The Verdict: Greed, Greed, and More Greed.

The rumors that have spread are indeed true.  The landmark criminal case against the founders of The Pirate Bay, a widely utilized file sharing platform, has resulted in a guilty verdict. The founders, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, and Carl Lundstrom, have all been sentenced to a year in prison.  To accompany that verdict, they have been ordered to pay $3.6 million in “damages” to companies who claim they have been “hurt” by their enabling actions.  Among those who demanded payment were Warner Brothers, Columbia, Twentieth Century Fox, Sony BMG and EMI.  This case makes  their unending customs of greed all the more clear.  While they claim they have been “damaged” by the continued actions of The Pirate Bay and similar organizations,  the only demand they had was that of a payment of $3.6 million dollars.  The only thing they wanted of this case was money.  They took no action to resolve the “issues” they claim exist.  The founders were not jailed upon demand of these companies.  No, they were sentenced to  jail for breaking Swedish law. Even at that,  The Pirate Bay will continue to operate normally.  

$3.6 million dollars and the jailing of the founders of a company has not and will not do anything to resolve the continued piracy problems that this entire trial was based upon.  These selfish and greedy companies must heed the demands and needs of the people.   America and the modern world cannot stand by and allow companies to make millions and billions of dollars a year while the rest suffers to get by week to week.  Companies cannot continue their ways and expect consumers to obtain their products legally when they are continually over priced and give nothing back to communities.  They also cannot continue to claim they are taking measures to solve piracy problems when all they do is demand more money and take no action to terminate those organizations that condone it.  We, the people, cannot continue to support these hypocritical companies that prosper and take the easy route to “solving problems” while the rest of us suffer and work hard to solve our own.  

Piracy problems are not an issue at the end of platforms such as The Pirate Bay.  They are an issue at the ends of the companies that stand by and watch as their products are pirated and take no sustainable action against those that pirate them.  If companies wish to solve piracy problems they must clean up their acts to do so.  Rather than suing those whom they claim are culprits they need to implement more sufficient methods to preventing their products from being exploited in the first place.  They must also work to clean up the image that currently exists in the eyes of the consumer.  They cannot continue in their ways of greed and expect consumers to be accepting.  They must restructure their marketing to equally benefit consumers as well as themselves.  

The result of this trial must begin a new era of sustainable and  moral resolution.  Each and every person, company, and organization must heed the call to unite as one to solve problems that clearly exist.  One side cannot continue to stand by and watch as the other continues in its ways of greed and hypocrisy.  Similarly, the other cannot continue to stand by and watch as their products are pirated and claim that they are working to solve the problem while raking in millions of dollars in the process.  

The choice is ours to make: continued hostility that produces no victory or collaborative resolution and prosperity for all.

4th of July Excitement

Today marked yet another year of US History (as if anyone in the entire world didn’t realize that).  I myself spent the 4th a day early with fireworks, dinner and a large crowd in Brewerton, New York.  There were at least a couple thousand people crowding the restaurants, streets and bridges and it was no less than an organized mess.  It was a truly beautiful place to celebrate our great country.  I watched fireworks on the shores of a lake and enjoyed, what else, some fish.  The service at the Waterfront Tavern was exceptional and the day couldn’t have gone better. I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th and lets hope this will mark the begginning of some good times in the USA.

Also, I have updated my website! Click here to check it out. Any feedback is appreciated.

Payday For I’minlikewithyou

If you are in any way involved in the internet, whether as a skilled web user or an employee of a technology company,  then you might recognize the name Im In Like With You. The network first hit the internet in 2006 as a private beta website and was under a virtual lock and key. Since that day we have seen an expansion that no one could have expected.  Many new features have been added since including the launch of the game of Blockles and, more recently, Dinglepop,  Draw My Thing and Gemmers. The launch of a fifth game, Balloono, is anticipated for release soon.  The site also earned a spot on PC Magazine’s Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites list.  Blockles has been played over three million times for nearly 200,000 hours and Draw My Thing, while having only been in existence for a few months, has already racked up over one million hours of gameplay.  Just when we might have thought that this website could not get much better or more popular it managed to raise a whopping 1.5 million dollar paycheck for only the second time since its launch. The news has only just begun to spread and more is to be said about it. What has been said (by founder Charles Forman), is no less than a joke. Or could spending the paycheck on a ‘large scale party’ be the indicator for a much bigger addition to the website? We have yet to find out.