OPINION: The Pirate Bay trial just growing pains
Posted in: Online TV/Music at 05/05/2009 03:12
With news that four Swedes are heading to the clink for running The Pirate Bay website, IT journalist Patrick Gray looks back at 10 years of illegal file sharing.
In June, Internet piracy as we know it turns 10.
It was June 1999 when Napster first hit the 'net, providing tech-savvy computer users with unfettered and free access to the largest catalogue of music ever assembled.
Napster was a brilliant piece of software. It allowed Internet users with Napster installed on their systems to "share" their digitised music collections with all and sundry. That meant limitless, free access to digitised recordings normally sold on CD.
Not surprisingly, music industry executives hit the roof. They dispatched the litigation drones and the service was effectively shutdown in July, 2001 after a fierce court battle in California.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/04/2559710.htm
