An article on Ars Technica says that ThePirateBay, one of the internets most popular BitTorrent websites, just recieved 4,000 legal documents from Swedish prosecutors.
Note: This is an article I wrote that was published elsewhere first. It has been republished here for archival purposes
Administrators for the website say they still aren’t worried
4,000 documents arrived for ThePirateBay to go through. Peter Sunde says that the largest murder trial only had 1,500 court documents. He suggests that this is to prevent them from going through all of the documents more than anything else.
A casual observer may note that ThePirateBay is not the only BitTorrent website around. While this is most certainly true, there is something more to ThePirateBay than simply offering BitTorrent hash files, or .torrent files.
ThePirateBay has been around for many years. While other websites like SuprNova came and went, ThePirateBay has been a constant spot on the internet Holleywood seemingly couldn’t reach – that is, until the raid almost two years ago. While, for a very brief time, Holleywood seemingly scored a victory, ThePirateBay went back online a day later.
With legal threats met with ridicule and other pressure stopped dead in its tracks, ThePirateBay seems invincible to Holleywoods long reach that caused the demise of so many BitTorrent website before it. For some, it may be little more than the very symbol of resistance, rather then a place to download the latest movies, to the copyright industry and resilience of the digital age. It’s very likely that it appears this way for the copyright stakeholders who would rather see the demise of it. After all, wouldn’t it make for a big press release from the MPA (Motiona Picture Association) if they ever announce that they have shut down the iconic BitTorrent website once and for all, a website proving to be the thorn in Holleywoods side for so many years?
For Hollywood, a day like that won’t come soon enough, but if the report is anything to go by, not only is the prosecution not likely going to happen for years to come, but the mirrors for the website will keep the website going long after if the administrators are digitally locked away – an outcome the administrators say they doubt will ever even happen.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
