The "Pirate Bay" with the skull flag as its symbol has nothing to do with the pirates with cyclops, hook hands, and wooden legs. They are a website that advocates free sharing of movies, music and various files. Because of copyright disputes, there has been an uproar in various countries since its establishment. The documentary "The Pirate Bay Temporarily Leaving" follows the three founders of the website, Gottfried, Frederick and Peter, and records the whole process of going to court as defendants and defending themselves. Not only does it show the struggle for the survival of a website, but it also hits the relationship between the network spirit of free sharing and the interests of copyright in the current era of great changes in the Internet.
A few years ago, Gottfried ran a website "America's Stupidest Soldier" for netizens to comment on the soldiers who died in the first Iraq War. And his friend Frederick used a network from British Telecom to help him support the website. This website, which was meant to be funny and satirical about wars, looks disrespectful to the dead in the United States. They found Britain, and Britain found Sweden. In this way, after several struggles, the website was forced to shut down. Soon after, this network was used to operate "The Pirate Bay." More and more netizens who believe in free sharing have joined in. They upload and download various files through this website. The founder of the company named the website "The Pirate Bay" because of the "Anti-Piracy Bureau". These young people want to show that they are the active side, and the Anti-piracy Bureau is the passive side, so they chose this provocative name.
Frederick in the documentary sits in the dock hoping to state his views on the spirit of the Internet and the nature of his work, but this young man who is in the online world sits in court and forgets the opening remarks. This is a symbolic scene in which a new world Internet hero crashes into a solemn, rigorous, and orthodox field with definite boundaries. A dialogue full of dislocation began between the two. In the gaps of these dialogues, the great changes of an era were revealed.
The three founders of The Pirate Bay are standard geeks. They appeared in the courtroom in hoodies, shoulders and backs, and they appeared in the courtroom uncut, facing copyright officials with jelly hair and suits and lawyers hired by Hollywood. The former laughed at the latter for not being able to distinguish between "mega" and "bit". In their eyes, this is equivalent to illiteracy, while the latter surprised the former "Do young people nowadays not even recognize the concept of copyright?" In my heart, this is tantamount to moral decay.
The judge asked the founder of "The Pirate Bay", "You are in real life..." (abbreviated as IRL), and this statement was immediately refuted, "We don't say that, we prefer to say'when leaving the keyboard'" (abbreviated as AFK ). In the minds of the Internet generation, cyberspace is a part of real life, and they refuse to describe it as a virtual world. The original English name of this documentary is "TPB:AFK" (The Pirate Bay: When Leaving the Keyboard), which means that at this time, The Pirate Bay must have a dialogue with the outside world that the keyboard cannot control. This dialogue will happen sooner or later, it must be carried out, and it has far-reaching significance.
This is a documentary that explores the concept of copyright, free sharing, new business models and the spirit of the Internet. The Internet was invented by humans, but its development and growth can always surpass human imagination. These characteristics make the Internet beautiful and dangerous. It profoundly changes the world. In this trend, some people follow, some lead, and some resist. But no matter what, this change is no longer reversible. We are fortunate to watch, participate, and even promote the transition of this era.
Free dissemination and free sharing are the most important pillars of the Internet spirit. It has changed many copyright concepts. After resistance, most musicians are already willing to put their works on the Internet for free, as advertisements to accumulate music fans and rely on performances to obtain revenue. But movies and written works are still struggling to find a way out. But they are no longer able to stop netizens from uploading files.
The Pirate Bay server has been hosted by the Pirate Party. This party is already an important political force in the European Parliament. This means that the shape of The Pirate Bay is no longer a prank and subculture of a few spoiling young people, it is an established future that must be faced seriously. The rights of creators need to be protected, and information sharing, free dissemination and free of charge are also trends. This documentary is proclaiming: Mutual ridicule and confrontation in the court are just an opportunity. What we have to do is to jointly find an acceptable boundary, a contract that belongs to the Internet age. The Pirate Bay may have to pay the price of being a pioneer at the moment, but this price will eventually become the force that drives the change of the entire era. The subtitles at the end of this documentary read: Please download this film for free on the Internet.
View more about TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away from Keyboard reviews
