Fergie's Tech Blog

Child Porn Allegations: New Tactic in Fighting File Sharing?

Greg Sandoval writes on the C|Net News Blog:

There has always been plenty of bitterness between copyright holders and the file-sharing community, but some now contend hostilities have sunk to a new low.

Swedish authorities last week were preparing to shut down The Pirate Bay, according to Peter Sunde, one of the site's founders. Was the site facing closure for helping users find bootlegged music or video files, as the film and music industries have long alleged? No, The Pirate Bay was being accused of distributing child pornography, Sunde said.

The accusation was nothing more than a backdoor attempt to kill off The Pirate Bay since both Sweden and the United States have failed to close the site for allegedly violating copyright law, Sunde claimed in a phone interview with CNET News.com on Monday. Following a wave of media attention over the weekend, Sweden's government has apparently backed down. Sunde quoted from an e-mail sent by a government official that notified the site's operators they would not be accused of distributing porn.

"The government is angry at us because they can't shut us down," Sunde said. "Now they are trying to ruin our reputations."

posted by Fergie @ 7/09/2007 06:16:00 PM