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[tnctx02]

Some people donate to the "RIAA victim" fund, while others donate to various open source projects. In Sweden, it’s all about donating to ThePirateBay.org.

There's little doubt the volume of recognition ThePirateBay.org has earned since its debut in 2004. This recognition varies from country to country, ranging from a well-received asset in the United States to near celebrity status in Sweden. Based in Sweden, ThePirateBay resides in a country where 1 out of every 9 people engages in file-sharing of some kind. The first stop for the million plus file-sharers, in a country where copyright enforcement continues to be lax, is ThePirateBay.

ThePirateBay's popularity is aided by its close association with Piratbyran. PirateByran is a lobby group that helps promotes more liberal copyright laws – similar in function to the EFF. Most importantly is their role in countering the activities of AntiPiratbyran. AntiPiratebyran (APB) is an organization similar to the RIAA and MPAA, with the exception of being considerably less powerful.

The APB succeeded in petitioning the Swedish government in July of 2005 to revise copyright laws to prevent the downloading of unauthorized material, but their successes stopped there. They have so far been unable to effectively combat piracy, as seen with their recent debacle with local ISP Bahnhof. APB suspected Bahnhof maintained a warez distro, and infiltrated the company with a mole. Just when APB was certain of victory, their fortunes reversed as the mole instead became the one uploading warez material. APB was forced to cease their enforcement actions against Bahnhof.

The copyright organization's misfortunes continued, when on June 10th, 2005, the Swedish Datanspektionen (DI) ruled APB could not have access to IP addresses. Since APB is not a government authority, it is not entitled to personal information - setting back their campaign to mimic the RIAA and MPAA.

"The ruling means that IP-numbers are considered personal information and cannot be put into registers by non-authorized authorities. Since APB is not an authority and have sent out 400,000 warnings by mail to file-sharers, their so called hunt for file-sharers are illegal," said Tobias Andersson, Public Relations manager of Piratbyrån.

Perhaps the APB's greatest failure is the continued and uninterrupted operation of ThePirateBay. If such an operation on the same scale tried setting up shop in the United States, organizations with actual power would annihilate its existence before the first torrent downloaded. This is not the case in Sweden.

With considerable public support behind file-sharing, it's not surprising to report that Petter Nilsson, a contestant on a local game show announced if victorious, he will donate approximately $6,500 (US) to ThePirateBay (out of a total earnings of $31,000.) The reality TV show is called "The Top Candidates", where contestants try to imitate political candidates and garner popular support for their ideas.

"Politics is not something that happens elsewhere, it happens together with those you turn to. If I talk about animal rights, it's because I have devoted my own time to get the animals out of the cages. If I talk about homelessness, it's because I myself have been freezing in a squatted house with the homeless of Stockholm. If I say that immigration policies is scandalous it's because I've had my own door kicked in by the immigration police.

"So when I donate my money to Pirate Bay, it's because I also want to be able to download music and movies for myself."

ThePirateBay has been resoundingly successful in raising money for its various upgrades, migrations and equipment. With ThePirateBay firmly behind this contestant, and a million file-sharers behind ThePirateBay, Petter Nilsson has a good chance in making a lot of people very happy come March 12.