In recent years as filesharing has become more widespread and user-friendly, the entertainment industry has done it’s best to vilify all those who dare to defy their copyrights. No longer distinguishing between those who sell and those who share, the industry has tried to sue and/or criminalize so-called pirates out of existence. But perhaps pirates are not their enemy after all. This article over at TorrentFreak offers a very different perspective on piracy through a brief historical analysis. Below is an exerpt:

“Piracy is the sharp end of innovation, innovation by any means necessary. Large oligopolies control most of our industries and governments. Six companies control most of what we see and hear. According to The World Bank’s 2007 figures, roughly two-thirds the world’s 150 largest economies aren’t nations, but corporations. We all know the system doesn’t work quite the way it’s supposed to, yet continue to think of this inefficient system we have as ‘the free market’. Pirates upend inefficient systems – they take order and create short-term chaos, but often the long-term result of piracy on a large scale is a better system - a more efficient way of doing things. Pirates created many of our established orders out of chaos, and now that these industries are becoming inefficient in the face of new technologies, chaos is being created once again.”