Online Piracy Drama Heating Up (Guest Post) | COGIPAS.com Blog

The wrestling match between online file-sharing websites and anti-piracy advocates has taken a cinematic turn, leading to some exciting real-life scenes. Police raids, overseas extraditions and worldwide governmental disputes sound like the ingredients for a summer espionage thriller, but they?re actually recent events surrounding the file-sharing debate. Strap in for this wild thrill ride unfolding before our eyes.

Sweden Knocks the Door Down

In early October, Swedish police raided the headquarters of controversial web host PRQ, the former host of the popular media-sharing platform, The Pirate Bay. Coincidentally (so claims the current PRQ owner), The Pirate Bay experienced an unusually long outage precisely as the raid occurred. This isn?t the first time Sweden has used force against PRQ. In 2006, Swedish officials performed a similar sting to gather evidence that led to an eventual 2007 lawsuit. This drama is occurring in the country considered the preeminent haven for Internet Freedom. Recently, however, a crackdown in piracy has file sharers fleeing for cover.

If history is any indication, the Swedish government will look to prosecute based on their raid findings.

Bringing One Back

Gottfrid Swartholm Warg, one of the convicted Pirate Bay founders, appealed the 2009 verdict, but failed to appear in court because of a medical condition. Police recently discovered Warg?s whereabouts and made sure they got a hold of him for good. Cambodian police arrest Warg in the African nation?s capital city in late August, according to News.yahoo.com. Sweden extradited Warg back to his home country and immediately questioned the 28-year-old in a separate hacking case.

There?s a strong possibility that this is the first extradition of a hacker in history, and it signifies Sweden?s mood regarding its web culture.

Governments Split on Web Security Act

The open-sourced nature of the Internet makes tackling piracy a collaborative effort, but it doesn?t look like the world?s major nations are close on collaborating to stop piracy. In June, the European Parliament rejected the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in a landslide vote. Many claimed it resembled SOPA, according to Thewhir.com, the US? online security act that received protest from users, web hosts and ISPs. Not everyone rejected ACTA, however. The governments of two major media markets, the United States and Japan both signed ACTA, and while the initiative may not be the answer to online piracy, these countries are working on fixes of their own.

The United States is working with six major Internet service providers to enact a ?six-strike? system. Illegal-file sharers would receive warnings for the first five offenses, followed by ISP-inflicted penalties such as reduced Internet speed. The US could potentially ask web hosts, such as Windows VPS, to police their customers as well.

Japan is hoping to take a more strict course of action. An anti-piracy law that can subject downloaders of copyright-infringing content to two years in prison or large fines. Japanese ISPs aren?t being cooperative so far, claiming the law places too much burden on them to catch criminals.

Maybe in the future, you?ll see these events played out on the silver screen, but for now, the piracy drama seems stranger than fiction.

Authored by: Laura Kelly Laura is a blogger who writes about international business, including money and lending policies in the U.S., Europe and Australia.

Source: http://www.cogipas.com/blog/id/517

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