Swedish Pirate Party Scores EU Seat

Pirate Party now accepted as a political designation

(NEWSER) - Avast there, Massachusetts voters! A’fore ye register f’r some lilly-livered party like the “Democrats” or “Republicans,” ye might want to consider signin’ on with the state’s newest crew: the Massachusetts Pirate Party. That’s right, the Massachusetts Election Division has officially approved the swashbuckling party as a political designation, meaning voters can now register as a “Pirate,” Raw Story reports. More»

File-sharing site ordered to permanently disable software

(NEWSER) - File-sharing site LimeWire has been effectively killed off by a court order. A federal judge has issued an injunction ordering the service to permanently disable its software and to end the sharing of unauthorized music files, the Wall Street Journal reports. The popular site was found liable for copyright infringement on a "massive scale" six months ago. More»

Servers shut down in 13 countries in file-sharing crackdown

(NEWSER) - Police in 13 European countries have raided dozens of locations in an attempt to crush illegal file-sharing rings that distribute pirated movies and TV shows. A total of 48 servers were shut down, according to the BBC . Seven locations were raided in Sweden, including a university and the ISP believed to host WikiLeaks and the Pirate Bay, though authorities say the raids had nothing to do with either site. More»

(NEWSER) - Under new ownership, the beleaguered file-sharing powerhouse Pirate Bay is going legit through an innovative payment model, the AP reports. The new system will involve user fees, but users can work those off—or even earn a profit—in part by sharing their computers' storage capacity with the Pirate Bay network. Details will firm up when the new site launches next month. More»

Buyers to remodel site so content providers 'get paid'

(NEWSER) - A Swedish software company has purchased file-sharing site Pirate Bay for $7.7 million after the site was fined $3.6 million, the Register reports. “We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site,” said the CEO of Global Gaming Factory X, which is set to take over the site next month. More»