[Yan]

A Swedish perspective:-)

First of all - saying that the raid was bought is certainly not right - it is rather a matter of lacking knowledge. It is rumoured that the action was ordered from high up - if it was indeed after pressure from the US government it is indeed very serious. But we will propably never know for sure.
What we do know is that a lot (a LOT) has gone wrong in this matter from a legal perspective. In many respects it seems almost more like harassement than a actual legal action - for example the Pirate Bays Legal council was siezed and had a DNA sample taken - an action that is only allowed if one is accused of a crime that can lead to prison. Being someones legal council should not lead to that for obvious reasons...

Also there was a private person in the raiding party. In itself that is not allowed, but it gets even worse as it was indeed a person who directly was behind the "tip" to do the raid - the swedish equivalent of the MPAA. that is very bad...

For me the bottom line as also seen in the discussion that has followed - the police and authorities simply dont understand what they are dealing with. And it frustrates them. So they turn to people with a seemingly respectable facade - in this case the MPAA - for answers. Not really considering that they are anything but impartial. Let us hope this will mean they are educated and think a bit more before the next attempt...

On a final note - As a fulltime musician and hobby programmer I have very little respect for the arguments of the people behind the pirate bay. I do believe that copyright belongs on media of all kinds, and that the free "sharing" is more common theft than some kind of consumer service or Robin Hoodesque noble strife. But I also wish that the authorities (and indeed the MPAA) would work turning the public opinion against the pirate world - not increasing support for it (which is the case right now).