Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Year of the storm

thepiratebay.se

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 98 posts

Re: Year of the storm

#71

Post by burgerbrain »

VMG wrote: post #50
absentbird wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well Wikileaks didn't have copyright infringement claims against it and it has suffered massive blows to funding and traffic. TPB exists because people care about it. People care about it because it provides something relevant to them.

Then why does TPB mention Syria and North Korea at all? Why not be honest? "We exist because people want Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 for free and we can help them"

"Then why does TPB mention Syria and North Korea at all?"

Because they care about that.

Re: Year of the storm

#72

Post by burgerbrain »

VonLipwig wrote: post #54
toyg wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A site which is 95% dedicated to sharing copyrighted content [citation needed] The Pirate Bay exists to make money for its founders. This is why it has so many intrusive ad's constantly popping up. The Pirate Bay exists to make it possible for people to share content, but bandwidth and infrastructure is not free. The pirate bay is such a target because the people who run it humiliate and insult people with very deep…

"""[citation needed]""" Sure, however I doubt I am far off. The site is called The PIRATE Bay. Shall we play a game of spot the legitimate content? http://thepiratebay.se/top/300 """The Pirate Bay exists to make it possible for people to share content, but bandwidth and infrastructure is not free.""" Of course it isn't however the owners are making no attempt to remove infringing content. They know their business is…

You make the mistake of assuming that "pirating" is inherently and obviously "wrong".

I, and many others, reject that premise.

If you disagree, so what? We're quite used to people disagreeing, and have gotten rather good at not caring.

PS:

"Instead they adopt the. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha you can't get us.""

This attitude makes zero sense to me. Why is it so wrong if they are extroverted?

Re: Year of the storm

#73

Post by burgerbrain »

the-cakeboss wrote: post #58
idiocracyreigns wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you honestly say that the pirate bay isn't dedicated, and almost exclusively used for the distribution of material protected by copyright? No, but I can't say that about the Internet at-large, either. Practically everything is protected by copyright, including the beloved Linux source.

Fair enough. Perhaps I should clarify, and say "the illegal distribution of material protected by copyright". Its incredible how obtuse people become when discussing this issue.

Would you be distressed if I made a website dedicated to encouraging and facilitating jaywalking? That is quite illegal in some jurisdictions you know.

How about one dedicated to supporting/encouraging arson as political speech? Horror of all horrors: http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm !

This "some places it is illegal" == "it is immoral" attitude is rather tyring.

Re: Year of the storm

#74

Post by burgerbrain »

Erwin wrote: post #19

So the Pirate Bay is now a bastion of freedom that lets users in Syria and North Korea download the latest episode of Glee? (The current most popular torrent there). I'm a little confused about what their greater noble political purpose is. To me it sounds like a place where you can get your TV shows in a more convenient way than waiting until they appear on channels you have, or download that movie you can't be both…

Demanding that those who want change seek it by throwing themselves upon a pyre is a particularly annoying way of "covertly" wishing the status quo the best.

Civil Disobedience is Not the following: The only way to seek change. The only legitimate way to seek change. Always the best way to seek change. Always effective at all.

Re: Year of the storm

#75

Post by jrockway »

tomjen3 wrote: post #66
microtonal wrote: post #9

It is sad, but I cannot read this blog post. The Dutch equivalent of the RIAA/MPAA, named Brein, sued two of the major Dutch ISPs for not blocking access to The Pirate Bay. Brein won the court case, and the judge required these ISPs to block The Pirate Bay starting yesterday. Now I am met with this when visiting thepiratebay.se: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/838/blokkade.png/ Internet censorship is now real in…

Replace your DNS server with 8.8.8.8. Death to lying DNS servers (well, at least we won't talk to them).

It's interesting how every other article on HN is "Google is evil, I hate them" but apparently using their free DNS is OK.

Re: Year of the storm

#76

Post by jrockway »

burgerbrain wrote: post #72
VonLipwig wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"""[citation needed]""" Sure, however I doubt I am far off. The site is called The PIRATE Bay. Shall we play a game of spot the legitimate content? http://thepiratebay.se/top/300 """The Pirate Bay exists to make it possible for people to share content, but bandwidth and infrastructure is not free.""" Of course it isn't however the owners are making no attempt to remove infringing content. They know their business is…

You make the mistake of assuming that "pirating" is inherently and obviously "wrong". I, and many others , reject that premise. If you disagree, so what? We're quite used to people disagreeing, and have gotten rather good at not caring. PS: "Instead they adopt the. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha you can't get us."" This attitude makes zero sense to me. Why is it so wrong if they are extroverted?

The attitude is antagonistic rather than extroverted. Anyway, it all boils down to a business strategy. The Pirate Bay enrages copyright holders, who then go after all "piracy sites". The weaker ones die because of the increased legal scrutiny, while TPB continues to live. I'm guessing that TPB served more pages after MegaUpload died than they did before. And that is money in the founders' pockets.

Re: Year of the storm

#77

Post by the-cakeboss »

burgerbrain wrote: post #73
the-cakeboss wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough. Perhaps I should clarify, and say "the illegal distribution of material protected by copyright". Its incredible how obtuse people become when discussing this issue.

Would you be distressed if I made a website dedicated to encouraging and facilitating jaywalking? That is quite illegal in some jurisdictions you know. How about one dedicated to supporting/encouraging arson as political speech? Horror of all horrors: http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm ! This "some places it is illegal" == "it is immoral" attitude is rather tyring.

The focus of my comment was never about the morality of pirating, but rather my perceived difficulty in having an intelligent and honest conversation about it. While I did briefly touch on my thoughts about its morality, I made sure to state that matter was up for debate.

When we are talking about piracy I am amazed that people entertain the notion that the Pirate Bay is somehow liberating oppressed peoples all over the world ( as was implied in the release... ). We aren't talking about leaked government documents here, we are talking about last night's episode of Glee. All of this nonsense merely detracts and distracts for the real issue at hand.

Furthermore, I have found time and time again that people become exceedingly argumentative and obtuse when these issues are discussed, denying and arguing every claim no matter how well accepted or understood it is. I mean, can we really not agree that the Pirate Bay is primarily dedicated to distributing copyrighted material illegally? Is it really necessary for me to dig up a source and provide a citation for that claim?

In direct response to your question, I would not be distressed by such a site, nor does the existence of the pirate bay cause me distress. What might irritate me about such a site however is if it were to claim that jaywalking laws were not in place to control traffic and provide safe crossing to pedestrians, but instead to oppress the people of a city or some other nonsense along the same lines. It would irritate me if its supporters some deep conviction for it and when questioned about their beliefs, immediately assume those unlike them derive their morality from law.

I pirate content a lot. I am a member of a private tracker, and for awhile I rented out a seedbox to maintain my ratio. Never once though, have I ever felt entitled to the things I downloaded. Never once did I try to justify my downloading with anything other than the fact that it is super convenient and free. Why you think I'm so dull as to never question the word of law is beyond me. I never once said anything to suggest legality is equivalent to morality. I may even go so far as to say this conclusion you've made is indicative to the very thing I'm speaking of. I mean, it takes some rather large assumptions to reach that conclusion based upon my comments.

Re: Year of the storm

#78

Post by toyg »

jrockway wrote: post #76
burgerbrain wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make the mistake of assuming that "pirating" is inherently and obviously "wrong". I, and many others , reject that premise. If you disagree, so what? We're quite used to people disagreeing, and have gotten rather good at not caring. PS: "Instead they adopt the. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha you can't get us."" This attitude makes zero sense to me. Why is it so wrong if they are extroverted?

The attitude is antagonistic rather than extroverted. Anyway, it all boils down to a business strategy. The Pirate Bay enrages copyright holders, who then go after all "piracy sites". The weaker ones die because of the increased legal scrutiny, while TPB continues to live. I'm guessing that TPB served more pages after MegaUpload died than they did before. And that is money in the founders' pockets.

Copyright holders were going after "piracy sites" well before TPB -- see Napster, Grokster, Kazaa, etc etc etc. Considering the founders are now facing jail, and they've always been politically active, I'd say they are in it for more than just "money in their pockets". I know, in this day and age, this is hard to believe, but sometimes it's actually true.

Re: Year of the storm

#79

Post by funkah »

burgerbrain wrote: post #70
funkah wrote: post #69

Forgive me if I am a bit put off by the spectacle of a bunch of people calling themselves heroes for downloading the latest episode of "Glee". By the way, those hits from North Korea? Those aren't exactly coming from the average man on the street.

The free exchange of information is about the big picture. Who cares if individuals use it to download Glee or call the king a pig? And as far as I am concerned, any flow of information into North Korea is a good thing. Beggers can't be choosy.

It's largely a service to help people get content they could already get, but at a lower price.

"Free exchange of information". As Frank Zappa would say, pheeeeeuuuuuw.

Re: Year of the storm

#80

Post by burgerbrain »

the-cakeboss wrote: post #77
burgerbrain wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be distressed if I made a website dedicated to encouraging and facilitating jaywalking? That is quite illegal in some jurisdictions you know. How about one dedicated to supporting/encouraging arson as political speech? Horror of all horrors: http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm ! This "some places it is illegal" == "it is immoral" attitude is rather tyring.

The focus of my comment was never about the morality of pirating, but rather my perceived difficulty in having an intelligent and honest conversation about it. While I did briefly touch on my thoughts about its morality, I made sure to state that matter was up for debate. When we are talking about piracy I am amazed that people entertain the notion that the Pirate Bay is somehow liberating oppressed peoples all over…

Most people use freedom of speech to talk about trivial, illegal, or irrelevant things. But so what? That is their right.

"We aren't talking about leaked government documents here"

In numerous cases, we are actually...

Listen. If information freedom isn't a particularly important issue to you, then so be it. For many people it is however, no matter how 'trivial' the bulk of the information may be. It is apparent that the Pirate Bay operators are among the group of people who think this way.

Post reply on HN