Peter Sunde

Interview

The 32-year old Swedish co-founder of the Pirate Bay, the world's leading file-sharing site, allowing users to exchange music, games, videos and more. Found guilty, along with his colleagues, of assisting others in copyright infringement in 2009; lost his appeal last week (after this interview took place) and now faces eight months in jail and a fine shared with his colleagues of £4.1m.

"What is the Pirate Bay?

The Pirate Bay was a project developed as part of an "anti-anti-piracy group" started in Sweden called Piratbyrån. Pirate Bay blew up because other file-sharing sites were being shut down because of legal pressure from Hollywood. Most of the other sites were run by 16-year-old guys, and when you're that age and you get a letter from a Hollywood attorney saying they're going to sue you for all the money in the world, you shut down your site. We wanted to make a statement and take on the fight. The internet is based on the idea that everyone can share whatever they want. If you start having gatekeepers you have a consumer-and-producer relationship. We didn't like the idea that corporations would take the internet and turn it into cable TV.

What philosophy lay behind your attitude?

We were influenced by Public Enemy and the KLF. And by traditional French philosophers, rather than by any US west coast libertarians.

What makes you think that the free sharing of files online can be right?

I grew up with computers. I got my first computer when I was nine, and everything I learned about computers was from copies. I wouldn't be able to program if it wasn't for illegally copying my first programming language compiler.

How did your attitude develop?

I started reading academic papers about file sharing that said it is good for the community; it's good for the artist. The only people who lose are the record companies and the studios. Copyright is based on the notion that there are certain companies who should be able to profit from culture. It's not based on the idea any more that people who create things should be able to benefit, or get money for it. Copyright is boring, so no one really wants to get to know it. It's such a big legal field, so the companies who can profit from it have a free arena to dictate terms. But the internet removed the middleman. I don't understand why that's a bad thing. I see the situation in the same way as discovering a car that runs on water and the oil companies forbidding water to be used in cars.

Why is the web important?

It means there are no gatekeepers any more. You have the power to influence people as quickly as you can connect with the internet. With Twitter and Facebook you don't even need to create your own publishing platform. You just have to have an idea. In Sweden, after the recent election, a 17-year-old immigrant girl created a Facebook group calling for a demonstration against the [rightwing, nationalist Sweden Democrats] who were voted into office. Ten hours later, 6,000 people showed up and started demonstrating." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/nov/28/internet-radicals-world-wide-web)