Turkey’s first torrent support website http://www.torrentdestek.com .

I’m in my late thirties, and for the vast majority of people outside science classes at Universities, there was no internet till the late 90s, certainly not in the 70s or 80s. When there were fewer TV channels, you didn’t just watch reruns, you watched what was worthwhile, then spent time outside media till there was something worth watching again. There was no point having an ‘on demand’ attitude, because you had to accept what was brought forth by creative people. Which was sometimes blah, sometimes great, and made for a different sense of community to that which is still in its formation phase with the internet. I found that it made me make demands upon myself, that the surfeit of information and, more often, opinion, distracts from.

I agree with you, that money should be spent educating people well. But this has been said for a very long time, and the amount of money spent on educating people well has always been subject to this sort of debate; no one ever wants to deny opportunity to others, but then providing that opportunity starts to eat into your own funds, limiting your choices and opportunity. These are the balances that, growing older, you have to weigh up. Young people want everything to be free for all, but it is not just bad grace that denies it; having to work for information is also worthwhile and vital to developing strength and quality of mind. Surely those that want to work in a free-to-consumer environment will continue to do so, if they can live that way; they must be content to enjoy their lives that way, and not try to overturn the – probably larger – part of society that has different tastes, that require different organisational structures, that cohere into payment for the exchange of entertainment – because that is what they enjoy.

Experience has taught me that, while it is emotionally preferable to receive a service for free, if I need to take issue with the service provided, it is so much more practicable if it has been paid for. Favours always come with a cost; paying for a service puts that cost into clear terms if there is a dispute, and does encourage a serious attitude to be taken towards the work. The internet is full of people who work hard and voluntarily to push back its boundaries; it has not been in society for much more than 10 or 15 years, so I counsel not expecting this freedom to last. People work hard because they see or feel a personally-fulfilling goal to be at the end of their labour; the balancing of these goals is the aggregation we call society, which has to be efficient, or it dies out, usually in a baroque flurry of cultural activity. Society – humanity – has always through history, not just now, required strong and intelligent members to allow it to thrive, however the free dissemination of information is not guaranteed to produce them, it can just as easily produce copy-cats, hollow apers of the qualities necessary for society to survive. This is a part of the caution that older people bring to the argument of spending our resources on universal free-access to information. I know that there a lot of people in the third world who would prefer that the money spent on building this network, be spent on feeding them, if we are to claim to be climbing to the highest moral point. We have had it very well up here in Northern Europe, and have built a hell of an infrastructure, but that has not been achieved by a belief in universal freedom, but by a balance of conflicting urges that has kept us all pushing.

Nonetheless, I agree that we need to create a common media marketplace akin to a universal library service. Ironically, it is free access to the internet, that is ruining libraries here in England, as they are converted to places more akin to play areas, so as not to frighten away those who can’t deal with silence, destroying the silence that others go there to find, so that media can be consumed, reflected on, and built on in ways other than immediate social-networking. The chatterers in libraries have not built our society, they have only enjoyed it, and so their opinions are not as urgent as they think they are, when we talk about how the future should be planned. Those who want free distribution of art should distribute their art for free; if they want and need money for it, they should work to obtain that money. Their art will then reflect the reality of living, which is that nothing real comes for free – only dole comes for free, and only in the last 100 years. Money should be spent on providing a bedrock of hospitals and security for those who live in a society, then all are free to pursue their own dreams, no just follow artists’ dreams. Artists have to struggle, too, unless they can find a way not to, with an ingenuity that comes through the art-form and impresses the viewer; if their dreams need charity donated for them to come into being, then they are not strong enough for them to be a real engagement with what it means to be alive, and are just fluff, no matter how earnest. Having everything you want when you want it is great, but art is most vital when it provides hope that the problems of life are surmountable, and helps that process; grant-funded artists just adds to the volume of content , not its quality.

You should treat her like any other person in the parliament. Not that it really matters, she is in now. I doubt any of you have the power to remove her anyways. ;)

At a large film festival recently in Japan the head of the jury spoke for them all, speaking against the mega-productions that get played in all the cinemas while the filmmakers of the micro-productions are shut out, those who win the awards get only a couple days of play at a festival. They asked the festival and the government if anything can be done to enable the winners to be played around the country for say 2 months after winning. He said making a film is an act of war, an act of rebellion.

He said, “Cinema is changing dramatically by many factors… With the economic crisis the world is getting very polar, pendular. There exist mega-productions invading the world, and then tiny micro-productions without any hope… ”
He quoted, ” ‘I have the strength to stand up but I have nothing to hold on to.’ This line seems to resonate with the actual state of cinema in the world today. Due to the financial crisis… which was a financial, intellectual and moral crisis,… film festivals have become the sole place of resistance against superhero’s franchises, dumb explosions. Movies played in festivals are now almost a genre and the festivals seem to have turned into temporary museums exhibiting films that have become an extinct species. The 3D tech that built the virtual world, the simple and quick brands, franchises, graphic comics, … In the other side is the independent world… So there are huge idiotic mega-productions, or micro-productions: no middle point.”

Finally, Inarittu said, “Great jewels as are being awarded in this festival are rejected and relegated to small forums of distribution. At the end, it is the audience who is intoxicated by superheros with easy escapes and pathetic options. Films cannot be an extension of TV where the only thing important is ratings and the income of corporations. Movies are not a communication device, rather they are things that transmit the real feelings and heart of human beings to one another. So festivals are catalysts, not all films are good, but those awarded, recognized, must not just be played for one week but for months to many people. It is a huge waste of time, and not productive to spend all this money to just show for 1 week.”

I did not ask this man, Alejandro González Iñárritu (see http://www.tiff-jp.net/en/awards/jury.html), how he felt about torrents on the net. I apologize for any mistakes, and in case he does not agree with the rest of what I have to say. At least, I believe this single post will gain as much readership, and more global at that, of what he had to say than all the other media attention to it.

I believe that there is a need for a balance as he says, that artists must be compensated so they can create, and that technology – currently bittorrent, with the high bandwidth and high definition of playback on personal computers and in small theaters that has only just become mainstream.

Add to this the information that the film industry is not on the whole hurting as is often mentioned. From what I understand, the big investors of big hollywood style films are indeed hurting. But other films (and these also constitute part of the industry) are doing better. Partly I expect a lot of disposable money is used on mobile phone bills and partly there is very little quality in most mega-productions. The fact is, indies can get known via P2P and the huge amount of downloading going on is not even counted in “film industry” calculations. With the internet and bittorrent I would be surprised if there was ever a time when people viewed less flim.

There is a problem with how to make money as a music band. I understand it is very hard to make money in music these days for indies. So film directors are not the only people needing support, though the impression is that the film industry as a whole is doing better than the music industry possibly.

Also I understand theaters are not where an Indie can easily make money, in fact I know some small film companies have only published a DVD and not even gone to theater, due to financial reasons. But from what I can see it is a lack of setting up a viable market where it is easy to purchase these works online, or to inexpensively market films in theaters by using the Internet and other venues efficiently.

I think every artist has their own opinion and many would be against P2P but the reality is that P2P can be the best way to start an Indie, the best way to run a film festival, the best way to distribute High Definition film to end-users, the best way to reduce costs, the best way to distribute master film to digital theaters. The ones who are most against P2P are the publishers who understand they have an aged business model which focuses on driving mediocre content down the throats of consumers via expensive advertising and marketing.

One thing should be said about enjoying films too. Films, unlike TV, require a lot of work and real money to create. They are made to be shown in cinemas on huge screens with awesome sound systems, with lots of other people to enjoy the whole evening and talk about afterward, and see over again. I would recommend that when you go pay for a theater ticket, you also get the right to download that copy. Perhaps you could even sell that right, for say $2, along with a nice color printed brochure (though the printing would eat half of it), on the way out if you liked it. There should be encouragement to share, like we always did with cassette tapes and vhs tapes and books, and in libraries. There should be a massive push to reinvigorate libraries with digital media, to make them bittorrent trackers, to have government give them money to purchase media from artists directly not just big publishers, to teach people and bring artists to the people with seminars that can also be shared. Libraries and museums can provide superior playback experiences and be the curators and reviewers and indexers of information. They used to have the role, and still do in some areas like art, but it is not as vital as it used to be. Card catalogs used to be made by a person typing with a mechanical typewriter on a card and then being filed perfectly according to a wonderful filing system. They would be knowledgeable and help you find things. Now there is such power and yet where are these expert librarians and reviewers? They are being paid by print media in small locales, or else just privately for the love of it they blog.

I believe this is the disconnect in the contemporary culture, where industrial companies wane while media companies have amassed enough cash to push politicians (to pay them basically, since the politicians are quite corrupt as always), into altering the legality of copyright and sharing and culture – the culture that is the lifeblood of our civilization. If our civilization builds giant robots or nanotech or satellite laboratories or goes to the stars it wlll be because of individuals who were fired at a young age by books and films to do so. They watched anime or scifi at a young age. Couples have romanced to movies and music and that is how the people who are alive today were conceived. It is too big to be controlled by a mob of businessmen, there must be a certain amount of freedom.

Another thing. As the years go by, the amount of media to absorb just to understand the culture of one’s parents increases greatly. And yet it is generally impossible both physically and financially to amass all this information – books and tv, films, articles, music, all kinds of things – by young couples and young people. A bright child used to have a small library, an old set of encyclopedias, a limited number of people from whom to learn. A bit later (say in the late 70s to 80s I think) there was a very low speed virtually text-only network.

Now children have full access the net – to a scary degree perhaps if you consider facebook – but they need access to source materials not just commentary by random people. I think they should be able to download all the works of a given author, read them, and as they grow then read annotations about them and learn their milieu, and watch interviews and movies based on their work, and even access textbooks from higher education if they can handle it. All these things are possible, and right now they are available, though perhaps not of the highest quality, and perhaps even legally for minors. But kids who take this for granted would then be stifled at the loss of intellect and culture when they grow and are no longer minors.

Society must look at what makes it run – it is not derivatives or war, that is a hint – and begin to realize that in the 21st Century society must achieve a balance that enables authors to thrive while ensuring light-speed communication with maximum freedom. Yes, MAFIAA style companies will shrink but so what? The production of culture, like the production of sports, is heavily tipped towards the biggest commercial wins, and our society cannot stand such mindless stagnation. Back in the 70s and 80s you would turn on the TV and it would be mostly crap. You would watch reruns. Remember those? Do you remember sitcoms? Production values have gone up, media consumption has changed, and you don’t have to watch the same crap every day. Society now requires intelligent, active individuals, not cannon fodder or assembly-line workers which is what past educational systems were developed to supply. The first step is an across-the-board relaxation of copyright law and all impediments to Internet and wide-band communication. At this time, effects on authors should be monitored. The second step is to rebuild education, libraries, museums, theaters, newspapers, and create a common media marketplace, while focusing money on high quality free textbooks and broad development of talents in our young people in the arts and sciences.

This is the beginning of a revolution and artists especially filmmakers will I expect become more compensated than ever before once the net is leveraged enough to do so. In the interim I believe some funds should be provided by the government to artists if an unbalance is felt, and it can be taken from the proceeds of the so called MAFIAA, whose cartels serve to stifle competition, market freedom, ability to advertise oneself and be played in theaters, and being able to sell and communicate with end users.

If the growth of the net means an end to middlemen who do not add value, or who live for a century off the works of dead artists, then this is a good for society which will accelerate and enrich us.

I value that you question the persons that the Pirate Party send to Brussels.

But I think there is a misscommunication here – you just don’t know about Amelias background – I do. You don’t have any experience of what she has done (you admit so yourself), and I give you the opportunity to wise up by watching her debate. So do that before you judge her, please.

You ask for her experience, I serve it to you. You ask again, I politely remind you to read up.

If you ask a third time, I will regard you a corporate troll ;)

Another alternative, if you don’t fancy wathing youtube (just search for ‘andersdotter’) – why don’t you go ahead and ask her yourself?

http://www.ameliatillbryssel.se/english

I’m sure that’s the only thought that went through the EU’s and voters minds when they dropped the vote, too.

Amazing. Yes I see concerns about corruption and crap like that, but SHE HASN’T EVEN BEEN THERE YET.

Just WTF, do you worry if your new computer breaks if it hasn’t even shipped yet? LOL.

Hitler got his position by elections that was fun wasn’t? He was a great debater too and it is considered a geniuses of oral speech. So if you got elected it is because you are competent and it proves that you already have all that is needed right?

Sure, I can see now.

@129 Nov 05, 2009 at 23:31 by OlofB:

For one thing – have you seen the debates where Amelia wops the floor with politicians twice her age..? I think that kind of proves her ability.

No and that is not the issue. The issue is that people have the right to ask their representatives questions and receive answers.

Or you don’t think we should question and challenge our representatives?

Should we be quiet about the ACTA then and not ask our representatives why it is being done in secret?

Of course not, should we not challenge the Pirate Party because they say they are on our side?
Of course not, not only should we ask questions we should demand answers to those questions.

So if people are expressing concern about her experience and fitness to do the job what should we expect from a politician?

We should expect that the (wo)man at least have the courtesy to reassure the public and not try to shame them or try to dismiss peoples concerns.

That is exactly what the old farts already do and people here always complain about.

And if that is the real one(Rick Falkvinge) is really disappointing that he didn’t know better.

Cheers.

Where does it say she dropped out of college you ignorant, pig headed, chauvinistic, ass-packing corporate troll!

Again, I quote,
“In order to free up time for her political career, Amelia recently decided to quit Economics and Spanish at Lund University in Sweden.”

Now where does it say she dropped out? Where? You trolls are all just worried because you will loose your over-paid jobs and will have to get a real job. Maybe you can find a job as an anal thermometer tester.
Its right up your alley! /sarcasm.

Amelia’s a fierce, bright, enthusiastic debater. She’ll give the MAFIAA-salaried guys hell.

Just enjoy and watch the show :D she will own everyone over there :)

It is mindblowing to read all the prejudice in the above comments, neither (good)looks nor age has ever defines sby’s capacity to execute and accomplish great things.

Best regards,
Annika Beijbom

Nobody said she’s the next messiah, but don’t be so hard on her. It’s a much better choice than the alternative.

Remember the world-wide politician jokes? How they are stupid and dumb and whatever? (depends on country though)

Is that type of person you want instead of her?

For one thing – have you seen the debates where Amelia wops the floor with politicians twice her age..? I think that kind of proves her ability.

Also – I know Rick (that is the real Rick in the comments above, he does communicate at blogs etc. regularly and it does not surprise me at all to read him here) and emma et al know Amelia well. Amelia is famous from mailing lists and such and has proven a great agitator with high integrity, intelligence and knowledge.

What kind of “proofs” do you ask from 50-year old gray men in the parliement? Can you even mention two by name?

Japanese politicians got people out the street to be candidates because they wanted to pass some reforms.

They won and things will change, those elected will be discarded in the end probably and few of them have any real chance of reelection still is a great way to get what you want, think of it as a political discardable party when the issue is resolved we can all go and vote for others that will get other things done.

It could even become a tool for the people. We don’t need rocket scientist to be in congress, we just need people who will vote for things we really want and can agree as a whole on it and being new they want have the chance to have any strings attached or have “connections” or at least a low probability.

Here is the thing I don’t know and I don’t really care what I do care is the right of the people to challenge their representatives and the obligation that every citizen have to question those people.

It is a valid concern of some about her experience and capabilities. She does have none or at least none that people can see unless of course you can provide us with her achievements in life. Can you do that?

Are you trying to say to us all that because she makes part of the Pirate Party a political body with politicians she is automatically capable, have years of experience dealing with sharks, can navigate her way into the political system already and don’t need to address any concern of the people who voted for her?

Damn, for that kind of politics we don’t need change do we now?

And I am assuming that the Mr. Rick Falkvinge (PP) is a fake who posted here otherwise I would be very concerned about the capabilities of such a political party. You don’t go “guilty tripping” others into submission when people have real valid concerns. You get down and assure people and show how she can be an asset, you build bridges you don’t burn them.

You see at the end of the day the PP is a political body. They have to prove that they can change things and they should answer to the people or they are just the same crap with a cute name(or inflamatory). What they don’t need to?

@108 Nov 05, 2009 at 17:00 by emma:

Can you prove that she don’t?
Have you any proof that she can handle the job?
Is the public now that have to prove anything?
Is the concerns of the public, to be dismissed?
Because the name of the party is Pirate Party we all should assume automatically that it will have our best interests at heart?
Because is the Pirate Party they are not politicians and are not liars and could never be?
Because is the Pirate Party we all should forget about any concerns and just trust them?
Will all the PPs around the world be able to fend off the opportunists and be corrupted from within?

She could be the next best thing in the world, she have her whole life in front of her but right now nobody knows that, heck we can’t even know if we can trust the PP just yet, we are betting in it. But that doesn’t exclude them from having to answer to peoples concerns does it?

Because if it does, this is a movement I don’t want part of it. It is the same crap with a different name.

Politicians need watchers. Look what blind faith lead us too.

I will be condecending and say that you really should start thinking more seriously about issues. Is not about political parties is about issues and if you can’t get passed the propaganda you are part of why we get those horrible people in power.

The MAFIAA do exactly the same thing as some here are doing. They don’t have any real footing to defend their position so they go and try to demoralize the oposition. This is not changing anything is just fueling the same behavior but from the other side and will lead to nowhere in the end.

As for the PPs of the world, we need to elect more people, it is our vote of confidence that they will pass the laws that we want and could be discarded in the end. But let no one forget that those being elected will be politicians and will be the government and they can change their minds or be just as incompetent as the actual ones. Do not assume that they will get it all right, do not assume they can’t be liars, do not assume they are not as greedy as others. Bet your chips in it that is ok but don’t let others try to guilty you into inaction, question, challenge and watch carefully what they do as they have no real obligation to do what we want.

Let’s go for more than two!

Let’s get 60% of the Parliament.

This kind of movement in the USA would be very profitable.

Prejudice in its sweetest form. Sometimes kids are much better than old geezers. And I could mention a few names of famous people in physics, mathematics and others that had their best jobs published at very young ages… Just shut up Mike.

Way to go. Lets hope for a – real – change and possibly more seats for sane people in the EU parliament.

Prejudice in its sweetest form. Sometimes kids are much better than old geezers. And I could mention a few names of famous people in physics, mathematics and others that had their best jobs published at very young ages… Just shut up Mike.

Way to go. Lets hope for a – real – change and possibly more seats for sane people in the EU parliament.

Fact is I judge without know her, but it’s not because I think she won’t make it because of how good she is.
I mean that the other elder men in the parlaiment are “gamla rävar” who does not play nice with newcomers.(if some swedish could translate this?)

this is what makes me doubt

It won’t be long before either this girl becomes a figure-head puppet, or the Pirate Party caves and just becomes another money- and power- hungry institution.

Also, I fail to understand how a party can be so one-dimensional. Just arguing that politics isn’t transparent enough, and that information shouldn’t be bound by copyright isn’t a platform.

What’s the Pirate Party’s stance on foreign policy? Energy? Economy?

This party is going to fail worse than the Whig party did in America.

Selling it is not, seeing as the costs are so low that almost everyone can do it (provided they have a computer). You pay for SERVICES, anywhere, whether you think or not.

The other system is called monopoly. It’s the bullshit of the 20th century. Thankfully we’re in the 21th, but still just started unfortunately.

How can they even STEAL it if they don’t even TOUCH it (virtually of course)?

Let’s put this another way. If I could duplicate my food, my bed, heck my house, to give it to the poor guy, do you seriously think I would hesitate to do so?

I can hardly believe ANYONE would hesitate to do it, to be honest. Such low-life greedy bastards degrade our society and deep down are happy that children in Africa are starving, I guess.

Getting funded for doing work is one thing, selling it as much as you want or as people use it is another.

All things, ALL FREAKING JOBS require constant hard work. Even businesses say that revenue does not equal profit and sometimes there’s huge difference.

Intellectual property is the only one that says otherwise. It’s bullshit.

So you would be fine if a homeless man stole your things?

After all, he’s just trying to make a living and support his family. I’m sure that you’ll be able to recoup the losses.

By not paying for the media, don’t you then hurt all of the intermediate steps related to producing the product too? Everyone from the artist who made the media, to the techs who remastered/edited it, to the producers, directors, stagecrew, cast members (… and the list goes on).

From what I’ve seen so far, it’s just people justifying theft. If you dislike the people or ideologies behind the process, then DON’T CONSUME THE OUTPUT. That means, don’t listen to the music made by them, and don’t watch the movies that are produced. Pirating media just shows that you enjoy it, but are too weak-willed and selfish to support the people who make it.

I mean WHAT NORMAL JOB allows this? Seems to me it’s you who have no idea what HARD WORK really means.

Anyway I have a message for you two: go sell your stuff. I’m sure people who agree with you will buy it, right?

But some people just share out of their good will, ya’ know.

Why do you want to impose your shit on them? Leave them alone and stay with your “group” of people who respect “selling infinite copies of something with no additional work” as HARD WORK.

Point: you deserve to be paid for your WORK, not for SELLING your shit as much as you want. The sooner we find a solution for the former, the better.

Intellectual property is such an easy way for easy money for a LIFETIME.

@Someguy
Really? You think she’s hot? She looks like she plays in the NHL.

… she isn’t studying Economy there though. The article says that she dropped out of college, if you actually bothered to read through it.

Thank you, come again.

Politicians will always be politicians.

And i have no idea why some Europeans like to found political parties based on flimsy, narrow platforms when establishing an NGO with an lobbying arm would do the job of fighting for their ideals much more effectively.

Do you expect the Pirate Party to understand the intricacies of the nation’s economy, the annual budget, defense policies and foreign diplomacy? They, like any other party in the country (not sure abt the Euro Parliament), would need to make a very well informed decision on whatever bill that’s going to be debated, and whether to pass or to reject it….

Thank God for government types which doesn’t just give out seats if the said-party just got a certain amount of votes. ( and i don’t even think voting is exclusive)

96. Why don’t you prove that she sucks? Preferably without using prejudism as evidence.

She might be young but she is reading economy at Swedens largest university, if you only want old (tired?)people, consider that the other person from the swedish Pirate Party in The European Parliament is a grey haired man, does that satisfy you?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Engstr%C3%B6m

Up their asses?

None of these ignorant children has ever done a days work, and none of them have any clue about what’s involved in creating the content they think they are born with a right to steal.
They are retards, who shouldn’t be allowed a vote, let alone a say in running anything, expect a bath to drown themselves in