mikeShriver

The vending machine ripped me off today. It alarms me how much this bothered me. I don’t normally buy from machines, but today, I was especially hungry, and therefore desperate. One dollar in, my selection made, but my delicious corn-based onion-themed snack remained lodged in the silver maw of commerce. I had to have this, so I broke a five at the coffee stand and threw more money at the problem, in order to push my previous bag within my ever-desperate reach. Of course, the second bag stuck, as well, and my impotent anger grew.

I gave up on the endeavor, the last the I wanted was 3 bags of Funyuns. Fuck, I didn’t really even want the first bag, it just seemed like the most appealing thing in there at the time. So, now I am out 2 dollars for 2 bags of shit snack-food that I didn’t want in the first place. And, I’m still hungry.

I call the number listed on the machine, and hang up as soon as the phone is answered. To my surprise a living human picked up the phone, and the last thing I want to do is interact with a human being. A machine was good enough to rip me off, can’t a machine be good enough to recompense me?

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The founders of The Pirate Bay have been on trial in Sweden on charges of copyright violation. Final arguments wrapped up yesterday, and a judgment should come in the next few weeks.

The most interesting note from the trial: Witness for the defense Professor Roger Wallis, who testified about the impact of file-sharing on CD sales, was asked if he would like compensation for his trouble, travel and time. Wallis declined, instead asking that flowers be sent to his wife, Görel.

The community of filesharers responded with an overwhelming show of gratitude, sending over $4,000 worth of flowers the Wallis’ home (and that was before the news his Slashdot’s front page).

Wallis, a professor of media technology at Kungliga Tekniska högskolan in Stockholm, testified against the IFPI’s assertion that CD sales declines are due largely to online downloading:

There’s a multitude of factors that effects the decline in sales. The most important reason is that the CD isn’t a practical form of distribution when people want their music on their computers or on MP3.

He also drew upon the commonly used comparison with the VCR and personal tape recorder technology that came along in the 80’s. Personal tape recorders became an important part of music culture, allowing for cheaply produced independent music to be distributed underground, away from industry control.

The outpouring of gratitude puts a positive face on a group that is often labeled as criminal. If we can keep this kind of thing up, we stand a far greater chance of winning the hearts and minds of the general population, after all, who can resist a group that regularly sends flowers to adorable old swedish women?

Tags: copyright, IFPI, TPB.