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Unit 10: File System

notes
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Caselet file sharing or stealing?

he files in question contain merely the information needed to download film or
music files, and nothing more. This information is, however, lifted from those who
Thad themselves copied the files without permission from the original track.
R.K. Raghavan
There is great interest among millions of Internet users across continents in a trial that is
going on in Stockholm. It is over alleged copyright violations committed by Pirate Bay, a
popular Swedish Web site floated by an anti-copyright organisation Piratbyran.
Any ruling in this case could affect the fate of many other sites engaged in making available
music, movies and software free of cost to the large online community that is ceaselessly
on the lookout for free downloads. In these days of high cost of living, who is not tempted
by freebies?
Founded in 2003, Pirate Bay started its service independent of Piratbyran in 2004. It has
undoubtedly endeared itself to millions across the globe who have a huge stake in the
collapse of the prosecution in this case.
According to many observers, Sweden has one of the most lax copyright laws in the world,
and it was this that possibly encouraged its three founders, now on trial along with a
fourth person, an investor in the site. Interestingly, the criminal case against Pirate Bay is
accompanied simultaneously by a civil claim initiated by music and movie companies. The
latter alone are demanding a compensation of 10.9 million euros.
Pirate Bay’s case is that it does not store any pirated music, movies or other copyrighted
material. What it does is merely help its customers, nearly 25 million, track down the files
listed by BitTorrent which is basically a data-sharing protocol and helps transfer large
files.

As one defender of the site put it: “It is at best a file pointer,” meaning, thereby, that it does
not store unauthorised files. Also, BitTorrent is a legal application and is extremely popular
among file-sharers because it is fast and efficient unlike many others in the trade.
The files in question contain merely the information needed to download film or music files,
and nothing more. This information is, however, lifted from those who had themselves
copied the files without permission from the original track. There is an element of ethics
that cannot be ignored here.
The three Pirate Bay operators claim they have hardly made any money. This, however,
needs verification.
According to Swedish prosecutors, who were trying to debunk the site’s Robin Hood image,
Pirate Bay earned annual revenue of $4.5 million, solely from advertisements. This squares
with the uncorroborated information that it was trying to buy Sealand, a platform in the
North Sea, close to the Suffolk coast, in order to locate its servers. When the negotiations
failed, it switched on trying to buy an island. If these reports are correct, they point to an
affluence that would be difficult for the four men on trial to cover up during the three-
week-long proceedings.
Backed by many servers
This is not the first time that Pirate Bay has been hauled up. In 2006, the police swooped on
its offices and seized a lorry-load of computers, including many servers.
Contd...

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