Pirate Bay Trial Watch Day 5: OMG, Is This Happening IRL?

The torrent trial of the century continues, and today, there are some pretty shocking revelations about just how much the prosecution knows. Is that a tinge of remorse I hear from The Pirate Bay dudes?

• The Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde (aka brokep) doesn’t like copyright! “I like things that are not protected by copyright, this is a non-issue.”

• The prosecutor knows the secret code for talking on the internets! “When did you meet [Gottfrid] for the first time IRL?” The judge asks, “IRL?” The prosecutor, being with it, coolly informs the judge it means “in real life,” sucka.

• Oh snap, maybe he doesn’t! The Pirate Bay’s Peter responds, “We do not use the expression IRL.” No, everything is in real life. We use AFK—away from keyboard.” This makes for a sad prosecutor: “It seems I am a little bit out of date.”

• The prosecution’s mind is blown by the chaotic, free-wheeling way TPB is run as they try to divine who’s really in charge : “Someone must ultimately decide whether to put up a certain text or graphic.” TPB’s Fredrik Neij replies, “Why? If someone believes a new text is needed, he just inputs it. Or if a graphic is ugly, someone makes a better one. The one who wants to do something just does it.”

• Peter got a lot of weird motivational email from their advertiser, kind of like everyone at Giz gets a lot of weird motivational email from Blam.

•The BILLION DOLLAR QUESTION: What is the real purpose of TPB? Peter’s response: “It is to enable users to share their material with others.” Even copyrighted stuff? “That can sometimes be the sad consequences,” Peter replied. Is that remorse I hear? Oscar-worthy acting?

And we’ve got a good week and a half left to go. [Torrent Freak]