Pirates!

The Pirate Bay has been in the news a lot lately. A few weeks ago its founders were arrested for allowing illegal copyrighted material on their website. They were sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay 30 million kronor in damages. However, because the judge who sentenced them is a member of several copyright protection groups, these guys are up for a retrial.

This incident may be the biggest controversy over a file-sharing organization since Napster. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the website but I feel I have to stand up for it. I don’t like copyright laws. Sure, I believe in the rights of artists to benefit from the products of their creations but far too often copyright laws are abused by giant corporations. And I am all for denying profits to major record labels because that’s who these file-sharing websites and programs are hurting. People are downloading albums by major label bands – so what. It only opens the way for more diverse and independent bands.

The Pirate Bay is a symbol of outright rebellion against copyright law. Whereas other websites may eek out their survival by bending and manipulating the laws, The Pirate Bay flatly rejects and disobeys them. On one page of their website they post the legal threats they’ve gotten from record labels and entertainment companies (http://thepiratebay.org/legal). Here is just a sample of one of their responses: “It is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are ....... morons, and that you should please go sodomize yourself with retractable batons.” Way to stick it to the man!

Our society is moving into the realm of free content. I seriously doubt that the entertainment companies will win in this struggle. No, I can clearly see a future in which entertainment is free, or nearly free. Of course this will inevitably create some problems. Artists and companies will struggle to figure out how to make a profit in this post-modern world dominated by a lawless internet. Some people will suffer. But how can we possibly stop this trend? You can try to police the internet but it will never work. Lawsuits like this are merely delaying the inevitable evolution of our society. Things will have to change surely, but eventually the internet will win as a free, unregulated mode of communication. Imagine how great it would be to have access to any piece of information or entertainment for free at any moment?

But here’s my conciliation: while there is still time, I think you should buy CDs. You might be able to get some music for free on the internet but all the best stuff still costs money unfortunately. The stuff that is available to download off the internet is only a tiny cross-section of today’s popular music. Chances are, if you want something really interesting that you wouldn’t hear for free on the radio anyway, you may have to buy it. Plus, you can always still feel good that you are actually supporting the bands that you love.


http://thepiratebay.org/

http://pitchfork.com/news/35166-pirate-bay-lawyer-demands-retrial/