Meet the founder of pirate bay

their some rich dudes

I bet when they started that site, they never expected it would become what it is today.

I don't know why Pirate Bay is such a popular tracker. It's shit.

How does Jens look?

They probably live in the TPB offices... that pic must be fake.

No they dont. They are one floor above BREIN (The anti piracy corp...)

Jens, I thought that was RapidShare that was about the anti piracy corp.

Na.. rapidshare is in switzerland.
PirateBay is in Sweden..

They're just straight-up thieves, and they have an INDEFENSIBLE position. They make money from the theft of materials created by people with actual talent.

While they don't directly steal copyrighted material, they basically "unlock the door" for the other scumbags.

As an artist myself, I can honestly say that I hope they die very soon.

Are you an Arab? Where do you live where theft warrants death?

In my world it warrant death as well. You don't have to be a sand knee grow to wanna kill.

that's kind of ironic

what should be illegal is M$haft charging $100+ every few years (these days its like $300) just for something that's still going to crash on you practically daily. At least the complete dumps are rare now BUT I have things "quit responding" half dozen times a day at least when I'm actually working...

Or how about this? how much is photoshop? Acrobat? Office? seriously and you wonder why people steal that shit?

Sure it pisses me off when people steal my software but its just something you're gonna have to deal with... If somebody without a license tries to get support I just refuse...

This coming from someone who uses a forum nickname of those really-well-known-do-gooders-who-wouldn't-hurt-a-tiny-grain-of-sand-in-the-vicinty-of-a-fly Zango?

Error: Irony does not compute.

Not what I expected.

Pirate Bay is a search engine, nothing more nothing else.
Should we ban Google to index and cache images?

They are rich!

This probably happens with most sites of there size.

High prices do not legitimize copyright infringement.

On the other hand, the fact that many software companies secretly promote copyright infringement to destroy low-priced competition, then make the money back with high-priced business licenses... well, that's a pretty good reason not to care about their interests all that much.

Looks like two fucking Swedish thieves to me. Would love to meet them face-to-face

Someday they'll get what's coming to them. When your entire business model is to steal from people, well that's a few rungs lower on the ladder than a pornographer. I guess it's lower than a drug-dealer IMO... at least the pusher has to buy his product in order to sell it.

That right there is your average Swedish nerd.

Sometimes it pays to be the middleman...

Intresting ..

The guys behind controversial file-sharing site The Pirate Bay have been called many things. Mostly they don’t care, but when people, especially representatives of the media, want to slip them into the tights of Robin Hood, they refuse to cooperate.

“Everyone wants to label us as a modern Robin Hood: the Robin Hood of the digital age. I hate that expression,” says Peter Sunde, one of the key figures of The Pirate Bay (TPB).

Pre-conceived notions abound when it comes to the Sweden-based file-sharing site.

But contrary to popular belief, The Pirate Bay’s leading lights do not spend their days cooped up in clandestine cellars plotting the downfall of the copyright society, as was revealed over the course of half a day in Stockholm in the company of Sunde and founder Fredrik Neij.

“We’re not the recluse type; we're very social computer [nerds],” Neij says with a smile.

Polite, humorous and down-to-earth, the two guys - who each recently turned 30 - speak patiently about their hobby.

“We believe in freedom of speech and the right to free communication between private individuals,” Sunde says.

“It seems as if many people have a hard time understanding that we have created a forum for information sharing; we’re not actually posting any of the material on TPB ourselves.”

The Pirate Bay has been accused of stealing from artists, cheating big corporations of trade secrets, and they are due in court some time in 2009 to face charges of copyright infringement involving music, movies and computer games.

Clearly there is a demand for what they have to offer: The Pirate Bay’s file sharing system plays host to 12 million unique visitors at any given time and the system gets four billion hits a day, says Sunde.

People upload movies, music, games and other content that can be shared electronically. This, some say, is illegal, but Sunde, Neij and the others involved in TPB are challenging the accepted rules.

“The idea is to enable anyone and everyone to share information, no matter what type of information, to whomever they want without being censored or moralized over,” Sunde explains.

“We try to let people understand the good things ‘pirates’ can do (we use the name ‘pirates’ to reclaim the word and make it positive) and to put the power of people in their own hands instead of the traditional media industry that edits the content that is out there.”

The most recent controversy surrounding The Pirate Bay involved uploaded autopsy photos of two murdered Swedish children. Sunde and Neij fully understand the heart-wrenching nature of the material for the family but say the photos were part of a public document posted by a user and they are determined not to censor TPB.

They do remove some content from the site however, Neij says. Around a dozen computer-savvy volunteers help moderate TPB.

“They remove spam, viruses and fakes,” Neij says. “And if something comes up that breaks Swedish law, something that looks like child pornography, for example, they send it to the police so they can decide.”

Sunde, who handles most of the press relations, has tried to explain to various media that it wasn’t them, the operators of TPB, who posted the autopsy photos.

Most headlines and reports about the photos of the murdered children failed to mention that the photos were part of a 2,700 page murder investigation, says Sunde.

The torrent had been downloaded 30 times before the media noticed the photos nestled somewhere in the middle of the rather large file. About a month after the news reports, the file had been downloaded some 50,000 times, says Neij.

“We get accused of publishing information that we have nothing to do with, all the while the newspapers and TV channels get higher ratings,” Sunde says. “You wonder who’s really making out on that deal.”

The Pirate Bay is not a profit-driven enterprise, Sunde explains. Sunde and Neij both have day jobs as IT consultants (surprise, surprise) to support themselves. TPB accepts donations and gets advertising money, which is used to pay for broadband and new computers.

“We are happy as long as it doesn’t make a loss,” Neij says.

TPB is not a registered business, not even an organization, Sunde explains. “It’s just a hobby that’s grown to be very, very large.”

So large, in fact, that companies and organizations around the world routinely invite The Pirate Bay operators to speak about their topic of expertise. Soon they are travelling to Malaysia to give their lecture, cheekily entitled: “How to dismantle a multi-billion dollar industry as a hobby.”

Of course, the topic does not go over well with everyone. The verbal wrath of Hollywood and various major record labels around the world is posted on The Pirate Bay web site under ‘legal’, a link that takes the curious to letters from global corporations such as DreamWorks and Apple.

The responses from Sunde, Neij and the moderators are posted under the same link. Some are pretty straight-forward, and most responses include explicit language.

Though busy juggling various projects -- including publishing a book, holding an art exhibit in Italy, consultancy work and active involvement with the Piratbyrån (The Pirate Bureau) lobby group, which advocates copying and sharing information and culture freely -- Sunde and Neij still find time for other hobbies. They travel a lot, for example.

When asked about their favourite travel destination, both answer: the Sinai Desert.

“We go there a lot, we know a Bedouin,” Neij says. He shows pictures on his cell phone of a long beach, a tent-like dwelling and azure blue water.

“This is the only place I can really relax,” he adds.

Sunde and Neij agree that The Pirate Bay story is difficult to encapsulate in one sitting. This is where documentary film maker Simon Klose comes in.

“We met during a demonstration and I thought: ‘Who are these guys? Are they baby-eating monsters or what?’ They piqued my curiosity,” he says.

Klose, who has also worked on movies about homeless people in Tokyo and car thieves in Johannesburg, says he is now making a documentary about “hackers in Stockholm.”

“It’s kind of an interesting situation,” he says. “This is the first time I’m making a documentary where I’m pretty sure that Hollywood will watch it.”


This is kind of ironic

On the same page

Americans cook Thanksgiving meal for Stockholm's homeless

A group of volunteers from the American Club of Sweden cooked up a Thanksgiving feast on Thursday for residents and staff at one of Stockholm’s homeless shelters

Fuck them

I don't agree with you, it's a nice tracker!

thats pretty terrible...what's this board comming to ????

If I broke into your house to steal your shit I'm 100% sure if you had a a gun you'd shoot me.

they sure make a nice chunk of money!

So if I think something is too expensive that justifies theft? Gee that BMW is too expesnsive in my book, I'll steal it. See if you don't thinbk some POS software is worth $100 then don't get it. That's what one is entitled to. To speak with their wallet buy not getting it. Fact is if it's worth stealing, it's worth paying for. I read all kind of boards where theives jusify downlading music and movies by saying "today's movies and music are crap. they're not worht what they charge". Well I ask "If it's crap why would you want it in the first place even if it was free? Would you eat a plate of dog shit if it was free?"

It makes no sense to one the one hand say you have the right to not pay for something because it's crap yet on the other hand still desire said crap. Unless you want to admit you love crap. And unless your German that's no excuse. Even if your German that only applies to actual crap.

I don't have a gun and if i did i would not shoot you, i don't enjoy inflicting pain to others. I would probably jump you or something, Maybe try to scare you off then call the cops....

but this is way to extreme...

Seems like there are more Terrorists on this forum then i thought....

So you are thief which doesnt support violence