Copyright Law

The Pirate Bay Speaks Out: ?The Site Will Live On!?

By soulxtc

Swedish BitTorrent tracker site tells users not to worry about them or the site, and to instead seed your torrents, buy a Pirate Bay t-shirt to show whom you support, and to vote, vote, vote.

The Pirate Bay has a message for users of The BitTorrent tracker site after having recently been found guilty of aiding in the “unlawful transfer to the public of copyrighted performances.?

“You, our beloved users, know that this little speedbump on the information super highway is nothing more than just, a little bump,” reads a blog post on the site. “Todays verdict has already been appealed by us and will be taken to the next level of court (and that will take another 2 or 3 years!).”

They note, no doubt to the chagrin of the entertainment industry, and what many users of the site have relished, that the site continues to operate despite the conviction.

“The site will live on! We are more determined than ever that what we do is right. Millions of users are a good proof of that.”

After The Pirate Bay was raided and briefly shuttered a few years back, it went to great lengths to scatter its servers around the globe, ensuring that it will weather any legal storm such as this.

The BitTorrent tracker site founders have also apparently discovered that some have even started soliciting donations on their behalf to satisfy the 30 million kronor ($3.6 million USD) in damages the court ordered be paid to the entertainment industry and strongly asks that people do not contribute.

“We have seen that some people that we don’t know have started collecting donations for us, so we can pay those silly fines,” it continues. “We firmly ask you NOT to do this. Do not gather or send any money. We do not want them since we will not pay any fines!”

Instead they suggest that people donate in other ways:

* Seed those torrents a little bit more than you usually do!

* Buy a t-shirt and show the world where your sympathy is.

* If you live in Europe, vote in the election for the EU parliament in June.

* Continue to build the internets! Start more bittorrent sites, blog more, start your own lobby group, create, remix, mash up and continue to grow more heads on this amazing hydra that we know as the internets!

* Do not be afraid of using the network. Invite your friends to this and other file sharing systems. Calm people down if they’re upset. We need to stay united.

And say it loud say it proud! We are all The Pirate Bay!

Seeding is probably the easiest way to show the BitTorrent community’s defiance of the verdict, but all are just as important.

In any event, show your support BitTorrent users, and at the very least seed, seed, seed!

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on April 20, 2009 (boomark / email).