Contact
Lifestream
I just love when people fail to see their limitations and the structure of the system they are in as well as the structure of the neighbouring systems or fields.
As it so happens, one of my favorite BitTorrent sites, The Pirate Bay, like all BitTorrent sites I assume, is receiving an abundance of unsolicited legal threats and hate mail. What else is new. Well, the thing that caught my eye yesterday evening was a letter from psychologist (Per Carlbring) with the University of Uppsala. Apparently he had been involved in the design of self-help guidebook to social phobia (SOFIE Social fobi självhjälp) that was now being distributed via the site. And he, for some unspecified reason, wanted it off the tracker.
What Per Carlbring failed to understand in the first place was that the site is perfectly legal and that he will be about as successful as a fart in the wind at removing the specific torrent. Secondly, the people behind TPB and the active members are staunch believers in free speech, they don’t just share files because it’s free but because it’s a calling and a seed to a movement of political dimensions. Thirdly, as far as I know, no torrent has ever been deleted from the tracker, and that includes well debated additions such as just about every decapitation by extremists in Iraq, severe animal cruelty, neo-nazi white pride music and anti-fascist glorifying home videos of riots and street fights. All in all free speech all around.
Per Carlbring has undoubtedly made one of the biggest blunders of his life. His name will echo in the annals of internet history as the pompous git who thought he could control information and claim intellectual property on scientific work. Fool.
I expected more, far more, from a would-be colleague in the field of psychology. Or from a would-be enlightened academic at that. There are no excuses. Scientific work must be published freely. It doesn’t matter if it’s “self-help to social phobia” or “ten easy steps to making your own nuclear fission device”.
22:40 on September 25th, 2004
Per Carlbring used to be a big time pirate himself.
Under the name Zike he teamed up with Conqueror and they released lots of "warez" for groups like Horizon, Fairlight and DefJam back in the late 80′s – early 90′s. He was also responsible for In Medias Res (a scenerelated webpage that unfortunately doesn’t exist anymore).
Maybe he f**cked up this time, but I understand that he isn’t too happy that his unfinished works are available through the torrent tracker networks.
However – he contributed alot more to the scene than 99% of you lame leechers on this page.
- Sector9 / Razor 1911 founder
08:07 on September 26th, 2004
Ahh, the irony. I guess once you start to work for "the man" you start to think like "the man". He claims that the study isn’t finished (which it isn’t). But as a psychologist he ought to probe deeper into his motives. I have a feeling it’s not all nice and fluffy. Goodness is often, if not always, a cloak for more sinister motives, at least on a macro-sociological scale.
Interesting info though. I never bothered to REALLY do a thorough web search for the name as I in disgruntlement typed up the news item. Not that it changes much. His behavior was still extremely odd, even hostile. Somehow he should know that he has as little control over what is released as any other. Having actually been involved in the scene and everything. Now he knows how it feels to be ripped off. Even if it has got nothing to do with money, it stings anyway. To me, he failed the ultimate test. A prodigy of the computer scene and a news world order that has been assimilated by the system.
ALSO. Should have updated the post, since the matter is no longer a matter. Per actually kept threatening police action and was in contact with the university legal counsel. But it seems someone told him it was a futile quest and he gave up.