I am Zachariah

Oh piracy, who shall save thee

Well, damnit, if Bram Cohen, the developer of Bit Torrent, isn't safe from accusations of supporting piracy, who is, hmm?

Some pissant, somewhere, with too much time on his hand (and probably not enough woman) dug a document up out Bram's archives, that apparently proves that he supports illegal activities, even though it was written before he even developped Bit Torrent, and he has unwaveringly stated that it was never intended for such nefarious purpose. (It was the pirates, i tell ya, they stole my ship - which was never meant for pirating -- and now they're the scourge of the seven seas!) ahem. Or something like that.

Here's the document, judge for yourself.

""
I am a technological activist. I have a political agenda. I am in favor of basic human rights: to free speech, to use any information and technology, to purchase and use recreational drugs, to enjoy and purchase so-called 'vices', to be free of intruders, and to privacy.

I further my goals with technology. I build systems to disseminate information, commit digital piracy, synthesize drugs, maintain untrusted contacts, purchase anonymously, and secure machines and homes. I release my code and writings freely, and publish all of my ideas early to make them unpatentable.

Technology is not a panacea. I refuse to work on technology to track users, analyze usage patterns, watermark information, censor, detect drug use, or eavesdrop. I am not naive enough to think any of those technologies could enable a 'compromise'.

Despite my emphasis on technology, I do not view laws as inherently evil. My goals are political ones, even if my techniques are not. The only way to fundamentally succeed is by changing existing laws. If I rejected all help from the political arena I would inevitably fail.

Source

posted by Zach Forrester @ 10:06 PM