Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
This is not "speech", whether popular or unpopular. It is criminal activity. There is a rather significant difference. You may not think so, but the courts (very rightly, IMHO) do.
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Well, the case wasn't against The Pirate Bay, it was against the ISPs, so already a possible justice issue as The Pirate Bay is punished without having had the opportunity to defend itself. The block against the website also has the effect of blocking legitimate speech that has nothing to do with copyright infringement (you can see check out the three examples in my previous post if you don't want to take my word for it).
Also, keep in mind that The Pirate Bay didn't actually distribute any copyrighted materials - they linked to it. It's not entirely clear in caselaw in common law countries whether just linking to illegal material is itself illegal. Add to that the fact that The Pirate Bay doesn't even host the torrent tracker now that it has switched to "magnet links". If merely linking to illegal material is itself illegal, I suspect Google and possibly MobileReads may have some issues. If just linking is not illegal, then what is the basis of the ban?
And even where there's criminal activity, that doesn't mean there isn't speech; the two things can and do intersect, so it's less black and white than you might at first think.
I'd be interested in seeing the court documents once they're posted.