The irony - lesson I.

As always, nothing is ever as it seems.

It's very enlightening to read some of the comments being posted by supporters / users of the Pirate Bay on various sites & blogs - most notably on the Pirate Bay blog itself. It's amazing to see the depth of anger, frustration and naked aggression of those who now appear to have had something stolen from them that they, as a community, created.

A few of those posting might now realize that the idea of taking something from someone without their permission and doing with it what you want isn't such a good idea after all. In the event that the sale, which now appears subject to an insider trading investigation, does go through this could prove to be one of the biggest deceptions in modern history.

Either way this has proven to be a salutary lesson for those who bought into the ideals and aspirations of a commerce free model. A commerce free model which, on the backs of the creators (the community), has now the potential to earn several individuals many millions of dollars.

Those who have been betrayed would do well to query the Pirate Party stated objective that they recognize"...a balance between common demands of availability and distribution on the one hand, and the demands of the creator to be recognized and remunerated on the other”.

Is it the case that the revenues raised from any sale of the Pirate Bay will be equally divided amongst the creators (the community)? It certainly looks like it won't.

The users were sold an ideal, a dream, which several individuals espoused as "the future". All the while knowing that one day they would abandon ship leaving the core of their crew floundering, gasping for air.

The next time someone offers you something for free in exchange for your allegiance, or indeed your vote, you might want to think very long and hard about it.

The Bats

Doing it for the kids,.......really?

Several sources are today reporting that the Pirate Bay is to make the transition to a commercially based model as a result of ownership change.

See here and here.

Whilst we are acutely aware of the "Web sheriff" debacle (funny as it was) we are accepting at face value the merit of these announcements as we have been in contact with the Pirate Bay as advocates of this proposal over the past few weeks - see previous blog posts.

The Bats welcome this brave and historic move on the part of the Pirate Bay and are hopeful that those involved in and charged with protecting the copyrights of individuals who are active in the creative industries will grasp this opportunity to develop what is, quite obviously, a viable business model for the distribution of digital works.

Those now disillusioned and disaffected vociferous users and supporters of the Pirate Bay who might wish to vent their anger at having been "sold out" may be interested in our "Fuck the Pirate Bay" t-shirts which are still available from our online store.

The Bats