Pirate Bay's Disappearance - Big Brother at its Best?

Update and Correction - The Pirate Bay was down because of power failure issues, apparently, and not because of legal ramifications. It was down for a period of two days only. They're back at full strength, fighting to stay up.

For those of you who look for content, legal or otherwise, it will come as no surprise that The Pirate Bay is offline. One of the founders is incarcerated, which happened some time ago, but now the site is down. Demonoid has been down for quite a while now, and ISOHunt is under threat as well.

The truly pathetic thing about the take-down of sites such as these is the fact that Google's YouTube, one of the worst sites ever regarding copyright infringement, is still operating free and clear. Google was investigated for anti-trust issues, but not enough was found to do any more than issue reprimands. If they deserved a reprimand, didn't they deserve sanctioning of some sort? I don't get that.

It's undeniable that torrent sites are mostly used for illegal content downloads, and the debate has always been whether or not the site-owners were responsible for the content uploaded and downloaded through their sites. Confusing the debate is the fact that some artists are happy about their music being distributed this way. Many new artists have used sites like thepiratebay.org to promote their stuff. The same can be said of YouTube. Look at Gangnam Style or Somebody That I Used to Know. Those songs were catapulted to the top using YouTube. Granted, the artists themselves posted that content, but that also happens on torrent sites.

One torrent site that has been back in operation for a long time, after a take-down, is Mininova. From what I can tell, they're only allowing legal content these days. The Pirate Bay, or The Promo Bay as they occasionally call the site, has been one of the most stable of the torrent sites, if not the most stable, so it won't come as any great surprise if they relocate and pop back up soon. Demonoid managed the feat more than once, I believe. They've been down now for months, however, and have stated on their site that they have no plans to get back online in the same capacity.

For the people who respect copyright issues, and use the sites to download free and legal content, it's disappointing when a well-run site is brought down. Demonoid offered the best filtering of all the sites, hands down. Their sorting capabilities were very good, as well. All other sites fall flat in comparison, so it would be nice to see them back up and running, but I won't hold  my breath.

The idea behind the internet has always been one that falls in line with open source content, and bit by bit all freedoms are being revoked. Everything we do is monitored by government agencies. You might think your porn-surfing goes unnoticed, but it doesn't. Don't even think about visiting websites with questionable content, particularly anything that might be construed as anarchical in nature.

As a writer I find I need to research many questionable topics. As a responsible writer I also understand that what I learn does not necessarily need to be published. However, I can't do research on pipe bombs or other explosive without worrying that I'm going to be hauled in for questioning. This means my writing is limited by what I'm allowed to know without drawing suspicion from some nasty men in black. George Orwell anyone? Fahrenheit 451 perhaps?

I'm not particularly paranoid, but it's been broadcast in many news programs exactly how the FBI and CIA are monitoring everything we do online. There have been multiple stories on respected news programs about the signals given off by our cellphones being used to minutely trace our whereabouts at places of interest. This isn't the information they gather from tower use, either. This is analyzing signals in the actual area where the phone was.

Our smartphones are probably the dumbest thing about us, considering they contain almost all the information there is about us. Every e-mail we send, every contact we have, every appointment we book, every instant message we send, every website we visit, every picture we take and every call we make. Kind of reminds me of the Police song Every Breath You Take, which is also known as The Stalker Song by those who have bothered to think about the lyrics.

The really scary thing for me, as a Canadian, is the fact that the monitoring carried out by these American agencies is being carried over the border - and for some reason we're allowing this! Our own government isn't saying, "Wait a minute! You don't run this country!" Homeland Security is stepping over our border and has access CCRTIS, which is our version of ViCAP. If you have a criminal record in Canada, the US knows about it, and it has been like this for many years, even before Homeland was involved. I know this because I know someone who tried to cross the border a really long time ago with a minor criminal record, and was turned back with a threat. If he ever tried to cross the border again, he would be imprisoned.

Actually, my mother faced the same issue. She had a minor charge for possession, many, many years ago. It wasn't enough for trafficking or anything, just a personal use quantity, and she was denied permission to travel to the US. Obviously they have access to our information, which is really none of their business as far as I'm concerned.

This isn't something I have to worry about personally, as I don't have a record of any kind. Hell, I don't even have moving violations on my record at the moment. No speeding tickets, or even a parking ticket. I can't say I'm as pure as the driven snow, because I'm really not. I've been into my share of mischief, to say the least, but I've never hurt anyone. These days I couldn't be bothered committing a crime. It takes too much work and effort.

As the saying goes, it's the principal of the thing. I don't think my life is the business of the US government. I'm not American, and have never wanted to be one. My only reason for going there would be Disneyland or Disneyworld, to be frank. There isn't anything else that interests me. So, how is it that their laws are infringing upon my rights? I like my privacy. I don't even like giving out my information to the stores I shop at, because it's none of their damn business.

If I join a club, or order from an online store, there's a good reason for them having my personal information. Otherwise I feel no obligation to give it out. Not only that, but I feel offended that anyone in these stores feels they can even ask me. What good is my address to these stores, other than to send me crap I don't want, or to sell that information to the highest bidder so they can send me crap I don't want?

There's a new development in Canada, too. We are apparently on the verge of doing without cash entirely. There was an article and a poll about it, even, on Huffington Post's Canadian site. In the poll people were asked if they were okay with being cashless, considering the fact that every purchase we make can be tracked to the last (no longer issued) penny. The first option was that you were okay with it, and the second was, "How will I buy my weed now?" Well, I can think of plenty of reasons I wouldn't want my purchases tracked, and none of them have to do with the purchase of pot. I don't smoke the stuff, even if I do think it should be legalized.

If I buy a vibrator, do I really want some banker snickering over my purchase? How about a sexy stripper costume intended for role playing games? As to whether or not those purchases are a likelihood, well that's my business, which is basically my point. If I'm into fetishism of some sort, do I really want the information electronically recorded, particularly when employers routinely do credit and security checks these days.

The employer doing a security check I understand, but the credit is, again, none of their damn business - not to mention the fact that every credit check done on you counts against your credit score because you look like a credit seeker. How on earth an employer can determine your employability and skill level from a credit check is completely beyond my understanding, and I've been on the hiring end. I've never felt it was my business to know what an employee did with his or her money. I don't care if they've declared bankruptcy twelve times, as long as they're not stealing money from my company, and if they're doing that it's a criminal issue, not a credit issue.

Employers are checking Facebook accounts, Twitter accounts, you name it, prying into every facet of a potential employee's life, and often they continue to do so even after the employee has been hired. How is it any of their business what an employee's status message is, as long as they're typing them out in their off-hours? A person's private life is, you guessed it, private. It amounts to the same thing as reading someone's diary when an employer does that. If they're looking to see what their employees are saying about work, then it's obvious what they really need is a more open-door policy with their employees where the staff feels like they can talk to the managers and supervisors. That's the right way to find out how your employees feel, and if there are changes that need to be made within the organization.

I'm getting sick to death of the feeling that I always have someone looking over my shoulder. I can't imagine how movie and music stars handle the paparazzi. I'd probably be incarcerated for murder. Admittedly, when it comes to my writing what I do is public. I seek out public attention as a writer in order to boost readership. Any writer who says they don't is full of crap. We write things because we feel we have something to say that's of value to the world. That's my professional life, however, and it has little to do with my personal life unless I choose to share personal information. Then it has officially entered the public domain and is no longer my private business. Someone else sharing my private details, however, is a violation.

There may come a time when my privacy is no longer under my control, and it may be because of my writing, which I'm willing to trade if it becomes necessary. If the loss of my privacy comes from some government agency telling me what I can and can't do, and monitoring my activities, that's when I get pissy about it. It's already happening, and it's far more prevalent than people like to think.

Paranoia aside, the fact is the government does not have the time or manpower to monitor every single thing. They don't actually care what I have to say. I'm not stirring up enough dissent in the masses to be an issue for them, and I probably never will be. I'm not constructing a homemade bomb with which to blow up our parliament. I'm just your typical Canadian bitching about the way things are, and not bothering to do anything other than writing what amounts to a letter that I'm not even making the effort to mail.