Pirate Bay Loses Appeal

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20023915-93.html?tag=mncol;posts

   In another blow to online file-sharing, a Swedish appeals court upheld on Friday the copyright convictions of three of the four founders of The Pirate Bay--perhaps the world's most well-known and notorious file-sharing Web site.

    The court agreed with last year's ruling, which found Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundstrom guilty of helping Pirate Bay users break Sweden's copyright law. However, it revised the ruling to decrease the defendants' jail sentences and increase the amount they must pay in damages.

   Despite the convictions and affirmation of the convictions, the Pirate Bay continues to operate and is still in business. It's unlikely that the defendants will appeal the decision but who knows, anything's possible in the war between the copyright holders and the pirates.

   In other recent news, the U.S. government has begun seizing domains that are providing file-sharing services or selling counterfeit goods. Dvdcollections.com, Torrent-finder.com, and 2009jerseys.were all taken down yesterday and their index pages were replaced by a notice which read, "This domain name has been seized by ICE--Homeland Security Investigations, pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a United States District Court."

   I thought the following statement related to the Pirate Bay case was absurd: "In two years, this type of piracy will be over. After a ruling like this and all the pioneers start to get older and have children and families, piracy won't occur to this extent," Monique Wadsted, an attorney representing American record companies, told the Swedish news agency TT.

   What Monique doesn't take into account is that every generation of pirates is replaced by a newer generation. She's dumb (for a lawyer) if her mind can't comprehend the fact that the pool of pirates is constantly replenished just like the pool of software designers is constantly replenished. So many people in this world can't think beyond their own little boxes that they've build around themselves. Feh. I'm done.

Widespread PS3 Piracy

   With news that the PSGroove has been ported over to the iPhone 1G, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch (first-generation), even more devices are now capable of breaking the Playstation 3 wide open for piracy. I knew Sony was in trouble when I heard from my tweenage cousin (who's hardly ever online or tech-savvy) that he was able to get someone from school to Jailbreak his PS3 with a phone. He didn't specify which phone but I'm guessing an Android phone. I reminded him that piracy was unethical and he responded with the following, "Well, I'm just a kid and I can't afford to pay $60 + tax for a game."

   If the lay people like my little cousin are getting their Playstations hacked, then the malaise of piracy is going to spread fairly far and wide over the course of the next year. I foresee a lot of banning, a lot of patches, and a lot of firmware updates in the PS3's future but the genie's out of the bottle and there'll be no way to trap him inside ever again.

Negative Sentiment Towards Piracy?

   Ever since the story of the Playstation 3 Jailbreak broke last week on Kotaku, the news of the PS3 exploit has been making its way around the world and eliciting lots of comments from readers. Although the commentary is anecdotal, it would appear that readers are mostly against the advent of Playstation 3 piracy. Of course, some readers support piracy for obvious reasons but the majority (publicly at least) seem to be showing bias against the pirates. However, let's look at some of the reasons that pirates use to support their activities:

(1) I'm making backups for archival purposes
   Fair enough but if Sony shows up at your door tomorrow, are you going to have every single game that's in your hard drive tucked away safely in your closet?

(2) Games are too expensive
   So is a Porsche 911. Try stealing that from the dealership. Houses are expensive too. Go steal one and see how that works for you.

(3) Sony makes too much money
   Sony's Playstation division lost nearly a 1/2 billion dollars last year and they reported a $43 million dollar loss for 1Q 2010.

(4) Game companies make too much money
   Electronic Arts is the largest game publisher in the world. They've been losing money for years and their share price reflects the losses.

(5) Who makes money then?
   The video game business is in a slump but when economies around the world begin to recover, Sony and publishers should start making money again. However, their revival of fortunes shouldn't give you a license to steal.

(6) If I don't pirate, someone else will
   This is true. Everyone wants something for nothing and perhaps it is inevitable that piracy will eventually take over the PS3 business. However, consider that game developers and publishers toil and sweat to make sure their products reach market. That takes money and resources. If everyone pirated software and got a free ride, what is the incentive for developers and publishers to create the best possible product for their customers?

   In closing, the next few days will be a turning point for the Playstation 3. The PS3 Jailbreak is out in the wild and once it is cloned and hacked by imitators, its usage and availability will grow as suppliers get it into the public domain. As long as there is the potential for profit, the Jailbreak will find its way to consumers despite laws that govern the use of security circumvention devices.

PS3 Jailbreak Site Irony

Pirate Hubris

   The PS3 Jailbreak was designed to circumvent Sony's copy protection but it's ironic that their site states the following:

"Beware of imitators and Chinese knockoffs"

   So, pirates are afraid of having their product pirated? Since the Jailbreak is essentially a USB drive with an executable program on it, bootleggers who crack and copy the device will assuredly start selling their own versions of the Jailbreak within days of its release into the market. 
   The current price of the dongle is approximately US$120 but if bootlegs are manufactured, Gaming Exodus would anticipate prices to plunge below US$20 as the market is flooded with imitations and "Chinese knockoffs." This situation would be similar to the days of the original Playstation modchips where massive supplies soon forced prices from roughly $40 per chip to less than $5.

The Jailbreak site's "Engrish" description for the Jailbreak follows below:

http://psjailbreak.com/

* PS Jailbreak is a USB plug and play solution that installs in seconds, keeping your valid warranty seal in tact.

* Easy to use installer and GUI takes you step by step.

* Compatible with all production models FAT and SLIM. Supports all regions: USA, JAP, PAL and KOREA

* PS Jailbreak disables forced software updates and will never brick your console.

* Supports all games (it does not allow backups of bluray movies , dvd movies , or past consoles games)

* Backup games to your internal hard drive or external hard drive through USB, and boot directly off GUI. Eliminating the need for expensive blueray burners and costly blank media.

* Play backups off your hard drives 2x as fast as off the blueray drive. This eliminates lags and glitches to provide you with smoother game play.

* Open up your console to a new generation of homebrew applications. Load homebrew apps/games off any USB hard drive/flash drive.

* Fully updatable with new features/updates by connecting PS Jailbreak to any computers USB port.

* For installation instructions and operation instructions please click here