The Pirate Bay wins global award
p2pnet news | Freedom:- Sweden’s The Pirate Bay has at long last received the official corporate acknowledgement it deserves.
It’s the proud recipient of the Global Icon, “handed to us via the Swedish Ministry of Communication, but the originator where the award comes from is the organised global copylobby,” blogs Brokep.
Excellent! 
“The motivation for the award seems to be the swift and decisive path TPB has taken since day one” to “promote international cultural exchange, fight for freedom of communication and speech,” Brokep says, continuing:
“They also seem very interested in the fact that the community has helped translate the site into 30 different languages, which TPB is really proud about as well. We promise that we will continue to translate the site to more languages to make it easier for everybody to use it!
“There are sadly some misinformation in the award letter. They seem to think that TPB is actually illegal and are very concerned about this! But I can reassure you, the site is not illegal so there’s no reason to be alarmed.
“It’s recognised worldwide as legal and helpful for the normal people around the globe that have something to share with each other. And we all do want to share!
“Thank you very much for the award and hopefully we might be able to give an award back at the next Polar Pirate Prize award show in Stockholm! More information about PPP2008 will be revealed with in some weeks.”
Good on ya, TPB.
So what does the award letter say?
Signed by such illustrious personages as John Kennedy (chairman at IFPI), Alison Wenham (president of Worldwide Independent Network), Jonas Modig (president of Federation of European Publishers), Ana Maria Cabanellas (president of International Publishers Association), Kjell-Åke Hamrén (president of the International Confederation of Music Publishers), Helen Smith (secretary general, Independent Music Companies Association) and Kim Magnusson (chairman of European Film Companies Alliance) and addressed to Åsa Torstensson, minister for communications, it reads:
Dear Asa Torstensson,
On behalf of creators, performers, producers and publishers across the music, film and publishing sectors internationally, we urge that swift and decisive action is taken in Sweden against one of the world’s biggest engines of internet copyright inftingement – The Pirate Bay.
The Swedish-based Pirate Bay is a large-scale internet “tracker” which enables millions of users to download illegal copyrighted files. The site was established in 2004 and has grown from small roots to become a global icon for the violation of copyright, translated into more than 30 languages worldwide. It is widely recognised as illegal in Sweden and elsewhere [full-stop missing]
Today, many creative and knowledge-based industries, from music to film, from news media to book publishing, are looking to govemments to help enforce and educate on copyright and the intellectual property rights on which our industries depend. Sweden is normally considered to be a strong upholder of European Union standards and a prornoter of culture. However, the present failure to deal with The Pirate Bay has created a new perception of Sweden – namely as the haven for a cult of copyright infringement that has achieved global reach. This is sending a highly damaging message that massive piracy of music is tolerated within the borders of the European Union.
Our members are individuals and businesses who depend on or invest in the making of music, film and books across the world. They need to see the law enforced against Pirate Bay just as it has been enforced against other illegal sites – from Kazaa in Australia to Grokster in the US. It is absolutely essentiaI that the individuals and companies responsible for Pirate Bay be called to account by the Swedish authorities without any delay. We urge you to do everything possible to make this happen.
We believe that, given the Pirate Bay’s cult popularity, this is a key opportunity for one country to educate the global internet cornmunity about the need for respect of copyright and the importance of intellectual property.
No, this is not a spoof.
These frightened corporate controllers represent the multi-billion-dollar entertainment cartel industries and they really are ganging up on a tiny group of Swedes who use the Net to make the point that in the digital 21st century we, the people who made all these fat cats so very rich, are now demonstrably in charge.
They need us, but we don’t need them.
Also See:
Brokep – Global Icon status, November 20, 2007
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November 21st, 2007 at 9:32 am
i don’t get it.
what kind of an award is this that comes from IFPI but doesn’t say anything positive about pirate bay?
it makes no sense, unless it’s a spoof or a mistake.
November 21st, 2007 at 10:06 am
its no spoof or mistake, its sarcasm
btw im glad so many people are beginning to understand what The Pirate Bay is about.
November 21st, 2007 at 10:12 am
sarcasm catflap
November 21st, 2007 at 10:19 am
I believe Jon was using the content of the letter as an admission of the popularity and usability of the site. Hence the fictional award. I suppose you could view it as satirical. At least that was my impression.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:12 am
Yup. ^^^
November 21st, 2007 at 11:29 am
this type is over my head.
November 23rd, 2007 at 4:19 am
I’m really sad to see that some people still believe that we in the music industry are “fat cats” and that it’s multi-billion-dollar cartel. It’s far from the truth. I’m managing the creative department at one the biggest companies in our territory and I actually make below minimum wage, I could make the same money working for McDonalds. But I still keep working here since I love music! A lot of my friends has lost their jobs in the last few years, last week another big company were shut down because they couldn’t afford to keep going. All employees in five countries were laid off.
It really hurts me when people think we are just sitting around doing nothing besides counting money. We’re working really hard to bring music to all of you guys! We’re working 16 hour days many days of the week nowadays. We have to since we can no longer afford to keep all the employees we would need.
There’s a culture in the music business to pretend that all is well, that sales are still what they were in the 80’s. But this is not true, most of the old guys don’t even work in the industry anymore. We’re mostly young people working really, really hard to bring music to the world but sadly you guys don’t seem to appreciate it anymore. At least you don’t seem to think that we too should have the right to feed our families.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Tell you what: Change your attitude towards filesharing, and then we’ll show you some sympathy. I’d really like to reach a solution where you can produce decent music, operate on a level playing field with the independents (that means no price fixing or payola), play by the rules, and make money. But that will never happen until the major record labels finally acknowledge the fact that they are no longer in control. Until they loosen their grip on culture, and give the power back to the consumers, the boycott will continue.
Remember where your money comes from. If you don’t respect your consumers, it will be your own demise.
November 27th, 2007 at 6:24 am
exactly!
let’s go to kill some more music by downloading more comunism