Holland under siege
p2pnet.net News View:- There are signs [nld] that the FIOD – under orders of Brein – is preparing another set of raids on the remaining Dutch sites in the coming weeks. I’ve seen the notices and my instinct tell me that FIOD will be better prepared after their last debacle.This time they won’t focus on money but on logs.
Why logs?
And how is it possible that Brein – an entity with purely commercial interest- can unleash this much governmental power?
Logs
Why logs? Simple, as with the Lokitorrent case, they want to go after the releasers. Everybody in between – p2p software, forums sites and downloaders – is just collateral damage.
Funny thing, though: the industry is chasing its own tail because Myth 1: those who leak files are those within the industry.
Waging war
Brein is protecting the commercial interests of the MPAA’s and RIAA’s owners. Some Dutch entertainment organizations (NVPI [nld]) are also represented. Sadly, the majority interest still remains foreign.
In light of this, it’s astonishing that the Dutch Minister of Justice reiterated in a letter to parliament (added as comments in the Dutch version of “Raids on Ed2k and Bittorrent”) that Brein is virtually the sole watchdog in Holland and the only guiding light behind FIOD.
Talk about the deaf guiding the blind.
Moreover, contrary to US tactics of using lawyers and notices, Brein is waging an almost mafia-style campaign against sites. First, send emails with no merit. Then, threaten with raids.
And all this concerning issues no judicial court has ever seen, and that no judge has ever ruled upon: ed2k and torrent links. And therefore raids carry no legal basis whatsoever.
Unfortunately, this is the result of a much bigger problem facing Holland: a tremendous degradation of freedoms and privacy for citizens.
Even Dutch judges in an unprecedented – and some say unconstitutional [nld: registration required] - move spoke out on their concerns on the national terrorism policies. They are, by some accounts, more rigorous then US and Spain, who have actually suffered terrorist attacks.
Since the EU report [pdf] that links piracy to terrorism combined with the events of 9/11, the “get tough” stance has slowly gotten out of hand.
So, those who think that legal weed and prostitution are paradise – think again
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
February 16th, 2005 at 9:33 pm
But it can’t go on with momentum forever.
The tracker sites will find places to dig in, methods to avert raids, and things will become static once again. With The MPAA and her comrades pulling out all the stops, they leave nothing hidden, and thus once these operators compensate for the current level of onslaught, the big 7 will have nothing left to throw at them.
February 17th, 2005 at 2:21 pm
I’m in the process of designing simple electronic countermeasure designed to foil these thugs. I will be publishing these soon. If they ever raid my house, they had better be prepared for the misery they will suffer afterwards. Their raid will cost them more moeny than they could ever extract from me. Like a previous article stated, critical mass is building. The cartels and governments are working ever harder to destroy our freedoms and turn us into simple minded slaves. TIME FOR THIS TO END!!!