Inuit all along: Pirate Bay flees Sweden for Greenland

The Pirate Bay has set sail for Greenland after receiving a tip-off suggesting the Swedish authorities were about to seize its current domain. Owners of the world’s largest file-sharing site lifted anchor on Tuesday night and moved from their current address to the .gl domain in a bid to evade Swedish cyber-cops. British …

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

TPB App update : New Hosts.txt file available, also available as a torrent.

Internet DNS need not apply..simples.

[Chris T Almighty]

Thank God they're cracking down on these dangerous criminals. The world will be a far safer place when there aren't websites that help you download TV programs.

[asdf]

careful

Just be glad this article was not written by the King Freetardhater himself AO or that post would never have made it through moderation.

[Killraven]

Re: careful

Kinda what I was thinking.

My word! Is it not incredible to have a well written and reasonable sounding (unbiased even!) article written about The Pirate Bay?

[Bill Neal]

I don't even use TPB...

...but I love hearing that the site is still running around, seemingly unstoppable. Will it ever end? It all seems like one big distraction for politics & law.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

Yes, just imagine all of the effort directed at providing stuff that people want to buy, and in formats they are happy to pay for, and at prices that reflect the major reduction in overheads of a download (or P2P transfer) compared to bricks & mortar stores.

Some smart business men/women must have thought of this?

<tumbleweed>

[Grave]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

why would they move savings over to customers when they can pocket it themselves? and to top it of, why not make customers pay MORE for the "convenience" right? pigalism at its best

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

I'll stop torrenting using TFB when 4 things happen:-

#1. ...my details aren't sold to a growing list of valued partners who know where I live & everything I buy.

#2. ...when I've the right to be forgotten / anonymous & not have past purchases profiled & stored forever.

#3 ...when Hollywood stops killing film with pointless sequels, remakes and Marvel comic reboots...

#4. ...when I can jump into a video game without the infuriating hassle of EA Ubisoft DRM...

[I Am Spartacus]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

Add to that

#5 When a DVD I buy doesn't spend 5 minutes telling me that copying DVDs is theft (its not is a copyright infringement), then 2 minutes telling me that I can't play this on an oil rig, and the 15 minutes of trailers for pointless films I don't want. I JUST WANT TO WATCH THE FRICKIN FILM - OK?

[apjanes]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

#6 When DVDs stop restricting you to a specific zone depending on where in the world you live. My mother in Canada would love to have some of the great BBC nature documentaries for her birthday but if I buy them over here I she can't play them due to her zone. So much for a connected world.

[The BigYin]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

Buy a DVD player that ignores region?

I have no issue with the regions as language packs; but the lock pisses me off something shocking.

[DaiKiwi]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

Buy her a cheap no-name chinese DVD player. They are often region free, and if not, have easily findable codes for setting them up all-region via the remote. Many major brand players do too.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

#1 Tick the box that says "No"

#2 Buy from any meat-space shop, cash. This also supports your local economy as an Indy shop is less likely to evade tax.

#3 Simply do not watch them. If they don't make money, they stop getting made.

#4 See 3. Buy Indy.

All your "conditions" are simply an attempt to justify your illegal activity. Grow up.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

#1: What makes you think they actually OBEY that request? They'll just shunt it to some shadow party and keep going. Personal information is just too valuable to pass up.

#2: No indy shops around. All drowned out of businesses by the big boxers, who overcharge and, like you said, are more likely to tax dodge.

#3: They make money whether you watch them or not. Too many zombies in the mix who will watch whatever's on. More intelligent watches have already migrated away from plain-old television and/or sip/rip what little they want.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

#1: To not respect it is an offence. Report them. You lack of inaction is not an excuse for illegal activity.

#2: They closed down because people like YOU pirated. Be the change you wish to see.

#3: They only make money if you give it to them. Be the change you wish to see.

I assume you are over 15 years old, time to start acting like it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

@AC: 11:55... wrote :

"#1: To not respect it is an offence. Report them. "

Are you a bureaucrat completely removed from reality @AC: 11:55...?

If your advice above wasn't so sadly futile I would laugh. I have complained and tried to get regulators to help when companies sold on my details without my permission after a purchase. They told me to write to every spammer and ask to be removed from their SMS and Email mailing lists. But the spammer list grew on a daily basis, and none of the companies listened-- many didn't even have a remove / unsubscribe feature, others never replied never mind complied! BTW: The offender was a well known European budget airline the one that pisses everyone off! I made the mistake of using their shopping site once and got saturated in junk mail, SMS, and nuisance phone calls.

[foo_bar_baz]

@Paul Crawford

Just a couple days ago I realized I haven't used my media server for film or tv for ages, and decided to delete all of it. My TV appetite is more than sated by Netflix, which costs me some pocket change per month. Only thing missing is sports.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: @Paul Crawford

Ah yes, Netflix that "requires use of the Microsoft Silverlight technology" so not here I'm afraid (and for how long elsewhere given MS have depreciated that?).

See this is the real problem with DRM: it serves to make life difficult for those who are willing to pay, but has not stopped the pirates from sharing the media without restrictions on what devices you can watch it on, and removing those annoying "your are probably a thief" non-skippable adverts on DVDs, etc.

Really, you would think the "better experience" should be one you pay for!

[Dan Beshear]

Re: I don't even use TPB...

>Some smart business men/women must have thought of this?

Unfortunately, they aren't the holders of the copyrights. Idiots tend to hold them.

[Khaptain]

If TPB dies

It would be interesting to see how many new "real money sales" would actually occur following the death of TPB. What's the betting it would be next to Zero ?

Whether copying Pirated software is right or wrong is another debate but I am convinced that TPB don't take sales away from anyone.

[Fibbles]

Re: If TPB dies

I suspect there would be virtually no increase in sales if the Pirate Bay were closed. Despite protestations to the contrary, I very much doubt the majority of TPB users would ever pay for their content, regardless of what price it was offered for or what format it was in.

[JDX]

Re: If TPB dies

Weren't there some stats in the news recently suggesting sales HAD increased due to strict anti-piracy laws? I forget the details, maybe someone can recall...

I think lots of people would buy rather than pirate if piracy was totally impossible/impractical. Obviously nowhere near as much stuff as they pirate now.

[Khaptain]

Re: If TPB dies

I am not sure which stats you are refering to JDX but there was an El Reg article recently, Google Takedown, where one of the head Honchos at HBO stated that piracy had no direct impact on sales. In fact he was actually quite proud because it reflected on the quality of his programs.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: If TPB dies

If I recall the same guy subsequently said he was "100%" against pirating

[DaiKiwi]

Re: If TPB dies

JDX @ 18:52 wrote:

"Weren't there some stats in the news recently suggesting sales HAD increased due to strict anti-piracy laws? I forget the details, maybe someone can recall..."

It was to do with the closure of Megaupload last year. Allegedly sales & rentals rose 4-10%.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/08/megaupload_piracy_study/

I seem to recall reports before Megaupload closed to the effect that internet traffic to/from file lockers exceeded torrent traffic. If so, then shutting down all the torrent sites - not just the flag carrier TBP - will likely increase sales by no more than 10% again.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: If TPB dies

That applies only to Microsoft products

[I Am Spartacus]

Re: If TPB dies

Easy to measure. How did DVD sales increase when the major UK ISP's blocked TBP?

Ugh? Whats that, they didnt? Oh, so that worked then.

[Gordan]

thepiratebay.ml next?

Seen as Mali is going to be giving away free domains anyway?

[Steven Roper]

Re: thepiratebay.ml next?

I can see that happening sooner rather than later. Running to Greenland won't save them, because Greenland is a dependent territory of Denmark, and Denmark is just as much up the arses of the MAFIAA as Sweden is, so they won't last long there.

[Anonymous Coward]

How long until TPB disappears from the web as we know it and emerges as a dynamic dataset in a P2P distributed network that's shared by tens/hundreds of thousands of users which would effectively make it impossible to ever stop.

[Danny 14]

Indeed, you could even call it something like "usenet"

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately usenet suffers from the blight of the *AA crowd as quite a bit has and does get erased from there because several servers are run by businesses that are subject to the DMCA.

[Woodgar]

That's why it'd be better off on Freenet.

[Charles 9]

Freenet has a couple small problems when it comes to torrents: You can't show realtime updates about torrent health on Freenet due to the lag time. That means it's harder to clean up stale torrents. It also makes searching difficult (searching on Freenet is hit-or-miss). What I would suggest is not using Freenet as a base but as a backup: a place where torrents and magnet links can be stored in bulk That way, even if a repository goes down, it can be recovered pretty easily.

Perhaps another idea they could try is a hidden Tor site (an onion site) as a mirror. It won't do much for the traffic, but it could provide some cover and allow people normally blocked at the ISP level to reach the site without the ISPs being able to know that.

[Trokair 1]

Le Sigh

On the one hand, yes they are doing illegal things that may cost gigantic corporations a tiny fraction of their revenue.

But on the other hand, those companies pull the strings on our politicians all the time so for once it is nice to see them getting beaten on their own underhanded games.

If the industry was more honest and hadn't pulled so much crap in the name of profit I might feel sorry for them. Their handeling of the situation, namely crying to their bought politicos then hireing $10 million worth of lawyers to persecute 12 year old girls who downloaded 2 albums has finished the souring process however. Forward thinking labels will spring up and provide people with what they want at a price they can afford. They already are. The "Old Guard" can either evolve into this market or watch more of the customers flock to any avenue that won't bend them over through price and DRM. Screw the greedy bastards I say.

[asdf]

Re: Le Sigh

Yep an industry that charges $17 for a CD in the late 1980s because they see lossless piracy coming and then whines about it and acts like they are surprised is pathetic. The worst is you would pay that for the two songs you cared about because that would be often the only way to get them. They then fought tooth and nail against having any kind of legal digital downloads. They loved new formats where you would have to rebuy your collection until digital came around.

[JDX]

"may cost gigantic corporations a tiny fraction of their revenue."

And thousands of artists a huge fraction of theirs.

Is this how pirates assuage their guilt... delude themselves it's a victimless crime since only giant corporations are affected, who are 'evil', like tax fraud and fraudulent insurance claims?

Please don't get into a "$17 isn't FAAAAIIR" whinge. Learn that you're not entitled to own every CD you might want, or get a better job. CDs and DVDs and games are a luxury.

[asdf]

Re: "may cost gigantic corporations a tiny fraction of their revenue."

>And thousands of artists a huge fraction of theirs.

Artists only ever got a tiny cut on CD sales. They have always made their money mostly on tour (not sure about economics of boybands and Disney acts these days but you did say artists which they are not).

>Please don't get into a "$17 isn't FAAAAIIR" whinge.

Not saying its not fair just saying treating their customers like crap is more of reason than piracy why the music labels are fighting for survival with little goodwill left towards them. Not giving customers even the option of what they want legally (decent priced digital downloads which only came about because of Apple) tends to lead them towards obtaining what they want illegally. If the music industry had came out with something like iTunes around the year 2000 without draconian drm they would be in a heck of a lot better shape today.

[Fibbles]

Re: "may cost gigantic corporations a tiny fraction of their revenue."

"Artists only ever got a tiny cut on CD sales. They have always made their money mostly on tour (not sure about economics of boybands and Disney acts these days but you did say artists which they are not)."

Can you lot please stop reposting this bullshit? Tours are used to drive album sales, not the other way around. The cost of touring sucks up most of the ticket sales with the lion's share of the profits going to the venues.

[asdf]

Re: "may cost gigantic corporations a tiny fraction of their revenue."

>Can you lot please stop reposting this bullshit? Tours are used to drive album sales, not the other way around. The cost of touring sucks up most of the ticket sales with the lion's share of the profits going to the venues.

That may well be more true now that the artists can do more self publishing and the colluding recording cartel is a lot less powerful than it use to be. I do imagine these days artists get a fairer cut of album sales. This was not always true.

[Killraven]

Re: "may cost gigantic corporations a tiny fraction of their revenue."

Fair is fair when learning about perceived entitlements.

Just like the music & movie industries have been learning that they can only go so far before their intended customer base rebels against their price gouging and market manipulation. They are, slowly, learning that people will avoid free downloads and instead willingly pay a fair price when you offer them the product they want, in a format they want, and when they want it.

[The BigYin]

Re: "may cost gigantic corporations a tiny fraction of their revenue."

JDX - well said that person.

I am not going to claim innocence, and I still use "illegal" sites...but for one use case...when the DRM or other restrictions stop me from easily using what I have paid for.

I gave them my money and they give me pain.

E.g. iPlayer on VirginMedia doesn't list films, so if I want to catch up on a film I missed I need to drag out a PC. WTF?

Their PVR has no web UI. Really? This is 2013! So when I record a programme but want to watch it on the PC I download it, watch, then delete the recording.

Some DVDs refuse to rip easily (Dark Knight is a bugger), so buy the DVD and then download to get it on the media server.

All this is content I have paid for one way or another yet am blocked from using it. I own hundreds of DVDs etc...but I'd still be called a pirate.

[Mr Anonymous]

Re: "may cost gigantic corporations a tiny fraction of their revenue."

Haven't seen many actors quitting their jobs because they loose too much cash to the, usually, young committing a _civil offence_ by disregarding copyright.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Le Sigh

"illegal things"

- That just means that the legislature has made some law against somethings

- - Probably lobbied for by someones with cash to pay for it

- - - With little bearing on whether or how much it's bad

- - - - Or how many people actually agree

There are so many laws these days, you can't even know what most of them are, just shrug and carry on . . .

[frank ly]

Pirate Bay is one hydra of many

Virgin Media, my cable ISP, do block Pirate Bay as I notice if I look at the tracker tab during my regular TV show download sessions. That doesn't matter though since there are usually at least four or more other trackers available, often with thousands of seeds/peers. The hydra's heads have lots of little heads, it's amazing and quite inspiring to watch.

I think the concentration on Pirate Bay is just sound bite politics from government and other organisations that want to be seen to be doing something without actually achieving anything that has a real effect.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Pirate Bay is one hydra of many

Trackers are mostly redundant now - it's all decentralised. Just use Magnet links...

[JDX]

Re: Pirate Bay is one hydra of many

What about the vast number of people who don't really know much about proxies and all that, and simply want a site they can download stuff from? I could see them being affected by such activities - and they probably make up the majority just as most PC users struggle past finding the link to "the internet".

"Hardcore pirates" are like Linux users... the vocal minority only. No measures are likely to quell their piracy but if it is restricted to them, that pushes the whole thing into a much more marginal position.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Pirate Bay is one hydra of many

As far as I know JDX the lack of "information" or "knowledge" ceased the day the internet was made. In the past you could hide information, change it, make it secret or try to suppress it. Now, not so much.

This applies both to the distribution of media and the distribution of the knowledge on how to get said media.

I'm not saying I agree with the ill wind, I'm just saying I perceive there is a wind and little we can do to try and stop it. Much better to hoist a sail and use it for gain. So if a free and available distribution of media is a fact, then learn to use it as part of your business model?

If I ever get to be a "content creator" (read: Make something media related to sell), then I'll have to work in the same set of rules as everyone else. But by no means do I need to bang my head against a wall. I'll just try to work around it. Make "piracy" work for the media creators. Such things as "modding" or "user based content" is this exact thing. It opens up the creative works to the customers, then charges (or supplies a service) off the back of those new needs. As suppose to trying to charge for the content, you charge for the ability to create it.

Basically, if you no longer have the ability to enforce copyright, embrace the explosion of content, by selling pencils! :)

[Goldmember]

Re: Pirate Bay is one hydra of many

@TechnicalBen "Make "piracy" work for the media creators"

The little guys cottoned onto this some time ago. Most indie bands and little known bands on small labels nowadays release their stuff for free, to drum up interest and make money from live shows. Even some of the big guns have dabbled in it; Radiohead being one. When they released InRainbows for free, liberated from a major label, they reportedly made a couple of million from 'donations', and of course the ensuing live tour.

It's high time the big labels in the industry learn to catch up and embrace the change. They've certainly had enough time and enough evidence to see it's the only way to go.

[Anonymous Coward]

Every single time

they do this, we all just log on using tor or some other proxy....

Yawn......

Nothings changed....

[Danny 14]

Re: Every single time

Cloudnymous is cheap enough with 5p per day p2p enabled vpn

[batfastad]

Re: Every single time

Tor is such an important network for enabling free speech, I don't think it's a good idea to pump downloads of some generic American TV boxset through it. Please just rent yourself a VPN connection.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Every single time

I do not believe he was referring to the downloads, just the site. Although both do happen.

Problem is there are problems for both sides. Nothing is truly hidden or untraceable. Nothing is truly fool proof or unbreakable. DRM and blocks on content copying will be broken. The hiding places will be sought out.

Seems the only way to win, is not to play watch any media?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Every single time

Correct. I use TOR to access TPB, copy the magnet link then shut TOR down.

Fortunately, you were smart enough to know this, unlike the muppets who seem to think otherwise.

Have a +1.

[Anonymous Coward]

At this rate, TPB could be the first lunar hosted web site. Will be a pain waiting for a full moon to download anything, but I can time it by the gf's consumption of Panadol.

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't believe you need a full moon. Just a moon in the sky. The moon is tidally locked last time I checked.

In fact, a full moon might make it worse. Static build up cannot help the transmission. Although I don't know if it caused any trouble for the last lot to go there, it might lower your throughput on the modem.

[Dan Beshear]

You wouldn't be waiting for a full moon, just for moonrise.

There would be a built-in minimum 2.6 second lag for information to get to the moon and back. We all know someone would constantly be complaining about the laws of physics and how they should be repealed, a Yank of course.

(Disclaimer: Yank until I figure out where to go to hide from all my student loans. Then ex-Yank.)

[Anonymous Coward]

Or they could use Alternic....

I suppose TPB could always get themselves the .pirate domain on Alternic....

[Anonymous Coward]

TPB is blocked in the UK?

News to most of us ;)

[batfastad]

Industry

Every industry throughout history has its time and I'm afraid those peddling physical media at a nice fat mark-up have had it. People might download a few rubbish films or albums for free but I really believe only a tiny percentage of those would ever actually pay money for it in the first place. I'd bet that it's not illegal downloads that harms the media cartels' profits but another form of piracy... buying/selling second hand.

The internet is the world's biggest marketplace, allowing people to sell their old tat at a fair price truly determined by the market, with no money heading to the cartels. I'm a big buyer and seller of second media so hope the right to re-sale is never repealed. In fact I generally buy a boxset, watch it, sell it and buy another. All for the net spend of a single boxset. Thankfully DRM hasn't been installed in human brains yet but I suppose that's only a matter of time.

But I think it's bizarre why flea-bay etc (and manufacturers of hardware devices that strongly encourage the downloading of media) aren't persecuted in the same way and for exactly the same reasons as so many torrent websites. Well it's easier to go after the little guy rather than thousands of shareholders isn't it.

[Helena Handcart]

With all this moving around from country to country, does anyone else hear the Benny Hill music...?

[Soruk]

And back they go..

They're back on the .se domain, as the Greenland authorities have already suspended the domain.

[Anonymous Coward]

Prison awaits

There is a nice prison cell waiting with the name tag: The clueless Pirate Bay Boys. they can move the server anywhere they want and they are still going to prison.

[Mystic Megabyte]

Re: Prison awaits

I used to work in the entertainment industry. I can tell you that there are more criminals in that industry than any other. For example, the Hollywood casting couch has not gone away.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wont somebody think of the true criminals

... I have not bought a dodgy copy of a DVD while in a bar for years.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bastards

Oh well, I only started using TPB after they started blocking it. I can tolerate a lot, but DONT censor my internet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Being legal is frustrating

When I bought "Fantastic Mr. Fox" for my children, I bought the copy (paid more) for the edition that came with a digital copy. This digital copy was copied onto an SD card and is used on the Portable DVD player (which can play films on SD card too) in the car - this digital copy appears to have no DRM restrictions. My children are very happy.

When I bought a triple-play (Blu-ray, DVD, "digital") pack of the latest Harry Potter films I discovered, too late, that to play the digital copy, I had to install some vile piece of software from Warner Bros, then download the films from the internet (glad I've got a decent broadband connection speed!) and despite claims to the contrary I have failed to make this film play on any other device other than the one I originally downloaded it to.

For a while my daughters watched the DVD copy in the car until the inevitable happened and the DVD got scratched - so in my frustration I actually torrented a DRM-free version of film(s) and went back to using the SD Card.

I'm just annoyed that it is extremely frustrating and limiting to be on the right side of copyright infringement - even for stuff you have legally bought.

[And finally, I'd like to note, that I ripped a large portion of my most watched DVD collection to a hard drive to remove the unskippable FACT warnings at the start - because I, as somebody who had bought the DVD, didn't need the finger wagging thank-you-very-much]