Wired News’s Katie Dean covered the Grokster trial in DC yesterday, camping out with the copyfighters who waited all night to get into the hearing.
For entertainment, the file-sharing faithful brought laptops and books. Disabato also brought an iPod shuffle loaded with controversial music from Dangermouse, a DJ known for causing a kerfuffle when he illegally mixed the Beatles’ White Album with Jay Z’s The Black Album. He also included a bootleg mix called “Piracy Funds Terrorism,” by MIA and Diplo, on his iPod. He brought some small speakers to broadcast the music to others in line but wasn’t sure if the security guards around the court would let him use them.
As the night wore on, Seth Schoen, staff technologist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, ordered five pizzas to be delivered to the Supreme Court. Others took turns going for coffee.
Peer-to-peer software engineer Francis Crick (the grandson of Francis Crick, one of the discoverers of the double-helix structure of DNA) made the trip from Los Angeles. He said if the entertainment companies succeed in shutting down peer-to-peer networks, the case will impair the development of new technologies in the United States.
(via Copyfight)