The beginning of the end for P2Ps/Torrent Sites?

[Sean]

The founders of Pirate Bay, based in Sweden, have been sentenced to a year in prison and a fine of a little under 4 million dollars each. They're defying the court ruling.

I'm hoping to get some thoughts from others on this here, because I'm somewhat torn on it. On the one hand, they're not actually involved with hosting the illegal files being shared through their site, but on the other, what other purpose does their site serve than enabling illegal file sharing? Even the name implies as much - "Pirate Bay".

And of course there's still the issue that I'm in the minority on here, which is that I know first-hand how illegal file-sharing absolutely devastates lesser known artists and labels, so I'm against it from the get-go. But I know that many here believe it's a good thing because of the exposure it can provide. I actually understand that argument, but disagree with how beneficial it is to smaller artists, because while it's nice to hear that thousands of people love you're work, admiration and praise simply don't pay the bills....