TorrentFreak

The discussion around people’s banished right to unlock their own cellphones has been framed as an unexpected and unanticipated effect of the copyright monopoly. To the contrary, it shows the heart of the monopoly’s philosophy: killing ownership as a concept.

Following the release of their white paper earlier today, Megaupload lawyer Robert Amsterdam considers the current political situation in the United States, one in which the interests of powerful corporations are deemed to be of greater importance than the rights of individuals. The U.S. government’s attack on Megaupload bears all the hallmarks of a “Digital Gitmo”, Amsterdam argues, one which shares an absence of rule of law with its physical, Cuba-based namesake.

They say that politics takes time. Yet, history doesn’t show any political movement spreading and succeeding as fast as the Pirate Party movement. Will it maintain its accelerated speed, or slow down to follow the tracks of history?

According to those who engage in it, file-sharing is supposed to be fun. A breath of fresh air when compared to some stuffy official offerings that restrict their users with tight business models and overpowering licensing restraints. Now it appears that at least one torrent site is attempting to go down exactly the same route. [...]

As I was explaining the need for copyright monopoly reform in Dublin this week, an elderly gentleman red-faced with rage exclaimed in the Q&A session that the copyright monopoly was absolutely crucial for freedom of expression. It surprises me that some monopolists still have things this backwards: the monopoly was always a gag on freedoms of speech and expression.

All torrent sites rely on seeders, people who effectively donate their upstream bandwidth to provide content for others. Some go the extra mile and use a seedbox, a server-based piece of kit that pumps content into torrent swarms enabling faster downloads for everyone. While this is seen as a good thing by the majority, a private tracker specializing in high definition content has just introduced a set of the toughest and most baffling seedbox rules ever to grace the torrent scene.

With the copyright trolls of Prenda Law in a whole world of trouble, it was somewhat of a disappointment this week when they turned up in court only to plead the fifth. Nevertheless, while the spectacle may have proven bloodless on the day, the long-term outcome is likely to be fatal. For a detailed report [...]