http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8003799.stm
Looks like monopoly capital won this round, but the is no way they will win the war against "piracy." If I understand the torrent system correctly, shutting down one operator has zero effect on the system itself, which is a network of connections.
I am surprised, though, that an European court sided with American-dominated cartels making dubious claims to defend their monopoly profits. If I understand the case correctly, they wanted to punish defendants for mere posting information that someone else may use to steal intellectual property. This is tantamount to, say, a blog operator posting information where to buy equipment to grow weed in a basement or how to make a car bomb, or for that matter, how to board and held hostage a merchant vessel. I do not think such cases would stand in the US courts, right?
What is the politics behind it?
Fuck monopoly capital - support your local pirate. Am I risking a jail term for saying that?
Wojtek