The vast majority
The vast majority of TPB users aren't registered. So only the commentards then!
The Pirate Bay has been compromised by an Argentinean hacker who made off with usernames, email and internet addresses of more than four million people signed up to the BitTorrent tracker site. KrebsOnSecurity.com reported yesterday that Ch Russo broke into TPB’s system and grabbed the info from the notorious website, which …
Why would you create an unnecessary account at a place of questionable legality? Just so you could leave a bolder and brighter trail for the RIAA/MPAA to track down? This is like kids wearing a pot leaf shirt to school and then wondering why they got busted. Darwinism rules.
... I *think* [1] that the main reason that people register, is so they can leave thanks and comments about torrents ... including the legal ones :-)
Though I'm not sure you can get a list of the pr0n torrents without being signed in ... but I'm not sure ...
[1] In general, I think people that leave comments here and elsewhere that are guessing at answers and what they think something *should* do, rather than what it does, are wasting everyone's valuable time and polluting the internet ... so consider this today's small bit of oil spill :-(
There are two types of registered users on TPB, same as there are two types of torrenter: seeds and peers (leeches). The former are those who put the torrents up there in the first place, provide initial seeds, get stuff out to people. Providers and suppliers. They need accounts in order to do so. The latter are the users that Chris O'Shea mentions, who want to leave comments on the torrents. The commentards probably don't mind if their details are lost (assuming they're not stupid enough to use the same details on all sites they use), but the seeders and uploaders are probably a bit miffed right now.
seems like it's by the book to say 'upgrading' when things are hacked. it's bad when things like this occur because often times we all register at sites, forget about the sites and a few years later the information is compromised.
i've found it handy to use disposible phone numbers & email addresses. phones will usually cost a few bucks a month but using gmail is pretty good about keeping garbage out.
i've not followed tpb all the way from both sides but I wonder if all the authority that was against tpb is now helping them to track down and punish the 'hacker'.
sites up now.
This byline, is either a very sly alan-partridge style attempt to be ironic in the face of missing irony, whilst having a (slightly worn out) pop at an already rubbish popstar, which could if I was talking to you, be taken in the right way and possibly be on the mark and extraordinarily funny. Or it's rubbish.
However online. it's possibly the most stupid byline i've ever seen. I expect more.
You want free stuff? So does Joe Random Hacker - and he's using your credit card to buy it. How does it feel when someone steals from *you*...? Well now you know how the people whose stuff you're illegally downloading feel. Not the millionaires running record labels, or the dinosaurs of the rock industry like Oasis, or the 600lb gorillas of software like Microsoft, but folks who are just barely making a living off self-produced software or music.
Not all torrents are "stolen goods" you know.
And I think you'll find most people will actually generally fork out a bit of cash for those smaller creators who actually input some small amount of good into their industries.
By buying mass produced vegetables from a supermarket chain like Tescos you're depriving honest farmers of a proper income.
By buying a mis-shapen but wholesome tomato from your local market, you're putting something back into what you're taking.
How many theiving scallies do you see stealing from the farmers market? Compared with how many you see stealing their daily supply of white lightening from Sainsburys.
Btw, re some of the above posts, I think by registering with TPB you actually get a wider choice of torrents.
Why anyone would use real details is beyond me, the sites blatantly insecure anyway, and it's not like they check your email address.