14 ms·

The Pirate Bay is now hosted in North Korea

257 points by tty 14y ago

gee_totes 14y ago
Sergey Brin, Dennis Rodman, and now the Pirate Bay? This is the weirdest PR campaign ever
- mayank 14y ago
  Eric Schmidt, not Sergey Brin.
endianswap 14y ago
I'm sorry, but is this a joke? Or were they seriously offered server space in North Korea as some sort of political/PR thing?
- Aco- 14y ago
  It's not April 1st yet... so, I guess not?
- danielweber 14y ago
  I can only hope the comments on that article are also part of the joke.
- RyanZAG 14y ago
  Nothing seems to indicate a joke - North Korea does seem interested in strange PR stunts, so this could very well be real. I'm unsure as to how hosting would possibly work there though - I don't believe they have free internet access in/out of North Korea for these servers to run on - perhaps satellite connections could be used.
  - kintamanimatt 14y ago
    I doubt the country even has the bandwidth to host such a site. thepiratebay.se resolves to a German IP for me. I call BS and shenanigans. This just appears to be a publicity stunt.
- johndoeee 14y ago
  The route goes to NK traceroute thepiratebay.se output: 12 INTELSAT-IN.car1.NewYork1.Level3.net (64.156.82.14) 127.129 ms 121.898 ms 121.857 ms 13 209.159.170.215 (209.159.170.215) 214.763 ms 196.291 ms 210.602 ms 14 202.72.96.6 (202.72.96.6) 697.258 ms 711.336 ms 693.061 ms 15 175.45.177.217 (175.45.177.217) 696.368 ms 699.046 ms 702.013 ms 175.45.177.217 Seems to be an actual IP in NK[0] [0] http://bgp.he.net/AS131279 http://bgp.he.net/AS131279
  - kintamanimatt 14y ago
    I get a German IP, 194.71.107.15 and the tracepath results take the route nowhere near Asia.
    - cynwoody 14y ago
      From a Verizon FiOS connection in Massachusetts, I get: $ traceroute thepiratebay.se traceroute to thepiratebay.se (194.71.107.15), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets ... snip ... 3 ae0-0.bos-bb-rtr2.verizon-gni.net (130.81.209.94) 4.940 ms 3.924 ms 4.962 ms 4 0.xe-8-0-0.br3.nyc4.alter.net (152.63.23.241) 13.551 ms 15.600 ms 14.553 ms 5 204.255.169.234 (204.255.169.234) 14.996 ms 13.661 ms 15.424 ms 6 ae-2.r23.nycmny01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.148) 14.953 ms 16.048 ms 14.726 ms 7 ae-6.r21.frnkge03.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.181) 109.988 ms 106.394 ms 107.488 ms 8 ae-1.r02.frnkge03.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.163) 105.110 ms 108.378 ms 104.977 ms 9 xe-3-2.r00.dsdfge02.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.61) 129.906 ms 141.522 ms 141.731 ms 10 213.198.77.122 (213.198.77.122) 105.035 ms 104.582 ms 105.151 ms 11 * * * 12 * xe-0-1-0-3.r02.frnkge03.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.62) 143.231 ms * 13 xe-0.level3.frnkge03.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.8.202) 161.436 ms 125.598 ms 159.774 ms 14 * vlan90.csw4.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.69.154.254) 262.171 ms 270.225 ms 15 ae-82-82.ebr2.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.69.140.25) 197.361 ms 214.021 ms 272.423 ms 16 ae-61-61.csw1.newyork1.level3.net (4.69.134.66) 219.914 ms 244.709 ms 214.996 ms 17 ae-21-70.car1.newyork1.level3.net (4.69.155.67) 232.323 ms * 203.640 ms 18 intelsat-in.car1.newyork1.level3.net (64.156.82.14) 319.879 ms * 219.131 ms 19 rvs-rt0003_fe-0-0 .intelsatone.net (209.159.170.215) 289.920 ms 357.010 ms 332.387 ms 20 202.72.96.6 (202.72.96.6) 832.528 ms 844.070 ms * 21 175.45.177.217 (175.45.177.217) 797.110 ms 839.233 ms 859.813 ms ... snip ... 40 * *^C $ whois 175.45.177.217 ... snip ... inetnum: 175.45.176.0 - 175.45.179.255 netname: STAR-KP descr: Ryugyong-dong descr: Potong-gang District country: KP admin-c: SJVC1-AP tech-c: SJVC1-AP status: ALLOCATED PORTABLE mnt-by: APNIC-HM mnt-lower: MAINT-STAR-KP mnt-routes: MAINT-STAR-KP remarks: -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ remarks: This object can only be updated by APNIC hostmasters. remarks: To update this object, please contact APNIC remarks: hostmasters and include your organisation's account remarks: name in the subject line. remarks: -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ changed: hm-changed@apnic.net 20091221 source: APNIC role: STAR JOINT VENTURE CO LTD - network administrat address: Ryugyong-dong Potong-gang District country: KP phone: +66 81 208 7602 fax-no: +66 2 240 3180 e-mail: sahayod@loxley.co.th admin-c: SJVC1-AP tech-c: SJVC1-AP nic-hdl: SJVC1-AP mnt-by: MAINT-STAR-KP changed: hm-changed@apnic.net 20091214 source: APNIC $ KP is North Korea. And their IP, 194.71.107.15, is indeed German. And telephone country code 66 is Thailand. Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_North_Korea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_North_Korea
- ibejoeb 14y ago
  Eric Schmidt brought us maps. Dennis Rodman brought us TPB. This is fine diplomacy. I know DPRK has bigger problems, but the exposure isn't bad. TPB isn't in a position to free the people, so I can't concur with those who claim this is somehow ignorant of those issues. Times are changing there. Channels are opening up. These guys may serve a greater purpose, even if it's not today.
iy56 14y ago
Can anyone repost the text here for those of use whose work filters block tpb?
- picklefish 14y ago
  PRESS RELEASE, NEW PROVIDER FOR TPB FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 3 MARCH 102, 평양 (PYONGYANG). The Pirate Bay has been hunted in many countries around the world. Not for illegal activities but being persecuted for beliefs of freedom of information. Today, a new chapter is written in the history of the movement, as well as the history of the internets. A week ago we could reveal that The Pirate Bay was accessed via Norway and Catalonya. The move was to ensure that these countries and regions will get attention to the issues at hand. Today we can reveal that we have been invited by the leader of the republic of Korea, to fight our battles from their network. This is truly an ironic situation. We have been fighting for a free world, and our opponents are mostly huge corporations from the United States of America, a place where freedom and freedom of speech is said to be held high. At the same time, companies from that country is chasing a competitor from other countries, bribing police and lawmakers, threatening political parties and physically hunting people from our crew. And to our help comes a government famous in our part of the world for locking people up for their thoughts and forbidding access to information. We believe that being offered our virtual asylum in Korea is a first step of this country's changing view of access to information. It's a country opening up and one thing is sure, they do not care about threats like others do. In that way, TPB and Korea might have a special bond. We will do our best to influence the Korean leaders to also let their own population use our service, and to make sure that we can help improve the situation in any way we can. When someone is reaching out to make things better, it's also ones duty to grab their hand. Posted 24 mins ago by Kim Jung-Bay
  - freyr 14y ago
    "...being persecuted for beliefs of freedom of information." Seriously? The Pirate Bay's "freedom of information" posturing is a complete farce. The site exists for the sole purpose of making money for its operators. Messages like this one, whether satire or not, expose the site for what it is. It makes money by ripping content from the distribution channels chosen by the content authors, repackaging it, and giving it away for free while raking in advertising dollars. In the process, they deny content authors the freedom to select channel of distribution that will allow them to be compensated for their work. Technology has paved the way for improved means of distributing content, but this is not it. The only upside of TPB is that it will disrupt the existing content delivery chain enough to force some innovation in a space dominated by a few very large and very stagnant players.
kyllo 14y ago
>"...we have been invited by the leader of the republic of Korea..." That's the wrong one, though. Republic of Korea = South Democratic People's Republic of Korea = North
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  Is it possible that people in the DPRK refer to themselves as the 'Republic of Korea' in an attempt to deny/disqualify the existence of any other 'Republic of Korea'? (ie, 'The one true Republic of Korea' or something like that).
  - astrodust 14y ago
    Why do communist countries insist on calling themselves "democratic"? If you're such a firm believer in that philosophy, why not have some pride?
    - nazgulnarsil 14y ago
      the claim is that the majority support communism.
    - Cushman 14y ago
      Communism and democracy are orthogonal. Your question is why dictators represent themselves as democracies, but I don't think that's a very complex question; it's propaganda 101.
      - _delirium 14y ago
        For a while it was even visible on both sides of the Korean peninsula: a left-wing military dictatorship in the North referred to themselves as the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea", while a right-wing military dictatorship in the South referred to themselves as the "Republic of Korea". Neither country actually operated as a republic, but both seemed to like the term (and did have some superficial trappings of a republic, like legislatures). The South is now an actual Republic, though, since around 1987. Similar situation for some years in the Taiwan Strait, where the not-a-republic People's Republic of China faced down the also-not-a-republic Republic of China (Taiwan).
runn1ng 14y ago
>by Kim Jung-Bay Of course it's serious. edit: I thought it's a joke... but the traceroute trully ends in North Korea with the 175.45.177.217 IP. So ... maybe it's actualy legit. I don't know what to trust anymore.
Surio 14y ago
Just. Feeling. Surreal. But, the irony of the Politics makes strange bedfellows does not seem lost on them.
notahacker 14y ago
Well it's nice to know that "one of the most important movements in Sweden for freedom of speech, working against corruption and censorship" wouldn't let concerns over something as insignificant as totalitarianism deter them from "forming a special bond" with a state to distribute warez.
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  They acknowledge the irony in their own post - the only way that they can promote freedom of speech is by forming a partnership with the least free country in the world, not by forming an alliance with the supposedly 'free' countries in Western Europe/North America. In other words, the Western countries' belief in 'freedom of speech' is starting to seem as shallow as the word 'Democratic' in the 'Democratic People's Republic of Korea'.
  - jfb 14y ago
    Alternately, you know, it might just be that their conception of "freedom of speech" does not jibe well with that of the "supposedly free"?
  - readme 14y ago
    Piracy is not freedom of speech. It is the copying and syndication of the intellectual works of others. I suspect more HNers would be upset about piracy, if they weren't using SaaS business models which are not as vulnerable to it. It's really easy to brush off the fact that hundreds of people worked to make that movie you downloaded for free, especially when you never have to look any one of them in the eye. These days with things like netflix, itunes, and amazon prime, the only excuse one can make for participating in piracy is destitution. I totally understand those who wouldn't have been able to acquire the goods anyway doing so by using the pirate bay and other services. In this sense, they're kind of a decentralized information welfare program. Most countries have this already, and it's called a library. Too bad most libraries haven't caught up with the information age yet. So the piracy services have been filling a very important spot. I'd strongly urge everyone not to use the pirate bay. North Korea is an oppressive country that would nuke the US in a heartbeat. It makes me sick that so many people idolize these guys. Before you rationalize your piracy in response to my post, please sound out the word: "rational" "lies"
johnward 14y ago
Nuke tests haven't caused us to invade North Korean but if this happens the MPAA could get it done.
- rikacomet 14y ago
  as strange that may sound, it might become true.
deleted 14y ago
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eli 14y ago
Sure, just like the airborne Raspberry Pi drone servers. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/03/pirate-bay-plans-to-build-aerial-server-drones-with-35-linux-computer/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/03/pirate-bay-plans-...
- InclinedPlane 14y ago
  Did HN just turn stupid? I can only shake my head. The idea that it would even be feasible for TPB to host in North Korea is ridiculous. The fact that they already have a history of pranks about their hosting should be a big clue.
kapooht 14y ago
wat.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
WhoIsSatoshi 14y ago
I don't like it. Putting the web's biggest P2P website in the hands of one of the most authoritative dictatorial regime - what could go wrong? Security issues anyone? Seems fishy at best, and if true it is counter productive: it will not reflect well on TPB...
- dewey 14y ago
  Pretty good idea or do you think NK will release _any_ informations to american based entertainment companies?
- popee 14y ago
  Same as with Gerard Depardieu. He/they made choice not to be in one kind of dictatorship so they escaped to other. So it seems like pretty subjective stuff (personally i think it's wrong), but it's their choice so who cares. Why do you care? Here is what they think: "This is truly an ironic situation. We have been fighting for a free world, and our opponents are mostly huge corporations from the United States of America, a place where freedom and freedom of speech is said to be held high. At the same time, companies from that country is chasing a competitor from other countries, bribing police and lawmakers, threatening political parties and physically hunting people from our crew. And to our help comes a government famous in our part of the world for locking people up for their thoughts and forbidding access to information." Is this false?
PaulHoule 14y ago
the site isn'r working for me...
- majke 14y ago
  Most likely your ISP is censoring you. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18833060 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18833060 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7770456.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7770456.stm
rikacomet 14y ago
My first reaction: GET OUTTA HERE!! YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING! but oh well, I have a wiggly feeling in my mouth each time I read this, I don't know, whether this is funny or world changing or ironic or god knows what. The internet has melted a new barrier. Cheers to THE BAY!
arianvanp 14y ago
And they're down again!
deleted 14y ago
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Wilya 14y ago
So. A traceroute to thepiratebay.se is kind of amusing. From my home (Sweden), the packets seem to go to Frankfurt, then New York, take a link via an ip which reverses to intelsatone.net to a cambodgian ip (500ms latency right here), then reach the ip 175.45.177.217, assigned to Star Joint Venture Co Ltd. Who seem to be a legitimate North Korea internet provider (or, well, as legitimate as it gets, coming from North Korea). The rest of the traceroute doesn't ping back (edit: 6 hops, which could stay in NK, or lead you back anywhere in the world). If it's a joke, it's a very elaborate one.
- willscott 14y ago
  I wouldn't be surprised if some of the ICMP responses are forged - It seems disadvantageous for the site to have such a long path, since each hop has the potential for attack. http://www.thoughtcrime.org/software/fakeroute/ http://www.thoughtcrime.org/software/fakeroute/ can be seen as previous work that it is practical to do something like this.
  - RyanZAG 14y ago
    I don't believe forging will help them much - they are doing this to avoid international law enforcement, and international law enforcement can easily check through a simple bluff like that. Altering routing companies sending traffic through in bulk from Germany-NY-Satellite is far more difficult, but we may see them do this anyway. Time will tell.
  - runn1ng 14y ago
    They can also have someone inside the Thai Star Joint corporation that does the internet connectivity in NK.
  - simcop2387 14y ago
    Not just ICMP, doing a traceroute over tcp also results in this. Looks to be either a really well done forgery, or legitimate.
    - MichaelGG 14y ago
binarymax 14y ago
This makes me upset. Its upsetting because while yes, information freedom is a very important topic and needs to happen, but it does not trump human freedom. I'm not sure if this is a straw man or not - but how can they justify working with an entity that has such a horrid human rights record?
- youngerdryas 14y ago
  Free movies.
- arbuge 14y ago
  I feel the same way. I personally think there have to be priorities in life and they might have lost some perspective about things here: http://www.businessinsider.com/survivors-liken-north-korean-prison-camps-to-holocaust-2013-2 http://www.businessinsider.com/survivors-liken-north-korean-... http://www.fastcompany.com/3006452/fast-feed/north-koreas-concentration-camps-are-growing http://www.fastcompany.com/3006452/fast-feed/north-koreas-co... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_North_Korea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_North_Korea
- rikacomet 14y ago
  the justification is what they say, that if that said body is ready to mend its way, then it shall be helped. Pirate bay has been offered, they haven't accepted it for now.
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  > but how can they justify working with an entity that has such a horrid human rights record? As pointed out yesterday on the Bradley Manning discussion, the US is starting to get to the point where it can't credibly criticize other countries for their human rights abuses, given what goes on in this country. I don't want this to turn into a discussion of whether the US is worse than North Korea, but both have abused - and continue to abuse - human rights in abysmal ways.
  - arthulia 14y ago
    Wow. I'm happy to turn this into a discussion. North Korea has it worse. There is no way in hell, you are going to convince me that the US is a bigger domestic human rights violator.
deleted 14y ago
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olenhad 14y ago
The irony here is just too much to swallow. Of all possible places, a party campaigning for greater freedoms ends up in NORTH KOREA. I used be proud of defending tpb. Now I'm really not sure.
xutopia 14y ago
Isn't it one month early for April fools? Oh wait... Seriously this is mind boggling! I can't believe it has come to that!
- geoka9 14y ago
  It is, isn't it? UK is a first world country. They've blocked TPB. NK is an oppressive regime. They've blocked everything. I guess that's the modern difference between "rogue" and "first world" as far as censorship goes. The former block because of threats to the political regime. The latter because of threats to corporate profits.
dsl 14y ago
EDIT: My previous comment was totally wrong. This is legit. The Pirate Bay (AS51040) is announcing routes via Ryugyong-dong (AS131279)
- tuomasb 14y ago
  See http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5319720 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5319720 AS Paths can be modified pretty easily http://blog.ioshints.info/2008/02/bgp-essentials-as-path-prepending.html http://blog.ioshints.info/2008/02/bgp-essentials-as-path-pre...
downandout 14y ago
Hosting a site already hated by US authorities in a country that the US considers to be an enemy is probably not the best idea. My guess is that a US Senator or Congressman is somewhere right now drafting a bill that would prohibit US internet providers from providing access to sites hosted in North Korea.
- dclowd9901 14y ago
  Enemy of my enemy is my friend.
- romnempire 14y ago
  hey, they could probably buy the implementation from iran!
  - Joyfield 14y ago
    Why? They sold it to them.... (Ok, Nokia did....)
deleted 14y ago
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INTPenis 14y ago
Yeah, well, good luck with that. We have a client in a chinese data center where they would just turn off the power randomly because the government said so. Not to mention the unscheduled blackouts.
niggler 14y ago
This is hilarious if true (nslookup points to 194.71.107.15 in germany, so I have my doubts). Hopefully (and this is really idealistic of me, because I suspect the reaction will be entirely negative) this opens up a larger conversation on internet freedoms in an absurd way beyond SOPA/CISPA/whatever internet freedom-stripping bill-of-the-day is debated on capitol hill.
ChuckMcM 14y ago
This is a pretty interesting bit of gamesmanship. In a single stroke it ties together what is perhaps the greatest threat to global stability today (PRK) and where is perhaps the most ridiculous non-threat to global stability (pirated movies) and sets them as equals. By doing that, it illustrates just how ridiculous the current copyright situation is. Nicely played Piratebay, nicely played.
- notahacker 14y ago
  Of course the other way of looking at it is that the creators of TPB think that threats to their freedom to profit from placing advertisements around links to copyrighted material trump the threats to the freedom of the North Korean people. A lack of PR perspective so perverse it almost makes the RIAA and MPAA look like the good guys.
tuomasb 14y ago
fale@machine:~$ tcptraceroute -f 128 -m 128 thepiratebay.se Selected device venet0, address 5.9.249.8, port 40771 for outgoing packets Tracing the path to thepiratebay.se (194.71.107.15) on TCP port 80 (www), 128 hops max 128 thepiratebay.org (194.71.107.15) [open] 51.673 ms 49.002 ms 47.187 ms That server is in Germany, no way it's possible to have 50ms to NK. Also traditional traceroute has 500ms+ RTT. They are faking/spoofing the ICMP responses. They are also prepending their route advertisement with corresponding AS paths to further disguise it. From TeliaSonera looking glass http://lg.telia.net/ http://lg.telia.net/ 194.71.107.0/24 *[BGP/170] 02:10:36, MED 0, localpref 150, from 80.91.255.255 AS path: 2914 39138 22351 131279 51040 I AS39138 is probably the real upstream provider of TBP. They peer with AS51040(TPB network) and TPB router prepends AS22351(Intelsat) and AS131279(North Korean ISP) into it's AS Path before advertising it to AS39138.
- bonyt 14y ago
  Yeah, and why is AS39138 in /all/ the AS paths I tried on that site, when there other ways to AS22351
  - tuomasb 14y ago
    Exactly. Here is a collection of route-servers and looking glasses which tell you what path a route from ISP x to IP y will take. http://www.bgp4.as/looking-glasses http://www.bgp4.as/looking-glasses You will see that every single route to 194.71.107.0/24 will travel through AS39138.
- elsewhere 14y ago
  Yep, I just tried this myself. I get about 40 ms from south germany and about 30 ms from france to thepiratebay.se ; but almost 400 ms to www.kcna.kp
- dscwedfwe 14y ago
  yandex.ru
millerc 14y ago
Stupid move, so much that words fail me. "Korea" (as they call themselves, they don't acknowledge the autonomy of the South) has been looking for months for investors to replenish their economy in the face of mounting sanctions. TPB is giving them exactly what they need to become a greater menace to the region.
VMG 14y ago
> The Pirate Bay has been hunted in many countries around the world. Not for illegal activities but being persecuted for beliefs of freedom of information. How noble. Good thing that they found refuge in the country that basically is one big concentration camp. Can't make this stuff up.
Zoepfli 14y ago
If North Korea really is involved in this (and the traceroutes seem to indicate it is), let's turn the irony up a notch and turn the spotlight on a few North-Korea-critical torrents - now served through the very censor-happy country that is getting criticized: Children of the Secret State - North Korea https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6441601/ https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6441601/ Inside - Undercover in North Korea https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6136295/ https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6136295/ Comrades and Strangers: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6899842/ https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6899842/ The Vice Guide to North Korea https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/5378291/ https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/5378291/ National Geographic Explorer ~ Inside North Korea https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6110419/ https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6110419/ It will be interesting to see how serious their new overlord is about that "freedom of speech thing". My guess is that sooner or later, some of those films will suddenly vanish from the site.
djcapelis 14y ago
Does NK have enough bandwidth for something like this? They just have one terrestrial link from PRC, right?
pdeuchler 14y ago
Holy Crap. This is... unprecedented. So North Korea will now have access to the entire Western World's culture catalog? For Free?! I wonder how Kim Jong Un will exploit that. And now anyone who downloads a torrent from TPB has potentially been compromised? Or is that alarmist?
- corresation 14y ago
  So North Korea will now have access to the entire Western World's culture catalog? Understand the difference between the torrent file and the actual data and all shall be revealed.
  - pdeuchler 14y ago
    Does having access to the torrent file not give you access to the actual data?
    - corresation 14y ago
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrent_file http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrent_file I suppose it gives access in the same way that North Korea visiting Pirate Bay gave them access before. There is a widespread belief that Pirate Bay is some giant repository of a bunch of pirate content, and it simply isn't true. Well, it's true that it's content that aids pirates in finding and downloading that content, but pirate bay itself is quite lightweight.
      - pdeuchler 14y ago
        I understand the difference. I was just assuming that since NK invited TPB they were planning on using it within NK. It also makes sense that if you were planning on downloading a large collection of torrents you would want the best possible access to those torrent files, as opposed to crawling for links.
        corresation 14y ago
yankoff 14y ago
Someone send them this story http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/2007-09-atbirth.htm http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/2007-09-atbirth.htm.
ffk 14y ago
This is probably a practical application of what we saw earlier with the star wars traceroute. Trace 216.81.59.173 to see the effect if you haven't seen it already.
youngerdryas 14y ago
Posts like this show that however smart we generally believe HN users to be, on some fronts it is a bag full of stupid.
systematical 14y ago
Ironic that no one in the country pirate bay is now hosted will be able to access its contents. The free world has to go to the totalitarian world to access data and the totalitarian world have have to come to the free world to access the data.
harrisonpowers 14y ago
Was this Dennis Rodman's idea?
iamjoshuascott 14y ago
What's really ironic is that a lot of the content hosted on the Pirate Bay is banned in North Korea.
freyr 14y ago
I expected more from HN than this knee-jerk support for TPB due to its self-promulgated association with "freedom of information." Freedom of information, in the specific context of The Pirate Bay, means denying content authors the freedom to choose channels of distribution for their work. It means repackaging content, giving it away "for free," while raking in advertising revenue. It means diverting money away from the entire chain of content creators (e.g., writers, actors, directors, extras, special effects artists), marketers, distributors, etc., and solely into the pockets of TPB's operators. It's OK to support freedom of information, and also recognize TPB for what it really is.
- CamperBob2 14y ago
  (Shrug) The money TPB is "diverting" is money that the content industry refuses to accept from its would-be customers. It's the industry's job to ask me what distribution channel I want to use, not dictate what channel they require me to use. When they figure that out, they'll start making money again.
  - pflats 14y ago
    No. It's their content; they make the rules. It's the industry's job to use whatever distribution channels make them and their clients the most money. That's it. If you don't like it, you don't have to buy their content, but it doesn't give you the right to bootleg it. If a content maker doesn't like it, they don't have to use a big publishing house that restricts their sales avenues, but they also know they're probably going to make less money that way.
    - CamperBob2 14y ago
      (Shrug) They can make rules, or they can make money. Their call.
      - Kerrick 14y ago
        You can boycott them if you disagree with them, but you can't just boycott them while still enjoying their content via piracy. It's not morally sound.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
wilfra 14y ago
I realize this is propaganda but it's working on me. I'm starting to like Kim Jong-Un. First Eric Schmidt, then Dennis Rodman and now TPB. If these are the kinds of friends he wants to make, I'm a fan. This is a masterful 'fuck you' to the establishment and at the same time an olive branch to the internet generation all over the World. The people who will be running the World in 20, 30, 40 years - when he is still in power.
- wilfra 14y ago
  The only two things I dislike about HN: -It's a crapshoot or manipulation game to hit the front page -People downvote logical arguments they simply disagree with
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
- krasin 14y ago
  Each Korea pretends it's the only legit Korea. They don't call themselves as North or South. So, it would be politically incorrect to say "We are hosted by North Korea". If they said that, it would be a good sign that they are kidding us.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
benwerd 14y ago
Absolutely uncool. No matter what you think about current IP law - and let's face it, it's a bag of worms - getting into bed with North Korea is inexcusable. On top of everything else, and here "everything" means institutional murder and oppression, it kind of suggests a lack of morality on TPB's part.
dewey 14y ago
According to this blogpost https://rdns.im/the-pirate-bay-north-korean-hosting-no-its-fake https://rdns.im/the-pirate-bay-north-korean-hosting-no-its-f... it's not really hosted in NK.
malkia 14y ago
Prophecy fulfilled :) http://openclipart.org/people/worker/1325935795.svg http://openclipart.org/people/worker/1325935795.svg
kragen 14y ago
Do you really want North Korea to know exactly which copyrights you've violated and which banned books you've read? I mean, your torrent client sends that information to the tracker. (But then, it also sends it to other peers.)
jordanbaucke 14y ago
the enemy of my enemy is my friend
loeg 14y ago
Mirror, anyone? I can't get to it on Comcast.
combataircraft 14y ago
Apparently North Korea has more information freedom than rest of the world.
- arthulia 14y ago
  unless you live there.
friscofoodie 14y ago
This is so fantastic.
newishuser 14y ago
The Pirate Bay is not concerned with your judgment. The Pirate Bay is concerned with making socio-political statements and providing access to their site, seemingly in that order. Discomfort with the situation is exactly what they are going for. It should make you uneasy that they have to go to North Korea to keep the site online. While they are not martyrs for an easy to grasp cause, and their definition of 'free speech' may fly in the face of yours, they are doing their absolute best to keep alive what they think is important. This has recently resulted in much irony. Irony that I'm sure they're proud of. You should hate this. That's the point. This wasn't done so people could keep downloading movies illegally, this was done to make a statement, to get you to think. So please, ice your knee, and think.
- InclinedPlane 14y ago
  It's a joke. THAT'S the point.
- citricsquid 14y ago
  Think about what? No sarcasm, genuinely unsure what you're suggesting we should think about, please can you explain what the statement they're making is and what we should be thinking about.
acheron 14y ago
Well, I can certainly point to this article next time someone tries to tell me how awesome the HN comment section is.
mateo42 14y ago
I know it's TPB so I should have known this, but beware of this link at the office. If you don't have a good ad-blocker installed it will throw up some non-HR friendly popups!

257 points by tty 14y ago

gee_totes 14y ago

Sergey Brin, Dennis Rodman, and now the Pirate Bay? This is the weirdest PR campaign ever

mayank 14y ago
Eric Schmidt, not Sergey Brin.

endianswap 14y ago

I'm sorry, but is this a joke? Or were they seriously offered server space in North Korea as some sort of political/PR thing?

Aco- 14y ago
It's not April 1st yet... so, I guess not?
danielweber 14y ago
I can only hope the comments on that article are also part of the joke.
RyanZAG 14y ago
Nothing seems to indicate a joke - North Korea does seem interested in strange PR stunts, so this could very well be real. I'm unsure as to how hosting would possibly work there though - I don't believe they have free internet access in/out of North Korea for these servers to run on - perhaps satellite connections could be used.
- kintamanimatt 14y ago
  I doubt the country even has the bandwidth to host such a site. thepiratebay.se resolves to a German IP for me. I call BS and shenanigans. This just appears to be a publicity stunt.
johndoeee 14y ago
The route goes to NK traceroute thepiratebay.se output: 12 INTELSAT-IN.car1.NewYork1.Level3.net (64.156.82.14) 127.129 ms 121.898 ms 121.857 ms 13 209.159.170.215 (209.159.170.215) 214.763 ms 196.291 ms 210.602 ms 14 202.72.96.6 (202.72.96.6) 697.258 ms 711.336 ms 693.061 ms 15 175.45.177.217 (175.45.177.217) 696.368 ms 699.046 ms 702.013 ms 175.45.177.217 Seems to be an actual IP in NK[0] [0] http://bgp.he.net/AS131279 http://bgp.he.net/AS131279
- kintamanimatt 14y ago
  I get a German IP, 194.71.107.15 and the tracepath results take the route nowhere near Asia.
  - cynwoody 14y ago
    From a Verizon FiOS connection in Massachusetts, I get: $ traceroute thepiratebay.se traceroute to thepiratebay.se (194.71.107.15), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets ... snip ... 3 ae0-0.bos-bb-rtr2.verizon-gni.net (130.81.209.94) 4.940 ms 3.924 ms 4.962 ms 4 0.xe-8-0-0.br3.nyc4.alter.net (152.63.23.241) 13.551 ms 15.600 ms 14.553 ms 5 204.255.169.234 (204.255.169.234) 14.996 ms 13.661 ms 15.424 ms 6 ae-2.r23.nycmny01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.148) 14.953 ms 16.048 ms 14.726 ms 7 ae-6.r21.frnkge03.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.181) 109.988 ms 106.394 ms 107.488 ms 8 ae-1.r02.frnkge03.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.163) 105.110 ms 108.378 ms 104.977 ms 9 xe-3-2.r00.dsdfge02.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.61) 129.906 ms 141.522 ms 141.731 ms 10 213.198.77.122 (213.198.77.122) 105.035 ms 104.582 ms 105.151 ms 11 * * * 12 * xe-0-1-0-3.r02.frnkge03.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.62) 143.231 ms * 13 xe-0.level3.frnkge03.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.8.202) 161.436 ms 125.598 ms 159.774 ms 14 * vlan90.csw4.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.69.154.254) 262.171 ms 270.225 ms 15 ae-82-82.ebr2.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.69.140.25) 197.361 ms 214.021 ms 272.423 ms 16 ae-61-61.csw1.newyork1.level3.net (4.69.134.66) 219.914 ms 244.709 ms 214.996 ms 17 ae-21-70.car1.newyork1.level3.net (4.69.155.67) 232.323 ms * 203.640 ms 18 intelsat-in.car1.newyork1.level3.net (64.156.82.14) 319.879 ms * 219.131 ms 19 rvs-rt0003_fe-0-0 .intelsatone.net (209.159.170.215) 289.920 ms 357.010 ms 332.387 ms 20 202.72.96.6 (202.72.96.6) 832.528 ms 844.070 ms * 21 175.45.177.217 (175.45.177.217) 797.110 ms 839.233 ms 859.813 ms ... snip ... 40 * *^C $ whois 175.45.177.217 ... snip ... inetnum: 175.45.176.0 - 175.45.179.255 netname: STAR-KP descr: Ryugyong-dong descr: Potong-gang District country: KP admin-c: SJVC1-AP tech-c: SJVC1-AP status: ALLOCATED PORTABLE mnt-by: APNIC-HM mnt-lower: MAINT-STAR-KP mnt-routes: MAINT-STAR-KP remarks: -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ remarks: This object can only be updated by APNIC hostmasters. remarks: To update this object, please contact APNIC remarks: hostmasters and include your organisation's account remarks: name in the subject line. remarks: -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ changed: hm-changed@apnic.net 20091221 source: APNIC role: STAR JOINT VENTURE CO LTD - network administrat address: Ryugyong-dong Potong-gang District country: KP phone: +66 81 208 7602 fax-no: +66 2 240 3180 e-mail: sahayod@loxley.co.th admin-c: SJVC1-AP tech-c: SJVC1-AP nic-hdl: SJVC1-AP mnt-by: MAINT-STAR-KP changed: hm-changed@apnic.net 20091214 source: APNIC $ KP is North Korea. And their IP, 194.71.107.15, is indeed German. And telephone country code 66 is Thailand. Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_North_Korea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_North_Korea
ibejoeb 14y ago
Eric Schmidt brought us maps. Dennis Rodman brought us TPB. This is fine diplomacy. I know DPRK has bigger problems, but the exposure isn't bad. TPB isn't in a position to free the people, so I can't concur with those who claim this is somehow ignorant of those issues. Times are changing there. Channels are opening up. These guys may serve a greater purpose, even if it's not today.

iy56 14y ago

Can anyone repost the text here for those of use whose work filters block tpb?

picklefish 14y ago
PRESS RELEASE, NEW PROVIDER FOR TPB FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 3 MARCH 102, 평양 (PYONGYANG). The Pirate Bay has been hunted in many countries around the world. Not for illegal activities but being persecuted for beliefs of freedom of information. Today, a new chapter is written in the history of the movement, as well as the history of the internets. A week ago we could reveal that The Pirate Bay was accessed via Norway and Catalonya. The move was to ensure that these countries and regions will get attention to the issues at hand. Today we can reveal that we have been invited by the leader of the republic of Korea, to fight our battles from their network. This is truly an ironic situation. We have been fighting for a free world, and our opponents are mostly huge corporations from the United States of America, a place where freedom and freedom of speech is said to be held high. At the same time, companies from that country is chasing a competitor from other countries, bribing police and lawmakers, threatening political parties and physically hunting people from our crew. And to our help comes a government famous in our part of the world for locking people up for their thoughts and forbidding access to information. We believe that being offered our virtual asylum in Korea is a first step of this country's changing view of access to information. It's a country opening up and one thing is sure, they do not care about threats like others do. In that way, TPB and Korea might have a special bond. We will do our best to influence the Korean leaders to also let their own population use our service, and to make sure that we can help improve the situation in any way we can. When someone is reaching out to make things better, it's also ones duty to grab their hand. Posted 24 mins ago by Kim Jung-Bay
- freyr 14y ago
  "...being persecuted for beliefs of freedom of information." Seriously? The Pirate Bay's "freedom of information" posturing is a complete farce. The site exists for the sole purpose of making money for its operators. Messages like this one, whether satire or not, expose the site for what it is. It makes money by ripping content from the distribution channels chosen by the content authors, repackaging it, and giving it away for free while raking in advertising dollars. In the process, they deny content authors the freedom to select channel of distribution that will allow them to be compensated for their work. Technology has paved the way for improved means of distributing content, but this is not it. The only upside of TPB is that it will disrupt the existing content delivery chain enough to force some innovation in a space dominated by a few very large and very stagnant players.

kyllo 14y ago

>"...we have been invited by the leader of the republic of Korea..." That's the wrong one, though. Republic of Korea = South Democratic People's Republic of Korea = North

chimeracoder 14y ago
Is it possible that people in the DPRK refer to themselves as the 'Republic of Korea' in an attempt to deny/disqualify the existence of any other 'Republic of Korea'? (ie, 'The one true Republic of Korea' or something like that).
- astrodust 14y ago
  Why do communist countries insist on calling themselves "democratic"? If you're such a firm believer in that philosophy, why not have some pride?
  - nazgulnarsil 14y ago
    the claim is that the majority support communism.
  - Cushman 14y ago
    Communism and democracy are orthogonal. Your question is why dictators represent themselves as democracies, but I don't think that's a very complex question; it's propaganda 101.
    - _delirium 14y ago
      For a while it was even visible on both sides of the Korean peninsula: a left-wing military dictatorship in the North referred to themselves as the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea", while a right-wing military dictatorship in the South referred to themselves as the "Republic of Korea". Neither country actually operated as a republic, but both seemed to like the term (and did have some superficial trappings of a republic, like legislatures). The South is now an actual Republic, though, since around 1987. Similar situation for some years in the Taiwan Strait, where the not-a-republic People's Republic of China faced down the also-not-a-republic Republic of China (Taiwan).

runn1ng 14y ago

>by Kim Jung-Bay Of course it's serious. edit: I thought it's a joke... but the traceroute trully ends in North Korea with the 175.45.177.217 IP. So ... maybe it's actualy legit. I don't know what to trust anymore.

Surio 14y ago

Just. Feeling. Surreal. But, the irony of the Politics makes strange bedfellows does not seem lost on them.

notahacker 14y ago

Well it's nice to know that "one of the most important movements in Sweden for freedom of speech, working against corruption and censorship" wouldn't let concerns over something as insignificant as totalitarianism deter them from "forming a special bond" with a state to distribute warez.

chimeracoder 14y ago
They acknowledge the irony in their own post - the only way that they can promote freedom of speech is by forming a partnership with the least free country in the world, not by forming an alliance with the supposedly 'free' countries in Western Europe/North America. In other words, the Western countries' belief in 'freedom of speech' is starting to seem as shallow as the word 'Democratic' in the 'Democratic People's Republic of Korea'.
- jfb 14y ago
  Alternately, you know, it might just be that their conception of "freedom of speech" does not jibe well with that of the "supposedly free"?
- readme 14y ago
  Piracy is not freedom of speech. It is the copying and syndication of the intellectual works of others. I suspect more HNers would be upset about piracy, if they weren't using SaaS business models which are not as vulnerable to it. It's really easy to brush off the fact that hundreds of people worked to make that movie you downloaded for free, especially when you never have to look any one of them in the eye. These days with things like netflix, itunes, and amazon prime, the only excuse one can make for participating in piracy is destitution. I totally understand those who wouldn't have been able to acquire the goods anyway doing so by using the pirate bay and other services. In this sense, they're kind of a decentralized information welfare program. Most countries have this already, and it's called a library. Too bad most libraries haven't caught up with the information age yet. So the piracy services have been filling a very important spot. I'd strongly urge everyone not to use the pirate bay. North Korea is an oppressive country that would nuke the US in a heartbeat. It makes me sick that so many people idolize these guys. Before you rationalize your piracy in response to my post, please sound out the word: "rational" "lies"

johnward 14y ago

Nuke tests haven't caused us to invade North Korean but if this happens the MPAA could get it done.

rikacomet 14y ago
as strange that may sound, it might become true.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

eli 14y ago

Sure, just like the airborne Raspberry Pi drone servers. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/03/pirate-bay-plans-to-build-aerial-server-drones-with-35-linux-computer/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/03/pirate-bay-plans-...

InclinedPlane 14y ago
Did HN just turn stupid? I can only shake my head. The idea that it would even be feasible for TPB to host in North Korea is ridiculous. The fact that they already have a history of pranks about their hosting should be a big clue.

kapooht 14y ago

wat.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

WhoIsSatoshi 14y ago

I don't like it. Putting the web's biggest P2P website in the hands of one of the most authoritative dictatorial regime - what could go wrong? Security issues anyone? Seems fishy at best, and if true it is counter productive: it will not reflect well on TPB...

dewey 14y ago
Pretty good idea or do you think NK will release _any_ informations to american based entertainment companies?
popee 14y ago
Same as with Gerard Depardieu. He/they made choice not to be in one kind of dictatorship so they escaped to other. So it seems like pretty subjective stuff (personally i think it's wrong), but it's their choice so who cares. Why do you care? Here is what they think: "This is truly an ironic situation. We have been fighting for a free world, and our opponents are mostly huge corporations from the United States of America, a place where freedom and freedom of speech is said to be held high. At the same time, companies from that country is chasing a competitor from other countries, bribing police and lawmakers, threatening political parties and physically hunting people from our crew. And to our help comes a government famous in our part of the world for locking people up for their thoughts and forbidding access to information." Is this false?

PaulHoule 14y ago

the site isn'r working for me...

majke 14y ago
Most likely your ISP is censoring you. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18833060 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18833060 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7770456.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7770456.stm

rikacomet 14y ago

My first reaction: GET OUTTA HERE!! YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING! but oh well, I have a wiggly feeling in my mouth each time I read this, I don't know, whether this is funny or world changing or ironic or god knows what. The internet has melted a new barrier. Cheers to THE BAY!

arianvanp 14y ago

And they're down again!

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

Wilya 14y ago

So. A traceroute to thepiratebay.se is kind of amusing. From my home (Sweden), the packets seem to go to Frankfurt, then New York, take a link via an ip which reverses to intelsatone.net to a cambodgian ip (500ms latency right here), then reach the ip 175.45.177.217, assigned to Star Joint Venture Co Ltd. Who seem to be a legitimate North Korea internet provider (or, well, as legitimate as it gets, coming from North Korea). The rest of the traceroute doesn't ping back (edit: 6 hops, which could stay in NK, or lead you back anywhere in the world). If it's a joke, it's a very elaborate one.

willscott 14y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if some of the ICMP responses are forged - It seems disadvantageous for the site to have such a long path, since each hop has the potential for attack. http://www.thoughtcrime.org/software/fakeroute/ http://www.thoughtcrime.org/software/fakeroute/ can be seen as previous work that it is practical to do something like this.
- RyanZAG 14y ago
  I don't believe forging will help them much - they are doing this to avoid international law enforcement, and international law enforcement can easily check through a simple bluff like that. Altering routing companies sending traffic through in bulk from Germany-NY-Satellite is far more difficult, but we may see them do this anyway. Time will tell.
- runn1ng 14y ago
  They can also have someone inside the Thai Star Joint corporation that does the internet connectivity in NK.
- simcop2387 14y ago
  Not just ICMP, doing a traceroute over tcp also results in this. Looks to be either a really well done forgery, or legitimate.
  - MichaelGG 14y ago

binarymax 14y ago

This makes me upset. Its upsetting because while yes, information freedom is a very important topic and needs to happen, but it does not trump human freedom. I'm not sure if this is a straw man or not - but how can they justify working with an entity that has such a horrid human rights record?

youngerdryas 14y ago
Free movies.
arbuge 14y ago
I feel the same way. I personally think there have to be priorities in life and they might have lost some perspective about things here: http://www.businessinsider.com/survivors-liken-north-korean-prison-camps-to-holocaust-2013-2 http://www.businessinsider.com/survivors-liken-north-korean-... http://www.fastcompany.com/3006452/fast-feed/north-koreas-concentration-camps-are-growing http://www.fastcompany.com/3006452/fast-feed/north-koreas-co... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_North_Korea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_North_Korea
rikacomet 14y ago
the justification is what they say, that if that said body is ready to mend its way, then it shall be helped. Pirate bay has been offered, they haven't accepted it for now.
chimeracoder 14y ago
> but how can they justify working with an entity that has such a horrid human rights record? As pointed out yesterday on the Bradley Manning discussion, the US is starting to get to the point where it can't credibly criticize other countries for their human rights abuses, given what goes on in this country. I don't want this to turn into a discussion of whether the US is worse than North Korea, but both have abused - and continue to abuse - human rights in abysmal ways.
- arthulia 14y ago
  Wow. I'm happy to turn this into a discussion. North Korea has it worse. There is no way in hell, you are going to convince me that the US is a bigger domestic human rights violator.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

olenhad 14y ago

The irony here is just too much to swallow. Of all possible places, a party campaigning for greater freedoms ends up in NORTH KOREA. I used be proud of defending tpb. Now I'm really not sure.

xutopia 14y ago

Isn't it one month early for April fools? Oh wait... Seriously this is mind boggling! I can't believe it has come to that!

geoka9 14y ago
It is, isn't it? UK is a first world country. They've blocked TPB. NK is an oppressive regime. They've blocked everything. I guess that's the modern difference between "rogue" and "first world" as far as censorship goes. The former block because of threats to the political regime. The latter because of threats to corporate profits.

dsl 14y ago

EDIT: My previous comment was totally wrong. This is legit. The Pirate Bay (AS51040) is announcing routes via Ryugyong-dong (AS131279)

tuomasb 14y ago
See http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5319720 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5319720 AS Paths can be modified pretty easily http://blog.ioshints.info/2008/02/bgp-essentials-as-path-prepending.html http://blog.ioshints.info/2008/02/bgp-essentials-as-path-pre...

downandout 14y ago

Hosting a site already hated by US authorities in a country that the US considers to be an enemy is probably not the best idea. My guess is that a US Senator or Congressman is somewhere right now drafting a bill that would prohibit US internet providers from providing access to sites hosted in North Korea.

dclowd9901 14y ago
Enemy of my enemy is my friend.
romnempire 14y ago
hey, they could probably buy the implementation from iran!
- Joyfield 14y ago
  Why? They sold it to them.... (Ok, Nokia did....)

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

INTPenis 14y ago

Yeah, well, good luck with that. We have a client in a chinese data center where they would just turn off the power randomly because the government said so. Not to mention the unscheduled blackouts.

niggler 14y ago

This is hilarious if true (nslookup points to 194.71.107.15 in germany, so I have my doubts). Hopefully (and this is really idealistic of me, because I suspect the reaction will be entirely negative) this opens up a larger conversation on internet freedoms in an absurd way beyond SOPA/CISPA/whatever internet freedom-stripping bill-of-the-day is debated on capitol hill.

ChuckMcM 14y ago

This is a pretty interesting bit of gamesmanship. In a single stroke it ties together what is perhaps the greatest threat to global stability today (PRK) and where is perhaps the most ridiculous non-threat to global stability (pirated movies) and sets them as equals. By doing that, it illustrates just how ridiculous the current copyright situation is. Nicely played Piratebay, nicely played.

notahacker 14y ago
Of course the other way of looking at it is that the creators of TPB think that threats to their freedom to profit from placing advertisements around links to copyrighted material trump the threats to the freedom of the North Korean people. A lack of PR perspective so perverse it almost makes the RIAA and MPAA look like the good guys.

tuomasb 14y ago

fale@machine:~$ tcptraceroute -f 128 -m 128 thepiratebay.se Selected device venet0, address 5.9.249.8, port 40771 for outgoing packets Tracing the path to thepiratebay.se (194.71.107.15) on TCP port 80 (www), 128 hops max 128 thepiratebay.org (194.71.107.15) [open] 51.673 ms 49.002 ms 47.187 ms That server is in Germany, no way it's possible to have 50ms to NK. Also traditional traceroute has 500ms+ RTT. They are faking/spoofing the ICMP responses. They are also prepending their route advertisement with corresponding AS paths to further disguise it. From TeliaSonera looking glass http://lg.telia.net/ http://lg.telia.net/ 194.71.107.0/24 *[BGP/170] 02:10:36, MED 0, localpref 150, from 80.91.255.255 AS path: 2914 39138 22351 131279 51040 I AS39138 is probably the real upstream provider of TBP. They peer with AS51040(TPB network) and TPB router prepends AS22351(Intelsat) and AS131279(North Korean ISP) into it's AS Path before advertising it to AS39138.

bonyt 14y ago
Yeah, and why is AS39138 in /all/ the AS paths I tried on that site, when there other ways to AS22351
- tuomasb 14y ago
  Exactly. Here is a collection of route-servers and looking glasses which tell you what path a route from ISP x to IP y will take. http://www.bgp4.as/looking-glasses http://www.bgp4.as/looking-glasses You will see that every single route to 194.71.107.0/24 will travel through AS39138.
elsewhere 14y ago
Yep, I just tried this myself. I get about 40 ms from south germany and about 30 ms from france to thepiratebay.se ; but almost 400 ms to www.kcna.kp
dscwedfwe 14y ago
yandex.ru

millerc 14y ago

Stupid move, so much that words fail me. "Korea" (as they call themselves, they don't acknowledge the autonomy of the South) has been looking for months for investors to replenish their economy in the face of mounting sanctions. TPB is giving them exactly what they need to become a greater menace to the region.

VMG 14y ago

> The Pirate Bay has been hunted in many countries around the world. Not for illegal activities but being persecuted for beliefs of freedom of information. How noble. Good thing that they found refuge in the country that basically is one big concentration camp. Can't make this stuff up.

Zoepfli 14y ago

If North Korea really is involved in this (and the traceroutes seem to indicate it is), let's turn the irony up a notch and turn the spotlight on a few North-Korea-critical torrents - now served through the very censor-happy country that is getting criticized: Children of the Secret State - North Korea https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6441601/ https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6441601/ Inside - Undercover in North Korea https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6136295/ https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6136295/ Comrades and Strangers: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6899842/ https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6899842/ The Vice Guide to North Korea https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/5378291/ https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/5378291/ National Geographic Explorer ~ Inside North Korea https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6110419/ https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6110419/ It will be interesting to see how serious their new overlord is about that "freedom of speech thing". My guess is that sooner or later, some of those films will suddenly vanish from the site.

djcapelis 14y ago

Does NK have enough bandwidth for something like this? They just have one terrestrial link from PRC, right?

pdeuchler 14y ago

Holy Crap. This is... unprecedented. So North Korea will now have access to the entire Western World's culture catalog? For Free?! I wonder how Kim Jong Un will exploit that. And now anyone who downloads a torrent from TPB has potentially been compromised? Or is that alarmist?

corresation 14y ago
So North Korea will now have access to the entire Western World's culture catalog? Understand the difference between the torrent file and the actual data and all shall be revealed.
- pdeuchler 14y ago
  Does having access to the torrent file not give you access to the actual data?
  - corresation 14y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrent_file http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrent_file I suppose it gives access in the same way that North Korea visiting Pirate Bay gave them access before. There is a widespread belief that Pirate Bay is some giant repository of a bunch of pirate content, and it simply isn't true. Well, it's true that it's content that aids pirates in finding and downloading that content, but pirate bay itself is quite lightweight.
    - pdeuchler 14y ago
      I understand the difference. I was just assuming that since NK invited TPB they were planning on using it within NK. It also makes sense that if you were planning on downloading a large collection of torrents you would want the best possible access to those torrent files, as opposed to crawling for links.
      - corresation 14y ago

yankoff 14y ago

Someone send them this story http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/2007-09-atbirth.htm http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/2007-09-atbirth.htm.

ffk 14y ago

This is probably a practical application of what we saw earlier with the star wars traceroute. Trace 216.81.59.173 to see the effect if you haven't seen it already.

youngerdryas 14y ago

Posts like this show that however smart we generally believe HN users to be, on some fronts it is a bag full of stupid.

systematical 14y ago

Ironic that no one in the country pirate bay is now hosted will be able to access its contents. The free world has to go to the totalitarian world to access data and the totalitarian world have have to come to the free world to access the data.

harrisonpowers 14y ago

Was this Dennis Rodman's idea?

iamjoshuascott 14y ago

What's really ironic is that a lot of the content hosted on the Pirate Bay is banned in North Korea.

freyr 14y ago

I expected more from HN than this knee-jerk support for TPB due to its self-promulgated association with "freedom of information." Freedom of information, in the specific context of The Pirate Bay, means denying content authors the freedom to choose channels of distribution for their work. It means repackaging content, giving it away "for free," while raking in advertising revenue. It means diverting money away from the entire chain of content creators (e.g., writers, actors, directors, extras, special effects artists), marketers, distributors, etc., and solely into the pockets of TPB's operators. It's OK to support freedom of information, and also recognize TPB for what it really is.

CamperBob2 14y ago
(Shrug) The money TPB is "diverting" is money that the content industry refuses to accept from its would-be customers. It's the industry's job to ask me what distribution channel I want to use, not dictate what channel they require me to use. When they figure that out, they'll start making money again.
- pflats 14y ago
  No. It's their content; they make the rules. It's the industry's job to use whatever distribution channels make them and their clients the most money. That's it. If you don't like it, you don't have to buy their content, but it doesn't give you the right to bootleg it. If a content maker doesn't like it, they don't have to use a big publishing house that restricts their sales avenues, but they also know they're probably going to make less money that way.
  - CamperBob2 14y ago
    (Shrug) They can make rules, or they can make money. Their call.
    - Kerrick 14y ago
      You can boycott them if you disagree with them, but you can't just boycott them while still enjoying their content via piracy. It's not morally sound.

deleted 14y ago

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wilfra 14y ago

I realize this is propaganda but it's working on me. I'm starting to like Kim Jong-Un. First Eric Schmidt, then Dennis Rodman and now TPB. If these are the kinds of friends he wants to make, I'm a fan. This is a masterful 'fuck you' to the establishment and at the same time an olive branch to the internet generation all over the World. The people who will be running the World in 20, 30, 40 years - when he is still in power.

wilfra 14y ago
The only two things I dislike about HN: -It's a crapshoot or manipulation game to hit the front page -People downvote logical arguments they simply disagree with

deleted 14y ago

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krasin 14y ago
Each Korea pretends it's the only legit Korea. They don't call themselves as North or South. So, it would be politically incorrect to say "We are hosted by North Korea". If they said that, it would be a good sign that they are kidding us.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

benwerd 14y ago

Absolutely uncool. No matter what you think about current IP law - and let's face it, it's a bag of worms - getting into bed with North Korea is inexcusable. On top of everything else, and here "everything" means institutional murder and oppression, it kind of suggests a lack of morality on TPB's part.

dewey 14y ago

According to this blogpost https://rdns.im/the-pirate-bay-north-korean-hosting-no-its-fake https://rdns.im/the-pirate-bay-north-korean-hosting-no-its-f... it's not really hosted in NK.

malkia 14y ago

Prophecy fulfilled :) http://openclipart.org/people/worker/1325935795.svg http://openclipart.org/people/worker/1325935795.svg

kragen 14y ago

Do you really want North Korea to know exactly which copyrights you've violated and which banned books you've read? I mean, your torrent client sends that information to the tracker. (But then, it also sends it to other peers.)

jordanbaucke 14y ago

the enemy of my enemy is my friend

loeg 14y ago

Mirror, anyone? I can't get to it on Comcast.

combataircraft 14y ago

Apparently North Korea has more information freedom than rest of the world.

arthulia 14y ago
unless you live there.

friscofoodie 14y ago

This is so fantastic.

newishuser 14y ago

The Pirate Bay is not concerned with your judgment. The Pirate Bay is concerned with making socio-political statements and providing access to their site, seemingly in that order. Discomfort with the situation is exactly what they are going for. It should make you uneasy that they have to go to North Korea to keep the site online. While they are not martyrs for an easy to grasp cause, and their definition of 'free speech' may fly in the face of yours, they are doing their absolute best to keep alive what they think is important. This has recently resulted in much irony. Irony that I'm sure they're proud of. You should hate this. That's the point. This wasn't done so people could keep downloading movies illegally, this was done to make a statement, to get you to think. So please, ice your knee, and think.

InclinedPlane 14y ago
It's a joke. THAT'S the point.
citricsquid 14y ago
Think about what? No sarcasm, genuinely unsure what you're suggesting we should think about, please can you explain what the statement they're making is and what we should be thinking about.

acheron 14y ago

Well, I can certainly point to this article next time someone tries to tell me how awesome the HN comment section is.

mateo42 14y ago

I know it's TPB so I should have known this, but beware of this link at the office. If you don't have a good ad-blocker installed it will throw up some non-HR friendly popups!