Today the ugly rumors were confirmed: Demonoid.com (reportedly one of the world's most popular BitTorrent tracker sites) has been shut down, but only for Canadians.
The group responsible for locking us out of our own collective media library is the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA); but these dinosaurs are enjoying what will inevitably prove to be a short-lived victory. Whether or not Demonoid itself is able to reopen to Canadian file sharers, as one poster recently put it: "We are in an era where the old rules of rights management cannot survive. Pandora's Box is open, the cat is out of the bag, you cannot go back without causing more damage, if you can go back at all. Adapt or die."
In my opinion, such confidence is securely founded on two things.
First, I am certain of the justness of file sharing, which, as another poster pointed out, is in fact the only means of accessing much "obscure" (ie: unprofitable) media: "People don't go to demonoid for Britteny Spears. They go for Jazz and Classical recordings that have not been available for purchase in the US for 20 years. They go for medical textbooks. I got a full Principa Mathmatica there for cripe's sake. It's where Americans get 30 year old BBC productions. I'd been wanting to see The Sweeny for years. I'd have paid for it given the chance. The copyright Nazis don't give a shit about 90% of what's there and 90% of the people using Demonoid don't give a shit about any of the stuff the copyright Nazis give a shit about.")
Incidentally, I also believe that the reason so much media remains unavailable except through file sharing is because of the dinosaur corporate business models that have not kept up with emerging technologies. Thus, we (media users/consumers) are punished doubly: first by having to work our asses off (for example) to digitize media that hasn't been/won't be remastered and/or re-released by it's original producers (instead of simply buying a digital copy of it, like so many of us would clearly be happy to do), and then we're accused of stealing it! Many media artworks (eg: movies available only in VHS; old/obscure publications [of particular interest to me is the library of millions of digital comic books created by readers who scan the often hard-to-find originals, a specialty of Demonoid]; as well as independent/obscure recordings) owe their entire contemporary (digital) existence and/or circulation to dedicated file-sharing fans - but instead of being thanked for enriching and maintaining our collective cultural heritage, we're threatened by bureaucrats and business giants who have no legitimate claim to the artworks we've rescued from oblivion.
The second pillar of my confidence in the inevitable vindication of file sharing is the conviction that media artists themselves will not tolerate the restrictions that the big business copyright-dinosaur lobby is pushing for. Already, a swarm of Canadian musicians have created an antidote to the CRIA, they call it the Canadian Music Creators Coalition. Through spokesperson Steven Paige (of the Barenaked Ladies), they say:
"We, as Canadian music creators, have identified three simple principles that should guide copyright reform and cultural policy.
- ...we do not want to ...coerce fans into conforming to a rigid digital market artificially constructed by the major labels.
- ... Laws should protect artists and consumers, not restrictive technologies [ie: DRM technologies]
- Third, we strongly believe that cultural policy should support actual Canadian artists. We call on the Canadian government to firmly commit to programs that support Canadian music talent. The government should make a long-term commitment to grow support mechanisms such as the Canada Music Fund and FACTOR, invest in music training and education, create limited tax shelters for copyright royalties, protect artists from inequalities in bargaining power and make collecting societies more transparent."
As for Demonoid itself, when i visited the site moments ago it simply said: "The latest changes to the site are giving us some problems - We'll be back soon"
Too good to be true? I certainly hope my favorite community-conduit to completely otherwise unavailable media reopens, or that another one, of equal quality, emerges to fill the crater left by CRIA's assault.
**EDIT [Nov 6]: Well, this has been a highly rewarding learning experience. There is always hope: Praise The Proxy Saviour!
**EDIT [Nov 10]: And sometimes hopes are dashed... The latest from Demonoid:
"The CRIA threatened the company renting the servers to us, and because of this it is not possible to keep the site online. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your understanding."
...La lucha sigue. ¡Venceremos!
