Laurence "Loz" Kaye; Photo by Andy Halsall
THE "Copyright Monopoly" (as some people continue to call it [1]) is showing its strong political influence and sheer power. It always seems like this monopoly now has power over the penal system, not just the legal system [2,3] (punishment where no guilt is established), and it even sets up its own honeypots [4] (which themselves can be violating the same laws which the monopoly advances). But it's not quite working out for the monopoly [5] as people who share just find alternative ways to share. Heck, they don't even need the Internet for sharing; they can use storage devices, so the war on sharing sure is futile. It is rather amazing that politicians still pursue the impossible [6], whereas political groups like the Pirate Party point out the obvious facts [7]. Decades of spin won't change the facts.
"In many ways, the copyright Monopoly has helped promote or at least 'rationalise' surveillance (while curbing anonymity), so there is plenty of stuff at sake."It is truly disheartening that politics can't be driven by facts; instead, it's all about dogma. The propagandistic nature of the copyright monopoly (and its infiltration into schools and kindergartens) makes many people out there blind to the fact that the war on sharing is a waste of time; it's like fighting Free software. Companies that existed for many years just need to find a way to co-exist with digital abundance in the age of high-capacity storage and fast/dense connectivity. In many ways, the copyright Monopoly has helped promote or at least 'rationalise' surveillance (while curbing anonymity), so there is plenty of stuff at sake. It's not just about copyright. We'll deal with some of it in the next post. ⬆
Related/contextual items from the news:
It can be disheartening to see how long it takes to change the world for the better, but it’s imperative to keep grinding – even if just through a choice of words.
The former administrator of a 65,000 member private BitTorrent tracker who earned money from site donations without declaring it as income has been sentenced. The 35-year-old, a farmer who alleged spent some of the money on converting a pigsty into a datacenter, said that he believed his site was legal and only his users were committing offenses. The Court of Appeal disagreed and sentenced him to a year in jail along with hefty fines.
The hacking sentence of Gottfrid Svartholm has now been finalized after the Swedish Supreme Court refused to take on the case. This means that the Pirate Bay founder can be extradited to Denmark where he will face trial for similar offenses. Meanwhile, movie studio Yellow Bird has moved to have Gottfrid declared bankrupt, hoping to recoup some of the money he owes in damages for his role in operating the The Pirate Bay.
Operator of UploaderTalk boasts of ‘biggest swerve ever’ as he sells user data to anti-piracy company
Less than two weeks ago, IsoHunt, the notorious search engine site for BitTorrent files, agreed to shut down and pay $110 million in a settlement with the Motion Pictures of America Association. The site even shut down a day early as a way to avoid being part of an online archive.
But now, the next generation of the site (available at isohunt.to and isohunt.ee) is already back. Whois information on both domains turns up no contact information. However, online records show that the new site is hosted in Australia.
After more than four years of secret negotiations, the text of the Canada-Europe trade agreement, CETA, reached agreement in principle during a meeting between José Barroso, the President of the European Commission, and Stefen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister. While waiting for evidence to ensure that CETA does not contain measures endangering our freedoms online, citizens and MEPs should be ready to reject this trade agreement.
Loz pointed out that the venue was an appropriate one for the conference saying: “Museums and libraries are the original Pirates. Freeing up knowledge. Freeing up culture. Because it allows everyone to take part not just an elite.”