Copyright infringement or piracy is a cultural issue that certainly has moved beyond the domains of legality and technology. I am not preparing to write a big topic. I just want to Copy some materials that I have come across these days and Share with you.

Two months ago Peter Sunde, the founder of Pirate Bay, told a BBC’s reporter that he thought “It’s okay to copy.”

It all happened when the Swedish police attempted to take down Pirate Bay but it came back to live after the site was down for three days. Because under the Swedish law, Pirate Bay’s server has nothing to do with copyright infringement. It simply points the site’s visitors to the materials those are ready to be shared.

Sweden plays an interesting role on world piracy issue. The Pirate Party is Sweden’s largest political party outside the Swedish Parliament. The party’s political proposition supports the reform of copyright law that will lead to eventually abolish the patent system. Well, the view is different from what we have been taught, but it is nevertheless a thought question for a pluralist world.

I also want to share with you a book called “The Pirate’s Dilemma” by Matt Mason. Mason believes that pirates present us with a choice. We can either fight them in the courts, or match them play for play in the marketplace. Here is a short article written by Mason for TorrentFreak. You can read it as the synopsis of his book.

Matt Mason wasn’t the first one who saw piracy as a choice in the marketplace. Apple’s 2001 marketing slogan “RIP.MIX.BURN” had raised a sentiment towards music piracy. It was later narrated by the Wired magazine, the year the music dies.

Image by Geek&Poke

In Feb 2007, Apple published Steve Jobs’s “Thought on Music,” that propagated DRM-free music would create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Clearly Apple has chosen to match the pirates in the marketplace. In Jan 2008, just days ago, Sony BMG Music became the last of the big four major music labels to drop copy protection software on music download.

Talking about commercial piracy, a lot of people have a misunderstanding towards BitTorrent and tag the communication protocol with unlawful infringement. That is absolutely wrong. BitTorrent is very effective for massive content distribution. Mininova has launched a free BitTorrent content distribution service. If your work is dealing with the heavy-weighted file transfer, mininova’s content distribution service might make your work easier.

As a part of free copyright campaign, a website was setup for you to steal a film. The film is a documentary presented with the counter thought on piracy. It is copyrighted by the film producer. But it is okay to grab a copy. They just want you to steal it so they can share their voice with you.

So, download it, watch it with your conscience.

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