The Pirate Bay Launches Blog System For Those Worried About Censorship

from the standing-up dept

You have to hand it to the folks who run The Pirate Bay. They certainly don't hesitate to stand up for themselves and refuse to be pushed around. They've spent so much time fighting back against attempts to take them down and sue them, that they figured they might as well make use of that "core competence" in other areas. So, apparently, they're setting up a censorship-free blogging platform, which they claim will be available for those who don't want to worry about weak-willed hosting firms pulling down a blog at the first legal threat. There have been a few hosting firms who have advertised similar services, but the Pirate Bay guys have the reputation to live up to their word.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: blogs, censorship, pirate bay, takedowns
Companies: pirate bay


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Evil Mike, 16 Apr 2008 @ 11:54pm

    Oh neat!

    Now if only I had something 'censor-worthy' to blog about...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2008 @ 12:09am

    Re: Oh neat!

    Same, heh.

    Knowing them they'll try to keep it spam free. And pedophiles might as well not even bother.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Jackson tottingham, 17 Apr 2008 @ 1:27am

    Re: Re: Oh neat!

    What do you mean by that sir?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    mike allen, 17 Apr 2008 @ 1:42am

    perhaps

    more political and anti IRAA than most but a good idea.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    oregonnerd, 17 Apr 2008 @ 5:16am

    censorship-free

    Unless, of course, it crosses the line into what a government (no, hardly just the U.S., which means or just about anyone these days) considers...well, ah, a no-no. Trying to define what's wrong (even in just the U.S.) better than that is probably impossible.

    ...Governments could have so much more fun, if it just weren't for those dam' people.
    --Glenn

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Alimas, 17 Apr 2008 @ 5:29am

    Hmmm...

    This could be interesting.
    I wonder if it'll be an interesting stop for intelligent discussion or turn into a mess of flamers and ignorant rants about nothing that eventually all gets pulled down.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2008 @ 6:35am

    Re: Hmmm...

    I imagine it will start with intelligence, then slide down the slippery slope into the ignorance zone. After a couple months it will be full of "flamers and ignorant rants" along with all kinds of stuff from racist(KKK, Black Panthers, etc.) to illegal(how to buy military grade explosives).

    Cool at first, then it will just suck.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Improbus, 17 Apr 2008 @ 6:47am

    The Urge

    I feel the urge to post lots and lots of Mohammed cartoons. Think that would get a rise out of anybody?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    PRMan, 17 Apr 2008 @ 8:41am

    Maybe the RIAA will start publishing those cartoons

    Maybe riled-up terrorists will start doing for them what politicians and governments couldn't...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2008 @ 9:40am

    Re: The Urge

    Nah, not really, google already has them: http://images.google.com/images?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=Mohammed+cartoons&um=1&ie =UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi But I guess some pics of gays wearing pink burkas reading a koran might do the trick.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Lucretious, 17 Apr 2008 @ 3:14pm

    As an experiment, put up an Anti-jew or anti-Black blog and see how long it will last.

    I love the PB guys but I think northern Europe is simply too PC to allow such things.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Nasch, 17 Apr 2008 @ 8:44pm

    Re:

    An even more stringent test (in Europe) might be a holocaust denial blog.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2008 @ 7:31am

    Re: Re: Hmmm...

    While I agree with you in general, I hold out hope that even if that's the general trend we'll see well-thought bloggers who have something useful to say on touchy subjects find a home there. Even if they have undesirable neighbors, I don't read *every* blog on a given service just because I like a few of them.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Apr 2008 @ 3:48pm

    Potentially the PB has a major winner on its hands.

    Considering most any corporation now-a-days in the US is too worried about pleasing the government, and will bend over backwards at the first sign of big brother, it will be nice to have a company oversees, imunnized to US law, to host a free speech service.

    Sure you can do the very same thing in the US, but the recent godaddy case is going to generate a group of people who will scrutinize the hosting services more closely. Even your average US stoner who likes to talk about his latest water pipe addition might find this service attractive. Considering there are a number of cases where law enforcement agencies have used such content as "reasonable cause" to investigate cases and prusue arrests where no such incident should have arisen in the first place.

    This wont apply to the pot-heads only, anyone who has anything to say about any controversial topic today that may get themselves into uneeded and undeserved legal hotwater will enjoy having a company they know will stand up for their legal rights, instead of having to go through the all too common US corporation who is more concerned about next quaters returns and PR standing, than what their actual customers want. That is to say here in the US there are too many companies more concerned about their image, that they will quickly comply with any government agency to avoid any legal heat themselves.

    Presenting your company as the ONLY company in the world willing to stand up against the long arm of the law certainly can be adventageous, we will all just have to wait and see how well this service can be offered, and who cares to use it.

    Speaking out againt your government through a internationally protected medium for example, is a lot better than speaking out against them localy, where they can just say you're a terrorist, pull out the good ole Patriot Act, and whisk you away never to be seen or heard from again.

    Could be great, could be nothing, time will tell.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    V.D.V., 12 Jun 2008 @ 2:11am

    It does not work !

    If you are interested to work seriously choose another.
    I have made trial but nothing work !

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.