Pirate Bay users go overboard as new owners dangle cash The Pirate Bay has been urging users not to abandon ship following yesterday's announcement that a Swedish internet cafe software firm planned to buy the BitTorrent site for $7.8m. The site has been flooded with account deletion requests from angry users griping that TPB had sold out to Global Gaming Factory X (GGF). "In a …
Based on Aunties analysis, users will get paid for sharing, but add your article into the mix, it sounds like it'll involve a deal with the media companies. Now, assuming the media companies want in, I'm guessing The Pirate Bay will get paid for distributing content (although they will pay some nominal fee for actually having the content) and will give some of that back to users.
Sorta like a revenue sharing site, but what it means is the user is being paid under the odds, and using up their bandwidth in order to help an industry distribute content. An industry that likes to sue its own customers I hasten to add.
They pay you (presumably) a pittance for sharing the file, you fail to take into account the fact that bandwidth does actually cost money. So you actually lose money, get throttled by your ISP and get assumed to be 'evil' under the image that the media companies have tried to apply to filesharers.
Now this may tempt those who were already sharing to stay, but it's hardly likely to attract new users is it? Unless of course downloading stays free, but then how will TPB make any money?
It's a pity they've sold out, but it was always their choice
So the plan if I understand the BBC article right is for people to buy the song from P2P then distribute it to other people who will also pay for the song (a portion of which goes to each person they leech off but the majority goes to the copyright holder). Eventually if you can 'sell' enough leeches you make money?
Wouldn't that be a pyramid scheme?
I don't plan to bail (have my account deleted etc.), BUT, I think even if GGX has the best intentions (and somehow comes up with a working cost model), the horrible red tape of legal movie, tv, and music deals will make them undistributable, let alone the software, pornography, and ebooks.
Err.. *cough* oh never mind, what I meant was "I hope I can still get the Linux distros off there, surely the only thing I've ever used it for...." Yeah that's it...
hey, the site wasn't any good to look at, many seeds were infected, descriptions were meeeh,
and most of all what would you expect from pirates ? Haaaaarrrrrrrr !
I'm actually happy that people have kept half their brains.
Makes me laugh about as much as when you see seeders whining about getting thanks for their uploads.
There was this joke in an old comics, someone said "wtf ? someone stole me the bike I stole this morning !!"
pirates, 'cos AAAAARRRRRRRHHHHHHH
"'In a sudden unexpected result of the recent announcements that The Pirate Bay may be changing ownership this August, millions of loyal TPB users have and are continuing to shit massive bricks,' wrote one of the website's operators yesterday."
Why was it a "sudden unexpected result"? The site was sold to a company which will almost surely shut down its operation, and they're surprised that people want their accounts deleted?
And which of those TPB users are "loyal"? They have no loyalty. The only reason they used the site, including those who donated money to it, was to receive music and movies for zero cost. If another method came along which was quicker or easier, they would have jumped to that one. It's not about loyalty. It's about getting something for nothing.
With that single sentence, he showed exactly how delusional they really are. This is not, I repeat, NOT, a movement*. This is not about people wanting to make the world a better place. This is not about people fighting for what they believe in. This is about money, plain and simple. This is about greed. The TPB users want their entertainment for free. And the TPB management wants to make money, regardless of the method used or the legality thereof.
* Yes, I'm well aware of "The Pirate Party", but I don't consider that to be a movement any more than the Green or Reform parties in the US.
It is costing ISPs an arm and a leg, plus its costing the music biz too much.
Makes me wonder if someone has decided suing people costs too much, gets too much bad press and perhaps giving the customers what they want is a good idea....would explain this mysterious sale out of the blue.
As someone said before $7 million is chump change for the music biz, especially in exchange for an agreement from TPB 4 to hand over the site.
Also could mean a backroom deal between the music biz and isps, lower distribution costs for the music biz, a bit of money kicked back to the ISPs + no more hassle from subpeonas for subscriber details etc
not sure if it will work out like that, but perhaps someone has woken up to the concept that chasing file sharers is killing the music business and that a change of tack masked as a victory over pirates might be a good thing. Essentially giving in but still keeping the old egg off the face
As someone who has experience of owning a torrent site which was actually bigger than TPB at the time, TPB have made a huge mistake here.
Firstly, the "industry" don't want to negotiate with large torrent sites (I know because I tried, I put forward a very sensible business plan to the MPAA back in 2005 for DVDR-CORE - which they rejected completely), all they want to do is shut the sites down and get access to the usage logs.
When the MPAA sued me they originally asked for upto $150 million (the maximum statutory amount for each alleged infringement) yet in their first settlement offer to me they offered something like $100k - however if I was willing to give them user and staff info, logs and database tables they were willing to settle for a mere £2500. They don't give a damn about the sites (so long as they get shut down) it is the user data they want. They know from experience that they can send out blanket demands to millions of people for 3-7k each and that the vast majority of people will pay those demands instead of defending in court - that is far more money than they will ever get from suing a torrent site - or for that matter selling CDs and DVDs.
The sue 'em all campaign is their gravy train - if you had any details whatsoever registered with TPB I would recommend you get them deleted ASAP because I wouldn't trust a corporate entity with that data any further than I could throw Gordon Brown.
TPB in my eyes were always a little bit dodgy with the whole advertising thing - any torrent site that uses 3rd party advertising to fund itself is on very dangerous grounds when it comes to infringement proceedings - most of the smaller torrent sites I have dealt with over the years have been entirely donation based (like we were at DVDR-CORE) which seems to be a much more sensible way of doing things.
And on a final note, there is no-one -less- loyal than a file sharer. One sniff of something less than pleasant and they are off to pastures anew as TPB are now experiencing. We had 7.5 million hits per day (somewhere round that) on DVDR-CORE - but exactly zero members bothered to stay in touch and most ran for the hills within hours of the first set of litigation paperwork arriving at my door.
I can't see how they willmake it worth the bandwidth+storage+computing power+leccy cost. Unless it stays a "free DRM-free download" deal. But with the * Ass. of America leeches involved, phat chance. So it'll end up being a subscription scheme where you pay for the "service", then provide valuable (and costly) resources to the grid, for a fraction of the cost? The more you help, the more you're ripped off? And all you'll get will be re-re-reheated bad pop that you can play only on the computer used to download it? Of course it's a pessimistic view. If it stay a "free download" deal, and if it's not DRM-riddled (with a windows-only, untrusted DRM-validation software full of holes, maybe?), then I might consider joining in. After all, when you factor in the bandwidth, leccy, storage et al., "free download" is only slightly more costly than buying the physical medium, and you cut a lot of potential problems (like having to go shopping in the big blue room). So it's worth it. Now add subscription fees, and it becomes prohibitively more costly.
By the way, I am always amazed at how the big guys like Universal sell "their" songs at $2 a pop online, which is the same price as the physical version except that the buyer gets ripped off the artwork, ends up having to pay for the bandwidth and the physical storage, and can't even listen to the music on a different device. Why some people fall for that scam is beyond my imagination.
DISCLAIMER: I never, ever used torrents to download music (I much prefer getting the physical version with the nice artwork from the big blue room. It's cheaper and more reliable, too) . Why everyone assumes that it's the main use is also beyond me. Maybe it's because that is the angle used to sell the "P2P's bad, m'kay?" FUD to the sheeple?
Haven't got around to deleting my account yet, but will go do it now.
They sold out and will pay the price, which will be death.
Sure, users can make money, but what's the point if you can't share copyright files? I doubt the money they giv you will be anywhere near useful either.
Particularly since bandwidth costs money - will I profit, especially with the money I have to pay to use the site included? I doubt it.
Still, this is the internet, they will be replaced.
<quote>
Meanwhile, the Beeb, in an interview with GGF's CEO Hans Pandeya, is reporting that the company plans to "set up a system where the file-sharer actually makes money".
Pandeya said the purchase gave it access of a massive file sharing network, which was a potential boon to ISPs in reducing overloads, for example when a music company had a new piece of content. He likened it to a massive P2P grid.
</quote>
It doesn't give you access to a massive file sharing network. TPB ran a tracker and a search engine. People who downloaded the torrents ran a network in effect. They did it because they were getting things for free that they'd otherwise pay for. If I used a torrent from TPB to download a movie I would be part of a network only for that movie and only for so long as I was downloading/seeding. After that, nadda. This twat has nothing of the sort. This guy should cut out the class A's.
and say it: "I chose the big TV, the refrigerator etc" (Trainspotting) - you wanted MONEY over fame, period.
Stop BSing about it - you guys sold it out and that's all. There's nothing wrong with it as long as you can admit it - it only becomes pathetic when you try to dress it with some cheesy BS talk about higher purposes etc.
Captain Bartolomew Roberts would routinely jump to a new ship when the old one became rotten and leaky. I'm guessing this might be a good way of clouding any settlements while the PiratByran moves onto something else.
Whatever it is, you can be sure it'll be just as much of a circus and hopefully just as entertaining.
That they actually got paid for TPB is probably a bonus, I wonder WTF the purchasor is actually thinking.
no.no.no
as soon as you get the content providers running things (and they will be if mony is involved) they want control over that is hosted and it stops being the system that works and becomes another controlled channel. Probably with restrictions over gographicle regions and release dates etc (even IF they do not try drm) pepol will just stop using it as pepol have said before the only reason it works atm is it is pepol sharing cos they want to and can get what they want when they want how they want in other words THEY are in control
I totally agree that it's pointless for them now to try and coddle users abandoning ship and sugar-coat the reality of the situation trying to preserve the dubious market value of the 'site, but on the other hand it's a bit senseless for the users to be calling them sellouts.
What did they expect, that if the users wanted TPB to go on forever that somehow obligated people who donated their time to be a slave to these users?
The site was going down and they took advantage of an excessive offer. I can't fault them for that as they could have just passed on it and never seen any other offer remotely close to the selling price. What I would take issue with is them keeping the majority of the money.
IMO they should pay off their legal obligations, have a bit of pocket money so they don't go away empty handed, and either use the rest to pay legal fees for those the RIAA/MPAA pursues via trust fund or give it to charity.
One thing that does seem certain is that TPB couldn't go on like this forever. Whether it was next month or next year there is just too much political pressure mounting for any 1st world nation to allow such a spotlighted website to continue operating as they have.
Has the deal *actually* gone through yet? I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't go through in light of all the hysteria and ship abandonment by TPBs "loyal" users.
If the potential purchasers of TPB think they, as a file sharing site, can cut a deal with the media companies, they are in for a huge shock in my opinion. The sounds of their anguished cries will be drowned out by the sound of doors slamming in their face.
I'm left with the impression that they haven't actually contacted the media companies at all. This is all just someones 'bright idea'. Amazing. If it was my $7.5M i'd have done my due dilligence before jumping in.
Someone is about to throw $7.5M down the toilet. Heads will (eventually) roll/people will walk the plank etc...
I hope the TPB founders got their payment up front, cash, non serialized, and then deposited it to a bank in the Caymen Islands.
I've never used the TBP myself (couldn't be arsed to setup the port forwarding to make torrent downloads work on my home system), but what's the point of being a pirate if you can't make money by fleecing stupid twits and sticking it to the man?
> or charity
Yep, perhaps the Musicians Benevolent Fund http://www.mbf.org.uk/ and their international equivalents, which would be a great way of seeing money gets to artirsts and bypasses those evil record companies... Of course if it had been about anything other than trousering the money (advertising or buyout) they'd have been doing it months or years ago, and it would have been great propaganda against the record companies...
In memoriam TPB, The Ballad of a Voyage
=======================================
Intrepid Vikings they ventured out
upon a storm-tossed ocean,
in a leaky sealskin rowboat
with a cupholder for hand-lotion.
They wanted to be Pirates,
but navigation was a no-go
and the GPS was fuktop,
so they commandeered a logo.
By talking good bluster
or the virtue of chance,
the sails were puffed up
and that ghost-barque did dance.
Soon the rum and the grog
pissed outta the gunports
and their carefree carousing
was praised up as 'good sports'.
Thus TPB Crew
fat as kings they grew,
in days of yore
from the booty store,
getting anchored in a whore
as enemy troops massed ashore.
MAFIAA-lawyer directed
Pigs creeping softly by night
swarmed up o'er the bows
to our matelots fright.
Yarr, they'd talked a good bluster
but did put up no fight,
bent Judge buffed off the lustre
and they started to shite,
betrayed by 'their' lawyers
who'd sworn all right on the nite.
With 21" rubber truncheon
jolly-rodgered in a dungeon
tender sphincter rent asunder
Captain's fallen judge's plunder
how it happened is no wonder,
still, enough to make you chunder.
Panicked by hella unkind attention
the Capt'n whang'd autodestruct
to scuttle the beauty invention,
but first, underarm he tuckt
a compensatory nosebag
marked 'licenced swag';
the afterthought his way fukt.
Diving in lifeboats
roared the Mutinous Crew
'Tis fitting that tit,
we nailed to the ship,
but anyho0,
Rest In Pieces, TPB,
for tomorrow we sail, without you.
---CopyLeft, by BvvM, 2009---
Here's the conclusion of it all. The Pirate Bay's going the Napster way. It's dead. Whoever bought it's going to incur a total loss of all their money but they probably knew that. I suspect someone fronted the money and "encouraged" them to buy it because even with the owners going to jail it never would have died a natural death.
Now we'll go elsewhere. There are dozens of sites that give us our free music and movies. You sad loosers can bleat and bleat and whine that it's ilegal but it will NEVER stop. Paying for music is simply the domain human sheep and those too stupid to use a torrent client.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
