the flim
TPB AFK is a documentary about three computer addicts who redefined the world of media distribution with their hobby homepage The Pirate Bay. How did Tiamo, a beer crazy hardware fanatic, Brokep a tree hugging eco activist and Anakata – a paranoid hacker libertarian – get the White House to threaten the Swedish government with trade sanctions? TPB AFK explores what Hollywood’s most hated pirates go through on a personal level.
The Pirate Bay (TPB) is the world’s biggest filesharing website. Around 20 million people use it everyday to download movies and music for free. Whenver TPB got legal takedown notices from corporate lawyers they told them to shove stuff up their ass and posted the replies on their site. This made them instant internet heroes to some and villains to others. In 2009 the founders of TPB, TiAMO (Fredrik Neij), Brokep (Peter Sunde), Anakata (Gottfrid Svartholm Warg) and their alleged financer Carl Lundström were taken to court by Hollywood’s movie studios, the four major record labels and the game industry. In April 2009 they were found guilty of assisting in making copyright content available and sentenced to one year in jail and to pay 3.6 million USD in damages. They have appealed.
In TPB AFK we also meet representatives of the movie, record and game industries who discuss their views on filesharing. The plaintiffs in the trial – MPAA, IFPI and the Antipiracybureau tell their side of the story and testify that Sweden has turned into a pirates nest.
AFK (Away From Keyboard) is computer slang for being offline. TPB AFK is the story about a group of people in a digital community who, at times, are forced to leave the internets and deal with life offline – away from keyboard.
The court of appeal hearing is scheduled to begin on September 28, 2010. TPB AFK is scheduled to be released when the trial is over.