Intellectual Property Law

Seeking World Record, Pirate Bay Claims 22 Million Users

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

The Pirate Bay, the world's most-notorious BitTorrent tracking service, reported Thursday it has 22 million users worldwide scoring free copyrighted software, movies, music, games -- you name it. That's up from 8 millionusers a year ago.

The site, which is under legal attackby authorities in Sweden, reported on its blog that it recorded 2 million new users this week alone. In April, the site had 12 million users, according to The Bay's blog. The site announced on Thursday that it asked the Guinness Book of World Records to recognize it as the world's largest illicit tracker.

Despite efforts from Hollywoodand the recording industry, it appears online piracy is mushrooming.

"We would like to thank all the great and persistent uploaders that dedicate time to share. But most of all, we would like to thank you, you and you! For it is all of you out there that makes this site what it is. Together: uploaders, seeders, leechers, mods and admins, we are The Pirate Bay," the blog said.

Full post as published by Threat Level on November 06, 2008 (boomark / email).