everyone's mail just to get to a few people who are abusing the postal service is really quite out of proportion. Plus, you can't really hold the postal service accountable - all they really do is provide a service that lets people communicate with each other. That wouldn't be fair. Had this happened on the Internet though...damn we would've messed those bastards up real bad, right?

Now go figure why drug dealing in real life is considered much less harmful than engaging in file sharing activities on the Internet.

– Men vi har varken rättigheter eller möjligheter att kontrollera alla försändelser. Det faller under ”brevhemligheten”.

Field trip to China

The brilliant newspaper The Local, bringing us Swedish news in English, has been censored by the Chinese government because of an article deemed to be inappropriate.

The brilliant website The Pirate Bay, bringing us all kind of culture from all over the world, has been censored by the Swedish government because certain links on the website are deemed to be inappropriate.

Unfortunately the Swedish government, relatively new to the world of Internet censorship, have not yet developed sufficiently sophisticated methods to actually keep "inappropriate" websites out of sight for long. I would suggest Swedish politicians take a field trip to China to study what they do there.

The importance of a free, growth-driven and entrepreneurial Internet

Two clowns by the name of Gerard Versteegh and Shadi Bitar, representing two companies I can only assume deal with entertainment through the internet, film2home.se and earbooks.se, have a reader's letter published in Svenska Dagbladet today. The letter is so filled with wrong assumptions, logical flaws and plain errors that's it would take me more effort to go through it step by step than I'm willing to put in. I'll take the short version:

The letter is basically a poorly executed attack on the Moderat politician Karl Sigfrid, who has profiled himself as the only Moderat politician interested in questions regarding the Internet and integrity, and of course on the politics of Piratpartiet, the pirate party.

I feel one of the very first sentences of this letter sums it all up pretty nicely:

En moderat internetpolitik bör sträva efter ett fritt, tillväxtdrivande och entreprenöriellt internet.

Translated to English: Moderat internet politics should strive for a free, growth-driven and entrepreneurial Internet.

Umm...well, yes, and that's exactly what Karl Sigfrid is striving for and you two morons are fighting against.

Obviously Mr. Versteegh hasn't succeeded very well in being free nor entrepreneurial, and of course neither Mr. Versteegh nor Mr. Bitar will see any of my money any time soon.

How the music industry makes its money, part 2

Read part 1 here.

So, in addition to ripping off songwriters and artist, and suing their customers, this dirty industry, in this case the record company Universal, is also threatening Stockholm stadsteater with a lawsuit for not paying them enough money in royalties for the songs that appear in the "De tre musketörerna" play. Apparently "only" paying the standard fee to STIM isn't enough for Universal, who claim this play is actually a musical, and for some reason a musical should mean even more money in Universal's pockets.

How long will these repulsive parasites be able to survive before they have sucked their hosts completely dry?

Stockholm tingsrätt dismantling the judicial system

The scandals surrounding the corrupt bastards over at Stockholms tingsrätt continue...

Read Peter Sundes blogpost here, and Piratpartiets press release here.

It seems if you ever end up in Stockholm tingsrätt, unless you've got the mafiosos at Danowsky & Partners representing you, you know you're screwed no matter how good your case is. Way to go completely destroying the public's faith in the judicial system.

The mafiaa wants you!

Wanna join the axis of evil and become the mafiaa's unscrupulous hired hand? Do you get turned on by the power of ruining ordinary people's lives? Would you sell your grandmother if paid enough? Are you a sworn enemy of the Internet, free speech, civil liberties and the constitution?

Then boy have I got the job for you. The weasels at Danowsky & Partners are looking for a legal practitioner, so here's your chance to sell your soul for what I can only assume has to be a shitload of money:

Danowsky & Partners är en advokatbyrå med inriktning på affärsjuridik och processer. Vi strävar efter att lämna en rak, enkel och resultatorienterad rådgivning i komplicerade affärsjuridiska frågor och processer. Det sker genom personlig omsorg, lyhördhet för klienternas intressen och ett starkt engagemang i varje ärende.

För tillträde under hösten söker vi nu ytterligare biträdande jurister med tingsmeritering eller motsvarande erfarenhet. Även du som har några års ytterligare erfarenhet från annan advokatbyrå är givetvis välkommen att söka. Vi ställer höga krav men erbjuder samtidigt varierande och utmanande arbetsuppgifter, bra utvecklingsmöjligheter och attraktiva villkor.

Ring gärna advokat Ann Nilsson på tel 08-614 64 00 eller gå in på vår hemsida, www.danowsky.se om du vill veta mer. Ansökan med kopior på sedvanliga betyg och intyg skickas så snart som möjligt och senast den 18 september till emma.hjartberg@danowsky.se. Det går också bra att skicka ansökan per post till Danowsky & Partners, Box 16097, 103 22 Stockholm.

And for those of you who are not familiar with the Swedish language, let me give you a quick translation:

Danowsky & Partners is a law firm specializing in blackmailing, harassment and threats. We strive to squeeze the most money out of our opponents in any way possible, with no regard to ethics or moral. We are proud of our excellent connections within the Government, the police and the courts of law that make it possible for us to tailor new laws to suit us and our clients, and also lets us adapt or ignore the existing laws, all to our advantage, when needed. This way we can guarantee you that we never lose a case. Ever.

We are looking for a legal practitioner to join our firm this fall. Our expectations of you are high, but at the same time we can offer you a high salary and a wide range of challenging tasks, including extortion, badgering, gagging the freedom of speech and dismantling the Internet at any cost.

Disclaimer: This translation may not be correct to the letter, but I think it captures the essence of the ad pretty well. So, what are you waiting for? Send them your resume today and embark on a long and successful career of tyranny and terror.

The Pirate Bay regarding Stockholms Tingsfel

Speaking of the Pirate Bay censorship scandal, the TPB crew's press release is simply hilarious.

Brits being their usual technologically impaired selves

Inspired by the massive fiasco of the French Hadopi law, the Brits are planning a similar law to ban individuals from the Internet based on mere allegations of copyright infringement by the entertainment mafia, and without any court ruling. The people subjected to this ridiculous miscarriage of justice will still have access to a small selection of government websites though. Yes, it's just as insane as it sounds:

Enligt lagförslaget kommer besluten att stänga av illegala fildelare inte att tas av Ofcom utan direkt av regeringen, uppger The Guardian. Modellen motiveras, enligt regeringsdokument som The Guardian refererar till, med att åtgärder måste kunna vidtas snabbt i en tid när Storbritanniens kreativa industrier är hotade.

It other words, the British government is actually saying - straight out - that increasing the profit of the entertainment industry is more important than justice for their citizens. They're not even trying to wrap it in. I'm speechless. Absolutely speechless.

It should come as no surprise that a suggestion like this comes from a country where they have yet to discover the joy of a water tap that can serve them with a pleasing combination of hot and cold water. Technologically impaired bastards.

How to keep a steady growth rate

Do you feel your business is a bit slow these days? You don't feel like exploring new business models or giving your customers what they really want? And as a consequence of these old business models, do you see your YTY growth rate go down from 30% to a mere 2%?

No worries, do what the entertainment mafia did: Create laws that give you police authority, spread terror and force the consumers back:

Förra året kom trendbrottet i den till synes ständigt rusande dvd-­försäljningen. Enligt branschen var det fildelningen som slog igenom på allvar – trots detta handlar det, efter 10 års oavbruten ökning, om hela 35,6 miljoner dvd-filmer som trycktes ut på den svenska marknaden. Försäljningen fortsatte att öka, men bara med 2 procent, inte med de omkring 30 procent som ökningen legat på tidigare år.

Men efter Ipredlagens införande i april i år är ordningen återställd. Stora videodistributören Bonver, som har 1.500 videouthyrare och 1.200 dvd-försäljare som kunder, redovisar kraftiga ökningar för månaderna maj–juli.

Uthyrningen ökar med 27–34 procent jämfört med 2008, och dvd-försäljningen i juni och juli låg på 70 procent plus.

Ordningen är återställd. Of course, any business should be able to uphold such an incredible growth rate. Any dip is unnatural and should be remedied not by new and future-oriented business models but by threats and terror. If the consumers don't want to buy your old, outdated products, force them to do it. That's the Hollywood way. That's the ugliest face of capitalism.

– Det här är något fantastiskt som vi ser, man respekterar verkligen Ipredlagen. Det har blivit tydligt för svenska folket att det är olagligt att ladda ner och så har man slutat att göra det, säger Gerard Versteegh, vd på Bonver.

"We're experiencing something truly amazing. People with a loaded gun pointed at their forehead are actually doing what we tell them to do! Faced with massive threats they're being obedient customers!" says Gerard Versteegh, CEO at Bonver. Any dictator will tell you that oppression and threats will make the people do what you want in the short term, you compete ass.

Please stop supporting this insanity. Stop feeding the monster. Stop buying those damn DVD's.

Shooting a duck with heavy artillery

So, the entertainment mafiaa and Stockholm tingsrätt have taken a major step in killing the free Internet in Sweden and turning it into a one-way pay-per-view channel, all in the name of stopping a few copyright infringements. More or less like using heavy artillery to kill a duck.

How well have they succeeded? Pretty well when it comes to contradicting existing laws and setting a new and bizarre precedent.

Not so well when it comes to actually stopping The Pirate Bay:


Much like the use of heavy artillery would cause a lot of damage without necessarily hitting the duck, it took The Pirate Bay only a few hours to get online again, and yet a few hours for DNS-servers around the world to get up to date with their new IP-addresses. A minor inconvenience. However, the damage inflicted on the free Internet in Sweden by Stockholm tingsrätt and that damn mafiaa may very well be irreparable. Good job, you absolute morons.