Pirate Bay Site shut down

[waheed]

It looks like the site has now been shut down by the Swedish National Criminal Police.

More info found at:

Link Removed since site is back up.

Waheed.

[Faustus]

Well... that took a long while. I mean everyone knew it would happen SOMEDAY. Lets see if it stays down though, laws are kinda "wacky" over younder.

[Dv8ted2]

When they chop off one head of the snake, four more appear. When will they ever learn?

[Supreme2k]

*GASP*

They took down a torrent site with the word "pirate" in it's name?!

What next, blatant targeting of child-porn sites that have "kiddie diddler" in the URL?

[Noahtuck]

Busting torrent sites is all BS......
Just heavy handed tactics
F'em all 8)

[slimpickins]

ive only been on the torrent seen for about 1 year,
pirate bay was my life line, mininova is great for tv and vcd but can someone tell me if we will reocver, im lost at teh moment,

can someone give me some hope

[slimpickins]

its a hoax, PIRATE BAY IS NOT SHUT DOWN, they have changed there homepage but pirate bay staff posted that message as a joke, pirate bay was down for maintanence, i would never joke about somethign like this

[offline]

..my lunch almost took the plank

[slimpickins]

sorry guys, i read a forum thread dated a year ago yesterday saying it was a hoax, who knew exactly 1 year after theyd done the hoax it would happen for real, pb is shut but apparebtly thye have a lot of politcical backers and cos of the money the site makes they would open again in another country

[reboot]

Because they don't actually host any files, I doubt they'll be down long.

[Faustus]

Does indeed look as if they are confident they will be back up soon. Those guys should write a book or something. What a ride.

[slimpickins]

yeah, they just have trackers, not any actual illegal copyrighted files, it sounded serious, im not expecting them back, but they said theyd do it in another country if they had to, im praying soooooooooooooooooooooooooo badly they are back

[honorarybrutha]

Pirate Bay has posted they'll be up and running again in a couple of days. Might be a little overly-optimistic but they're getting ready to launch in a different country.

"ThePirateBay.org’s days are far from over.

In large, bold text, the following text is scrolled mid-screen:

“SITE DOWN - WILL BE UP AND FULLY FUNCTIONAL WITHIN A DAY OR TWO” "

--Slyck forums

[DereX888]

Of course it may be back in "day or two", whats the problem to rent another server somewhere in another country where laws are not as stringent, you can do it all in about half an hour if you want.

The main question is will they re-open right there where they were, in Sweden that is?
Ive been watching that one closely because Sweden is the only western country with somewhat lax laws regarding P2P when compared to i.e. USA or UK.



Guys from TPB really had balls, had guts to reply to i.e. DreamWorks with words like "go f*ck yourself" etc

ThePirateBay.org
Box 1206
Stockholm 11479
SWEDEN

tracker-40-aa-5f-03-412675c8@prq.to

Re: Unauthorized Use of DreamWorks SKG Properties
http://www.thepiratebay.org

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is being written to you on behalf of our
client, DreamWorks SKG (hereinafter DreamWorks).
DreamWorks is the exclusive owner of all copyright,
trademark and other intellectual property rights in
and to the Shrek 2 motion picture. No one is
authorized to copy, reproduce, distribute, or
otherwise use the Shrek 2 motion picture without
the express written permission of DreamWorks.

As you may be aware, Internet Service Providers can
be held liable if they do not respond to claims of
infringement pursuant to the requirements of the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In
accordance with the DMCA, we request your assistance
in the removal of infringements of the Shrek 2
motion picture from this web site and any other sites
for which you act as an Internet Service Provider.
We further declare under penalty of perjury that we
are authorized to act on behalf of DreamWorks and
that the information in this letter is accurate.
Please contact me immediately to discuss this matter
further.




As you may or may not be aware, Sweden is not a state in the United States
of America. Sweden is a country in northern Europe.
Unless you figured it out by now, US law does not apply here.
For your information, no Swedish law is being violated.


Please be assured that any further contact with us, regardless of medium,
will result in
a) a suit being filed for harassment
b) a formal complaint lodged with the bar of your legal counsel, for
sending frivolous legal threats.

It is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are ******* morons, and
that you should please go sodomize yourself with retractable batons.

Please also note that your e-mail and letter will be published in full on thepiratebay

Go **** yourself.

Polite as usual,
anakata

There were few other 'infamous' torrent trackers who were shutdown basically voluntarily under similar circumstances, because they all caved-in when it came to law threats from big corporations, and they chose not to fight back.
Somewhat I think this case will be different (I hope)
Good luck to TPB crew.

[slimpickins]

here some info guys

an interview with owner/manager of pirate bay
it looks hopeful

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/8927

[DereX888]

FYI:

p2p news / p2pnet: Hollywood's MPAA denies it paid $15,000 to a hacker to steal email correspondence and trade secrets.

In a lawsuit, Torrentspy.com lawyer Ira Rothken says the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) hired the man to get private information on Torrentspy.com, says CNET News.

In March, the torrent site, one of many under attack by the Big Six Hollywood movie studios, filed to dismiss a federal lawsuit brought by the MPAA. Now, "It is a Hollywood drama, what happened here," the story has Rothken saying.

Dean Garfield

The MPAA, through Dean Garfield, offered to pay the informant $15,000 for information hacked from Torrentspy.com, "after he and the MPAA reviewed it, if they found it useful," says the court document (>>>PDF HERE<<<), going on:

"Dean Garfield expressly told the informant, on behalf of the MPAA, regarding the information that he requested, 'We don't care how you get it.' He assured the informant, when the informant expressed concerns about potential liability for obtaining or providing such information to the MPAA, that the MPAA would protect the informant from any liability for obtaining or providing such information.

It continues, "The informant intentionally gained unauthorized access to Plaintiffs' private email accounts, and caused emails from and to Plaintiffs to be forwarded to an email account he set up for this purpose. Through obtaining Plaintiffs' private emails, he gained access to login identifications and passwords for Plaintiffs' Torrentspy.com computer servers, which he used to gain unauthorized access to the servers.

"The informant intentionally gained unauthorized access to Torrentspy.com computer servers and obtained private and confidential information and trade secrets from them, including (without limitation) "screen shots" of the servers showing their files, file architecture and torrent file indexing.

"The informant did not have authorization to obtain or disclose such information to anyone. The informant was never authorized to log on to or access any computer server for Torrentspy.com, or to access the emails of Valence Media or Torrentspy.com principals or employees."

But, "These claims (by Torrentspy) are false," says MPAA spokeswoman Kori Bernards, according to CNET. "Torrentspy is trying to obscure the facts to hide the fact that they are facilitating thievery. We are confident that our lawsuit against them will be successful because the law is on our side."

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/8869

p2p news / p2pnet: Following yesterday's announcement that Hollywood had been able to sic the Swedish police onto ThePirateBay, forcing it to close down for now, Julian Finn at zeiTspuk in Germany managed to have a few words with "darknite" from Piratbyrĺn/The Pirate Bay, "hopefully lifting the fog a little bit".

It'll come as no surprise to anyone to learn AntiPiratByrĺn, with close links (to understate the situation) to the MPAA's (Motion Picture Association of America) Dean Garfield, was behind it. Garfield is also said to have bribed a hacker with $15,000 to lift data from Torrentspy.com.

Here's Julian's interview with TPB.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

What exactly happened yesterday?

We still don't know too much, it is all very chaotic. We still haven't had the chance to see the warrant, so we don't exactly know what they were looking for. We know from AntiPiratByrĺn (the Swedish anti-piracy organization) that the warrant was issued towards the whole provider PRQ. Also not only about 160 servers but also networking equipment was taken.

That means that also other websites were affected?

Yes. The Magazine Säkerhet&Sekretess has issued a first list and asks everybody who is affected to notify them, as they are planning a big article on it. Dagens Industri, a rather large magazine in Sweden says there were about 200 customers who have become "innocent victims". The fact that so many innocent websites, also the political organisation "Piratbyrĺn" have been taken down is much more serious for us than the temporary downtime of The Pirate Bay

Some people were also arrested. What are they being charged with?

Three crew members were arrested and questioned, though they were released again yesterday. They are being charged with copyright infringement. This could change, though. We suspect that AntiPiratByrĺn mislead the police, accusing ThePirateBay actually offering Warez on the servers.

Is there any estimation from the lawyers?

No, not yet. We are negotiating with a very famous Swedish lawyer and trying to convince him to defend us in the upcoming case.

Does The Pirate Bay have a backup-plan?

We are currently working hard on a solution and I would be very disappointed in us if we couldn't get TPB up and running again within a week. It is very possible that we move into other countries, possibly Holland, with Russia as a Backup. There are some problems with decentralization, but a solution which would keep TPB up even if one location is taken down would be good.

What were the political reactions so far?

So far only the Pirate's Party as well as Piratbyrĺn has issued a statement. This year is election year in Sweden, so we expect a lot more discussion to come. The behaviour of the police and AntiPiratByrĺn will surely also be debated in public

Thank you very much for this interview.

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/8927

MPAA sues 22 web sites

p2p news / p2pnet: Hollywood's MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has filed lawsuits against 22 web sites it says allow people to download movies without authorization.

The sites - in New York, Delaware, Massachusetts, Florida and Texas - include allmoviedownloads.com; Flixks.net; freedvddirect.com; mykazaa.com; and, unlimiteddownloads.com.

They typically charge a subscription fee of anywhere from $20 for a three month trial, to $40 for lifetime membership, says the enforcement organization.

"The average movie costs almost $100 million to make and only about 60 percent of those movies recoup their original investment," says the MPAA, implying file sharers, rather than consistently bad and over-hyped movies, not to mention exorbitant cinema entrance fees, are to blame.

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/8942





oh, and one more 'news' that fits this story anyway :

Movies Top Ten File Share Downloads
Global
Week ending on June 1, 2006


Ranking...Movie.......................Number of Downloads

01...X-Men: The Last Stand.........1,356,365
02...The Da Vinci Code...............1,348,141
03...Mission: Impossible III.........1,319,506
04...Over The Hedge...................1,291,775
05...R.V.....................................1,290 ,461
06...Poseidon.............................1,281,93 5
07...Big Momma's House 2..........1,272,440
08...When A Stranger Calls.........1,239,370
09...The Wild.............................1,235,042
10...Failure To Launch................1,226,452

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/8941


seems like each movie had 1.2 million downloads, even considering as high as $10 a piece for each lost potential ticket, it would come to $12 million per each movie.
I dont anyone else but MPAA doesn't really believe that $12M more would have really saved box office for stinkers like Poseidon or Failure To Launch
But nevertheless, some loss for studios certainly occured.

[Supreme2k]

I dont anyone else but MPAA doesn't really believe that $12M more would have really saved box office for stinkers like Poseidon or Failure To Launch
But nevertheless, some loss for studios certainly occured.

But that's if (and a really BIG if) every single download equalled a lost ticket sale. I've known of people downloading for a "preview", who went and saw the movie several times afterward (The Incredibles springs to mind). Hell, I know people who saw X3, downloaded it, and saw it twice again, using the download to show "what crap the movie was" to others (granted, some used it to freeze-frame the cameos).

They just haven't caught on that a crappy cam download will never equal stadium seating, dolby THX on gigantic speakers and a massive screen that you just can't fit in a house.

[Conquest10]

ThePirateBay.org
Box 1206
Stockholm 11479
SWEDEN

tracker-40-aa-5f-03-412675c8@prq.to

Re: Unauthorized Use of DreamWorks SKG Properties
http://www.thepiratebay.org

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is being written to you on behalf of our
client, DreamWorks SKG (hereinafter DreamWorks).
DreamWorks is the exclusive owner of all copyright,
trademark and other intellectual property rights in
and to the Shrek 2 motion picture. No one is
authorized to copy, reproduce, distribute, or
otherwise use the Shrek 2 motion picture without
the express written permission of DreamWorks.

As you may be aware, Internet Service Providers can
be held liable if they do not respond to claims of
infringement pursuant to the requirements of the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In
accordance with the DMCA, we request your assistance
in the removal of infringements of the Shrek 2
motion picture from this web site and any other sites
for which you act as an Internet Service Provider.
We further declare under penalty of perjury that we
are authorized to act on behalf of DreamWorks and
that the information in this letter is accurate.
Please contact me immediately to discuss this matter
further.




As you may or may not be aware, Sweden is not a state in the United States
of America. Sweden is a country in northern Europe.
Unless you figured it out by now, US law does not apply here.
For your information, no Swedish law is being violated.


Please be assured that any further contact with us, regardless of medium,
will result in
a) a suit being filed for harassment
b) a formal complaint lodged with the bar of your legal counsel, for
sending frivolous legal threats.

It is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are ******* morons, and
that you should please go sodomize yourself with retractable batons.

Please also note that your e-mail and letter will be published in full on thepiratebay

Go **** yourself.

Polite as usual,
anakata

ROTFLMAO! This is so friggin sweet.

[DereX888]

I dont anyone else but MPAA doesn't really believe that $12M more would have really saved box office for stinkers like Poseidon or Failure To Launch
But nevertheless, some loss for studios certainly occured.

But that's if (and a really BIG if) every single download equalled a lost ticket sale. I've known of people downloading for a "preview", who went and saw the movie several times afterward (The Incredibles springs to mind). Hell, I know people who saw X3, downloaded it, and saw it twice again, using the download to show "what crap the movie was" to others (granted, some used it to freeze-frame the cameos).

They just haven't caught on that a crappy cam download will never equal stadium seating, dolby THX on gigantic speakers and a massive screen that you just can't fit in a house.

Of course, thats why I said "nevertheless some loss for studios certainly occured".
First of all - studios don't get full amount of each ticket paid at the box office.
Second - even assuming they were to receive every penny from each potentially sold ticket equal to each download of pirated copy worldwide, it would have amount to $12.5M for a movie like Poseidon, a movie which cost $150M to make and made much less than $50M at the box office.
No one will tell me that this hilarious amount of potential loss (compared to costs) could have saved it from total box office disaster
And thats my point.
Numbers and calculations does not matter, the point is that pirated downloads in no way are responsible for the obvious decline of theatrical moviewatching not only in USA.
Hollywood is to blame itself for its own inane movie making and choice of films they make.
Movie pirates do insignificant dent in their sales, if any at all.

As to your last part of your post - excuse me, but I disagree.
The number of DTS and other multichannel home stereo systems sold in USA alone goes in millions.
Granted, not all of them are accompanied by a purchase of really big screen tv sets or tv projectors, but we can safely assume at least 1/3 of great audio sytem buyers also bought or already owned a big screen at home. So I am certain that many people like me prefer their own home environment to watch movies in a basically same technological environment as in the theaters (if not better). Specially that many of the movies don't really require any excellent sound systems or a huge screen. There were very few movies in the past 5 years that I preferred to see in a theater than at home - i.e Lord of the Rings, or IMAX films. Major rest of them could have been easily viewed at home without any loss of "theatrical experience" (providing viewer has at least good audio system and a decent tv). I can assure you, that my own home screen viewed from 5 meters afar appears *much* bigger than the biggest screens (except for IMAX) in multiplexes viewed from the middle rows, and my audio system is as good if not better than any of the theatrical audio systems (usually set with inadequate levels and/or channels, even with some blown speakers as I have recently noticed!). You don't need million Watts to encapsulate yourself in a great and loud sound in a 50sq meter tv room (and many people have even smaller tv rooms than mine), and probably my audio gives more 'bang per square meter' than those in the theaters (if I'd to crank it up)... Heck, even my own home made popcorn with *real* butter tastes better than any overpriced shite sold at theaters...
I believe all these shortcoming, inconveniences and technological advances altogether with affordability of home equipmnet are exactly the main reason of the decline of moviegoing worldwide.

PS:
See, I really want to watch i.e. MI:3 (I liked parts 1 & 2, and my GF likes Tom Cruise...), Im not poor (I mean ticket price is no problem), yet there is no power in the world to force me to go to a theater just to see it in a dirty chair on a sticky floor with overpriced bag of popcorn sprinkled with some grease pretending to be a butter, among a bunch of some strangers, praying that none of them forgot to turn off his cellphone, and hoping there are not too many f*cking teenagers talking out loud or idiotically laughing upon a sight of some naked boob or at any funny moments... Geez, no way, I really wait whatever it takes for DVD, rather than subject myself for such 'great experience' ever again

[slimpickins]

the cinema is bloody great, obviously im gona go to see big films like lotr (all3) and others but if i wanted to watch every film at the conema that i have downloaded ot would set me back 100 quid a month, i just wouldnt pay that to see films, plus, imagine paying 5pounds (11dollars) or even 9pounds (20 bucks) on fri/sat night to see a film that is just so bad, imagine, u pay all that money and the film is just crap,
why is it fair i pay to see a film misadvertised and blasted everywhere, my tv, the radio, magazines, billboards, tv specials, and other cinema trailers, its unfair, onyl for it to be crap, i say, if u watch a download before the film leaves the cinema ur gona watch it at the cinema if the studio did there job and they deserve your money,

plus, what happens if a film come sout in the states months before the uk, am i supposed to wait,

there is always going to be piracy, why stop it, so they loose some money, so tom cruise only spends 3million on his wedding instead of 4, so halle berry only has 5 houses not six, they get all there stuff free anyway

they get more than 100 people make in a lifetime for a few months work but yet they over charge us then do everything to stop us getting a free ride like they do every day

the cinema is nto what it used to be, all it take sis a couple of yobs to have sneaked in free, making loads fof noise throwing food to ruin your film, or a little kid cryign, or some fat nerd who stinks of bo, munching on his popcorn,
if the cinema ever wants to surive they should move away form the economy multiplex's and focus on, pay double but get 5 times the experiance, there are cinemas int he uk, where u pay for memebership, the seats are leather, the screens are about 15ft, also u have privaste viewing rooms for dvd's (soon hdtv) with big screens or home projections, and u can order like a steak and a couple jack daniels, its more of a society thing, u actually get an experiance u like to remebr, rather than just watching a big tv, in a crappy room

You are in breach of the forum rules and are being issued with a formal warning. Downloading copyrighted films is warez.
/ Moderator Cobra

[Supreme2k]

Both of you guys have it wrong.

The theaters will survive. The crap being shown at theaters and the crap "clientelle" have been in place since they started. You think that films were all Oscar material in the '30s? 40's? '50s? Ever hear of Ed Wood? Bert I. Gordon? You think the 21st century invented the crying baby? The guy screaming "Don't go in there!" to the actor in front of the killer's hideout? The snarky kid throwing popcorn from two rows back?

Anyone who is satisfied with their "better than cinema" setup is in a very tiny minority (and probably a little delusional). And as the next quote reveals, people aren't willing to wait for films to come to DVD, nor are they satisfied with crappy cams (or even screeners with timecodes and/or disclaimers running accross the screen).

plus, what happens if a film come sout in the states months before the uk, am i supposed to wait

Then that's just too bad.

Seriously, that's the way the world works. How about if the film hasn't come out anywhere? Should we break into a studio just so we can see it? It's called patience.
Hell, I feel the same way when some of the films that I've been waiting to see come out for a Limited Engagement (never near me), but there "actual" release date is weeks later. The movie industry is a major c***-tease sometimes.

[Conquest10]

DereX888, that's why I used to love going to the first showing on Tuesday mornings. Nobody else in there but seniors. The problem is that they've put a stop to it. I guess not enough people were coming in because they pushed back the first showings to 1:30 PM.

And don't get me started on the $7 bag of poporn.

[Supreme2k]

And don't get me started on the $7 bag of poporn.

because you'll finish it before the movie even starts?

[slimpickins]

so true supreme, and what coemms with the $7 bag of popcorn, the $9 coke,a dn with that, a bathroom break at the most important part of the film

supreme, u carnt compare today to even ten years ago in terms of cinemas because

10 years ago people didnt have a good tv setup (even if alot dont, alot do)

also, there was no dvd ten years ago, just crappy video

also, i can remeber the wait for cinema to video was like a year, not 4 months

10 years ago there was no internet, just crappy vcd's outside carboots that were expensive anyway

granted, when people get crappy cam versions ud think it would weaken my argument about dvd's, but infact it actually strenghtemns it, why would people be willing to watch a crappy cam over a big cinema

because theyd prefer the dvd and to watch the cam to quench their first

[DereX888]

DereX888, that's why I used to love going to the first showing on Tuesday mornings. Nobody else in there but seniors. The problem is that they've put a stop to it. I guess not enough people were coming in because they pushed back the first showings to 1:30 PM.

And don't get me started on the $7 bag of poporn.

hahaha, we used to do it with my friends too, just few years ago.
You know whats good time to see a movie nowadays?
Very last showing on Sunday nights.
By a chance once we found out with my GF that one of the '2nd run' multiplexes little bit out of town and out my area (but its worth to drive there - read on) still has 10PM shows, sometimes 10:30PM as well (on Sundays). We've seen few movies there, and almost every time we were the only people there, or had a company of just another couple (once it was a single dude - kinda weird feeling, specially if he's like twice your size if you know what I mean - and with my 6'3 Im certainly not a midget anywhere ). Basically a private screening
Just gotta wait until movie you wanna see on a big screen gets to those second tier multiplexes (as is the one im talking about - btw pls dont ask for details, I dont need more ppl there :P ) and wait until it is in its 2nd week run or so (gotta be careful with that tho, few movies I missed because they lasted just a week). Check it out in your area - any of those bit out of main routes multiplexes, last Sunday shows...

Popcorn there... yeah. I better just shut up.


slimpickins, I hear you, and I must say that mostly I agree with you (sans the piracy of course; I could maybe forgive you stealing someone's work of art - no matter how good or bad it is, its still somebody's product and somebody's money - if you were living in an african jungle or some brasilian rainforests, without a theater in a 200 mile radius or so... but even then you should wait whatever it takes until it comes out on dvd and simply buy it, not steal it... the only 'internet piracy' I somewhat agree with are the movies that no one wants to or will not to release on DVD, because in that case its actually preserving such movie from being forgotten and unavailable to people, specially if its some shadowy, old, niche flick etc...).
Im not that pissed with waste of my money when the movie I buy or go to see in theater turns out bad, as with my time wasted on watching it. Money you can always make again, but those 3 hrs of your life wasted on some shit you will never recoup. I could literally kill few directors and actors, probably with a pleasure too, if I could legally do it right after seeing their 'masterpieces' that stole few hrs of my life... Im not going to cite any names here, but Im sure many of us were in that killing mood after some movies
Anyway, although I agree with you on the merit, I think you should treat movies same as any other more material product that you can't just tell will it be good or not before you fully pay for it (you can't return for example a bad meal you just ate, and ask for refund, right? (and by returning I don't mean puking on a waiter either and you can't just 'return' wife once she gets old, even though she obviously won't look and taste the same 20 years later, right? anyway Im sure you know what I mean )

[slimpickins]

PIRATE BAY IS BACK UP

[KBeee]

It was another
Pirate Bay "joke"

[slimpickins]

no it wasnt kbee, the police and mpaa confirmed it was real, its jsut pirae bay had well plaaned contingencies tog et it up and running again

[DereX888]

It was another
Pirate Bay "joke"

no it was NOT a joke.
>>HERE<< is short video feed of this 'police attack' as captured by security cams in TPB's data center

Notice the difference between US police raids and this Swedish police raid.
No machine guns, no kevlar jackets, no 'hands in the air where i can see them / on the ground, now!" etc bullshit - almost a social function rather than a raid
In the "free" country of US of A you can't even get a speeding ticket without holding your hands straight on the steering wheel if you don't want to get shot in "selfdefense'

[jimmalenko]

because theyd prefer the dvd and to watch the cam to quench their first

I'm *still* trying to decipher this:

thirst ?