[Closed] R.I.P. The Pirate Bay

I agree, that really is bad news. I wasn't even using this website myself, or any torrents for that matter, but I know that a lot of other people did.

Personally, I think online piracy has an unfairly negative reputation. People just seem to focus on the negatives and blow it all out of proportion, while completely ignoring the positive effects, especially for people from poorer countries, as you pointed out. I honestly don't think that it's that harmful to the industry at all, most people's views on this seem to be a bit one-dimensional.

Then again, this wouldn't be the first time one of these sites has been shut down, only to be started again later, so maybe there is a bit of hope left, even though it doesn't look good right now.

The industry is way too greedy and the big companies couldn't care less about the poor people. They make millions or even billions of dollars (it's not an exaggeration, just google some big names) out of one movie, game or TV series, but God forbid a poor kid gets to play a 10-year-old game for free on his crappy second-hand computer, right?

What they don't recognize in their greediness is the fact that the rich countries are rich because the poor countries are their economical slaves. If the poor countries didn't exist, the rich countries wouldn't be rich, so who would buy their releases then?

And then they release some scary statistics that show how much money all those "poor" companies have allegedly lost due to piracy, and how many jobs are supposedly in jeopardy. Implying that everyone who pirated their stuff would have been willing (and able) to pay the full price...

There are so many bands/movies/shows I wouldn't even care about today, or even know they exist, if I hadn't received a free peek at one point. And more often than not, I did eventually end up paying money for live shows or merchandise. No anti-piracy lobbyist seems to care about this side of the story.

In my opinion, the idea that piracy=stealing is not only inaccurate, it is downright absurd.

Game crackers and movie rippers are as close to Robin Hood as they get in this era - giving from the rich to the poor and getting unfairly hated about it in the process.

GTA 4 grossed well over a BILLION dollars, and yet they implemented a feature in their game where if you had a cracked version of it, the screen would shake left and right and you could never save the game, making it practically unplayable. The crackers got around that eventually, after months of work, but Rockstar Games was a complete asshole, in my opinion, for this implementation.

Even more, after all this charade, they failed miserably - the game eventually even got cracked even for multiplayer. They invested funds and frustrated poor players for no reason whatsoever.

I dont think it is any point to be romantic about it. The people behind TPB makes a lot of money to. Most of internet in Sweden was down yesterday in revenge actions. This is all driven by greed. It seems like the attacks on Poker sites lately has been made by one greedy swede just to make some dollars.

I cant tell how we should build up the infrastructure to give the money to the people who make all this magic music, movies and games but one thing is for sure and that is that Pirate Bay sure aint going to do it.

Svinhugg, first of all, nobody said the owners of TPB did it all out of the kindness of their hearts.

Second of all, a lot of money were needed to keep them out of jail because of the countless legal issues they had. Some of them actually ended up being convicted.

That being said, all I'm saying is that the world was a better place with The Pirate Bay.

Originally posted by Svinhugg
The people behind TPB makes a lot of money to.

If you'll do some research, you will find out that the police concluded that The Pirate Bay brings in about $169,000 a year from advertisements. At the trial, it was estimated that the yearly expenses to keep the site running were around $110,000 a year. Divide what's left to the 3 founders and you get the absolutely fabulous, mind-blowing, life-changing amount of about $20,000 a year per founder. Yeah, they totally got rich out of it.

Originally posted by NightShadePMC

Originally posted by Svinhugg
The people behind TPB makes a lot of money to.

If you'll do some research, you will find out that the police concluded that The Pirate Bay brings in about $169,000 a year from advertisements. At the trial, it was estimated that the yearly expenses to keep the site running were around $110,000 a year. Divide what's left to the 3 founders and you get the absolutely fabulous, mind-blowing, life-changing amount of about $20,000 a year per founder. Yeah, they totally got rich out of it.

I never said they made billions but I do believe that they made more than the police could prove. But they aint no Robin Hoods.

The shithead that DDoSed out those pokersites made a few thousand dollars but messed it up for a lot of people.

OF course it is nice that the poor people of the world (that can afford the 500 dollar computer needed and a fat internet connection) can copy the latest games. But somewhere I wonder if not the most people who benefit from this live in the rich world.

A sad day.

I always find it funny how people try to justify stealing. But.... but... it is not my fault!

Svinhugg, if you will actually read the statement about Robin Hoods, it clearly states it's about game crackers and movie rippers. The founders are NOT game crackers and movie rippers and weren't even mentioned in that reply. The founders just offer them a place to share their work, and the people who upload torrents on TPB don't get a cent for it, they do it for the world.

And the computers the people usually buy in my country are total crap with integrated video cards (because that's what they can afford), so playing the latest games is out of the question. Also, games don't get cracked as soon as they get released.

Originally posted by Anssi
I always find it funny how people try to justify stealing. But.... but... it is not my fault!

It's almost as funny as people who can afford the things they want (like, for example, yourself) being ignorant and not giving a shit about people whose only fault in life was to be born poor, with little to no opportunities in life. It's so funny how they reject the existence of that part of the world. But it does exist.

This is a typical village from my country. How does it compare to the place you grew up in? If you don't know what it's like to live in this shit, then you don't get to call the kids living there thieves for downloading a free game.

@alphavillain +10000000

[Edited by Lazza61 - Please keep to the subject at hand]

All right guys, I understand that this is a controversial topic and a lot of people feel quite strongly about it (myself included), but let's try to refrain from personal attacks.

Just wanted to post my 2 cents as someone who lives in a 1st world country but has had the chance of seeing villages like this and even worse irl with my own 2 eyes. They do exist, conditions are rough, opportunities for people to generate wealth are pretty much non-existent. I think ignorance is typical a result of a person lacking knowledge or not having any knowledge in a particular field, it doesn't make the person unintelligent. I'm ignorant with regards to victoria's secret bra's for example, I think they are dumb, expensive and waste of money but maybe if I was a chick and bought one i would find out they make my tits feel great. However, you can't educate anyone whether it's on PS or a super market by insulting them first, they focus on that and get defensive. You may say well he insulted me first, I think typically people with high self esteem and personal confidence in themselves will let that just bounce off and not even react to it, and thus resulting in a much better response from the other person to the information you are trying to present to them. If they are don't listen or continue insulting, imo there is no hope and let them just have their opinion and by all means everyone is allowed to have their own opinion. I was trying to be careful how I wrote that because I didn't want to insult you by insinuating that someone itt is lacking self-confidence and self-esteem because I don't have any information with regards to that. I'm going to get off my high horse and say that I have personally got defensive many times in the past and still probably but it's something I try to work on.

Regarding the whole topic of stealing, yes I do believe it's stealing. When I go to the store, I do not steal as it's against my morals, but I also have access to opportunities and funds to allow me to pay for my products. If any of you enjoy soccer, you should watch short documentary on Zlatan Ibrahimovic, "Who is Zlatan?", I think it was called, and you will learn that as a young boy he stole things. For those that don't know, he is from Malmo, Sweden, also a relatively poor small town. Anyway the point being is, the world is not fair and you can't say what you would do if you were in someone's shoes, just be thankful you don't have to be and have the opportunity and are living the life you are living. I think the problem lies with the pricing of things, these rich countries are able to manufacture the product at a little to no low cost and then sell it at a ridiculously high price exploiting the market based on an economic principle of supply and demand. And I think the way a lot of human brains are wired these days, a lot of people get happiness from random shit like electronics instead of spending time with their family or enjoying a sport they love. I know I'm guilty of this, very often while visiting my parents I will be on my phone while drinking tea or w/e. I allegedly (you guys should all learn to use this word to not incriminate yourself on the web) have used TPB in the past for certain things but I do try to support people's hard work such as books that are priced very low (relative to everything else) and the author puts a ton of hours into writing it. Anyway have to go to the gym now, which I'm lucky and thankful to have access to. Enjoy your day everyone, cheers.

Originally posted by Harrier88
All right guys, I understand that this is a controversial topic and a lot of people feel quite strongly about it (myself included), but let's try to refrain from personal attacks.

There is a reason I'm not a mod, my ban hammer would be used quite often

It's sad, but there's others

Originally posted by ThatGuyMatt
It's sad, but there's others

That.

Close the thread FFS.

serverm07, that is a very civilized way of stating or opinion, therefor giving me the opportunity to respond in the same way.

I never questioned Anssi's intelligence. He is a black member, after all, which would suggest the probability that he is at least above average in the mental department (unless he lost money while attaining that level, but I think we all agree that's not very likely). I just deducted that he is likely to be arrogant, ignorant and selfish.

The reason I didn't just ignore his reply was not for myself, but for the other people that read this thread to see the other side of the fence. I don't care if and I don't think I can change his opinion. Arrogance is a thick wall that logical arguments can't penetrate most of the time.

About your opinion that this is stealing, I will also offer you my civilized opinion, using your example as a basis. If you went to the store and took a product from the shelf, that would be stealing because the store has, at the current moment, a limited supply of that product and you would be taking away the opportunity to buy that product from a paying customer. However, if the store had an infinite supply of that product available, you would not be taking away anything from anyone, because there is enough of that product for the entire world. Especially if you weren't going to buy the product anyway because a lack of funds, you are not prejudicing anyone. That's what pirated games and movies are - a product with an infinite supply. You can just copy them an infinite number of times and they will work just as good as the first copy. So, in my opinion, this is not stealing because you aren't prejudicing anyone with your actions.

Originally posted by serverm07
Regarding the whole topic of stealing, yes I do believe it's stealing. When I go to the store, I do not steal as it's against my morals, but I also have access to opportunities and funds to allow me to pay for my products.

Here's the thing: I honestly believe that, whatever your views on piracy may be, it is just factually wrong to describe it as stealing. No one is taking anything away from anyone, and like I said before, it would be quite a stretch to assume that anyone who pirated something would have been willing to pay the full price.

When I don't pirate stuff, I just buy used copies on eBay instead. In this case, someone else has bought the game/movie/album and then willingly sells it to someone else. If I pirate it, someone else once bought it (or received a copy any other way, but someone must have bought it at one point) and then willingly shares a copy with someone else. What's the difference? In both cases, the artist receives nothing.

Or imagine you come across a sports car you'd really like to own. Since you can't afford it, you instead create an exact replica that is 100% indistinguishable from the original out of parts you found at a scrapyard. Would this be considered stealing? It certainly takes a lot more effort than just clicking a download link, but wouldn't it be the same from a moral perspective?

No one is preventing anyone from buying all this stuff instead. And it is actually not that uncommon for people to pirate something first and then eventually buy the real thing (or anything else from the same artist, which they wouldn't have done if they didn't at one point receive a free copy that kindled their interest).

In my opinion, comparing piracy to stealing would be like comparing sharing your drink with a mate to stealing. Now imagine it would actually refill after you share it... but this is exactly what piracy does.