The Pirate Bay verdict is in, but the site operators aren't in jail, haven't paid any fines, and continue to run the site. They have also filed their promised appeal in the case, ensuring that the whole episode will drag on for quite some time. That's just fine with The Pirate Bay's administrators, though, who today speculated that the case will take another two to three years to wrap up. In the meantime, "The site will live on!"

The fact that the site lives on is a little weird, given the guilty verdict, the 30 million kronor fine, and the year of jail time for all defendants. What's missing from the collection of penalties? An injunction shutting down The Pirate Bay.

A spokesperson for the Motion Picture Association said after the verdict, "We now look to the Swedish authorities to end this criminal enterprise," but that apparently won't happen without another win in court. John Kennedy, head of international music trade group IFPI, told the New York Times last week that his group "planned to file additional litigation to try to get The Pirate Bay shut down."

The Pirate Bay defendants don't believe that will happen. Moreover, they are convinced that "what we do is right" and that "millions of users are a good proof of that." In addition, they don't want people to collect donations for them, "since we will not pay any fines!"

Instead, people are encouraged to keep seeding torrents, start more BitTorrent sites, and vote for pro-pirate EU parliamentarians in this summer's upcoming elections (where the Swedish Piratpartiet, for instance, is hoping to pick up a seat).

The pride that the site's operators take in their service ("Say it loud, say it proud!") seems to come from a belief that free access to music and movies paid for by others isn't just good for business (certainly one plausible argument demonstrated by innovative artists like Trent Reznor) but is a sort of civil right. Such an attitude is certainly on display in many of comments left at The Pirate bay blog.

One user from India writes, "When I use uTorrent to download torrent files from TPB I notice most of my peers are from rich countries downloading the same music I want but is prohibitively expensive in my country. Why are they downloading too if they are citizens of developed countries? It is only because they too feel that they are being over-charged for their entertainment about which they can do nothing but take subversive measures against the injustice and exploitation of cartels who have used their influence in government to enact laws which makes their own consumers thieves." When someone "feels" overcharged for something they want, taking it instead has become ethically allowable—a point confirmed by the fact that "millions of users" are doing it.

This may be the real weakness of The Pirate Bay verdict and the approach it represents: it will do nothing to address the underlying attitudes that drive copyright infringement (though it has been successful at convincing other Swedish trackers to shut down.)

In other news, UK mobile ISPs are now blocking access to the site. Mobile broadband ISPs such as BT are now blocking access to The Pirate Bay—not because it facilitates copyright infringement, but because it provides unrestricted access to "over 18" content that can include pornography and hacking tools. The new scheme is part of a self-regulatory UK initiative designed to block such content on mobile devices, lest they "fall into the wrong hands." Phone and laptop owners can contact their ISPs to request that sites be unblocked, though one suspects that calling up BT and asking for access to The Pirate Bay or goat-boned.org is not high on anyone's list of fun things to do.