Hats off to brokep!

2/26/2009 | 10:53 PM | Evolved Rationalist

Guest post by plot regarding The Pirate Bay spectrial.

Today's witnesses:
Kristoffer Schollin (Gothenburg University lecturer)
Roger Wallis (Chairman of the Swedish Composers of Popular Music)

Schollin's testimony

He explained that .torrent files are another type of internet link and mentioned that companies such as Blizzard use .torrent files for things like World of Warcraft. He compared TPB to a BBS for .torrent files, but refused to comment when asked if TPB was illegal. He mentioned that TPB may not be the world's largest torrent tracker but it is the most famous, and noted that both copyrighted and non-copyrighted material can be found on TPB.

Schollin admits that more torrents can be found using a Google search compared to a TPB search. (When are they going to sue Google? Oh wait, Google has the big bucks...). He also admits that it is impossible to determine if the torrent file uploaded by a user first surfaced on TPB, and that having a torrent available on TPB does not mean that the file uses TPB's tracker.

He next explains how to make a .torrent file, some discussion of DHT. Schollin said yes when questioned if props are given in warez circles if pre-release material gets released on the internet (they didn't use the words 'props' and 'warez', but you get the drift).

After the break

Schollin questioned by IFPI lawyer Peter Danowsky, and discusses how his interest in TPB began. Some questions about the 'legal page' on TPB and its users opinion on copyright.

Time for the Wasted

He was then questioned by Monique Wadsted, where he dismissed the rumor that 40% of the internet's traffic can be attributed to TPB, saying instad that it is more likely to be 40% of BitTorrent traffic. He says it was up to the court to decide if TPB should be considered a service provider.

Roger Wallis is a winner

Wallis said that downloading caused an increase in sales of live performances, a fact that the IFPI tries to deny (ha!). He explains that the growth of computer games etc has caused competition to the industry, and that it cannot be blamed on downloading alone. He points out that the music industry has had its most successful year and gives a few examples of copyright and licensing stupidity which he says makes the music industry one that "doesn't help itself".

Wallis then says: “This is madness." (This is SPARTAAAAAAA!)

Danowsky the jackass

Danowsky made stupid remarks about Wallis' credentials. That's about it from him.

More irrelevant nonsense

Wallis was then questioned by Henrik Pontén about how he acquired his title.

Epic quote from Wallis: "Can you use Google? Then you could easily find my CV."

Brokep's awesomeness

Brokep (Sunde) shows an 8 minute clip that explains how BitTorrent works. (Clip available on YouTube, but in Swedish. English translations are available in the YouTube comments.)

Frankly, this was the only part of the trial worth watching. Go brokep!

As today's trial was utterly boring apart from the bit from brokep, here is a fun video that combines piracy and imageboard culture:

kopimi love,
plot