Hidden Treasure
I hope that this blog is copied. I hope I get credit for writing it, but I hope that readers copy this blog and show it to others. I have been a game designer and writer for many years now. I am a published poet and have a sizable fan base for some of my publicly available niche fiction work. I also support piracy.
Why do I support piracy? Probably one of the biggest reasons is because artists are subject to a very financially structured social system. Just like historically abolished laws broke certain class distinctions to provide equal opportunities for everyone to succeed, piracy pushes to abolish the social structure that supports an elite few and excludes most who could otherwise have a chance to succeed. I have never tasted the sweet fruit that lengthy and expensive copyrights bring with them, but I do know that it is much more than any reasonable human being needs to live comfortably on. Popular artists and the corporations that support them make obscene amounts of money, money that could be more equally distributed amongst many more artists. People will continue to buy media that impresses them and for unique experiences like theater and concerts, but no one wants to pay unreasonable prices because popular artists like to live lavish lifestyles. Stage performers were threatened by movies, but the appeal of live shows has not died. Now movies are the ones being threatened – by the open sharing of art by the general public. The Internet allows anyone to be an artist, not just the ones that are paid truckloads of money by large corporations.
I also support the free exchange of information amongst all people. With the Internet so widely available, inaccessible information should be outdated. By having strong anti-piracy laws we not only deter educating our own people, but also sharing our knowledge with people from other countries. While I know that for some, that sounds like a good idea, but I believe that there can be no successful global society without free flowing factual information. If what I write can be of use to someone and make their life better, why would I not want them to have access to that knowledge? As I mentioned above, I would like credit for the work I do, and making some money would be nice, but I strongly believe in the importance of sharing what we know with each other.
Enter The Pirates
In 2006, an anti-copyright group established themselves within the United Kingdoms, calling themselves the Pirate Party. The group aims to reform copyright laws in order to shift the balance of artistic power from the already established few to the yet-to-be established many. Their main focus is on three particular aspects of computer culture that are currently prohibited by law:
Format Shifting: Allowing the purchaser of one media to change the format of that media. i.e. buying a CD and then changing the tracks into mp3 format.
Time Shifting: Allowing a user to record a publicly available broadcast to watch at a later date. i.e. recording a movie that was shown on TV and keep it to watch later.
File Sharing: Allowing users to share media in the privacy of their homes provided that media is not used for commercial use. i.e. downloading “copyrighted” torrents.
Beyond their central platform, they also advocate complete privacy and anonymity on the web, even going so far as to create a Pirate Party ISP that will offer privacy ensured browsing. They claim to not keep any logs of Internet use in order to ensure that any user's privacy is safeguarded. While this lack of a bread crumb trail may make certain jobs more difficult for law enforcement, the Pirate Party stands by their decision that users should be protected while surfing from the privacy of their own home.
The group's short history is actually quite inspiring, having acquired over a record number of new members in the first 24 hours of announcing themselves as a forming party. For a while they were a small party on the fringe of politics, but in 2009 they got their big break when The Pirate Bay's ISP was asked to shut down service to the site and its creators put on trial for copyright infringement. The press and hype surrounding the downloading site's disappointing and controversial disappearance sparked a flood of Pirate Party supporters, doubling their membership and earning the party two out of eighteen seats in Parliament.
Proposed Solutions
The Pirate Party has some interesting solutions to recommend should they be voted into power, but bloggers and other Internet community activists also have some interesting ideas for thwarting anti-piracy agendas. One blog that caught my eye suggested filming yourself singing Happy Birthday and posting it on Youtube since Happy Birthday is technically owned and copyrighted. The company that holds a copyright on Happy Birthday requests millions of dollars in order for their 7 second ditty to be heard in public and makes approximately $2 million a year for providing the service of wishing everyone a happy birthday.
For a less formal social reaction, the Happy Birthday idea, I feel, is actually quite good. It raises awareness about the issue, requires very little effort to participate and brings public attention to the matter at hand. Unfortunately, searching youtube did not turn up any results besides the original, so it seems that the idea hasn't really caught on. However, despite there being a distinct lack of “Happy Birthday” themed piracy messages, there are other interesting videos that address the subject.
The above video was posted in response to the trial of The Pirate Bay's founders. The case around The Pirate Bay generated a lot of media response and attracted the attention of the public to the issues surrounding copyright, freedom and privacy. In this high profile case, something that “almost everybody does” was called out in courts, and the public made their voices heard in the form of Internet criticism and votes for the Pirate Party.
Political Agenda
The original Pirate Party of the UK spells out its goals very clearly in terms of its Internet policies. The use of another person's intellectual property for profit will remain illegal, but sharing of art will be free for personal use. Copyright protection has been extended slowly but surely to over 70 years past the original creator's death. By shortening this time period to the original 14 years that were covered in the first draft of copyright law, the Pirate Party aims to stimulate all artists with commonly available media and ideas that can be used by anyone to create new art and new ideas. This law is particularly important when thinking of software when software functionality often builds off of other functionality, which can become a huge copyright mess very quickly.
Also included in the Pirate Policy ideology is the mandatory labeling of DRM and other sorts of efforts to block piracy. As stated in the Copyright and Patents section of their manifesto, “We believe the public needs to be protected from products that can be remotely turned off by the manufacturer, or products that 'phone home' and would therefore stop working if the manufacturer went bankrupt, or that are 'region coded'. We will therefore introduce a mandatory warning label on products that include DRM which will warn purchasers of the defects built into these products. ” The Pirate Party not only wants to legalize private downloading but encourage people to learn and create new products based on older ones. DRM and other anti-piracy systems on software inhibit the flow of information and slow down the flow of ideas because everyone has to find work arounds.
In the same category is Patent Law, which the Pirate Policy claims is currently being abused by corporations in order to make more money off of the same ideas. By raising the bar on patent law, more people have access to required resources and can create new products faster and more efficiently. Unfortunately, the line for when a patent should be issued and when it shouldn't is rather blurry, according to the public release of their mission the bar is The rule of thumb is that a patent is not valid if “it is obvious to anyone skilled in the art”. The Pirate Party intends to make that stricter, though they have not provided a solid bar of measure as of yet. Exemptions for the patent law will include academic research, study and non-commercial use.
Beyond copyrights and patents, the Pirate Party tackles other Internet and technology related social challenges such as safety, privacy, security and anonymity online. The crux of their battle lays in the prevalence of the Internet in today's society, but has very little to say on other platforms. Representatives say that it is hard to bring focus to their issues in political debates because many other party representatives skirt around the Internet and piracy issues. However, the fact that they do not tackle as many other social issues as other parties is a serious detriment to their credibility in the eyes of many.
Criticism
While the Pirate Party has certainly brought attention to the issue of online downloading, what actually constitutes copyright infringement and what is deserving of patents, the Pirate Party has received heavy criticism from everyone who profits off of those documents. Disney poured a lot of money into getting copyright times extended when Mickey Mouse cartoons are coming up for release into the public sphere even though Walt Disney himself is clearly not making any more profits from the cartoon icon (since he's dead). Clearly it is in someone's financial interests to keep Mickey Mouse out of the public sphere.
Some corporations have gone so far as to call the Pirate Party criminal for its avocation for freely available content. In particular the European Anti Piracy Association (AEPOC) urges governments to treat Pirate Party successes as red flags warning them of how widely spread digital copyright infringement really is. They ask for stricter piracy laws and regulations that will allow them to more tightly control the system, even as the Pirate Party believes that downloading will happen regardless. A recently passed law, making rules about downloading and piracy more stringent, saw a drop in Internet activity as soon as it passed, making AEPOC believe that it had won a minor victory. I personally believe (As the Pirate Party believes) that this drop in activity is only temporary and that piracy will likely flourish again in the not too distant future.
Many artists also take stances against piracy, though notably it is the artists who are backed by corporations that pay them enormous salaries that have issues with it. But even amongst artists, there is a divide. Michael Moore stated that he was pro piracy in an interview about his documentary “Psycho”. He says that he is just happy that people are seeing his films. Jack Black, on the other hand, released an advertisement targeted at youth as part of an anti-piracy campaign. Digital piracy has been an issue for longer than our recent history however, as evidenced by some older attempts to thwart it long before the arrival of the Pirate Party or pro-piracy groups.
On a More Personal Note
I believe that the difference between pro or anti piracy (where artists are concerned) seems to be in the motivation for making movies. When the motivation lies in the message of the film, or in the art itself, the artist tends to care more about the product and receiving recognition for that product. They care about people seeing it and enjoying it. Contrast that with artists who are good at what they do, but are doing it for the paycheck. Personally, I tend to feel that content produced because it is a passion for the producer is far superior than content that is just made to sell. Take a look at most sequels – the original movie tends to have someone passionate behind it. When the movie is a success, it becomes a franchise, and not as passionate people step in to take over and use that franchise to make money. Most of the time the original is way better than the sequel.
As an artist myself, I write because I love to write, I create art because I love to create art. I am paid for some of my art (not all, but enough) and I understand the idea of compensation for my time, but the fact is, even if I was not paid for my creations, I would still create, because that's what I love – creating. And I know that I am not alone. There are many artists who feel the same way as I do and there are many people willing to support them for a reasonable price. Take a look at Web Series like The Guild, or Cinnemassacre, these sites were started up by artists who are passionate about what they do. They started making money from donations and people paid. Why is that? Because people do want to support people that entertain them, they just want to pay a reasonable amount for that entertainment. They want to pay for the content that they watch – not for an actor's private indoor pool or the 1 000 000th outfit for an actress's chihuahua.
Beyond the scope of entertainment, however, there is the huge issue of information availability. Many scholastic works such as textbooks are also commonly downloaded. Companies that print academic information also claim damages from piracy. The blockage of factual information and studies is even more dangerous than blocking people from downloading a movie. As we move towards a more united global climate, we will need to embrace the free sharing of information on a grand scale otherwise as a populace we will be unable to grow and change. We have a unique ability to communicate with people from all over the world now, and to share our knowledge with people we never dreamed possible not too long ago. We can use our technologies to spread information to people who need it and instead we have chosen to block information exchange with copyright infringement and anti-piracy laws.
Many people seem to have similar opinions of piracy since The Pirate Party has started up in many countries in the world, and they already have a seat in Germany. Unfortunately, they did not receive any seats in Sweden, where, to my knowledge, they most recently finished running, but the movement has reached many places around the world. Pirate Parties International formed to unite pro-piracy movements from different countries. While Canada and the United States are not officially registered with Pirate Parties International, we do have a Pirate Party in both countries, though the Canadian Pirate Party seems to be more active and growing faster than its American counterpart. While they still remain fairly small, they are gaining momentum. In particular the Pirate Party's ability to attract today's technically knowledgeable youth who are notorious for not voting makes them harder to dismiss.
Read more on...
The Pirate ISP
The Pirate Bay Trial
- Wikipedia's Article on The Pirate Bay Trial
- The Pirate Bay Trial - The Official Verdict: Guilty
- Pirate Bay Trial Turns Into a Circus
Pirate Party Election Results
Pro Piracy- Lars Gustafsson: Why my vote goes to the Pirate Party" (Translation)
- File-sharing is Good for Record Labels
- Pirate Party Backed By Sweden's Most Prolific Writer
- Pirate Party Hosting Pirate Bay in Pro-P2P Political Gesture
