<story><title>Leaked: Police Plan to Raid The Pirate Bay</title><url>http://torrentfreak.com/police-plans-to-raid-the-pirate-bay-120309/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dagw</author><text>Law enforcement don&apos;t have free hands to decide what laws they enforce.  There are a good half dozen layers above them kicking downwards screaming &quot;Shut down TPB&quot;, until it ends up in the lap of some poor slob who then has to actually go out and physically perform a pointless raid or lose his job.  I&apos;m sure that guy (and even his boss, and probably also his boss&apos;s boss) don&apos;t want to waste their time and resources with these raids, and would much rather go after real crimes.  If you want to fix the problem focus on the political and ministerial layer, not the law enforcement layer.</text></item><item><author>runningdogx</author><text>Hint to law enforcement:&lt;p&gt;It doesn&apos;t matter whether copyright infringement is ethically good or bad.  It doesn&apos;t matter whether these sites are legally liable for copyright infringement that goes on using them.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;You look like complete morons trying to take down site after site.  You are pissing people off and what do you have to show for it except a few hollow victories?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;If copyright infringement through file sharing has decreased, it&apos;s due to itunes, amazon, google, and all the smaller companies offering digital versions of content.  Guess who is missing from that list?  MPAA and RIAA members.&lt;p&gt;Trying to fight copyright infringement through punitive fines or throwing people in prison is sick.  It&apos;s like the drug war, only worse.  At least you can point to a few crazy meth heads as a danger to the public.  &quot;Pirates&quot; hurt... the meatspace content distributors that are rapidly becoming obsolete?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lkrubner</author><text>&amp;#62; Law enforcement don&apos;t have free hands 
&amp;#62; to decide what laws they enforce.&lt;p&gt;Law enforcement doesn&apos;t have enough free hands to go after every crime, therefore which crimes are pursued is always a choice. Resources are finite, therefore the decision to commit law enforcement agents to copyright infringement is also, at the same time, a decision to NOT commit law enforcement agents to pursuing trading violations on Wall Street, or income tax evasion among the rich.&lt;p&gt;In other words, with resources being finite, every decision about what to pursue is at least partially a political calculation. Ideally, that calculation may be based on social utility (in Jeremy Bentham&apos;s formulation &quot;the greatest good for the greatest number&quot;) or, that calculation may be based on some corrupt influence of various political factions.&lt;p&gt;People like myself, who question the usefulness of these raids, are trying to raise the question &quot;Is this the best use of our taxpayer dollars?&quot; Given that trading on Wall Street recently contributed to the onset of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, I would say the case for stronger enforcement of trading regulations would prove more useful than further attempts to surpress copyright infringement.</text></comment>
<story><title>Leaked: Police Plan to Raid The Pirate Bay</title><url>http://torrentfreak.com/police-plans-to-raid-the-pirate-bay-120309/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dagw</author><text>Law enforcement don&apos;t have free hands to decide what laws they enforce.  There are a good half dozen layers above them kicking downwards screaming &quot;Shut down TPB&quot;, until it ends up in the lap of some poor slob who then has to actually go out and physically perform a pointless raid or lose his job.  I&apos;m sure that guy (and even his boss, and probably also his boss&apos;s boss) don&apos;t want to waste their time and resources with these raids, and would much rather go after real crimes.  If you want to fix the problem focus on the political and ministerial layer, not the law enforcement layer.</text></item><item><author>runningdogx</author><text>Hint to law enforcement:&lt;p&gt;It doesn&apos;t matter whether copyright infringement is ethically good or bad.  It doesn&apos;t matter whether these sites are legally liable for copyright infringement that goes on using them.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;You look like complete morons trying to take down site after site.  You are pissing people off and what do you have to show for it except a few hollow victories?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;If copyright infringement through file sharing has decreased, it&apos;s due to itunes, amazon, google, and all the smaller companies offering digital versions of content.  Guess who is missing from that list?  MPAA and RIAA members.&lt;p&gt;Trying to fight copyright infringement through punitive fines or throwing people in prison is sick.  It&apos;s like the drug war, only worse.  At least you can point to a few crazy meth heads as a danger to the public.  &quot;Pirates&quot; hurt... the meatspace content distributors that are rapidly becoming obsolete?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rmc</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Law enforcement don&apos;t have free hands to decide what laws they enforce&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sure they do.&lt;p&gt;In some countries (e.g. UK) the prosecution service (e.g. Crown Prosecution Service) only bring a crime to court if it&apos;s &quot;in the public interest&quot; (cf. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/code_for_crown_prosecutors/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/code_for_crown_prosecutor...&lt;/a&gt; ). Ireland has similar laws ( &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dppireland.ie/brief-guide-to-the-criminal-justice-system/category/2/#a3&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.dppireland.ie/brief-guide-to-the-criminal-justice...&lt;/a&gt; )&lt;p&gt;Although this applied to the actuall criminal prosecution, not the police enforcement.</text></comment>