14 DAY TRIAL // The home of the popular BitTorrent tracker thepiratebay.org is witness to another first as the native p2p community tries to resist the new Sweden legislation on piracy. The copyright protection law was catalyzed by strong intervention and criticism from the United States, but it faced opposition as its online community claimed that the antipiracy law was a serious threat to the freedom of information.
And as the Sweden government has declared war to file-sharers, Magnus Braath, a 29-year-old architecture student, has come up with a response. The context is ripe for the development of a new business strategy, insuring peer-to-peer users against government fines. Braath offers to pay the fines of all Swedes conflicted under the new antipiracy law, the only condition being that they buy a 19 dollars a year insurance.
"The fines aren't very big in Sweden," said Braath, who said the largest might be 16,000 crowns, or about $2,200. "And there have only been a handful of convictions....My No.1 priority is to keep a big buffer ready." But financial back-up is not all that Braath provides. In the event that a user is convicted he will also receive a T-shirt with the message: "I got convicted for file-sharing and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."
The Swedes that have become dependent on p2p technology and the downloading of unlicensed or otherwise copyright protected materials, and are unwilling to give up their download practices can go to Tankafritt.nu and buy the 19 dollars per year p2p insurance. "I can't agree with this law," said Braath. "I wanted to make some sort of statement."