4 ms·

They should go to jail since they are making big money out of other people's copyrighted work. And hopefully they will.

by miracle 17y ago

jvdh 17y ago
I'm sorry, they are making big money? Rly? What makes you think that? They have a big site, without any advertising banners...doesn't sound like a very commercially attractive deal to me. [edit] Oops, my bad, they do have some banners, my ad blocking tools turned out to be far more effective than I thought they would be. Even if they serve those banners, I really can't imagine they are making "big money". [/edit]
- ErrantX 17y ago
  Actually they DO have ads on the site. Im sure they dont make a lot of money out of it though (running costs perhaps) EDIT: @jvdh - heh yeh I only happened to notice because I was using IE (spit) at the time.
- acro 17y ago
  I would imagine they can easily make more than mininova, and mininova apparently has revenues over one million per year, see: http://torrentfreak.com/behind-the-scenes-at-mininova-090316/ http://torrentfreak.com/behind-the-scenes-at-mininova-090316... This is just quessing, i have no confirmed information.
  - nopassrecover 17y ago
    Revenues != profits
  - ErrantX 17y ago
    There is earning potential for certain: do they use it? For a group that list openness and freedom amongst their ideals [sic] I dont see any openness about the revenue TPB generates. They release no figures or data. Personally I consider that a double standard (and I have to confess I do believe they make a profit: perhaps not a huge amount but... logically they could make quite a bit and I dont see a decent argument for why they wouldnt)
    - khafra 17y ago
      The biggest reason they wouldn't is who they're advertising to. Google makes a lot of money because people who search there might often be looking for a place to buy something that pops up in the paid results. People who search piratebay aren't often looking to buy anything, and advertisers know that.
jgrahamc 17y ago
I'm sorry that you are getting downmodded. I agree with your sentiment. The Pirate Bay exists to facilitate copying of copyrighted works without paying the license fees involved. And they have advertising on their site, hence they are making money from this activity. It's a pity that everyone calls this 'file sharing' (which sounds so innocent) when the entire purpose of a site like TPB is to allow people to make copies of copyright works.
- Confusion 17y ago
  The purpose of the site, and many other sites, is to allow people to share works. They are guilty, in the moral sense, of not taking any steps to prevent copyrighted content from being shared, even though they were well aware that that was happening. The danger of your phrasing is that people start to think that any torrentsite is illegal, which is not, and should never be, the case.
  - jgrahamc 17y ago
    I agree. I _do not_ condemn any torrent site, or BitTorrent itself. No point damning the technology, it's the use that annoys me.
  - paulgb 17y ago
    I suppose they called it the Pirate Bay because they like parrots?
- rs 17y ago
  Yes and no. Do remember that bullets don't kill people, it's people kill people. TPB is just another tool for sharing files, it's people's actions that infringe copyright. They really should be after the folks who rip the content and upload them in the first place. Get to the source of the incident, not the distribution channel.
  - jgrahamc 17y ago
    Disagree. TPB has made its name by being "anti-establishment" and they flaunt that. In their Usage Policy they state: "The responsibility lies upon the user to not spread malicious, false or illegal material using the tracker." which is tantamount to saying that they turn a blind eye to what's happening on their service. On their legal threats page they respond to various letters. For example, in replying DreamWorks who were annoyed about distribution of Shrek 2 they wrote: "It is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are ....... morons, and that you should please go sodomize yourself with retractable batons. Go fuck yourself." So basically they either turn a blind eye, or defend the actions of people using the tracker for the copying of copyrighted works without authorization. If you read the letters they send they claim that they are not breaking the law in Sweden. I guess the court disagreed with that.
nopassrecover 17y ago
But they aren't necessarily depriving the copyright owners. In fact, in some cases they may be helping them.
- ErrantX 17y ago
  But they are not necessarily helping either. :) Personally the biggest issue I have with TPB is: - They have an anti-establishment attitude NOT a pro-file sharing one. So I dont ever count them as part of the (legit) file sharing community - They have an attitude problem.. there is no reason sharers cant work with copyright holders. But said holders have no reason to trust sharers when people like TPB tend to be the public face (through creating a media circus).
  - nopassrecover 17y ago
    Fair points :-) My problem was that the original parent comment (now deleted) made the claim that TPB was profiting off other copyright holders and therefore deserved punishment. My retort was that they weren't necessarily hurting copyright holders and may even have helped with promotion.
  - sho 17y ago
    What's wrong with their attitude? They have a set of beliefs and they loudly espouse them. Their arguments are well-reasoned and, usually, politely stated. The only "establishment" they are against is the status quo of copyright law, it's not like they're anarchists. They might slip into immaturity sometimes (see their "responses to legal threats page", for example) but it's not like the other side are angels either.
    - ErrantX 17y ago
      > Their arguments are well-reasoned and, usually, politely stated Really? Mostly they just fall back on the usual anti-capitalist rethoric. Nothing particularly wrong with that but they certainly dont do it politely from what I have seen :) In terms of the other side: true both have their faults. But why does that mean we should side with the pirates :) they have done something wrong.
gamache 17y ago
The founders claim that they do not make money off the site; what they take in is just enough to cover server and bandwidth costs. See the 12th paragraph down at: http://torrentfreak.com/news-from-the-pirate-bay-press-conference-090215/ http://torrentfreak.com/news-from-the-pirate-bay-press-confe...
Tritis 17y ago
Like every news aggregation website on the internet?

They should go to jail since they are making big money out of other people's copyrighted work. And hopefully they will.

by miracle 17y ago

They should go to jail since they are making big money out of other people's copyrighted work. And hopefully they will.

jvdh 17y ago

I'm sorry, they are making big money? Rly? What makes you think that? They have a big site, without any advertising banners...doesn't sound like a very commercially attractive deal to me. [edit] Oops, my bad, they do have some banners, my ad blocking tools turned out to be far more effective than I thought they would be. Even if they serve those banners, I really can't imagine they are making "big money". [/edit]

ErrantX 17y ago
Actually they DO have ads on the site. Im sure they dont make a lot of money out of it though (running costs perhaps) EDIT: @jvdh - heh yeh I only happened to notice because I was using IE (spit) at the time.
acro 17y ago
I would imagine they can easily make more than mininova, and mininova apparently has revenues over one million per year, see: http://torrentfreak.com/behind-the-scenes-at-mininova-090316/ http://torrentfreak.com/behind-the-scenes-at-mininova-090316... This is just quessing, i have no confirmed information.
- nopassrecover 17y ago
  Revenues != profits
- ErrantX 17y ago
  There is earning potential for certain: do they use it? For a group that list openness and freedom amongst their ideals [sic] I dont see any openness about the revenue TPB generates. They release no figures or data. Personally I consider that a double standard (and I have to confess I do believe they make a profit: perhaps not a huge amount but... logically they could make quite a bit and I dont see a decent argument for why they wouldnt)
  - khafra 17y ago
    The biggest reason they wouldn't is who they're advertising to. Google makes a lot of money because people who search there might often be looking for a place to buy something that pops up in the paid results. People who search piratebay aren't often looking to buy anything, and advertisers know that.

jgrahamc 17y ago

I'm sorry that you are getting downmodded. I agree with your sentiment. The Pirate Bay exists to facilitate copying of copyrighted works without paying the license fees involved. And they have advertising on their site, hence they are making money from this activity. It's a pity that everyone calls this 'file sharing' (which sounds so innocent) when the entire purpose of a site like TPB is to allow people to make copies of copyright works.

Confusion 17y ago
The purpose of the site, and many other sites, is to allow people to share works. They are guilty, in the moral sense, of not taking any steps to prevent copyrighted content from being shared, even though they were well aware that that was happening. The danger of your phrasing is that people start to think that any torrentsite is illegal, which is not, and should never be, the case.
- jgrahamc 17y ago
  I agree. I _do not_ condemn any torrent site, or BitTorrent itself. No point damning the technology, it's the use that annoys me.
- paulgb 17y ago
  I suppose they called it the Pirate Bay because they like parrots?
rs 17y ago
Yes and no. Do remember that bullets don't kill people, it's people kill people. TPB is just another tool for sharing files, it's people's actions that infringe copyright. They really should be after the folks who rip the content and upload them in the first place. Get to the source of the incident, not the distribution channel.
- jgrahamc 17y ago
  Disagree. TPB has made its name by being "anti-establishment" and they flaunt that. In their Usage Policy they state: "The responsibility lies upon the user to not spread malicious, false or illegal material using the tracker." which is tantamount to saying that they turn a blind eye to what's happening on their service. On their legal threats page they respond to various letters. For example, in replying DreamWorks who were annoyed about distribution of Shrek 2 they wrote: "It is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are ....... morons, and that you should please go sodomize yourself with retractable batons. Go fuck yourself." So basically they either turn a blind eye, or defend the actions of people using the tracker for the copying of copyrighted works without authorization. If you read the letters they send they claim that they are not breaking the law in Sweden. I guess the court disagreed with that.

nopassrecover 17y ago

But they aren't necessarily depriving the copyright owners. In fact, in some cases they may be helping them.

ErrantX 17y ago
But they are not necessarily helping either. :) Personally the biggest issue I have with TPB is: - They have an anti-establishment attitude NOT a pro-file sharing one. So I dont ever count them as part of the (legit) file sharing community - They have an attitude problem.. there is no reason sharers cant work with copyright holders. But said holders have no reason to trust sharers when people like TPB tend to be the public face (through creating a media circus).
- nopassrecover 17y ago
  Fair points :-) My problem was that the original parent comment (now deleted) made the claim that TPB was profiting off other copyright holders and therefore deserved punishment. My retort was that they weren't necessarily hurting copyright holders and may even have helped with promotion.
- sho 17y ago
  What's wrong with their attitude? They have a set of beliefs and they loudly espouse them. Their arguments are well-reasoned and, usually, politely stated. The only "establishment" they are against is the status quo of copyright law, it's not like they're anarchists. They might slip into immaturity sometimes (see their "responses to legal threats page", for example) but it's not like the other side are angels either.
  - ErrantX 17y ago
    > Their arguments are well-reasoned and, usually, politely stated Really? Mostly they just fall back on the usual anti-capitalist rethoric. Nothing particularly wrong with that but they certainly dont do it politely from what I have seen :) In terms of the other side: true both have their faults. But why does that mean we should side with the pirates :) they have done something wrong.

gamache 17y ago

The founders claim that they do not make money off the site; what they take in is just enough to cover server and bandwidth costs. See the 12th paragraph down at: http://torrentfreak.com/news-from-the-pirate-bay-press-conference-090215/ http://torrentfreak.com/news-from-the-pirate-bay-press-confe...

Tritis 17y ago

Like every news aggregation website on the internet?