That's so strange. Didn't they claim during their trial that they had handed off TPB to other parties? I'm also quite surprised that they would keep logs that would allow the FBI agents to determine who was the uploader of a certain torrent.
> Neither Neij and Sunde could help with the request, since they no longer run the site. The officers also asked about just who is running the Pirate Bay these days, so it's not clear what the real motive of the questioning was.
Wait. Isn't this what we've been demanding all along in response to electronic surveillance? Good old fashioned police work? Aka asking questions? If you want to know something, start by asking someone who might, or who might know somebody who knows. Maybe the Prenda dudes were dumb enough to try to recruit TPB into their scheme. Won't know if you won't ask.
The really amusing part of this story is Prenda Law.[1]
This was set up by a couple of lawyers as a copyright troll. However, those two lawyers were dumber than Beavis and Butt-head. They filed thousands of lawsuits, hoping for quick settlements. Instead, they were sanctioned by multiple Federal and State courts. With any luck they might actually wind up in Federal prison.
Ars links to numerous articles about them. The Wiki link also has lots of amusing information. So if you think popcorn tastes good, make yourself some and settle in for some very entertaining reading.
From another perspective...FBI tries to trick Neij and Sunde into identifying the new TPB admins.
FTA: Neither Neij and Sunde could help with the request, since they no longer run the site. The officers also asked about just who is running the Pirate Bay these days, so it's not clear what the real motive of the questioning was. Both men were interviewed by Swedish police, but the Swedish officers said they were "sent on behalf of the FBI."
This is a good step towards restoring faith in the US court system. There have been a significant number of high profile, large scale abuses of civil litigation lately. I'd started to think of the US courts as participants in a protection racket. Knocking down the lawyers behind a few of those is a significant positive step.
Prenda Law in particular has taken a beating, largely stemming from them attempting to defraud the court and refusing to comply with court orders.
The conduct of the Prenda Law group was so bad, the attorney representing them in California was allowed by the judge to withdraw midcase and cease to represent key members of Prenda Law once it became clear the extent to which Prenda Law had commited fraud and the extent to which they'd lied to their counsel.
Multiple federal judges wrote in their orders that they hoped that Prenda Law's conduct would be investigated in this or that regard.
It turns out that if you go on a systematic plan of fraud and then refusing court summons or abiding by orders and fines, eventually, other people like the FBI will take an interest in you too.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 32.6 ms ] threadThis was set up by a couple of lawyers as a copyright troll. However, those two lawyers were dumber than Beavis and Butt-head. They filed thousands of lawsuits, hoping for quick settlements. Instead, they were sanctioned by multiple Federal and State courts. With any luck they might actually wind up in Federal prison.
Ars links to numerous articles about them. The Wiki link also has lots of amusing information. So if you think popcorn tastes good, make yourself some and settle in for some very entertaining reading.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenda_Law
Some of the judges presiding over these hearings have dropped quotes that will echo through legal chambers for years. Very entertaining indeed :-)
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
FTA: Neither Neij and Sunde could help with the request, since they no longer run the site. The officers also asked about just who is running the Pirate Bay these days, so it's not clear what the real motive of the questioning was. Both men were interviewed by Swedish police, but the Swedish officers said they were "sent on behalf of the FBI."
The conduct of the Prenda Law group was so bad, the attorney representing them in California was allowed by the judge to withdraw midcase and cease to represent key members of Prenda Law once it became clear the extent to which Prenda Law had commited fraud and the extent to which they'd lied to their counsel.
Multiple federal judges wrote in their orders that they hoped that Prenda Law's conduct would be investigated in this or that regard.
It turns out that if you go on a systematic plan of fraud and then refusing court summons or abiding by orders and fines, eventually, other people like the FBI will take an interest in you too.