In today’s modernised world, copyright is all around us, and dictates what we can, and cannot do every day. It’s like a bad smell. No one wants it, but even with all it’s negative attributes, it plays an intricate role in life. Christopher Moore put it well, “Intellectual property has changed how we share material” (2014). The rights people have claimed on certain works have made people rich, and people poor. It’s changed the economic and artistic world, and affected the creativity of almost everyone on the Earth. The concept of copyright began to spread around with the first copyright law in 1709. It established the legal right to copy texts, creating an enforceable monopoly, but limited copyright duration to a maximum term of 28 years. Then as the years rolled on, copyright laws swayed in the favour of the creators, more than doubling the copyright duration, even CRIMINALISING the distribution of copyrighted works, which again limited the creative minds of millions.

There’s the famous (and very old) advertisement on almost all produced movie DVD’s these days with a copyright ad and warning, which attempts to compare downloading a movie illegally through the analogies of “You wouldn’t steal a handbag” and “You wouldn’t download a car”. Ironically, and rather hilariously, this advertisement, itself uses copyrighted material illegally. I’m bringing this up to try and highlight the complexity and backwards nature of copyright at this point in time. It illustrates how copyright GIANTS break copyright law themselves without realising it. Also rather hilariously, you CAN download a car. The comedians down at Honda are making the concepts for several of their cars available for free while Hollywood is surely furiously looking for a new ad campaign. “The company is offering 3D printing data for five of its concept cars for free” (Luke Vandezande 2014).. ‘FOR FREE’. I’ll take three thanks.

Source: http://www.meh.ro/

In terms of The Pirate Bay, copyright is a HUGE issue. It would take someone years to to find out how many copyright infringements have been made because of TPB.

“All of us who run the TPB are against the copyright laws and want them to change, We see it as our duty to spread culture and media. Technology is just a means to doing that.” said a Pirate Bay operator.

The website can be seen as a symbol of rebellion against copyright law, an active defiance and protest showing that they don’t believe in the current state of copyright laws. The ‘Terms and Conditions’ of using The Pirate Bay is rather small compared to most organisations and websites. ‘Digital Trends‘ writes a nice ‘play by play’ of the whole document, and summarising what parts are important, and what everything means. Plus it’s a lot easier to read.

But to put it simply, they’re being the ‘safety’ police, allowing you to downloading anything for personal use, and protecting the users from virus’ by threatening dangerous file uploaders with a fine. They protect your privacy, and allow themselves to post personal emails involving copyright claims.

Fun Fact: You can download a back-up of The Pirate Bay that’s only 75mb.

References:

Moore Christopher , 2014, ‘The Stationers Company’, Lecture Week 3, UOW, 18/03/2014

Whitehouse Alex 2012, Piracy Advert Used Stolen Music, PC & Tech Authority, Viewed 30th March 2014, <http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/309432,piracy-advert-used-stolen-music.aspx >

Vandezande Luke 2014, Make Your Own Acura NSX With a 3d Printer, AutoGuide.com, Viewed 30th March 2014, <http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2014/01/honda-releases-concept-car-3d-printing-data.html >

Couts Andrew 2013, Terms & Conditions: The Pirate Bay’s fine print is still punk rock, Digital Trends, Viewed 29th March 2014, <http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/terms-and-conditions-the-pirate-bay/#!B2Up7 >

Ernesto 2013, Download A Fresh Copy Of The Pirate Bay, With Permission, Torrent Freaks, Viewed 30th March 2014, <http://torrentfreak.com/download-copy-of-the-pirate-bay-with-permission-130220/ >