Investigators claim to have recorded almost 100,000 instances of iiNet users making available online unauthorised copies of films and TV programs from the film studio’s catalogues, lawyers for the film industry said in court today…

“By making those films available in those…instances, iiNet customers invited any and every user of the freely available BitTorrent software program to download any and every part of those infringing copies,” the industry’s lawyers said in opening remarks.

AFACT accuses iiNet’s customers of using bittorrent traffic to “steal” copyrighted content, and proposes that iiNet should filter this traffic and disconnect users who file-share. This case is the first of its kind in Australia, and will set the legal precedent for cases in the future. If iiNet lose this one, then most Australian Bittorrent users will have to find a different solution.

Is it morally acceptable to filter internet traffic? As an internet user, you are not paying for access to “the internet”, you are paying for access to a global network of protocols and equipment. This equipment joins together to create the internet. When certain providers start blocking certain pieces of software and protocols, the integrity of the internet is challenged. Americans in particular have problems with the concept of network filtering, because it imposes on their institutional right to free-speech. (After all, isnt internet traffic only a means of transmitting information, regardless of protocol?)

NET NEUTRALITY [wikipedia] A neutral broadband network is one that is free of restrictions on content, sites, or platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and on the modes of communication allowed, as well as one where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams.

Blocking bittorent is only a band-aid fix for a much larger problem (the equivelant of a government blocking white vans from driving on the roads, “because most drugs are transported in white vans, and stopping white vans from driving on our roads will eliminate the drug problem”).

No matter what happens, piracy will only continue to grow in popularity, there will always be new ways to share content. Most internet users will remember napster [wikipedia], and what happened to illegal file sharing when it was shut down? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. File sharing is more popular today that it has ever been, which leads us to ask, will shutting down bittorrent traffic stop file sharing?

I would have to say: no. There are always new technologies, new workarounds and legal loop-holes. Downloaders will always find a way to download. And yet we are posed with the question: Why will file sharing continue to grow regardless of bittorrent’s future?

Most people I know do not shoplift, do not steal cars and most certainly do not snatch-bags. Yet, many of my friends share files. The law is supposed to be a moral reflection of society, laws regarding file sharing are supposed to represent the morals of its end-users. But here we are, downloading entire Michael Jackson discographies and new release blockbusters with a single click. Many bittornent users would tell you that Paying $44 for a BluRay movie is ridiculous, and that the money-hungry corporations and stars should sell their works cheaper (I bet people wouldn’t bother downloading new-release movies if they were sold for $9.99 at the local Coles)

So on one hand we have money-hungry multi-billion dollar companies “defending their rights”, and on the other side the end users are defending their right to freedom-of-speech and network-neutrality. Downloaders are going to continue downloading music, movies and TV shows, because on a moral level they diagree with the law and do not believe it to be fair.

Will the legal system sell-out to corporations? After all, the legal system is supposed to serve the people, not the corporations. The Australian legal system ESPECIALLY does not serve hollywood or the RIAA.

Also worthy of  watching: The IT crowd: File sharing

This is all my personal opionion, I do not condone file sharing in any way.

I do condone questioning the status-quo.

Yes, you CAN believe your eyes. Coldplay have released their newest album leftrightleftrightleft for free on their website. Below is the press release from coldplay.com

Good morning. The free download of Coldplay’s new live album, LeftRightLeftRightLeft, is now available here on Coldplay.com. Click here to download your free copy.

Today is also the day of the band’s first North American tour date, in West Palm Beach, where the first copies of the LRLRL CD will be given away.
The CD will then be handed out to all fans at every remaining Coldplay live show in 2009 (apart from Festival shows). The free download will also be available from Coldplay.com until the band play their final 2009 show.
We hope you like it.
Anchorman

So, without further ado, go to this page, punch in your email address and hit download. Its 54mb of audio-goodness purely for your enjoyment!

When The Saints

by Sara Groves

lord i have a heavy burden of all i’ve seen and know
it’s more than i can handle
but your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and i can’t let it go

and when i’m weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

i think of paul and silas in the prison yard
i hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

and when the Saints go marching in
i want to be one of them

lord it’s all that i can’t carry and cannot leave behind
it all can overwhelm me
but when i think of all who’ve gone before and lived a faithful life
their courage compels me

and when i’m weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

i think of paul and silas in the prison yard
i hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
i see the shepherd moses in the pharaohs court
i hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

chorus x2

i see the long quiet walk along the underground railroad
i see the slave awakening to the value of her soul
i see the young missionary and the angry spear
i see his family returning with no trace of fear
i see the long hard shadows of calcutta nights
i see the sister standing by the dying man’s side
i see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
i see the man with a passion come kicking down that door

i see the man of sorrow and his long troubled road
i see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

chorus

Okay my favourite lines in the song are the ones in bold. It just a perfect picture of the redemption. Brooke Fraser did an AMAZING version of this at colour conference, and I really hope it is on her new album (although I don’t think she would release a cover song).

Its been a while since my last post, and I promise updates coming soon (Friday at the latest) — and I promise detail!!