- Post a comment
- Skip to the latest comment
- Back to the blog
There are plenty of sites where people can infringe copyright by trading music, movies, “cracked” software programs and other files -- but none of them have quite the same joie de vivre as a site called The Pirate Bay.
Based in Stockholm, the group of hackers behind the site seem to take great pleasure in writing nasty letters to the lawyers who threaten them with all kinds of penalties for their behaviour, knowing full well that the site is out of reach of most of those laws. Oh yes, and the front page features a dashing image of the Jolly Roger.
Now, the pirates at Pirate Bay have taken their nose-thumbing a step further: the site -- which functions primarily as a search engine for software, movies and music that others have shared using a file-swapping standard called BitTorrent -- has added a “music recommendation” function. Much like traditional music sites, when you search for a particular band or artist, The Pirate Bay will show you music from similar bands or artists you might like.
To the site’s credit, it doesn’t list these artists under the heading “Other Music You Might Like to Steal,” but the implication is there regardless. And to add an extra bit of punch to the legal nose-thumbing, The Pirate Bay also embeds a Last.fm streaming radio player on the page, through which you can listen to some of the recommended artists. Last.fm is a popular “social music” or “music discovery” service.
Of course, Last.fm was recently acquired by media giant CBS for about $380-million. Which makes you wonder: Is there some middle-management executive at CBS who is going to get a nasty shock at some point, when news of the Pirate Bay player gets out? Or is there someone within the media conglomerate who isn’t playing with a full deck?
Either way, The Pirate Bay has struck another blow for music-industry anarchists and scofflaws everywhere. And in other pirate-related news, the site is now being sued by the family of Ron Goldman -- one of O.J. Simpson's alleged victims -- for making a digital version of the Simpson book available through the site.
-
Double Speak from Canada writes: Hahahahaaha This is funny ....
- Posted 01/12/07 at 2:48 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
-
Cory Cyr from Toronto, Canada writes: Pirating isn't the issue with music. It's the quality of releases. Healthy business always starts with quality product.
http://aloudgirl.blogspot.com- Posted 02/12/07 at 12:36 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
-
Alex Yaxmos from Canada writes: THis can only lead to future crackdowns and tougher security measures within the digital media world.
- Posted 03/12/07 at 12:03 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
-
doctor business from vancouver, Canada writes: It's amazing how quickly we empty our heads of all common sense when economic majesty is threatened. A few years ago we could not imagine how sharing a file would be signifigant, let alone illegal. Now we have all sorts of propaganda telling us that sharing is worse than or equivalent to many numerous real crimes. Of course the problem is that there is no victim, no theft, no loss. Lost potential profit is an even more abstract idea and it is amazing the lengths and sacrifices of basic liberty and civil society that are being sacrificed to this end. What is worse, it the smug pundits who pretend to occupy some kind of middle ground with a cynical "I'll keep trading files until it is made more illegal" take the money and run attitude. Do some basic thinking. Look at the history that is more than 5 years ago. Your positioning of this issue: that sharing is reckless versus forming laws and police actions around a new war on drugs to preserve the rights of potential profit - well that is whistling while the fascists march in. Why don't you get off your pundit and look at what is going on. It's an enclosure movement. You pretend to not be taking sides in this but by not conveying the real context or alternatives (the overhwhelmingly more popular, legitimate and older alternatives) you spread disinformation like so many other pop culture critics who don't care if culture is crushed by media monopoly - as long as the checks keep rolling and I can keep writing like I'm some 'expert,' eh?
- Posted 05/12/07 at 7:07 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Join the Conversation, Leave a Comment
This conversation is semi-moderated What is moderation? | How do I report a comment?
You must be logged-in to submit a comment — login now!
Not registered with globeandmail.com? Register now. It is quick and free.
Alert us about this comment
Please let us know if this reader’s comment breaks the editor's rules and is obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive by selecting the appropriate option to describe the problem.
Do not use this to complain about comments that don’t break the rules, for example those comments that you disagree with or contain spelling errors or multiple postings.
