Bittorrent site The Pirate Bay’s operators could finally walk the plank
With file sharing occupying much of the public spotlight both socially and politically, it should come as no surprise that one of the largest torrent indexing sites, The Pirate Bay, would fall into the sights of anti-piracy groups. Though The Pirate Bay has eluded any solid charges until now, certain authorities feel confident that by the end of January, those responsible for the indexing site will be charged with conspiracy to breach copyrights.
Swedish prosecutors have long been under pressure from the U.S. Government (and more accurately the powers that be in Hollywood who are supposedly adversely affected by file sharing) to shut down the Pirate Bay, a site that is known for being home to many file-sharers across the globe. However, even after being raided by Swedish police, the site has bounced back; to the surprise of many, the site has actually benefited from the controversy and pressure, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Obviously, the operators of the Pirate Bay are holding to the same defense they have for quite some time now: because The Pirate Bay only indexes files, but does not actually store any, they cannot be guilty of breach of copyright. Furthermore, founders of The Pirate Bay, along with other popular Bittorrent indexing sites like Mininova were recently featured in a pro file-sharing film called Steal This Film II, where the shared some of the ideological concepts behind the support of file-sharing.
File-sharing advocates hold to the belief that, at the core of society, the ideas and communications that circulate are the property of everyone, because those ideas are simply the advancements of ideas that surfaced earlier; media, art, and ideas belong to society as a whole, and are furthered by sharing and communication. Therefore, nothing should truly be copyrighted because the copyrighter isn’t originating anything really unique and individual. Society relies upon the sharing of communications, art, and ideas for advancement; a copyright is simply the attempt to profit from something that isn’t completely unique to the creator.
For those interested in grasping some of the more intricate concepts behind the “legality” of file sharing, the film Steal This Film II provides great insights into the ideology behind file-sharing. It is available legally, free of charge, via Bittorrents.
Even executives for some of the largest anti-piracy groups like the MPAA admit that there is no way to completely stop piracy, or convict those guilty of copyright infringement. However, those groups have expressed the desire to prosecute whoever they can to the fullest extent when opportunities arise.
The ideological conflict between the free dispersion of ideas and communication and the protection of intellectual property via copyrights is coming to a climax, as file-sharing is becoming more rampant and legislation on file-sharing is relatively new and limited. Unfortunately for frontrunners, like the operators of The Pirate Bay, they may be martyrs for the good cause before the legitimacy or illegality of file-sharing is truly decided.
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