‘The Pirate Bay’ lowers the flag for a few dubloons

Reports have surfaced that the four founders of TPB have sold their operation for 60 million kroner.

Who would’ve thought that a few tens of millions kroner would be enough to turn the very face of internet piracy (not to be confused with Pirate Bay Depot, which is the face of Somalian seafaring piracy) legit. Sounds cheaper than a lawsuit.

I know the entertainment industry wants to scare us, them and everyone off piracy, but to me the lawsuits seem to galvanise public support and reinforce the belief that these uber-corporations don’t care about their customers. Paying these people off seems against the principle, but at least it is quick and quiet – unlike the TPB lawsuit which was good for months of free publicity.

Both achieve the same effect – preventing that site from listing copyrighted torrents, while having the same fatal flaw: that there is nothing to stop yet another tracker or technology from popping up.

Will it spurt a new bout of torrent trackers hoping to get paid off? You bet. But then again, what makes you think that the TPB case did any different – the cash from the sale pays the fines and they get plenty of stock in the new (destined to fail) company.

Just don’t drop the soap for a year.

When does intellectual property cease to be a right?

Let’s start with two clear cut situations.

Jail time:
You walk into your local Blockbuster, pick up a copies of Australia, Epic Movie and The House Bunny. You walk out without paying. The girl at the desk stops you. If, like me, you are a fearsome yet handsome karate penguin, she will giggle and beg for you to steal her as well as the terrible movies. Unfortunately for most people, this will end in yelling and a visit from the fuzz before you can share with your friends. But then again, if you llike these movies, you may be short on friends….

Law Abiding Citizen:
Walking towards the train station on your way to work, you find three dvd’s neatly stacked in the gutter. Inspecting them, you are shocked to discover they are Nicole Kidman’s three worst movies (incidentally, all of Nicole Kidman’s movies are her worst). Deciding that you are a laq abiding citizen, you report the booty. If you live in Victoria, you will be turned away as your enquiry is not about youth gone wild, drugs, alcohol, or organised crime.

So where does downloading fit in? You see the movie for free. But you do not invade a private area, and remove without permission. You obtain it from the PUBLIC DOMAIN. Once something is in the public domain, that is when it is shown in screenings, hirable on dvd or available as a paid download from Netflix.

Once the genie is out of the box, the box has no rights to the genie.

If media companies want to sue people for using and sharing public products and information, why can’t other companies get in on the act? Imagine Toyota suing eBay for providing a passage for unauthorised sale of used cars. Cadbury suing anyone wearing purple. Or pouring your mate a Foster Lager. Actually that last one sounds about right – friends don’t let friends drink bad beer.

What about the poor recording artists i hear you say? Think of it as punishment for the constant stream movies like Australia or talentless hacks like Britney.

If you want us to pay you, it’s about time you proved you are worth it.