The Pirate Bay
hideThe Pirate Bay is a Swedish website that indexes and tracks BitTorrent (.torrent) files. It bills itself as "the world's largest BitTorrent tracker" and is ranked as the 106th most popular website by Alexa Internet. The website is primarily funded with advertisements shown next to torrent listings. Initially established in November 2003 by the Swedish anti-copyright organization Piratbyrån (The Piracy Bureau), it had been operating as a separate organization since October 2004. The website is currently run by Gottfrid Svartholm (anakata) and Fredrik Neij (TiAMO).
On 31 May 2006, the website's servers, located in Stockholm, were raided by Swedish police, causing it to go offline for three days. According to the Los Angeles Times, The Pirate Bay is "one of the world's largest facilitators of illegal downloading", and "the most visible member of a burgeoning international anti-copyright—or pro-piracy—movement". On 15 November 2008, The Pirate Bay announced that it had reached over 25 million unique peers. The Pirate Bay has about 3,600,000 registered users, although registration is not necessary to download non-pornographic torrents.
The Pirate Bay has been involved in a number of lawsuits, both as the plaintiff and as the defendant. On 17 April 2009, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström were found guilty of assistance to copyright infringement and sentenced to one year in prison and payment of a fine of 30 million SEK (app. 3,620,000 USD; 2,385,000 GBP; or 2,684,000 EUR), after a trial of nine days. The defendants have appealed against the verdict and the judge was accused of bias. Despite the trial the website has been unaffected.
On 30 June 2009, Swedish advertising company Global Gaming Factory X AB announced its intention to buy the site for MSEK 60 (MSEK 30 in cash, MSEK 30 in GGF stock). The transaction is planned to take place in August 2009. The Pirate Bay founders stated that the profits from the sale would be placed in an offshore account where it would be used to fund projects pertaining to 'freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openness of the internet'.
For more information about The Pirate Bay, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with pirate bay
Norway court snubs call to block The Pirate Bay
Nov 06, 2009 |
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A court in Norway on Friday rejected calls from the entertainment industry to force communications giant Telenor to block its customers from accessing popular file sharing website The Pirate Bay.
Dutch court orders Pirate Bay to remove links
Oct 22, 2009 |
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A Dutch court Thursday ordered Sweden's The Pirate Bay filesharing website to remove links to works of members of a Netherlands-based music and film copyright protection group.
Swedish court overturns landmark file sharing ruling
Oct 13, 2009 |
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A Swedish appeals court on Tuesday overturned a landmark file sharing ruling that forced an Internet service provider to reveal an Internet user's identity to five publishers.
Pirate Bay suitor served with bankruptcy petition: court
Sep 18, 2009 |
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Pirate Bay suitor Global Gaming Factory has been served with a bankruptcy petition, a Stockholm court official said on Friday, after a former board member filed a complaint over unpaid debts.
Would-be Pirate Bay buyer ousted from stock market
Sep 09, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The would-be buyer of Swedish file-sharing Web site The Pirate Bay has been kicked out of the smallcap stock exchange Aktietorget for misleading the market, the Swedish trading platform said Wednesday.
Swedish regulator to Pirate Bay suitor: where's the money?
Aug 27, 2009 |
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Swedish financial regulators want Pirate Bay suitor Global Gaming Factory to reveal how it will fund its takeover of the popular download site despite GGF chief executive Hans Pandeya insisting Thursday that ...
The Pirate Bay back online after fine threat
Aug 25, 2009 |
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The Pirate Bay, one of the world's most popular filesharing websites, was back online on Tuesday after being shut down when a Swedish court threatened its bandwith supplier with a hefty fine.
Fine threat puts The Pirate Bay off the Intenet
Aug 25, 2009 |
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The Pirate Bay, one of the world's most popular filesharing websites, is off the Internet after a Swedish court threatened its bandwith supplier with a hefty fine, news reports said Tuesday.
Pirate Party swashbuckles into Finnish politics
Aug 19, 2009 |
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The Pirate Party, which first rose to prominence in Sweden during June's European elections, has now been officially launched in Finland, the group's leader said on Wednesday.
Pirate Bay to challenge Dutch ban
Aug 10, 2009 |
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The owners of Swedish filesharing website The Pirate Bay will seek a retrial after a Dutch court temporarily banned its activities in the Netherlands, their lawyer said on Monday.
Pirate Bay suitor GGF set for deal with record label
Aug 05, 2009 |
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Global Gaming Factory (GGF), the Swedish online games firm set to acquire illegal download site The Pirate Bay, said on Wednesday it was close to signing a record deal with a major record company.
Swedish crackdown on piracy leads to fall in illegal filesharing
Aug 04, 2009 |
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Sweden's tough new anti-piracy law has led to a sharp drop in illegal downloading but critics say the effects will be short-lived and argue it is an excessive breach of personal privacy.
Dutch court rules Pirate Bay must quit Netherlands
Jul 30, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A Dutch court ruled Thursday that three men connected with Web site The Pirate Bay must block traffic between the site and the Netherlands within 10 days.
Hollywood movie houses sue Pirate Bay operators
Jul 28, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A dozen Hollywood production companies have filed a new lawsuit against file-sharing Web site The Pirate Bay.
Would-be buyer of Pirate Bay backpedals in court
Jul 21, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The would-be buyer of Web site The Pirate Bay backpedaled in a Dutch court Tuesday, saying that it is uncertain whether the purchase will ever be completed.
