Pirate Bay Admins found guilty, but the website remains online

[caption id="attachment_1998" align="alignright" width="325" caption="Looks like The Pirate Bay will remain online. For now..."][/caption]

So as you've probably read everywhere on the internet about The Pirate Bay crew, all four of the defendants were found guilty...  Yet The Pirate Bay remains online.

Why you ask?  Because there was no injunction in that trial specifically said "Shut down the website."  The trial was directed at the TPB (The Pirate Bay) crew finding them guilty of the copyright infringement − not the website.

If the MPAA & IFPI want the website shut down, they'll need to file another trial for exactly that.  John Kennedy, head of the IFPI said that's what they plan to do.

Lets be realistic here: if you manage to successfully shut down The Pirate Bay, what makes you think that's going to stop piracy?  All it's going to cause people to retaliate against them by creating another 100 websites like the Pirate Bay.  Essentially what the MPAA & IFPI are doing is putting their hands into a bees hive, shaking it, and not realizing that they're going to create a swarm.

It's exactly the same issue that the U.S. Government has been dealing with when it comes to the "War on Drugs." Pot may be technically illegal, but you can't stop everybody from using it.  You really can't win this battle.

I'm personally keeping a close eye on this story as new details unfold.  Stay tuned.

Disneyland 2009

A visit to Disneyland - April 18th, 2009. Went with friends: Pio, John, Jobe, Kristin & Miranda.  Pio's company rented out a bunch of rooms at the Disney Grand Hotel, so we took advantage of that and spent our Saturday at Disneyland and California Disney.

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Swedish Courts - The Pirate Bay: "Guilty"

[caption id="attachment_1986" align="alignright" width="223" caption="With the four defendents of The Pirate Bay found guilty? Does this mean the end of it? ...Probably not."][/caption]

Honestly this verdict didn't come as a surprise to me.  The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) as well as every association across the globe that has their copyrighted materials illegally distributed went up against the Pirate Bay crew.

The verdict announced April 17th claims that four defendants:

• Peter Sunde (alias: brokep)


• Fredrik Neij (alias: TiAMO)


• Gottfrid Svartholm (alias Anakata)


• Carl Lundström

All guilty, and each of them must pay must pay $905,000 in damages.  ($3,620,000 total) What's interesting is the Swedish court did not believe the music and motion industry suffered that much in damages, yet they ordering the four defendants to pay it regardless.

The judge claimed that the four defendants were aware of the copyrighted material being shared on their websites, and worked as a team to help distribute it.   This logic is what the court chose to take and based their verdict on that.

Peter Sunde said that he did not expect any jail time, and claimed that the verdict was 'unreal.'  When he was asked about the fines he said: "We can't pay and we wouldn't pay if we could.  If I would have money I would rather burn everything I owned."

Does this verdict mean the end of the line for them?  Nope...  There will be appeals which will stagnate the final outcome.  Both sides have until May 9th 2009 to file their appeal to Sweden's higher court.

Peter Sunde went on saying that this verdict does not mean the end of The Pirate Bay.  The defendants were on trial − not the site.

Palm Pre have a confirmed release date, but we're still in the dark

[caption id="attachment_1972" align="alignright" width="279" caption="Natali De Conte, part of CBS & CNET's Buzz Out Loud knows when the Palm Pre's launch date is"][/caption]

Ever since Palm showed off their prototype Pre phone at CES, I've been anxiously waiting for this phone to come out.  While Palm did say expect to it be out before the "first half of this year" apparently Sprint & Palm have a confirmed date to launch the phone.

What pisses me off is if this launch date has already set in stone, then why all the secrecy?

On CNET's podcast: Buzz Out Loud, (episode 951) Natali De Conte confirmed she knew when the release date was, but had to sign a NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) with Palm.  Natali aside from being one of the hosts of Buzz Out Loud is a frequent correspondent for the CBS Early Show.  Palm wanted to feature the Pre on the Early Show, but like with any major network, daily shows require planning in advance...

So if a date for the Palm Pre has been set, then why are we still in the dark about it?  From all the online video demos I've seen, the device looked pretty polished (complete).  The Pre phone has an emulator for Palm old O/S, it already has 3rd party software available, (Sprint TV, Pandora, Google Maps, etc...) and have started inviting developers to create new applications for the device.

Just tell us the release date already... And the F***ing price while you're at it!

Sources:

• PreCentral.net - At Least Somebody Knows when the Pre will Launch

Update: Palm responded to Natali claiming the release date she was given is no longer valid.  So now she doesn't know either... Wonderful.

Time Warner customers: REJOICE! The company is backing down on metered-billing

[caption id="attachment_1980" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Finally! Time Warner is backing out of putting internet caps on their customers."][/caption]

You know, since I started this website, there have been at least 3 stories in the last year that I've posted on my site which became pointless the day I posted them.  Why you ask?  Because apparently I have the worst timing in the world when it comes to these things...

I just posted an article earlier today about the backlash Time Warner has been getting over their attempt to put a cap on their customers.  Their attempts to meter their customers in Texas were postponed becuase they couldn't get any volunteers to test it out.

Any news story you'd read online about it ridiculed Time Warner.  Hell even a senator was pretty disgusted about this.  Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

The opposition has been astounding.  There were several websites like DropTimeWarnerCable.com, Facebook groups (requires a Facebook account to view), and several different forums where people were voicing their opinions.

Well it appears that Time Warner is going to back down... For now, though they don't seem very happy about it.

Source:

• Ars Technica: They're gone! After outcry, Time Warner uncaps the tubes

Time Warner stalls capped internet caps in Texas over public rejection

[caption id="attachment_1961" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Time Warner's plans for metered bandwidth in Texas have been shattered... For now."][/caption]

It looks like Time Warner has been forced to stall their internet cap usage testing in the Texas cities Austin and San Antonio for the time being.  Surprisingly they have had trouble finding customers. </sarcasm>  The company had plans to start these tests on the 13th of April, but due to the underwhelming response they have postponed the metered-testing until October.

This was the pricing structure Time Warner would've made available for those volunteering for the metered-bandwidth testing:

• $15/month for 1GB ($2 extra for any overage)


• $75/month for 100GB ($1 extra for any overage)

As I reiterated in my prior posting, Time Warner wants to start tiered pricing to prevent their customers from using the net to stream video because it poses a threat to their cable TV business.  Yet their excuse (which they're still sticking to) is that they need help in raising money to fix their infrastructure, because the internet demand is rising at a rate that would supposedly outpace it.  So putting cap their users fixes their infrastructure?

While the metered-testing may have been delayed in Texas, apparently it has started in Rochester, NY and Greensboro, NC.  Frontier Communications, a competitor to Time Warner had plans to do the same thing with capping their customers; but due to public outrage they abandoned the idea.  Because of that decision, former Time Warner customers have started jumping ship to Frontier.  Ann Burr, a PR representative for Frontier in Rochester, NY told the Associated Press they have received hundreds of calls from Time Warner customers wanting to switch over. "I guess it has been a public relations crisis for Time Warner."

Sources:

• The Register - Public rejects Time Warner metered-bandwidth tests