It’s that time of the week again, and in the spirit of QI (who’s elves you can follow on Twitter for Quite Interesting facts) this week was all about things beginning with “p”. So sit back and relax as we bring you tales of pirates, politics and profiles (Oh my!)

Pirate Bay II: The Revenge

This week’s digital scuttlebutt has been all about the Pirate Bay court judgment which saw the site’s founders handed 12 month jail sentences and bill for £3million damages.
The founders themselves posted a notice on their blog describing the verdict as a “little speedbump on the information super highway” they also ask people not to donate money to pay the fines

“We have seen that some people that we don’t know have started collecting donations for us, so we can pay those silly fines. We firmly ask you NOT to do this. Do not gather or send any money. We do not want them since we will not pay any fines!”

Hacksters unleashed their fury at the result in a series of DDoS attacks on music industry sites, whilst a significant number of torrent sites closed down to avoid similar legal action.
Unsurprisingly some artists are pleased with the judgment, including former Beatle Paul McCartney, whilst our beloved Mr Stephen Fry confesses to mixed feelings.

What’s next for file sharing of copyrighted content? It’s too early to say, the verdict has already been appealed, so this monster will roll on for a few more years yet.

As for BitTorrent as a protocol and file sharing through said protocol? It’s not going anywhere, as a method for distributing Linux distros and creative commons licensed content it’s effective and cost-saving for the content producers.

Politics 2.0?

It’s budget time here in the UK, so we thought we’d take a little look at how our political servants are making use of the social web.
HM Treasury live-tweeted the Chancellor’s budget announcement, which allowed those of us who were interested to follow the points without being subjected to the waffle.

Huge kudos to the Parliament web team, who have not only done a sterling job of redeveloping the website recently, but also provide daily tweets on topics being debated in the commons and the lords.

If you want to see what your MP (or parliamentary candidate) is up to, we highly recommend Tweetminster, who track all the tweeting MPs and have recently launched Wire a “social Bloomberg for UK politics”. If your MP isn’t on Twitter yet, you can always contact them via They Work for You and ask ‘em why not!

Boost your Ego Search with Google Profiles

Google Profiles have been around for quite a while now, but something interesting has happened with week, with the big G announcing that relevant profiles will now be integrated into the main SERPs.

All you have to do is create your profile and make sure you tick the “Display my full name so I can be found in search” box, and Google will do the rest.

As an example, you can find our Google profile here.

And finally…

Comedian Steve Trister is attempting to do something wonderful. You know when people talk about charity giving and they say “if a million people gave £1 each…”, well that’s exactly what he’s trying to achieve.

On the 19th July, Steve will be participating in the London to Southend Bike Ride to raise money for the British Heart Foundation, and he’s asking for a million people to sponsor him £1 each to do it.

Are you one in a million? Of course you are! So go to the £1 Challenge site and make your donation…Go one, do it now! Don’t wait!