Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
But it's not only "large corporations" who are hurt by pirate sites. I'm a software developer, and I routinely see my software listed on torrent sites. Piracy harms everyone who tries to earn a living writing, whether it be books, software, music, or anything else.
To claim that anyone has a "right" to access pirate sites is ridiculous, and a kick in the teeth to content authors.
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How many sales would you say you've lost because your software is listed on the Pirate Bay?
And it's not the same thing (obviously), but you mentioned Game of Thrones earlier. It may interest you to know that the director of that show had said at one time that piracy was helping the show by getting it in the hands of people who wouldn't have paid for it anyway, and those people were promoting it to others that would buy.
I bring up the above example only because you (in my most humble of opinions), seem to be concerned about the harm the Pirate Bay causes and think that blocking it is necessary to prevent that harm. I would suggest that the Pirate Bay is less harmful than you think, and that infringing freedoms by blocking the website with very little oversight is more harmful.
In any event, I think a site should only be blocked if: (i) it is established that it is harmful (based on objective evidence); (ii) it is established that that harm is such that only blocking the site can mitigate the harm; (iii) the harm caused by the blocking does not outweigh the harm caused by the site; and (iv) the owners of the site are provided with an opportunity (where applicable) for an adversarial hearing.
I don't think the above is unreasonable, and should be an easy win if the Pirate Bay is as harmful as you say.
Please take the above in the friendliest way possible, which I add only to avoid this post being seen as trolling by our team of (very attractive) MODs.