Pirate Party Starts Hosting The Pirate Bay

from the well-this-might-get-interesting dept

Tue, May 18th 2010 11:36am — Mike Masnick

Many people who don't follow these issues closely have long assumed that The Pirate Party and The Pirate Bay were somehow connected. That's never been true, even if the people involved in each were philosophically aligned on certain issues (but not on all issues...). Either way, it's a bit of a surprise to find out that, following the injunction against The Pirate Bay's bandwidth provider, that The Pirate Party has agreed to become the new host for The Pirate Bay. It's unclear exactly what this means, as The Pirate Party must be getting its bandwidth from another provider, who, one would imagine, is also soon to be a target for an injunction. Still, it seems like the Pirate Party is basically begging for a lawsuit to challenge these types of fourth party injunctions...

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Filed Under: bandwidth, hosting, sweden, the pirate party
Companies: pirate party, the pirate bay

43 Comments

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PRMan, 18 May 2010 @ 11:52am

I have never used the Pirate Bay...
But I follow the story with great interest, since it's the modern-day equivalent of many human rights issues.

I am under the impression that the Pirate Bay now has backups in a slew of countries and that they have determined to make it impossible to be shut down.

So far, that seems to be the case...
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 11:53am

Which pirate Party. The Swedish Pirate Party? The U.S. pirate party?
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Dark Helmet (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 11:56am

Uh oh...
"Still, it seems like the Pirate Party is basically begging for a lawsuit to challenge these types of fourth party injunctions..."

Sweet Jesus, I sure hope so. Otherwise this is just an incredibly stupid move....
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:00pm

Re: Uh oh...
I agree. The move seems like a very reckless - and unexpected - move. I don't see how this is going to play out but even if the pirate party is begging for a lawsuit and they get one, I don't see how they plan to actually win the lawsuit. and if they lose, what good can come out of it besides a complete waste of resources and money that could better be spent elsewhere.

Then again, it could just be a publicity stunt to get more people aware of the pirate party, even if they lose?
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paperbag (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 12:03pm

looks like
It looks like things are really going to be a political battle now. Be interesting to see where this goes.

I do love the image the pirate bay has up now, and the Dr.LOLCATZ press release.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:04pm

Re: Uh oh...
I just wonder how hollywood is going to approach this now. It is clearly a bigger deal now that a political party with some power is taking a stand. I'm excited to see what happens
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paperbag (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 12:05pm

Re: Uh oh...
I know one thing is for sure, which each shutdown, more people find out about the pirate bay, and they get more users. Maybe P.P. is in it for the votes? Who knows. It is def a political move, IMHO.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:11pm

Re: Re: Uh oh...
Hollywood may win this battle but this is going to be a very interesting war.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:15pm

the pirate party is busy trying to prove that they are a one trick pony pandering to people who massively profited off of aiding and abetting widespread piracy. if anything, they are likely to get their political dicks slapped in the dirt for being so stupid as to narrowly focus themselves on a single issue. they are quickly crossing the line to "attention whores".
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:17pm

Re: Re: Uh oh...
Imagine how all of this is going to wind up in our history books (well, by then, books will be obsolete) 100 years from now and how it was Intellectual Property vs Civil liberties and all the various strategic moves that each side made etc... that eventually led up to civil liberties destroying intellectual property after many many years of battle and war.

Kinda like how we read our history books of the allies vs the the Axis and what various strategic moves each side took and how eventually the allied forces won. All of this will make history one day.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:17pm

Re:
You forgot to mention the masnick.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 12:18pm

Re: Re: Uh oh...
"Maybe P.P. is in it for the votes?"

I suppose that works in most European political arenas, where the PP is one of a myriad of political parties. The problem with this move is obvious however when you consider the likely response from a limited party arena like we have in the United States.

Here we have two parties that pretend to be on opposite ends of the political spectrum (I won't get into why I think this is just a facade). What you'll notice is that neither party really spends all that much time competing for the far spectrum votes because they can already count on them (although the Republicans have changed this to a small degree). The votes that matter are in the middle. That's why you hear about Reagan Democrats and Clinton Soccer Moms. Those are the votes that count.

And to the masses, all they're going to see is a headline or soundbyte of how a political group called the Pirate Party is directly befriending a maligned website that's been sued a bunch of times successfully in more than one nation and has something to do with these weird things ominously named "torrents" (first thing I used to think of was a storm, or a torrent of blood, a phrase found in plenty of novels). This move loses not just one side of the medium voter, it loses almost all of them.

For those of us in the States that thought the Pirate Party might be a viable platform for supporting consumer rights, as is their stated charter, this is disappointing....
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tuna, 18 May 2010 @ 12:18pm

Re:
Name a political party that isn't an attention whore.
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Tor (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 12:18pm

Media exposure
The Swedish Pirate Party has had some trouble with getting exposure in the media lately where people have instead been busy discussing the risk of a small xenophobic party entering the parliament in the election this autumn (in my view this debate has only given that horrible party unnecessary attention).

So this move will give the Pirate Party (PP) lots of well-needed media exposure. Furthermore, it could be somewhat of a headache for the MPAA and IFPI who now can only attack The Pirate Bay at the cost of increasing the chance of the PP entering the parliament due to the reactions. Also, I think that the PP uses Bahnhof (mentioned in these two Techdirt posts) as their ISP and have tried to make themselves a name as an ISP that stands up for user rights (eg. the right to privacy). So it could both be difficult to attack the secondary ISP and if they manage to successfully do that then the only option for them would probably be to cut all access to the Pirate Party which would be interpreted by many as a form of political censorship.
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Tor (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 12:23pm

Re: Re: Re: Uh oh...
I think you misjudge how the Swedish people look at the Pirate Bay. If we have between 1-2 million people using TPB out of a population of 9 million people, that should say something.

If they are not seen in the media The Pirate Party cannot the middle voters anyway, so the media exposure is the key and this gives them that and also provides something that make people engaged in these kinds of issues.

I'm not sure if it's a good move in the long run, but it is quite likely to rally up some extra support for PP now in the election times.
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Esahc (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 12:24pm

Re: Re:
The Guns & Dope Party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns_and_Dope_Party

oh wait . .
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:25pm

Re:
They are focusing on one issue where many people who hold many differing positions on other issues all hold the same position on this issue. When the consensus is that IP is bad, or when it becomes so, across most of the people who hold various positions on other issues then you will see IP vanish, I almost guarantee it.

and the fact that they can have so much political clout/impact, money, and votes despite the fact that they are focusing only on one issue and the mainstream media practically ignores them only emphasizes the important nature of this one issue they are focusing on.

Yeah a court may rule against them on this one, but that's hardly the end of the war and a court ruling is hardly going to change public opinion. Public opinion will continue to hate intellectual property, that sentiment will grow, and the people will force politicians to reflect public sentiment (ie: either via votes, which is the most likely case; or via a revolution consisting of massive protests).
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Designerfx (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 12:27pm

Re: Re: Uh oh...
I think so. It's a perfect timing too, because in this way it's now going to be before the election (remember how the appeal for piratebay was timed as after the election)?
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:29pm

Re: Re:
TAM thinks that political parties should get votes by remaining unknown. Typical TAM, and IP maximist, logic.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:35pm

Re:
Kinda like all political parties?
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:36pm

Re: Media exposure
not really hard. the pirate party can stay online, thepiratebay.org cant. even a moronic mismanaged isp can manage to handle that difference. so your entire point is lost.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:37pm

Re:
N/M, I just read the article. It was the Swedish Pirate Party. Well, this looks like it's going to be a long and drawn out war.
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Tyanna, 18 May 2010 @ 12:38pm

Read this earlier on Slashdot. Have to say, this is the most expensive game of whack-a-mole I've ever seen. :P

How much money does the entertainment industry mold into a huge hammer to take down The Pirate Bay, only for it to pop back up hours later.

Though amusing, I'm sure the money and time could be better used elsewhere.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 12:43pm

I found it interesting how one can simply post a magnet link ( i.e. 3e16157f0879eb43e9e51f45d485feff90a77283 ) and you are up and running with a torrent client. It really is an impossible thing to stop, there's futility and then there's OBVIOUS FUTILITY.

I have to wonder the rationality of the legal threats. Do they honestly think taking out TPB will put a dent in the flow? It brings publicity, challenge to people with nothing better to do than simply try and overcome The Man.

Fun to witness play out, however.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 1:16pm

Re:
Right, because traditionally, political groups have been the shy, retiring sort.
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BigKeithO (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 1:20pm

Fill the Need?
Maybe instead of playing whack-a-mole the entertainment industry should just put up their own tracker with some reasonable prices? Is it really that hard to see that The Pirate Bay is filling a need?

Put up a private tracker with current releases, charge people monthly access fee's (or even $5.00/movie and say $0.50/song) and people would flock to it.

Bye-bye Pirate Bay.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 1:25pm

Awesome news! I'm donating to the pirate party.
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Alan Gerow (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 1:39pm

Re: Re: Uh oh...
"what good can come out of it besides a complete waste of resources and money that could better be spent elsewhere"

If they win: Judicial Precedence limiting nth-party liability.
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Alan Gerow (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 1:44pm

Re: Re: Media exposure
"so your entire point is lost."

That's not how a debate works. Striking down one point does not deconstruct an entire argument. Particularly considering you just attacked the last least important point the person made.
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Free Capitalist (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 1:46pm

Re: Re: Media exposure
even a moronic mismanaged isp can manage to handle that difference.

That's a nice fantasy. In reality the ISP would be dealing with IP-only restrictions within a single customer's address space. Soft filtering is, of course, easily mismanaged at the ISP level and even more readily defeated by relocation and proxy within the customer's network.

And, of course, soft-filtering is just another way to degrade the service for all of the ISP's customers, not just the PP. Blocked traffic still uses bandwidth on the ingress, and filters use CPU time on the routers.

BTW who is going to pay for all of the fantastical management software and unplanned capacity that the entertainment industry wants?
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iNtrigued (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 1:54pm

Re: Fill the Need?
Well for one, that would require them to actual adapt their business model. And we all know how willing they are to do that. Secondly, they have no concept of pricing when it comes to digital versions. They would want to charge the same price as an actual DVD. Just look at what some ebook companies are doing.
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The Groove Tiger (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 2:02pm

Re:
You must know a lot about being a one trick pony.
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NAMELESS ONE, 18 May 2010 @ 2:02pm

this is the smartist move
it puts hollywood into a place they dont want suing and giving press to that which can defeat them
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BigKeithO (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 2:11pm

Re: Re: Fill the Need?
Yea, just wishful thinking on my part. Why put a reasonably priced digital version online when you can fleece people for $30 a Blu-ray?? I've said it time and time again, put up an online store/tracker with prices people are willing to pay for digital goods and they'd clean up.

Hell just do what Netflix does and allow streaming, I don't need to own the damn movie if I can access it whenever I want. I couldn't share it on P2P that way either, but no, no Netflix or Hulu in Canada. Damn Canadians, such pirates! We should be on the special 301 watch list! Oh wait...
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 2:28pm

Re:
Swedish. the USA does not even have a registered pirate party as of yet.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 2:42pm

Re: Re: Re: Media exposure
umm, no, you missed the point. not individual isps all over the world, just the companies providing connectivity. quite simply, they can null the route and end of issue. if the pirate party is stupid enough to put themselves this close to the outlaws that run thepiratebay.org, they might get hurt in the splatter. as a side note, being that they are a public political party, would they not have to report publically who they are doing business with, and thus define who is actually operating tpb? it would be interesting to see brokep have his name show up again, even as he denies his involvement like crazy. this is a no win for the pirate party, a choice that renders them stupid.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 2:42pm

BTW, just so people know, the U.S. pirate party generally hates the Swedish PP. Perhaps people can start another U.S. pirate party and call it something else?
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 3:34pm

Re:
The Masnick Sidekick Strikes Again!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2010 @ 3:34pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Media exposure
Speaking of stupid . . . .
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dan, 18 May 2010 @ 4:06pm

TPB
THE PIRATE BAY WILL LIVE FOREVER!!!! FUCK ANTI-PIRACY LAWS!!!!
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Chargone (profile), 18 May 2010 @ 6:35pm

Re:
why is that?
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Tor (profile), 19 May 2010 @ 2:16am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Media exposure
"it would be interesting to see brokep have his name show up again, even as he denies his involvement like crazy."

It didn't occur to you that the media will probably contact him for a comment since they don't know who else to contact?
He just offered a general comment. Anyone could have said the same thing.
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Niall (profile), 19 May 2010 @ 4:55am

Re: Re:
It depends if they branch out into other civil liberties areas, support open source across multiple industries (cars PLEASE!), or find that daft IP/trademark/copyright laws are a lot more widespread and intrusive than we thought.

And if people start being booted from the internet, which is considered a 'human right' in Europe, it will be a single issue with widespread interest.

Europe also has a grand tradition of 'single issue' candidates and parties, because we have a political structure that actually caters for it (see DH above).

By the way, would you also ignore other 'single issue' elements? Like 'the economy' or 'immigration'? Way to over-simplify!
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