"PARTYBUST" The latest 'party' to be busted was a massive one, held in Drammen, (30 or so miles from Oslo, Norway) over the Easter weekend. Well over 300 people had attended the party, organised by demo-coders IT, Cryptoburners and Visual-Arts. The party was held in a school hall and 3hrs after kick-off the Police raided the building confiscating anything remotely connected with disks. Many people had travelled from all over Norway and Scandinavia to be at the party, the largest ever in Norway and were bitterly disapointed at the outcome. The tip-offs had come from two computer outlets in the centre of Oslo, Norway and staff from the two outlets attended the 'bust' much to the annoyance of the people who were there. There are quite a few things to consider when discussing these 'parties' (often called "Copyparties")... Is the point of the party just to copy software??? This is where the name "Copyparty" came from and has got the events a bad name and reputation, most events nowadays are purely meetings between fellow groups and people and more often than not, include large-scale demo coding competitions, usually over a number of days. There is no way I personally condone or excuse software piracy (it is theft after all) and if this activity was cut out then the parties wouldn't be a problem. If large scale piracy was going on then I agree the party shouldn't have gone ahead... But from what I've heard from many sources this just wasn't the case. A large coding/demo competition was due to be held and the amount of equipment such as amps, speakers, monitors, samplers, keyboards, synths, digitizers suggests this to be true. Many people had struggled with car loads of equipment intent on giving their own demos and showing other Amiga users the latest techniques and advancements. The ill-informed police took every disk they could find, the majority of which contained source-codes, music and graphics etc much to the desperation of the programmers and artists who had spent lots of time putting the bits together for the party... Everyone was bitterly disapointed and vented their anger towards both the police and the people responsible for the raid itself... In conclusion I have the following to say.. The type of large-meeting and 'party' is a very good and worthwhile idea, getting lots of Amiga owners together and everyone having fun. With the present state of affairs though it must be done officially somehow, if they are to go ahead, the users themselves must make sure nothing illegal is going on. [We all know it exists but it doesn't HAVE to happen at these meetings] If this is adhered to, mass parties can safely take place without fear of being raided or busted - everyone can enjoy themselves and demo competitions can go ahead. The future of such events and responsibility about the outcome lies in the hands of the users themselves. The party was said to be well-organised and perhaps a change of name for these kind of meetings is called for, Copyparty is both misleading and out-of-date. Any suggestions? Details about the digi-pictures (Sent by Dr Awesome/Crusaders) -------------------------------------------------------------- A: Chaos outside the schoolyard minutes after the raid itself, the party is stopped after 3hrs, many leaping from windows with their source-disks in order to save them from being confiscated. B: Dejected user leaves the party after just 3hrs, some travelled about 1,000km to the party... C: A Police van pulls up outside the school as the raid just begins.. D: The guy responsible for the raid itself, a member of staff of BJ Electronics in Oslo. Not the most popular store in Norway anymore.. E: Another of the police vans arrives at the location in Drammen. F: The group responsible for stopping the party share a laugh and a joke with the police and press.. G: A policeman radios the situation back to base.. H: Police checked everyone as they left, consficating ANY disk without checking its contents... many left by different routes in order to save their code. I: Another user stands dejected as the 'loot' is carried away by Police. Report by Martyn, based on info received from Bjorn Lynne/Arndt Kubosch. CONFERENCE IN DENMARK. ---------------------- I`ve just received an invitation to a conference in "Glostrup", Denmark from Florian Shroecker (alias DELTA of RSI/CeBit90 Demo fame) and following on from the above details, it seems that this meeting has everything right. First (and most important I think) - the guys responsible for organising it have organised it superbly, the meet is being held as a conference including a large-scale demo-competition as the main event. The Amiga Conference will take place from 29/June to 1/July in Glostrup Hall right outside Copenhagen (being the capital of Denmark). Entrance costs 80DKr (I don`t know how many pounds or dollars that is!) and the event is in a large hall with another set aside as a sleeping area. The demo-competition will be screened on a large screen and each demo will be voted in terms of coding, graphics, Music, Idea and overall - there are of course prizes, these being $1000 (yes a thousand!) for 1st place, $500 for 2nd and $250 for 3rd place... There`s an outdoor pool available for use, 12 toilets and bathing facilities unlimited power-supply and an on-location electrician to help out. Meals are available from an on-location restaurant. It seems that this is a very well organised and perfectly above-board conference with the emphasis on a good-time and having fun, let`s hope all goes well and that nothing out-of-hand goes on, and is therefore trouble free. I`d like to visit the thing for myself and report on the event but I doubt if I`ll be able to afford the trip over to Denmark.. shame, I`m sure someone will remember to send us a report of it anyway... For more details write to: Ruvan Fernando, Vestergaardsvej 22 2600 Glostrup Denmark Tel: +42 633970