Anti-Piracy Boss Confiscates Confiscated Hacker Laptop
Written by Ernesto on September 04, 2009Tim Kuik, managing director of Dutch anti-piracy gang BREIN, has publicly admitted that he’s currently using a Sony VAIO laptop previously confiscated from a ‘hacker’. Although he doesn’t elaborate on how he obtained the machine, it is hard not to conclude that it has been misappropriated.
BREIN has made a name for itself this year by going after Mininova and The Pirate Bay, the two largest torrent sites on the Internet. They refer to users of these sites as thieves, but BREIN’s boss might not be much better himself.
In a recent interview Tim Kuik told the readers of a Dutch magazine that he is the proud owner of a Sony VAIO laptop. “It was once confiscated from a hacker,” Kuik added, noting that he couldn’t give out any more info because of the type of people his organization deals with.
This confession of the Dutch anti-piracy boss raises some interesting questions. Although BREIN often assists the police in raids and investigations, they are nothing more than a private non-profit organization and hold no law enforcement powers.
Even if they did, using a confiscated computer for personal use might break a few laws. So how did Tim get his laptop? Did he steal it?
We can only guess, but there are plenty of examples where similar anti-piracy outfits gain access to goods that were initially seized by the police. In the UK cases of TV-Links and FileSoup, the private anti-piracy group FACT was placed in charge of the seized property instead of the police.
Similarly, in the United States the RIAA often plays the role of law enforcer instead of sticking to their lobbyist position. They even employ ‘investigators’ who work on cases together with the police. Can we really allow these biased groups to influence the work of real law enforcers?
These developments are worrisome to say the least. The line between law enforcement and the anti-piracy lobby is getting more and more blurred. The police are raiding houses of people based on misleading information from anti-piracy outfits, and as a reward they seemingly gain control over confiscated goods.
Back to the confiscated Sony VAIO. Tim Kuik has effectively stolen the machine if he indeed got ‘his’ laptop from a raid BREIN was involved with. And by stealing we don’t mean that he made a copy like most pirates do. So who’s going to tip off the police now?
Update: Tim Kuik told TorrentFreak in a response that he acquired the laptop legitimately. The laptop was given to him by one of the parties involved in the case who received it as compensation. We have the verdict, but it doesn’t mention the laptop.
Previously: Spectrial 2: Pirate Bay Appeal Scheduled for November
Next: Musicians Oppose Punishments for Pirating Fans
158 Responses
Man f*** Timmeh Kuik
You WOULDN’T steal a laptop…! oh wait…
Not only a thief, but one with bad taste seemingly.
omg rofl i wouldnt even bother confiscating something as terrible as a sony vaio. :D
Their is a law for us and their is no law for the corporate suits. Nice to be rich and powerful so that you can get away with anything you please to do.
Let’s get back to ’stealing’ music guys. Seriously, what a mofo!
So he’s not just a scam artist, but a common petty thief as well.
Sorry, but is that news?
At a police auction?
He doesn’t look like the sort of person one would want to meet in a dark alley.
Now that’s what I call STEALING. This guy and all his corrupt peers should be the ones in JAIL.
What exactly qualifies you as a hacker?
From my understanding, most ‘hackers’ are script kiddies.. meaning.. using programs and apps not made by them.
But I mean.. if you are crafty enough and you get the job done no matter what.. does that qualify you as a hacker? What about a ‘Social Hacker’?
Ive been known as a mercenary hacker, using key loggers, spy tools, brute force hacks and cracks and even a social hacker (Obtaining information using different made up persona’s and identities.)
So if you were to obtain my equipment.. would you feel special?
I think its all a bunch of BS.
Is it just me or is kuik a dead ringer for jerry springer. Hopefully some day we will all be standing in the courtyard where kuik will be hung singing ku..ik ku..ik!!!!
But anyway this is nonsense, unless he has no receipt from the auction room. And lets be honest here if you tried to intall a *nix OS on a sony vaio, the *nix OS would refuse to start, and send an email from itself to the european court of laptop-rights claiming it was being held against its will and that kuik was breaking the geneva convention:P
I will quite happily file a suit, please give me all the details.
This just shows the hypocrisy of the anti-piracy oufits and why they disgust me ;(
It hardly counts as theft.
I mean, a Sony Viao? Come on. He was doing the hacker a favour, taking a laptop that bad off his hands.
i have a viao and installed ubuntu on it before…
…should i be worried?
went back to xp though cos it is shite
lol, is that relly his picture?
oops, typo.
*really
Is there any reason that TorrentFreak never provides credible sources to their stories?
Oh wait, why would they, then we’d all find out about how horribly they spin all news.
nah, its the writer of this article, kind of a vain guy…
@ LOL
actually, you answered your own question. A hacker is someone that actually HACKs, they might use tools provided to the scene, or code their own. They usually “hack” for a reason, to steal, to damage, to manipulate.
Then there’s crackers, who mainly do it for the thrill of breaking protection, these cats usually build the apps the hackers use to crack encryption and such, game scene crack makers would fall into that category
Then there’s script kiddies who download premade trojans and backdoors and use readily available tools to “hack” The only real difference between them and hackers is hackers know wtf they are doing. Also, most script kiddies, because they are dumb noobs downloading hackpacks, are themselves hacked and part of a botnet.
Pity that the words “law enforcement” are just a title.
Funny how this site derides other organizations and news outlets as being one sided and biased, yet this site operates strictly on a pro-bittorrent point of view, without even giving the other side a chance to voice its opinions.
Hey, What does the MAFIAA says every time in it’s campaign?
“You don’t steal .”
Well, I guess they mean more this:
“You don’t steal , but because we have money to pressure the gov, we do steal .”
But, uuhm, the MAFIAA gives the right model of how we must do…….
__NOT
@22
Dude, if you want to give out your moronic opinion, go ahead. Don’t whine about it, this is a pro-torrent news site. If people don’t pay attention to your anti-’piracy’ gibberish, tough titties.
@24
I’m hardly whining. I’m just referring to how hypocritical this site is.
Also, it seems to be that the patrons to this site are all around the age of 8.
Lulz.
The other side as you put it buy politicians, judges, suppress details from reports that they do not like. I think that they have their voice to spout their fake opinions.
Is it just me or does Tim Kuik remind you of Jerry Springer?
Military Industrial Complex
Nuff said!!!
@someguy
if it pisses u off so much, dont come here?
@26 The other side as you put it buy politicians, judges, suppress details from reports that they do not like. I think that they have their voice to spout their fake opinions.
Bought politicians; the Pirate Bay crew qualifies, considering that they made millions by helping facilitate the theft of the content of others.
The surpressed details; I’ve already brought up how this site is very one sided, and refuses to acknowledge that piracy of movies, music, and applications deprive hardworking developers and artists of the money they deserve for putting in hard work.
Fake opinions; this site. Nuff said.
Just like I snort all the cocaine that I find in the evidence room
its great being a cop
yeah…thats called stealing so you should like give it back.
sorry SomeGuy but hes a pety theif plain and simple while at the same time calling filesharers theives even though they arent while he actually steals himself.
This story is a bit of a strech don’t you think? The laptop could have been purchased from a police auction legally.
Guilty until proven innocent? Isnt that what they’ve been doing to us?
Why download tunes when you can just wait for someone else to download for you and then steal their laptop??
@33 I completely agree.
These posters seem to be under the impression that they should be allowed to operate under certain immunity, and that other, honest citizens should be wrongfully punished.
It’s fully possible that the laptop was legally purchased refurbished, and that he was just providing a backstory.
Then, there’s the alternative possibility that torrentfreak made everything up, since THEY REFUSE TO PUBLISH THEIR SOURCES.
Responsible journalism, kiddies. Practice it.
Tim Kuik?
Oh Ya. this parasites.
I am going to steal his ID jack his stuff I like and torch the rest.
Fair enough.
It is better than sharing file on line isn’t it?
Do you notice how SomeGuy’s posts remind ones of Reasoned Mind? Just as if they were taught by the same person, only if they are not THE SAME PERSON.
Anyway, he’s doing exactly the same, draws our attention away from the topic and into a senseless quarrel.
Ignore him!
For those who cry about publishing sources, open your eyes! The second paragraph of the article, the word “told” in red. Underlined. What else do you need? If you don’t speak Dutch, I guess it’s your problem.
So if I “assist” the police in a drug bust in my neighbors car, does that mean I can keep his car?
I also don’t get why he would want a confiscated laptop, he has enough money to buy a top end one. Oh, wait I forgot the MAFIAA don’t want to waste a cent of their cash.
Don’t believe everything you hear, little kids.
http://www.geenstijl.nl/archives/images/Jouwspullen800.jpg
Someone needs to make a torrent with every berin employees personal information.
Yep! That was my laptop he got!
I can not wait until he go banking with it!
@SomeGuy
If you stopped being a condescending jerk and stopped referring to others as little kids, perhaps you’d be taken seriously.
Gasp- I can spell Big Boy words like condescending! My age must be > 8! Imagine that!
Also, what if anything is wrong with the source of this story?
@43
You must be American.
Condescending isn’t a big word, and it’s hardly one that’s taught in 3rd grade (aka when non-stupid people who didn’t stay back a year would have learnt it).
It’s more of a first grade word, if you ask me.
Thugs Paradise, he can’t take it away from me.
Ernesto i’m having one hell of a time acessing your site with my psp, any ideas?
@SomeGuy
What is your basis for this? How is this relevant?
And you still haven’t answered my question:
What’s wrong with this story’s source that gives you leverage with which to bash TF?
SomeGuy,
How much per hour are you making?
@47
Nothing? Some people actually have consciences, and they’re willing to voice them. If the whole world ran raucous with your theft, then no one would be left with a means for sustenance.
@46
Did you check the source? Lulz.
@48
If the whole world ran raucous with theft, then theft would be their means of sustenance.. duh
@49
I should’ve guessed. So you admit that you’re thieves?
Ah, makes much more sense now.
@48
SomeGuy
Oh come on! how much are you making?
I would like to do this job too!
Please!
Where can I apply?
That soon like fun!
@50, Where did I admit being a thief? I was merely pointing out the flaws in your poor and biased arguement.
Copyright infringement isn’t theft but you don’t seem the type be able to grasp that so I shall leave you to carry on making a fool of yourself
lulz
@52
http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Atheft
“larceny: the act of taking something from someone unlawfully; “the thieving is awful at Kennedy International” ”
good fight.
@51
That will be something like $35/hour. But I am working for EMI and I am paid in pound.
EMI also hire hackers for injecting spyware into pirates computer and plant evidences on BT trackers in preparation for raid.
Do you want to joint?
@54
Proof (regarding spyware, and the wages).
We all know piratebay made a killing in advertisements and the spyware they planted in those advertisements.
http://rixstep.com/1/20060708,00.shtml
Your not the only one who can use google:
http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Atheft
“Dishonest appropriation of property without the owner’s consent, with intent to deprive them of its use, either temporarily or permanently:”
copyright infringement does not deprive the owner of its use ergo its not theft, Its copyright infringement. Not to mention that if it was theft then it would fall under criminal law and not civil law, i.e you would get charged with a crime, not sued.
lulz
Without owner’s consent, and you forget the use of the word appropriation.
@SomeGuy
Would you like to offer me some reasonable evidence towards the assertion that filesharing is equal to theft?
And here’s the funny thing about TPB’s income, even IF they are making the ‘millions’ that you and that obviously biased article claim:
A site like TPB has massive expenses.
Learn the difference between “income” and “profit.”
Ignore SomeGuy’s posts!
He’s obviously just a payed troll who is trying to change the topic of discussion and turn it into a senseless quarrelling.
I have bad aids cos I suck dick
OHLOL, I’M DOWNLOADING STUFF, AM I COOL YET?
PIRACY DOESN’T HURT ANYONE, EVEN THOUGH THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE CONTENT BEING PIRATED DON’T EARN ANYTHING FROM IT.
HEY MOM.
Oh God. Fine, you all were right and I was wrong, happy? Stop bothering me already. I’ll take my ideals and shove them where it stinks.
55 (SomeIMBECILE) wrote:
We all know piratebay made a killing in advertisements and the spyware they planted in those advertisements.
———————
Well, the term “WE” sounds a lot of people. You talk only for yourself, ass.hole.
BTW, even the moment; the courts have not been able to prove that “piratebay made a killing in advertisements”, and obviously, you can’t. Idiot.
Right, and that link I posted doesn’t exist I suppose.
And we = the people who torrent who use private trackers / accept that what they’re doing is wrong.
Hopefully TPB will lose this next case too, and won’t be able to defend itself, so the site will be taken down. As an added bonus, perhaps those being prosecuted will also go to jail for a long period of time, and will have to pay back the money they earned from adverts to the media execs/government/artists.
@64 (SomeIMBECILE).
Didn’t you understand, asshole?
NOBODY has been able to prove that you are saying, including the entertainment industry, and you can’t.
Do you want a real link according to this discussion?
http://torrentfreak.com/copyright-group-prosecuted-for-failing-to-pay-artists-090722/
@ SomeIMBECILE
The truth is that pro-copyright groups and the music entertainment industry have underpayed to the artist for decades, STEALING around 90% of the profits by concept of album sales and paying to the artists around only 10%. Any person as you, who supports this industry of mobsters is simply a whore who doesn’t deserve any respect at all.
@SomeGuy
I can troll too!
Hopefully people will wake the hell up and realize as a whole how evil the MAFIAA is, and aggressively throw them from power. Then artists will be able to share with the world the fruits of their creative talents, and we will all better from it. TPB will be remembered as a beacon in the dark, not as the destroyer of creativity as the MAFIAA would like to have us know. Their lies will be exposed, their walls torn down, their supporters cast down in ruin. No mere commercial organization can dare hope to contend with human rights and those who dare stand up to defend them. They fight for their money; filesharers fight for their freedoms. They will fall because they have to fall.
@66
You should mature.
Name calling won’t get you anywhere in life.
Of course, you’d probably know that if you got out of your (hot) mom’s basement once in a while.
@67 The only thing doing the falling as I can see are Tenenbaum, Jammie Thomas, and TPB (as well as the defendants involved in the trial).
Buhbye public trackers. Maybe you kiddies will join a real tracker, one where you actually have to maintain a ratio.
@68, SomeIMBECILE;
Reverting responsabilities doesn’t work with me, ASSHOLE.
The only guy who started to name calling to others is you.
BTW, I am a person that works and earned my money honestly; and not a PARASITE as you who lives from the hard work of others.
Can you say “hypocrisy”?
You know, it might come as a shock but some people keep a decent ratio at public trackers too.
Anyway, I’m out. I have a real job to attend to, in which I earn actual money (not World of Warcraft gold) which I then use to legally buy media.
Enjoy yourselves and believing in your false perceptions. Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll join the ranks of Tenenbaum, Thomas-Rasset, and the Piratebay 4!
Cheers.
@4nd,
Yes, this is total hypocrisy. Entertainment industry mobsters calling to people who share thieves. This is really hypocrisy.
@SomeIMBECILE,
For your disgrace; Tenenbaum and Thomas-Rasset cases are in USA, and you know IDIOT, USA doesn’t rule the world. There exist a lot of countries who don’t care at all about stupid USA copyright laws, that’s a fact.
And TPB is working normally… according to Sweden laws, they (tpb crew) are not guilty. That trial was only a circus made by Hollywood, by pressure of foreign companies that nothing have to do with Sweden laws. Even in the worst case that the Sweden justice system is so corrupt for ceding to foreign pressures; there exist a lot of countries who don’t care about your stupid laws, PARASITE. Get a clue.
@75
Doesn’t “That trial was only a circus made by Hollywood, by pressure of foreign companies that nothing have to do with Sweden laws.” contradict completely what you said earlier, “There exist a lot of countries who don’t care at all about stupid USA copyright laws, that’s a fact.”
You guys make me lol.
Fighting against file sharing is fighting against millions. You can’t defeat that.
Fight against humanity, stupid.
@76
And Where is the contradiction?
I mean with “foreign companies” to USA entertainment companies, who started all that circus against TPB. And YES, there exist a lot of countries who don’t care at all about stupid USA copyright laws, in fact, I live in one of these countries… BTW, Where is the contradiction?
Don’t feed the troll.
I’m a pirate I watch TV and don’t pay for it, anybody else pay for TV?
What copyright really does to the market.
http://www.chillingeffects.org/
haha. and WE’RE the pirates.
He’s thief and should be punished by the law.
C’mon People, dont get “Trolled”, ignore the moron and hopefully it’ll go away… Firts “its” calling us thieves and pirates and then ‘its” telling us to start using a real tracker …
“it’s” just here to stir the pot< and seems to be doing a good job of it…
Let it talk to itself and perhaps it will go away and find a nice busy street to play in….
I guess standing on the right side of the law carries a few benefits.
@ SomeGuy
From what you said I understood that you are from Netherland; you work for EMI; EMI injects spyware and other crap into user’s computers; perhaps you are that Kuik guy.
If you are Kuik admit it and give us your side of the story. Otherwise stop trolling around here cause you’re just making a fool out of yourself. You won’t change anybody’s opinion here; go bribe some cop or the press and tell THEM your side of the story.
You got NO credibility here, not that anyone cares. This site is PRO P2P because torrent trackers are NOT illegal, no matter what you may say, they merely index .torrent files.
Allow me to give you a suggestion, go continue your work for EMI instead of losing your time here because you don’t like this article and the people that (rightly) spit on your face. Go on your bathroom and stay there for 10 minutes and be ashamed of yourself, information is free, the copyright is a tax on the information, of course the governments wants people to be ignorant so that they can better manipulate them; and you’re supporting them and making the world a bad place.
This said, shut up, and I hope your beautiful Sony VAIO will explode on your face.
so mr Kuik thinks he is a big boy with a confiscated laptop from a hacker… You are so cool! Tell it to the world.
and to someguy:
Why all the effort on this simple fact? You get paid or something? Are you friends with Brein ?
I find it kinda strange a laptop taken by the police ends up by a person working for Brein.
If he bought it , I find it kinda childish. even more childish ro brag about it
@ SomeGuy aka ReasonedMind (perhaps) aka TrollingIdiot or Kuik:
You said
“That will be something like $35/hour. But I am working for EMI and I am paid in pound.
EMI also hire hackers for injecting spyware into pirates computer and plant evidences on BT trackers in preparation for raid.”
Then you said:
“We all know piratebay made a killing in advertisements and the spyware they planted in those advertisements.”
1) So for EMI is ok to hire hackers? Nice to know. Also nice to know that EMI injects spyware into people’s computers.
2) TPB makes few money with their ads. These banners pay like 2c CPM (every THOUSAND visitors). I work in this field and I can tell.
3) You are an ipocryte.
4) You are a troll.
5) Get a life. A real one.
and why is brein talking about a hacker? Was he sharing 20 TB of illegal stuff or so?
Most p2p people do not know how to hack, crack or break in into computers of other people.
@Ernesto
There should be no room for gossip and unfounded allegations on a well-respected blog like TorrentFreak. It has already been mentioned that Mr. Kuik could have bought his laptop at a police auction – did you consider contacting him directly to ask how he obtained it? It would have been a legitimate question.
I like TorrentFreak as much as the next guy, but this entry is sensationalist crap. Sorry.
Assholes! And once again we’re supposed to be the thieves…
This is very worrisome indeed. This kind of behavior should be stopped. I don’t like where they’re going. I didn’t vote for them.
@Patrick
You might have noticed that we used Kuik’s example to address a bigger problem.
A police auction is not very plausible since they don’t reveal the source (crime) of the confiscated goods.
This is not so much a news report but just an example how these organizations seem to be in bed with the police feeding them rumors, I think we are entitled to counter that with a well reasoned allegation of our own…
The problem might just be that he illegally obtained information about the history of a laptop he bought at a Domeinen Roerende Zaken auction, which would be a serious but small corruption issue, but it is also entirely possible he has directly obtained the laptop through theft or an illegal transfer from the police or the Justice department. In that case he would be a plain thief of the worst kind: the kind that likes to brag about it.
@Ernesto
I appreciate the fact that you’ve tried to address a bigger issue in this entry – that’s not what I am criticizing here.
You wrote that it’s “hard not to conclude [the laptop] has been misappropriated”, which in my opinion is not well-reasoned at all, but rather far-fetched conjecture. If you’re truly concerned about this issue, why not press Mr. Kuik to tell you how the laptop came into his possession?
Well… If he obtained it by illegal ways.. HE is a thieve.
File Sharing isn’t thieve since you’re not actually taking it away from the Owner.
Adquiring an illegal copy isn’t thieving… but just infringint the license that was stablished to use the data. Therefore, we’re License Infringants, but not thieves.
Besides, they don’t lose money. They just don’t get it.
If Kuik really got this thing from a raid Brein was involved in then he definitely has some explaining to do.
On the other hand, he could also have gotten it off a police auction.
I’m having a really hard time understanding why it is acceptible for police to raid someone’s house, steal their equipment and sell it to a third party in an auction, even when the victim is an (alleged) criminal (which is not the case as this is civil law). There was nothing unlawful about the equipment itself. It wasn’t counterfeit or anything. If the enfringing data was destroyed it should be returned to the original owner.
It is also disturbing how these ‘double standards’ are becoming the norm here in western countries. Unfortunately there isn’t a single politician in power who actually gives a shit. We, the common citizens, are still under represented by lawmakers.
torrentfreak is great, but someguy is right in some way: such articles need somewhat more info on sources. this makes the site more reliable and more interesting and more entertaining too…
Google beats the crap out of the PRS(part of the music industry for those who don’t know), while artists voice their opinion against three strikes laws in the U.K.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/03/youtube-prs-deal-file-sharing
If artists don’t get exposure they get angry and throw a tantrum saying that they are being hurt because they didn’t get what they asked for(more money) and got punished because the big bad wolf(google) yanked them from their site(youtube) after not reaching and agreement on how to pay things LoL
And once again commercial interest infringes on civil liberties.
Understand this music/entertainment industry:
MY RIGHTS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR MONEY
besides, you’re getting my money anyway since i have more to spend on going to movies and buying games.
He even looks like an idiot from the pic. I guess it is O.K. to steal from the hackers.
@Patrick
Contacting Mr. Kuik would have been an option if his office was open at the time of writing. I got an answering machine..
I’ll promise to try again on Monday and add the response to the post.
I still think it is pretty much impossible to get your hands on confiscated goods ‘legally’ and know who it was confiscated from.
I would not even think of letting this person walk my dog.
This is how it goes when you let the fox guard your chicken.
I suggest you steal his car and swap it for the laptop and some cash to compensate for illegal use.
@100
Pray, do tell, what exactly do you believe your rights are?
Your right to steal information, and the work of more talented people, without compensating them for their time, work, and ingenuity?
That’s some kind of a right, eh?
wow.
NO fraking self respecting actual hacker would ever get caught with a SONY
thats why this wannabe isnt a hacker
HE GOT CAUGHT
think SONY ROOT KIT
Kid downloads 10 songs from the internet. 10 million dollar fine + 3 years hard labor.
Robbing a laptop. You get a mention on a blog.
NICE WORK CHAMP !
This unfortunately is the way the world works…
We can just wish that something will change. I honestly think arson on a few buildings and maybe a few dead people might change something…
Anybody up for setting fire to BRIEN’s headquarters? oh and while your at it, steal that vaio and return it to whoever actually owns it.
@107
Could you link to the actual case that you’re talking about?
I don’t actually remember that happening, and I’m interested to read about that trial.
@108
You’re willing to end lives for the sake of preserving theft and piracy?
You can light the BREIN headquarters on fire, but that won’t change the law; instead, it’ll probably only serve to make it even more strict, more severe, and more heavily enforced.
it is possible to buy confiscated stuff from the customs
Hackers don’t use Sony VAIO. Only jackets do.
@ 13 Sep 05, 2009 at 05:11 by youngdand
grow up, just because the Laptop was confiscated, does not mean it was not obtained legally
this is the type of irresponsible reporting that illudes to theft we dont need here and the sheeples jump on the bandwaggon bleeting because of it
I’m on a VGN-FW250J
Sucks dick for games, good for pretty much everything else unless you are trying to install Ubuntu 8.10 >:(
Worst video card in the world.
@Ernesto at post 102:
I’m also looking forward to the response.
Thanks for investigate it.
Bastards. He’ll get what’s coming to him I hope.
“You can light the BREIN headquarters on fire, but that won’t change the law; instead, it’ll probably only serve to make it even more strict, more severe, and more heavily enforced.”
This what is happening anyway So?
Also there is a limit to how “strict severe and heavily enforced” the “”law”" (that had ceased to be the law of the people by the way and therefore has no legitimacy) can be.
And then even more corporate parasites will die. This will be endless until they are all gone.
Fine with me.
Tim Kuik have the nice Face from a Super Dutch-Jew BRAIN.
Thanks very much for his Picture.
We will give this to Tattys:
Most wanted……….
You see, if he simply “Copy and Pasted” the laptop I wouldn’t be disgusted with several the political systems involved with anti-piracy gangs, but he didn’t so I am.
Another one got caught today, it’s all over the papers. “Teenager Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal”, “Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering”… Damn kids. They’re all alike. But did you, in your three- piece psychology and 1950’s technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him? I am a hacker, enter my world… Mine is a world that begins with school… I’m smarter than most of the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me… Damn underachiever. They’re all alike. I’m in junior high or high school. I’ve listened to teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. “No, Ms. Smith, I didn’t show my work. I did it in my head…” Damn kid. Probably copied it. They’re all alike. I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it’s because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn’t like me… Or feels threatened by me.. Or thinks I’m a smart ass.. Or doesn’t like teaching and shouldn’t be here… Damn kid. All he does is play games. They’re all alike. And then it happened… a door opened to a world… rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict’s veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought… a board is found. “This is it… this is where I belong…” I know everyone here… even if I’ve never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again… I know you all… Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They’re all alike… You bet your ass we’re all alike… we’ve been spoon-fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak… the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless.
We’ve been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert. This is our world now… the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn’t run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore… and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge… and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias… and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it’s for our own good, yet we’re the criminals.
Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for. I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual,but you can’t stop us all… after all, we’re all alike.
P.S> has anyone tried to light the brein building on fire after all all this years people say talk about it and do not do nothing?
maybe a camp fire near the building might send a real message, one of NON violent act but we are fast coming to that time for true democracy to continue we the people must rise up against the old guard, the old ones that seek to subjugate and control
RISE UP and tell them SCREAM AT THEM
if you think 7 million are pirating GET OUT IN A STREET that many will topple the soviet union whats it gonna do to any actual democratic govt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1.Stop buying large label products
2.stop buying any bands/labels who sign with RIAA and/or any other similar organization
3.make sure to tell all your friends DONT BUY THAT MUSIC IT IS CORPORATE
4.support the local musican/small independent labels and artists
SCRW THE ESTABLISHMENT !!!!
BREIN YOU ARE KAKA !!!!
tim k*** is just doing what his kind do best: lie, cheat, steal and then accuse you of doing what they are.
they want to maintain their stranglehold monopoly on artists and money, but the hidden reason is to control art and media itself, molding our perception of reality, and who makes it in the industry, at the behest of the chosen ones and related devil-worshippers.
soon they’ll be screaming anti-Semite.
Even if he got that notebook in a legal way it shows really bad taste and brutal arrogance. Good going, that’s how you make “friends”, BREIN.
Fuck, just another reminder of why I’ve been boycotting the RIAA and all their little friends for almost half a decade now
Standing up and applauding #120
and to Someguy,
It would suck to be you! not much room in your mind…
The international news giants turn out crap/false stories, cover ups, and misrepresentations every single day on every single topic of substance, with a very clear agenda of forcing their desired reality on the rest of the world.
You take a snippet out of a trash rag, and call that accurate sourcing?
To Ernesto, I suspect that Kuik will fabricate some BS cover story, after his troll challenged it.
but more followup will likely result in him eventually tripping up..
His mac address will knell his doom.
That’s asking for pwnage
I stopped buying those ??? labels long ago. 10 years to be exact. Considering thats a big amount $$ they’ve lost from me. I don’t even download them.
Why can they sue kids for so much money and yet you can go steal a few cds from your local store and get a slap on the wrist? While they sue you for thousands just for a few songs. America at its finest.
The combination of this and The Patriot Act is starting to look like we might have corporate takeover pretty soon, where the companies control the police, the politicians, and the people. :D
@9 Baku
“He doesn’t look like the sort of person one would want to meet in a dark alley.”
I’d wager there’s more than a few people that wouldn’t mind running into Mr. Kuik in a dark alley. :P
Your name is kuk, mr.kuk!
“Why download tunes when you can just wait for someone else to download for you and then steal their laptop??”
LOL
“I also don’t get why he would want a confiscated laptop, he has enough money to buy a top end one.”
Because it has PR value for him to be able to say in the media that he took away a hacker’s evil tool and is now using it for good. :)
“and will have to pay back the money they earned from adverts to the media execs/government/artists.”
Any money made from ads did not come from the artists, let alone “media execs”. I’m sorry, SomeGuy, but your intelligence seems sub-par. The way you communicate is immature and your arrogance is shameful.
“Bought politicians; the Pirate Bay crew qualifies, considering that they made millions by helping facilitate the theft of the content of others.”
Exactly whom did the TPB people buy? Why do you make up shit? If you want any serious responses, stop acting like an eight-year-old yourself and don’t be a condescending jerk!
“I earn actual money (not World of Warcraft gold) which I then use to legally buy media.”
So that you can be happy that you are supporting the media execs and the industry. Never mind the artists who actually do the work. You are a joke!
im am so annoyed how people use the word hacker! do you guys even know what it actualy means??? Most people point them out as people who steal, people who who commit online crimes and steal identities. but thats because all the media that we hear gives those criminals the tittle of a “hacker”. And thats wrong! a hacker is a person who finds a second use for a thing. a person who thinks outside the box! a person who tackles a problem on a different matter than a other people would.
Honestly watch the movie “hackers are people too” and it will answer ALOT of questions.
and for all those people who BS people who pirate music. dude! if the artist don’t get paid its not because they steel music. record label companies steal from the artist! for all those people who don’t believe me just google the procedure to “sign to a record label company” and u guys will get ur answer. Basically what they do is pay the artist upfront for their music then they expect that their profit is going to role in. but most cases record companies pay them SHIT! honestly they are the ones steeling from artist!
LOL!!
2 Sep 05, 2009 at 04:36 by Al
You WOULDN’T steal a laptop…! oh wait…
I can’t wait till all those imaginary property crooks are in jail!
They are all enemies of society! All they care about is how they can exploit artists and artlovers for their own personal gain!
And shame on those artists that still support this kind of behavior! Don’t forget almost all of your works are derivative in one way or another anyway.
This laptop should be auctioned at “domeinen” in The Netherlands. That’s how it works here. If Tim does a raid at some guys home it’s not up to him to confiscate a laptop. Period. And I’m pretty sure he didn’t get it from “domeinen”. So it’s illegal. It’s stealing.
@ Sep 05, 2009 at 20:55 by hmm
Oh, right.. And what about the so called ddos on the brein website which wasn’t a ddos at all?? Just to blame TPB ppl??? Was all over the news also.
I’m an it journalist in the Netherlands. I e-mailed Tim Kuik about this, something TorrentFreak apparently decided not to do (”We can only guess…” No you can’t).
Tim tells me the laptop was lawfully awarded to the party his organization represented in the case against said “hacker”, to compensate for damages. End of story.
What do you guys think? Sure, he must be a thief. The man’s a lawyer, for chrissake. That means he knows the law, get it?
Now in p2p matters I am absolutely not on his side but all this bullshit based on a single second hand half-fact from a totally unreliable source (eg GeenStijl.nl) annoys the hell out of me. Could you all get back to your downloads now?
can you say ‘bigger thief’?
some pirate justice is seriously required.
keep the piratebay alive so sign up at http://www.theghostbay.org/
you´ve gotta be kidding…hahaha…these fellas are the worst…but I think we don´t have to wait too much until the kill themselves as wall street moguls did recently…capitalism is crashing…
@ 136 Sep 07, 2009 at 04:16 by Chow
BAHHHHHHH BAHHHHHHHH
it doesnt say HE confiscated the laptop, it actually does’nt say HOW he came by it at all
“And I’m pretty sure he didn’t get it from “domeinen”.
use your crystal ball for that one did you?
trot along now
“Tim tells me the laptop was lawfully awarded to the party his organization represented in the case against said “hacker”, to compensate for damages.”
@138 So you’re a journalist, right? Did you even ask Kuik about which actual court case this was? From what I can find on Dutch law I gather that these goods are sold at auction. I could find no reference to any case in which impounded goods are awarded directly to a plaintiff.
Please tell me you have looked into this and there are plenty of cases where this does happen. Otherwise I’ll have to conclude that Kuik is lying again and you’re a crap journalist.
UPDATE:
It didn’t take a lot of digging to find out that post 138 is by Herbert Blankesteijn, indeed a respected Dutch IT/internet columnist. Hello there, Herbert!
Here’s the link for his radio column where he tries to debunk the Kuik story (in Dutch) Http://www.bnr.nl/radio/columns/internet/12820122?archief=#
In his audio piece, Herbert gives a little more detail than he does in his post here. According to Kuik, “a hacker broke into the network of a games developer and stole a game still in development at the time. After a court case the hacker was convicted, and his confiscated laptop was awarded to the rights holder, who was represented by us.”
Still, this does not take the story very far. Confiscated goods tend to be sold or destroyed, and I’d be very interested in the name of the hacker and the case. I could be wrong, but Kuik’s comments seem to have all the hallmarks of an urban legend. Something a pirate busting CEO would try and wow his peers with: “You know, this happens to be the actual notebook from the guy who stole Half-life from us!”.
Please Herbert, be more of a journalist and check this story out properly before posting.
Coïncidentally, Herbert is also one of the people behind the Freelancers Association, a body that fights for the intellectual property rights of freelance writers. In 2002 the organisation succesfully sued a publisher for using copyright material and was awarded €2,3 million in damages (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Blankesteijn).
So, it seems Herbert’s attitude to copyright is straight forward. Or is it? Not really. He thinks the behaviour of the traditional media towards sharing is childish, writes pieces entitles “No worries for illegal downloaders in Holland” and he doesn’t think copyright as it stands is viable in the long term.
On the whole, Blankensteijn’s position on IP sharing seems warped, and rather ego-centered (I’m trying very hard not to use ‘hypocritical’ here), and this is perhaps a reflection of sharing’s legal status in Holland. Downloading music and films is legal there, downloading games and software is not. But, as uploading any IP material is illegal, downloading copyright music and films with upload enabled torrent software is also considered illegal.
Just a final note: in looking at Herberts favorite movies list on IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=19255233), I noticed he tags some with “Bargain DVD”, “Retail DVD”. Other are tagged “vob”, “divx”, “divx, no subtitles”, “mpg, no subtitles”. Be careful, Herbert!
This is gutter journalism and slander!
That’s a good one, telling me I should check this out all the way, while all I intended tot do (and did successfully) was show that you didn’t!
It’s also a great idea to rely on Wikipedia to make a copyright hero out of me. I do not agree with what they write there. Could you have asked ME in this case? Didn’t you notice that I make all my work, including a couple books, freely available after publication? Or was that info inconvenient? It’s right beside the link to my movies, at http://www.blankesteijn.com.
Please also check out my radio column of today, on Cory Doctorow’s books and his position on copyright. It will be available, free, at http://www.bnr.nl/vandaag as of 16:10 CET today.
For the record, the above links don’t bring me any profit either.
And now for the third posting in a row:
Oops, NOW I screwed up. Addressed “Yeah Right” as if he’s Ernesto. That’s stupid, I apologize. I stand by the rest of course.
See? It’s possible to admit mistakes! :-)
@Herb
Well I’ll be the last person to say that geenstijl is a proper journalistic medium, and torrentfreaks of course has quite a bit of bias.
However I do think that Tim Kuik, by using the laptop that was confiscated and awarded, is sending the wrong message. I’m pretty sure it’s all legal what happened, but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth.
He calls people whom download copyrighted materials illegally, thieves, yet sees no problem using a laptop he did not buy.
Legal or not, that just smells like double standards.
Is that Jerry Springer?
@145&146 Chill out, dude. I’m not the poster of the original story, I’m just commenting on it.
This story can be cleared up in no time, without fuss and heated arguments. As you are on emailing terms with Kuik, please ask him which court case it was. It won’t take you a minute.
Please note that I did not make you out to be a ‘copyright hero’. I mentioned both the freelance case and your take on traditional media’s attitude towards copyright. And as for Wikipedia, stop complaining and edit the errors in the entry.
I tried to straighten that out but my posting 147 was blocked.
Looks
Like
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Is
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A
Disturbance
And
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He
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The beauty about the net is that you can go to whatever site you want and if you do not like a certain site there are a millions of others you can visit instead.
Why is SomeGuy on Torrentfreak?
Not because he wants to be here.
Only reason he would be and stays here and post in all the comment threads of all the recent articles in the way he does, is if he had some kind of gain out of it.
Be it being paid to be an ass @Torrentfreak or be it working for a company that has something to gain with ruining the reading experience at Torrentfreak.
SomeGuy, ever heard about Critical thinking?
Most people reading Torrentfreak are capable of doing just that.
Its not because there are some errors in an article (which imho get corrected quite often on here, which you can’t say about mainstream media) that people believe every word that is said to the letter.
And what does being american have to do with anything, I’m not american, quite a few of the authors on this site aren’t american? What does being american have to do with having a valid opinion? Not all Americans are Bush or Bush Minded.
Is that some kind of half wit way to avoid being located, trivializing and insulting Americans to camouflage that you in fact are an american?
Trust me, none cares where you are, who you are, what you do, what you like or dislike.
A lot of people however would love you to be some other place.
Noone cares about what you say. Only about how obvious it is that your here for all the wrong reasons.
Since its always the same bullshit condescending attitude saying Torrentfreak is bad, people that visit Torrentfreak and Torrent sites are bad and Copyright groups are good.
How obvious can you be? Either your just a general troll like all sites have them or your here on assignment to do damage.
Either way, no one cares about what you say. Your just a nuisance, a pest that buzzes unintelligibly in our ears. A bug that needs to be squatted.
The irony…
Ask him if he has confiscated some cocaine along with it and if he works under the effect of that when BREIN does all its well known idiocies.
LMAO
what’s the difference between Tim Kuik and a mosquito?
the mosquito stops sucking when you slap it
How come it is suddenly completely quiet about the laptop of mr. Kuik or Brein? To my knowledge he has still not explained how he got it or have I missed something?
In case of forfeiture of goods in criminal proceedings by court order such goods will belong to the state. And the state can sell at auctions. What is mr. Kuik’s or Brein’s real story? How did they get it in the first place? And why does Kuik think that he is the legitimate owner?
You know the way i see it is they lose money through torrent site’s, but why pursue them when there is problems bigger than this in the world!?
What i mean by that is that you get rapists, murderer’s(serial, phsycopathic killers ect.), Car boosters, scammers(Fraud), prostitution, corruption(sometimes in the very law itself ect.
why go on a rampage against torrent sites when there is problems like the above in this world, i just doesnt make fucking sense to me.
And as for kuik or whatever the moron’s name is taking something that doesnt belong to him is just as good as stealing and makes him no better than the rest of us that use torrents.
Sorry for my poor english it is not my home language and i have a difficult time spelling correct when typing in english.
[...]
Update: Tim Kuik told TorrentFreak in a response that he acquired the laptop legitimately. The laptop was given to him by one of the parties involved in the case who received it as compensation. We have the verdict, but it doesn’t mention the laptop.
[...]
I wonder who is that party that have given the laptop. 0__o
Thanks for the update Ernesto! :D
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