Law Times

PAGE 6 COMMENT Law Times Group Publisher ....... Karen Lorimer Editorial Director ....... Gail J. Cohen Editor ........... Gretchen Drummie Associate Editor ......... Robert Todd Staff Writer ............. Glenn Kauth Copy Editor ......... Heather Gardiner CaseLaw Editor ...... Jennifer Wright Art Director .......... Alicia Adamson Production Co-ordinator .. Catherine Giles Electronic Production Specialist ............. Derek Welford Advertising Sales .... Kimberlee Pascoe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kathy Liotta Sales Co-ordinator ......... Sandy Shutt ©Law Times Inc. 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written permission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times Inc. disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. Editorial Obiter A face fit for print A couple of weeks ago the edict came down from on high: "Thou must do weekly web site videos . . . featuring you." Or words to that effect. For a print hack this was pretty much the most terrifying order I could be/ have been given in the classified number of years since I first dipped my toe into journalism. After all, print writers are just that. Print. Writers. I felt like a gazelle being taken down on the Serengeti. While I have always had great respect for broadcasters (and more so lately) there had always been a line; they do what they do and we do what we do. And so, for print types that is what I call secret squirreling: going out and gathering the dirt, scurry- ing back to our desks, and hunker- ing down behind our computers to write. Sure, some print people are comfortable moving into the broad- cast arena as commentators or to yak about their stories. But I'm not. I have never pretended to be talent- ed in broadcasting, much less comfort- able. Yes, it's okay to have my byline out there for anyone to see atop the stories I create. And any print journo who claims they don't get a rush upon seeing their name on the front page is a liar — even after a classified number of years in the business. But see, my way is to a degree, anonymous. As a reporter for a daily newspaper I reveled in the writing; not so much how- ever when they insisted on running my logo picture alongside my prose. Toiling in name recognition is fine for me; the same can't be said for facial recognition. While I'm unaware of a childhood trauma involving a cunning camera steal- ing my soul, I just don't enjoy the picture- taking. And I believe I'm not alone in this feeling as a scribe. It's a similar phenom- enon to the one where if you yell a math- ematical question in a print newsroom, the reporters turn into an oil painting. We don't do math. We're writers. This is by no means a suggestion that TV and radio types don't write. Sure they do. But they also know how to read or say what they've written into cameras or mikes. I don't. Although I have become inured to reading my editorial in an audio version that lives on our web site under the cute pink button. (Shameless plug.) That brings us to "The Paper Chase," the new Law Times weekly sneak peek at what's behind the head- lines. I decided I'd give it a go. So, entertaining fantasies of having my own makeup artist, wardrobe mistress, and forgiving lighting, I arrived for my close-up. Within minutes I was perched on the edge of a desk, under sharp-fanged fluorescent lights (the choice of the newsroom and not the studio was my brilliant idea), and done in two takes! I cringe every time I see it, but I understand the world is changing and we all — lawyers included — must adapt. And so, while I suffer no illu- sions that I'm Katie Couric, this is an invitation to visit our new feature that was put together by terrific Team Video: Jim Stubbington and Bill Hunter. A diva is born? Oh you so know it. Now, I have one question: who voted my premiere video less than five stars? I can track these things down now you know . . . — Gretchen Drummie ators of the web site the Pirate Bay, may help define the future of peer-to-peer file sharing of music, motion pictures, com- puter software, video games, and other copyrightable content as well as an extensive collection of books, including university level textbooks, which are also available to download. The Pirate Bay and similar sites do not actually themselves host copies of infringing con- tent, or actually any content. Instead, A they contain copies of BitTorrent files, which are essentially pointers to where the actual content can be down- loaded from (e.g., links which can then be used to find other users of running peer-to-peer, file-sharing software and who have copies of the target materi- al available to download). The Pirate Bay allows users to search for, or browse through, directo- ries listing such BitTorrent files. Prosecutions therefore need recent legal battle in Sweden to shut down and prosecute the oper- Pirate Bay battle could define the future Bits and to be based on contributory infringement or authorizing infringement. The size and scope of the Pirate Bay's operation — serv- ing 22 million visitors on a typical day — have made it public enemy number one for the music and movie industries in their struggle against piracy. Many users of the Pirate Bay are located in North America, the U.K., and other large European countries, with high growth coming from India and Africa. The Pirate Bay does not charge membership fees nor require users to register (although many do in fact reg- ister in order to post messages and comments — such as which files are genuine, as opposed to which files contain computer viruses or fake content). Servers used by the Pirate Bay were initially funded by a dona- tion. Ongoing operating costs are financed through revenues gen- erated from advertisements that are displayed on various pages throughout the site. Speculation Bytes By Alan Gahtan about the amount of annual rev- enue generated from such adver- tising has ranged from several thousand to over $1 million. The recent legal action against the Pirate Bay com- menced in mid-February, end- ing with a guilty verdict in April. The verdict included judgment of US$3.60 million and a one-year prison term for the operators of the Pirate Bay. However, less than a week defence lawyers later, the appealed to the Swedish Court of Appeal. A request for a retrial has also been initiated based on allegations of bias on behalf of the judge. The appeal process can take several years to work its way through, so the Pirate Bay is back online and probably www.lawtimesnews.com growing even quicker due to the wide-spread publicity. The Pirate Bay's last encounter with the law, back in 2006 when the site was raided and its servers confiscated based on allegations of copyright infringement, were said to have increased usage by a factor of five or more. The case against the Pirate Bay is important because it's probably one of the best- known BitTorrent search sites. In the past, when one's means of sharing content has been shut down, it has typically led to the emergence of technically supe- rior replacements. The last major crackdown, against Napster, led to the migration towards more mature technologies, including BitTorrent, capable of handling a much larger number of users and requiring a lot less infrastructure. Newer, less-centralized tech- nologies are much harder to shut down. Some can limit sharing to a handful of trusted friends or small communities and may therefore not even be visible to outsiders. BitTorrent June 29/JuLy 6, 2009 • Law Times Law Times Inc. 240 Edward Street, Aurora, ON • L4G 3S9 Tel: 905-841-6481 • Fax: 905-727-0017 www.lawtimesnews.com President: Stuart J. Morrison Publications Mail Agreement Number 40762529 • ISSN 0847-5083 Law Times is published 40 times a year by Law Times Inc. 240 Edward St., Aurora, Ont. L4G 3S9 • 905-841-6481. lawtimes@clbmedia.ca CIRCULATIONS & SUBSCRIPTIONS $141.75 per year in Canada (GST incl., GST Reg. #R121351134) and US$266.25 for foreign addresses. Single copies are $3.55 Circulation inquiries, postal returns and address changes should include a copy of the mailing label(s) and should be sent to Law Times Inc. 240 Edward St., Aurora, Ont. L4G 3S9. Return postage guaranteed. Contact Kristen Schulz-Lacey at: kschulz-lacey@clbmedia.ca or Tel: 905-713-4355 • Toll free: 1-888-743-3551 or Fax: 905-841-4357. ADVERTISING Advertising inquiries and materials should be directed to Sales, Law Times, 240 Edward St., Aurora, Ont. L4G 3S9 or call Karen Lorimer at 905-713-4339 klorimer@clb- media.ca, Kimberlee Pascoe at 905-713-4342 kpascoe@clbmedia.ca, or Kathy Liotta at 905- 713- 4340 kliotta@clbmedia.ca or Sandy Shutt at 905-713-4337 sshutt@clbmedia.ca Law Times is printed on newsprint containing 25-30 per cent post-consumer recycled materials. Please recycle this newspaper. and newer technologies may also employ encryption to pre- vent snooping by third parties. Another approach taken by the large music labels and other trade associations represent- ing large media has been to go after ISPs. In some cases, this approach has worked and resulted in traffic originating from those ISPs' networks to the Pirate Bay being blocked. However, workarounds are usually developed and there are many alternative sites in other jurisdictions that can take the place of the blocked site. And then there's the ultimate back- up — Google — apparently running a Google search with "filetype:torrent" as part of the search will do a half decent job of locating the BitTorrent files needed to locate and start down- loading available content or for finding other, lesser-known, BitTorrent search sites. LT Alan Gahtan is a Toronto-based technology lawyer. His web site is www.gahtan.com/alan.

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