These last few years P2Pers have got used to TV entertainment ‘our way’: unfucked, de-loused, delivered efficiently in economical, good-looking codecs. Because we rarely turn it on, it’s been easy to forget just how cynical, unsatisfying and downright venal television, as a distribution medium, has become.
There’s been a lot of buzz about a story The London Times ran this morning under the headline “Internet users could be banned over illegal downloads,” which also appeared on the BBC website under the even more alarming headline “Illegal downloaders ‘face UK ban.” Time to get a couple of things straight.
In a few months from now the trial of The Pirate Bay four will start. The “Free The Pirate Bay” group on Facebook has proclaimed Friday February 8th to be “wear yellow for sharing day”, so everyone can show their support for the Pirate Bay team, and filesharing in general.
The Pirate Bay recently featured in an exhibition about online crime, run by the Swedish police - even before their trial has begun. Pirate Bay’s Brokep has had enough of being the punch bag of the Swedish authorities: “It’s slander,” he says “Authorities are not allowed to engage in political opinionation.”
The Internet is in its infancy. Electronic information still travels along copper wires left over from the industrial revolution, but the information age is about to hit puberty. Fiber optic cables are sprouting in unexpected places. The piracy and chaos we are collectively experiencing is growing pains.
In recent months, many private trackers have moved to an invite-based system in an attempt to try and weed out so-called ‘bad peers’. They do this through a chain of trust. Many users, though, are attempting to use invites for their own profit, putting themselves and others into the firing line.
Last week we reported on the release of Steal This Film 2, a documentary about the past, present and future of filesharing. The film is free to download, but people are encouraged to donate some money if they want to support future projects. Surprisingly, the pirates who decided to donate were quite generous.
New BitTorrent sites are launched every day, but only a few stand out or have something new to offer. YouTorrent is such a new site; feature-wise it’s just a meta-search engine, but the design and user interface make it one of the best I’ve seen.
Morals are often defined by what the general public sees as right or wrong. Most people don’t feel that they’re doing wrong when they download an MP3 or share a movie, but in most countries they are actually breaking laws, laws which do not reflect what the general public considers to be legal, fair use, or even moral.
