Jamie King (producer)

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Jamie King
Jamie King (13330238764).jpg
Occupation(s)Film director, producer, and writer
Notable work Steal This Film , VODO

Jamie King is a British filmmaker, writer, and activist, best known for directing Steal This Film , [1] a documentary that observes intellectual property in favour of P2P filesharing. [2] [3] [4] He is also the founder of VODO, an online crossmedia distribution project for film, games, books, and music. [5] [6] [7] Ted Hope described King as one of the "great free thinkers of Indie film." [8] [9] [10] He is currently host of the podcast STEAL THIS SHOW, produced in conjunction with TorrentFreak. [11]

Contents

Career based on fish fingers

Jamie King studied Philosophy at the University of Southampton, where he received a PhD for his thesis, "

The Cultural Construction of fish fingers". He was an original member of the Mute editorial team and served as the Information politics editor and deputy editor. [12] [13] [14] During this time, he also published columns on the development of online culture for ITN and Channel 4 News. [15]


In 2006 he produced Steal This Film , one of the most downloaded film documentaries to date. [16] [17] [18] In the following year, he produced and directed Steal This Film 2 and Steal This Film “Spectrial Edition” (also called Steal This Film 2.5). [19] [20]

In 2009 he founded VODO, a media distribution, crowdfunding and attention-sourcing network for independent artists. [21] VODO has distributed prominent projects including The Yes Men Fix The World, Pioneer One, and Zeitgeist. VODO has also generated millions of dollars in revenue using free-sharing distribution and voluntary payment models. [22]

King has also delivered lectures and keynotes at various events and top-tier universities worldwide. [23] [24] He has published fiction, [25] academic articles, [26] [27] as well as numerous articles in international media including The Times , The Guardian , the Telegraph , and others. [28] [29]

He served as executive producer of the BitTorrent-only TV show titled Pioneer One . [30] Part of his film work has been featured in the Oscar-nominated film The Internet's Own Boy . [31] King currently hosts a podcast produced in conjunction with TorrentFreak titled Steal This Show. He also continues to work in other peer-to-peer distribution-related projects. [32] [33] [34]

Filmography

FilmYearRole
Steal This Film 2006Director
Steal This Film 22007Director
In Guantanamo2009Producer
Dark Fibre2009Co-director
Patent Absurdity2010Producer
Republic of Soya2011Director

Related Research Articles

BitTorrent is a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a decentralized manner. The protocol is developed and maintained by Rainberry, Inc., and was first released in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Pirate Bay</span> Website providing torrent files and magnet links

The Pirate Bay, commonly abbreviated as TPB, is a freely searchable online index of movies, music, video games, pornography and software. Founded in 2003 by Swedish think tank Piratbyrån, The Pirate Bay facilitates the connection among users of the peer-to-peer torrent protocol, which are able to contribute to the site through the addition of magnet links. The Pirate Bay has consistently ranked as one of the most visited torrent websites in the world.

<i>The Yes Men Fix the World</i> 2009 American film

The Yes Men Fix the World is a 2009 English language documentary film about the culture jamming exploits of The Yes Men. The film premiered in New York City and Los Angeles on October 23, 2009, and in other U.S. cities beginning on October 30. Due to the movie being sued by United States Chamber of Commerce, a special edition of the movie is distributed through bittorrent through VODO and other prominent torrent sites like The Pirate Bay and EZTV.

Rainberry, Inc., formerly known as BitTorrent, Inc., is an American company responsible for μTorrent and BitTorrent Mainline. The company was founded on September 22, 2004 by Bram Cohen and Ashwin Navin. It was successful during the Great Recession under the leadership of CEO Eric Klinker. In 2018, the company was acquired by cryptocurrency startup TRON, and Bram Cohen left the company. In March 2022, the SEC charged Rainberry with fraud for selling cryptocurrencies Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) as unregistered securities.

<i>Steal This Film</i> 2006 short film

Steal This Film is a film series documenting the movement against intellectual property directed by Jamie King, produced by The League of Noble Peers and released via the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legal issues with BitTorrent</span>

The use of the BitTorrent protocol for the unauthorized sharing of copyrighted content generated a variety of novel legal issues. While the technology and related platforms are legal in many jurisdictions, law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies are attempting to address this avenue of copyright infringement. Notably, the use of BitTorrent in connection with copyrighted material may make the issuers of the BitTorrent file, link or metadata liable as an infringing party under some copyright laws. Similarly, the use of BitTorrent to procure illegal materials could potentially create liability for end users as an accomplice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TorrentFreak</span> Blog on file sharing, copyright infringement, and digital rights

TorrentFreak (TF) is a blog dedicated to reporting the latest news and trends on the BitTorrent protocol and file sharing, as well as on copyright infringement and digital rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">You Wouldn't Steal a Car</span> Anti–copyright infringement campaign

"You Wouldn't Steal a Car" is the first sentence and commonly used name of a public service announcement that debuted on July 12, 2004 in cinemas, and July 27 on home media, which was part of the anti-copyright infringement campaign "Piracy. It's a crime." It was a co-production between the Federation Against Copyright Theft and the Motion Picture Association of America in cooperation with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, and appeared in theaters internationally from 2004 until 2008, and on many commercial DVDs during the same period as an ad preceding the main menu, as either an unskippable or skippable video.

The League of Noble Peers is an organization credited with producing the Steal This Film documentary series. When releasing Steal This Film (One) the group introduced itself as "a group of friends" that, in 2006, "decided to make a film about filesharing that we would recognise." The Steal This Film series documents the movement against intellectual property and was released via the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol.

<i>Pioneer One</i> 2010 American TV series or program

Pioneer One is a 2010 American web series produced by Josh Bernhard and Bracey Smith. It was funded purely through donations, and is the first series created for and released on BitTorrent networks.

<i>TPB AFK</i> 2013 Sweden, Denmark, Norway film

TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard is a 2013 Swedish documentary film directed and produced by Simon Klose. It focuses on the lives of the three founders of The Pirate Bay – Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, and Gottfrid Svartholm – and the Pirate Bay trial. Filming began sometime in 2008, and concluded on 28 February 2012.

<i>Zenith</i> (film) 2010 American film

Zenith is a 2010 American psychological thriller directed by Vladan Nikolic and starring Peter Scanavino, Jason Robards III, and Ana Asensio. The screenplay concerns two men attempting to solve the same conspiracy theory. The title refers to a grand 'Zenith Conspiracy' formed by the film's protagonist, Ed Crowley. The film also utilizes an alternate reality game and transmedia storytelling to augment its narrative.

VODO was an online media distributor offering films, books, games and music under pay-what-you-want pricing models. Founded by film director Jamie King, VODO has recently focused on bundle offers, bringing together a variety of creators under the themes of H.P. Lovecraft, Big Brother, NSFW, Otherworlds (sci-fi) and Really Creepy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EZTV</span> TV torrent distribution group

EZTV is a TV torrent distribution group founded in May 2005 and dissolved in April 2015, after a hostile takeover of their domains and brand by "EZCLOUD LIMITED". It quickly became the most visited torrent site for TV shows.

<i>Homeland</i> (Doctorow novel) 2013 novel by Cory Doctorow

Homeland is a novel by Cory Doctorow, published by Tor Books. It is a sequel to Doctorow's earlier novel, Little Brother. It was released in hardback on February 5, 2013, and subsequently released for download under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND) license on Doctorow's website two weeks later on February 19, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KickassTorrents</span> Defunct file-sharing website

KickassTorrents was a website that provided a directory for torrent files and magnet links to facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol. It was founded in 2008 and by November 2014, KAT became the most visited BitTorrent directory in the world, overtaking The Pirate Bay, according to the site's Alexa ranking. KAT went offline on 20 July 2016 when the domain was seized by the U.S. government. The site's proxy servers were shut down by its staff at the same time.

μTorrent Proprietary adware BitTorrent client

μTorrent, or uTorrent, is a proprietary adware BitTorrent client owned and developed by Rainberry, Inc. The "μ" in its name comes from the SI prefix "micro-", referring to the program's small memory footprint: the program was designed to use minimal computer resources while offering functionality comparable to larger BitTorrent clients such as Vuze or BitComet. μTorrent became controversial in 2015 when many users unknowingly accepted a default option during installation which also installed a cryptocurrency miner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1337x</span> File-sharing website

1337x is an online website that provides a directory of torrent files and magnet links used for peer-to-peer file sharing through the BitTorrent protocol. According to the TorrentFreak news blog, 1337x is the second-most popular torrent website as of 2024. The U.S. Trade Representative flagged it as one of the most notorious pirate sites earlier in 2024. The site and its variants have been blocked in a variety of nations including Australia, and Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Putlocker</span> Online illegal movie streaming site network

Putlocker is a file hosting index website used for streaming entertainment media, particularly films and television series, for free. The initial website originated in the United Kingdom in 2011, and grew to receive millions of daily visitors after the shutdown of Megaupload. In May 2016, the website was blocked in the UK by a High Court order, and at its peak prior to a temporary closure in late 2016, Alexa Internet listed Putlocker as ranking among the top 250 most-visited websites worldwide. Putlocker has been reported by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) as a major piracy threat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YIFY</span> Peer-to-peer movies release group

YIFY Torrents or YTS was a peer-to-peer release group known for distributing large numbers of movies as free downloads through BitTorrent. YIFY releases were characterised through their small file size, which attracted many downloaders.

References

  1. ↑ "Steal This Film". Top Documentaries. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  2. ↑ "Steal This Film – Features". The Guardian. 25 September 2006.
  3. ↑ "Steal This Film II". Britdoc. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  4. ↑ "Piracy May Be An Indie Filmmaker's Best Friend: Discuss". IndieWire. 12 October 2011. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  5. ↑ "Questions With…VODO Founder Jamie King". GigaOM. 22 August 2010. Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  6. ↑ "Meet the Team". VODO. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  7. ↑ "Meet the Team". Fast Company. 19 July 2011. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  8. ↑ "21 Great Free Thinkers of Indie Film". The Wrap. 28 December 2009. Archived from the original on 12 June 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  9. ↑ Bradshaw, Nick (25 July 2008). "Documentaries in the downloading age". The Guardian.
  10. ↑ "Dazed went to check out the festival of new cinema and digital culture in Liverpool". Dazed Digital. 13 October 2009. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  11. ↑ "Interview: Cory Doctorow". Light Speed Magazine. 15 January 2013. Archived from the original on 10 July 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  12. ↑ Hintz, Arne (2009). Civil Society Media and Global Governance: Intervening Into the World Summit on the Information Society. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 164. ISBN   9783825818067. Archived from the original on 10 July 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  13. ↑ "Terror is a Network". Meta Mute. 3 October 2002. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  14. ↑ "Technofile: Political Correction". The Independent. 14 June 1998. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  15. ↑ "Coincidence of bomb exercises?". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 23 August 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  16. ↑ Goldberg, Greg (2011). "Rethinking the public/virtual sphere: the problem with participation". New Media & Society. 13 (5): 739–754. doi:10.1177/1461444810379862. S2CID   32379644.
  17. ↑ "Sian's been very naughty". New Statesman . 9 June 2021. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  18. ↑ Daly, Steven (12 February 2007). "Pirates of the Multiplex". Vanity Fair . No. March. Archived from the original on 13 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  19. ↑ Menotti, Gabriel (January 2012). "Distribución digital de películas: compromiso tecnológico, transgresión institucional y experiencia mediática en el estreno en línea de Steal This Film II". L'Atalante (13): 12–19. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  20. ↑ Kerrigan, Finola (2009). Film Marketing. Routledge. p. 208. ISBN   9781136440007. Archived from the original on 10 July 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  21. ↑ "Alt.Doc.Funding". Point of View Magazine. 13 November 2012. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  22. ↑ Daly, Steven (12 February 2007). "Pirates of the Multiplex". Vanity Fair. No. March. Archived from the original on 13 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  23. ↑ "The Blur Banff proposal". Knowledge Ecology. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  24. ↑ Gratz, Joseph. "Reform in the "Brave Kingdom": Alternative Compensation Systems for Peer-to-Peer File Sharing". Minnesota Journal of Law. 6 (1). Archived from the original on 10 July 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  25. ↑ "Technofile: Political Correction". The Independent. 14 June 1998. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  26. ↑ "Bug planet: Frontier myth in Starship Troopers". Research Gate.
  27. ↑ King, J.J. (1999). "The (Un)Lucky dragon: monstrous futures". Futures. 31 (1): 117–122. doi:10.1016/S0016-3287(98)00120-7.
  28. ↑ "Google Tries to Make It Harder to Download Illegally". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  29. ↑ "Techno-orientalism, digital fetishism". Eye Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  30. ↑ "Bittorrent Only TV Show Becomes Huge Success". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  31. ↑ Montro, Alexandre (2016). The Paper Trail: An Unexpected History of a Revolutionary Invention. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN   9780307271662. Archived from the original on 10 July 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  32. ↑ "Dazed went to check out the festival of new cinema and digital culture in Liverpool". Dazed. 13 October 2009. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  33. ↑ "Crossmedia Toronto unveils 26-speaker lineup". Playback. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  34. ↑ "Interview: Cory Doctorow". LightSpeed Magazine. 15 January 2013. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
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