Four Swedish men were recently found guilty in a file-sharing case and were sentenced to one year in jail.  Two of the men, Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, own the site Piratebay.org, and the other two men, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundström, are employees.  Besides receiving a year in prison, the men will have to pay $3.6 million dollars to the copyright holders of 33 files which were shared on the network.  The copyright holders include: Warner Brothers, MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox Films, Sony and Universal.

     I personally think sending them to jail is ridiculous.  33 files were shared, but the punishment seems so much worse than what has happened in other countries for people who have shared more files.  In the United States, many individuals settled out of court and paid a fine of a few thousand dollars.  Actually, I found the RIAA's legal battle on file downloaders distasteful.  I assume I am not alone, and that is why they abandoned the practice.  They probably feel that the file-sharing sites are the way to go.  This method might slow things down, but it will not stop file-sharing.  When one avenue closes, three more will open