AUSTRIAN FILM OFFICIAL BOYCOTS PANEL ON “ART IN THE DIGITAL AGE”

Werner Müller, head of the Association of the Audiovisual and Film Industry of Austria, has pulled out of an appearance in Vienna next week where he was to participate in a panel discussion on “Art in the Digital Age” after learning that one of the panelists was Peter Sunde, a co-founder of Sweden’s Pirate Bay BitTorrent website. In a letter to the Green Party, which is hosting the discussion, Müller wrote, “I find it a problem that the Greens have invited a criminally convicted co-founder of a file-sharing portal to a debate – a portal that is used by professional thieves to illegally enrich themselves using the creative work of authors – actions that as you noted in the statements, are still ongoing.” (Sunde is no longer connected with the Pirate Bay and is appealing his conviction.) As reported by the website TorrentFreak, Sunde responded on Twitter, saying, “The best win you’ll have is when your enemies don’t even dare to show up, and have a lame excuse like that.”