Piratbyrån

URL = http://piratbyran.org

Description

"Piratbyrån (The Bureau of Piracy) is not an organization, at least not primarily. First and foremost, Piratbyrån is since its beginning in 2003 an ongoing conversation. We are reflection (sic) over questions regarding copying, information infrastructure and digital culture. Within the group, using our own different experiences and skills, as in our daily encounters with other people. These conversations often bring about different kinds of activities. (Piratbyrån, 2008)

Discussion

Jonas Andersson:

"The role of Piratbyrån is manifold. This ‘cousin’ of The Pirate Bay can be described as a gateway. It provides ‘how to’ guides to file-sharing; it is also an alternative news agency, a message board, an opinion-making organization and a think-tank facilitating a platform for more academic/intellectual discourse around the phenomenon. The primary cohesion of this entity, I would argue, lies in its material grounding (its concrete nature as a de facto site for file-sharers), rather than in any alleged social cohesion or homogeneity. It is not explicitly designated to represent each and every file-sharer, yet it has become a handy tool not only for learning about the technology, but for also the social exchange that goes with it (note here the importance of human, relationally acquired ‘word-of-mouth’ knowledge). In facilitating such a pedagogic site, with message boards allowing users to share expertise, even the more factual discourse used implies a stance which is pro-file-sharing. Indeed, some message boards allow users and administrators to vent explicitly partisan views. This latter, political aspect makes the cohesion of Piratbyrån more akin to a curious mix of an ideologically instigated pamphleteering organ and a communicative hub or ‘semi-public sphere’, rather than to the Gemeinschaft of closely knit communities. The heterogeneous actors behind The Pirate Bay and Piratbyrån somehow manage to function as if they were a cleverly orchestrated unity, although their methods are often fragmented, with deliberately branch-like, ad hoc offshoots and temporary interventions.

Because of their near-ubiquitous presence in the Swedish mass media discourse around file-sharing, it could be argued that Piratbyrån and The Pirate Bay have come to appear representative of all file-sharers. This is something that was refuted by many of my respondents’ accounts. Nevertheless, this ubiquitous role needs to be taken into consideration: although Piratbyrån might not deliberately strive to represent the larger sphere of file-sharing, its mediating role makes it a force which is continuously present – materially, socially and discursively. This strategic action could in the context of the file-sharers who I interviewed be summarized as ‘maintaining doing what they are doing’ in the face of harshening legal frameworks and public disapproval. It would comprise a reinforcement of the sovereignty of material networks, communities and applications for a sharing which remains uncontrollable by legal/corporate authorities, essentially through a continuation of the activities already being routinely performed. This would strengthen the material manifestation of the phenomenon." (http://culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/view/346/359)