The sad thing is, that he was providing a damn site better service than *any* of the television networks do. Because
a) He was an independant, and therefore was politically or other motivated to promoted / restrict one program over another based on network. His service didn't require some dodgy DRM infested video player to track what you do on your computer like the dodgy BBC iPlayer that doesn't work with other networks/ operating systems.
b) He was open and honest about it, even if the content was restricted, he never profited directly (though he had adverts, but that is the main issue I would have with him). He was simply forwarding you onto stuff that was already there, and tbh you could find yourself if you just used google. Why aren't you suing google for bringing up dodgy links?
c) He neither i) uploaded or provided any of the content or ii) charged for access to that content.
The really sad matter is, with the organization of his website as efficient as it was, it was *so* easy to get that content matter removed, you could simply *follow his links* in order to prosecute the people who were actually storing. So all those anti-piracy people had to do is follow use his service, and he would lead them *directly* to the offending material.
What should have happened, had the anti-piracy not been so lazy, was to simply shut down the offending material, and tv-links would have died through lack of material. But they can't do it, because someone else simply uploads. And herein lies the real problem.
So basically, he is a scapegoat. ALL that material is still there. It won't be five minutes before someone sets up another in sweden or god knows where. Its still easy to combat the links with a proper reporting system.
What really annoys me though, is that none of this really move the tv industry forward, drives change towards a legal way to download programs. Dodgy things like iTunes getting half their programs pulled because of some political thing with FOX - I really don't care. Give me an independant and legal way to view the content - and I will.
But TV broadcasting itself is an outdated concept and the sooner they realise that, the better.
Challenge forces progress, not legislation. The most advancement of the sailing ship was with the introduction of the battle ships at the turn of the 20 century.
