the .org domain still works so it's not as impressive as it sounds.

.... ya think you could do something about all the downloads you host that are loaded with Viruses, Trojans and varaious other Malware? Huh?

They don't host any downloads - they are a tracker..

Pirate Bay does not host the downloads, that's the point of BitTorrent, rather.

As for virus/trojan infected downloads, see my title. In any case, aside from porn, illegally copied films and cracked software, torrents tend not to have any such stuff in them and by no means a majority even in those categories does.

The Pirate Bay should trace back the origin of infected torrent.... i bet the uploader is well know.

Give me freedom (event if i have to take procautions) over dictatorship from the most dangerous criminal organisation in the world: The MPAA/RIAA

So some gives you a domain where you have no idea how they got hold of it and it's a domain that'll obviously bring attention to themselves. So they're taking a chance this domain wasn't obtained by deceptive or criminal means and receipt of stolen goods was a crime the last time I checked and ignorance is normally no defence in law. The Pirate Bay is a facilitator for criminal acts and taking the piss out of a anti-piracy organisation is profoundly stupid. I have breaking news for them: if they think they can hide under the cover of soverign law whilst allowing people to break the law in other countries they're dead wrong.

Smell My Finger wrote

"if they think they can hide under the cover of soverign law whilst allowing people to break the law in other countries they're dead wrong."

Why, what you going to do, go round and bash them with your keyboard?

Oh yes they stole a domain name out of the little box they keep them in it's highly criminal I tells ya.

The moral of the story here is always be 300% sure your domains arent up for renewal, you never know when someone with more malicous intentions than setting up a fake search engine whilst holding your domain for ransom, may pounce and take it from you...

Its all well and good saying that The Pirate Bay should trace back the origin of infected torrents. What tends to happen is genuine torrents are delibertly malseeded by the likes of the MPA (and their ilk). This means that short of removing the whole torrent from the index- that you will have a percentage of bad seeds there. You could set up a system for killing torrents every couple of hours, and only allowing reseeds from recognised sources- but that would kill the whole torrent model in its tracks. All-in-all providing you're reasonably discerning with your downloads, you should be fine.

@Smell my finger.

Do you have any clue as to what it takes to hijack a domain name? the domain is *registered* on their name now, which cannot be done by illegal means. to "steal" a domain name, you'd have to be able to make alterations on root DNS servers, which would be quite the acomplishment (and something i'm sure is beyond the scope of the capabilities of the people behind the pirate bay)

Pretty funny they got the domain handed to the, looks like someone may have some egg on his/her face :D

You're so wrong.

The domain name was let to the phonographic indistry. They let the rent for this "Intellectual Property" slide and, in precisely the same way as Real Property rents mean you lose the right to live there, the phonographic institute lost it.

This move of the Pirate Institute into this rental agreement is no more criminal than when a student moves in to a flat you rented then left and let the contract slide. Or is the landlord (Verisign in this case) not allowed to rent their "IP"?

I believe in the UK you only get in trouble for accepting stolen goods if you have reason to believe that they are stolen.

Which by the sounds of it they dont even know the person, so I doubt they have reason to believe it. I guess its pretty similar in Sweden.

Also, if you dont believe they can "hide under cover of soverign law" why dont you go and check out TPB legal section... it seems they are doing pretty well so far. The only threat to them at the moment appears to be from naughty companies applying pressure to their govenment to change the law, disrupt them, etc. Eg, The raid a couple of years back.

Your post makes it sound like you dont have a clue about the situation TPB is in or their motivation.

http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_news/rss.html

I doubt that it was in response to my personal appeal to add a "this message may contain sarcasm" checkbox that we got the icons (but thanks anyway). So, the comments above bring me to my next request....

Would you lovely people at El Reg be good enough to implement a system, whereby, when we spot a message that is such an obvious plant they might as well use the name "Mr R. I. Ass. America", we're allowed to ban them from making comments here - or, failing that, a rate this comment button "plant, poor humour, ranting of a madman", etc...

Thanks,

Steve.

Now that the sole reason both BPI and IFPI exists as mouth pieces for the record big 4 labels and they had both failed miserably to alter the terms of expiry of copyright in the UK thus costing the bosses 20% of the gross post tax profits!

Perhaps their masters are showing their displeasure at this failure and they may fall victim to the industries annual slew of pink slips and additional cost cutting rationalization always issued just after the annual reports are finalized !

...is if MPAA or RIAA forget to renew their domains.

Unfortunately, the US have laws against cyber-squatting, don't they? And as a US based domain, those laws would apply regardless of whether TPB are in the US or not.

.. a comment that says " you can't hide behind sovereign law" must come from an american, who believes that their law is the only one.

The whole point of sovereign law is that it is the law for that sovereignty, which means it is the law for the land ruled by said sovereign. Really, you should check your geography, US law only covers the US ... you are not the world police and you dont follow international law anyway.

... idiot.

won't matter when the dot com has a higher page rank ;p

@danny re root dns hacks

don't underestimate the pirates

Golden Rule #1: always AV scan anything you download before attempting to use it

Golden Rule #2: never ask pirates to censor anything (bad downloads included)

While I dont agree with the whole hideing behind sovereign law person I still hate to see the typicall response from people like Jeremy who seem to believe that anything bad that happens in the world is of course an Americans fault. However seeing as how he signed his post 'idiot' I guess I should have seen it coming lol.

"if they think they can hide under the cover of soverign law whilst allowing people to break the law in other countries they're dead wrong."

So according to your logic, anyone who brews beer in America should be prosecuted whenever their beer is smuggled to Saudi Arabia?

Anyone who brews 'beer' in America and attempts to sell it internationally should be liable for prosecution under the Geneva convention and any relevant trade descriptions acts.

(Okay, yes, I know some US beer is drinkable these days. Vast majority still isn't, though...)

"Unfortunately, the US have laws against cyber-squatting, don't they? And as a US based domain..."

Not anymore, it isn't.

"those laws would apply regardless of whether TPB are in the US or not."

Well, unless the US legal system has suddenly been extended to Sweden, those laws mean absolute zip to Sweden. Oh, sure, the US could ask the Swedish government to do something about it, but since it isn't really that big a deal (someone apparently let their domain expire, and lost it), I don't see that happening.

Have you ever heard a sea shanty? All pirates care about is rum, scurvy and doubloons. Oh, and being notorious and infamous and whatnot. Do business with them at your own risk. Y'aarr!

"While I dont agree with the whole hideing behind sovereign law person I still hate to see the typicall response from people like Jeremy who seem to believe that anything bad that happens in the world is of course an Americans fault. However seeing as how he signed his post 'idiot' I guess I should have seen it coming lol."

Try as I might, I cannot find the point in Jeremy's post where he blames America for anything at all. However, he did mention the US and fail to point out that it was the Best Country in the World(TM) so I can see why you're getting defensive. Although it is somewhat of a steroetype, it's a safe bet that anytime you hear someone use the term 'sovereign law' in the same manner they would use 'offshore tax haven', they will be an American.

Also, if you're going to make witty jibes about him being an idiot, you might want to take care of the three speeling and five, grammatical errors in your own post.

....How careless of them. Still, hardly surprising they have been `usurped` by Pirate Bay chaps, who, let's be honest, are far more on the ball and capable than the try-hard profiteers and middlemen who work for such repugnant `legitimate` organisations such as the RIAA. Like the RIAA actually `care` about the `artists`..... get a grip... they are just profiteering talentless corporate thugs who skim off as much as they can from the artists. True musicians/artists will always profit sufficiently from their fanbase, and even if they didnt, they would still produce their art. Most, if not all decent artists produce their art regardless of revenue. If they don't, they are probably not `real` artists, and are instead cynically spewing out generic derivative crap to make money, and people really shouldn't care if every single one of them disappears - the world will be a richer place for it.

I was going to respond directly to the `stinky finger` but I just realised it's a little like shooting fish, it hardly seems fair... suffice to say he seems a little challenged when it comes to constructing a logical and clearly articulated argument. The alias says it all, really, such wit... I would imagine the reason your finger smells so bad is due to the fact you have it jammed in your mouth most of the time, to prevent the sh*t from spilling out. Why on earth did you remove it?

Technically, domain squatting IS still illegal. Rarely is anything done about it, though. Especially since the most recent contract with the US assigned internet governing body let netsol claim ownership of ALL .com and .net domains in the world to do with as they wish in their most recent contract renewal in reward for dropping their lawsuit(s) against the governing body. As always in the US, big corporations when and common sense loses. That being said, it IS quite possible per US and international law for the IFPI to retake the domain under the premise of intellectual property and appropriation of the domain for malicious reasons. It falls under US law because the governing body for the internet is governed by US law. You can like it or not. But, this is how it is. Everyone can argue against the validity of this statement as much as you wish. It really doesn't matter. International law, says such acts are not legal and there is even an UN body established to handle such issues.

I find it amusing that *EVERYONE* has selective memory and likes to tailor the world to their liking regardless of how accurate that is.

"So some gives you a domain where you have no idea how they got hold of it and it's a domain that'll obviously bring attention to themselves. So they're taking a chance this domain wasn't obtained by deceptive or criminal means and receipt of stolen goods was a crime the last time I checked and ignorance is normally no defence in law."

In the U.K., if I purchase or take a gift from someone and don't have reason to believe it's stolen, I'm not commiting a crime. It'd be like getting arrested because your friend gave you a birthday present that was stolen.

"The Pirate Bay is a facilitator for criminal acts and taking the piss out of a anti-piracy organisation is profoundly stupid. I have breaking news for them: if they think they can hide under the cover of soverign law whilst allowing people to break the law in other countries they're dead wrong."

Again, you're holding someone liable for other people breaking the law. It's not TPB's fault that people in other countries and breaking their local law. I'm sure that's like saying that a coffee shop in Holland should be prosecuted because someone purchased some cannabis then tried to smuggle it into a country where it's illegal.

The Pirate Bay is untouchable by any Anti-Piracy Organisations due to the local law regarding Torrent Trackers. If Swedish laws change, then maybe it'll be a different story, but right now? They're free to do what they're doing right now.

The fact that they did not renew the ifpi.com and then had the standard 60 day redemption period to recover the domain just shows that the IFPI people are the idiots in this case.

Not paying a domain renewal: $6

Not paying a redemption fee: $150

Losing you domain name and being humiliated: Priceless!

having a field day lately, wagging their fingers and going on about how terrible "stealing" digital media is and how righteous the RIAA, MPAA, IFPI et al., are and what terrible people these "thieves" are and how they deserve any ridiculous punishment they get for their evil-doer misdeeds....like, oh, i don't know, maybe...a $220,000 fine for >>24<< (crappy) songs. (Journey? she got fined $10k for a JOURNEY song?! now that's cruel and/or unusual punishment.)

but the thing is, the higher they climb up on their high horses and preach about how we're gonna burn in hell and pay lotsa dough and suffer spam- and virus-ridden PCs because we choose the dark side to get our digital jollies instead of ponying up hard-earned cash for overpriced CDs & downloads, the more pirates like to bellow "YAAAARRR!!!" and skewer the prigs with a curved blade whilst bludgeoning them about the head with a fistful of charred meat, or perhaps a mug of some fine stout (or grog or whatever alcoholic beverage you happen to have stocked belowdecks).

you'd think they'd learn, but i guess some people just have no fun unless they are busy trying to foist their views of right and wrong on everyone else.

personally, i cheer every time TPB or Media-Defender Defenders and the like return fire with a more clever and cheeky turn to these arrogant bastards! they NEED to be taken down a few notches.

"anyone who brews beer in America should be prosecuted whenever their beer is smuggled to Saudi Arabia?" lol

...who read that as "International Federation of the Pornoographic Industry"??

"(Okay, yes, I know some US beer is drinkable these days. Vast majority still isn't, though...)"

I've yet to find ANY bear worth drinking. Of course, I DO live in the US, so maybe that explains it...

> a comment that says " you can't hide behind sovereign law" must come from an american

With this kind of reasoning, I could prove that jeremy is a transsexual prostitute.

@ Adrian Jackson:

>(Okay, yes, I know some US beer is drinkable these days. Vast majority still isn't, though...)

Juding U.S. beer by Budweiser/Coors/Miller is like judging European beer by Stella Artois. I think most Americans know better than to do that.

Do you know why the Northern US States have to import water from Canada?

It's because all the local American water is in the "beer."

(Born American, it's not my bloody fault!)

"It’s commonly known as piracy, but it’s a too benign term that doesn’t even begin to adequately describe the toll that music theft takes on the many artists, songwriters, musicians, record label employees and others whose hard work and great talent make music possible."

"Music piracy" too benign a term? You're right guys. I think we should start calling it "music gang-rape". Or how about "music terrorism"? Or even better, "music SS-concentration camp baby mutilation".

I might not fully agree with The Pirate Bay's "cause", but I've got to admit that their methods of sticking it up to the MAFIAA are very entertaining.

I believe if you are so stupid as to not renew your domain and someone else "buys" it then crying about it is total crap there

probably were organizations and companies before IFPI who would have liked the domain but missed that opportunity and had to settle for something else how hard is it to remember to fucking renew your domain registration I think that most of the time it's due to no one caring about the site so absentee site owners beware a porn site could have your domain name next. As for that being someones IP fuck off the same people who think they own the Standard name think this way LLC thats mine and oh yes American company is also mine so give back my domains.

Try some of those micro breweries like Murrieta Pizza and Brewery Co (California).

Big house Red.5% - Gets my boss rat ars*d very quickly as he normally drinks fizzy coors light.

But they sell sh*t like Newcastle brown and Bass for northerners and daft Americans.

No - you are not.

But I'm a perv.. What's your excuse?

An interesting though has occurred to me, - the various industry associations claim that they are losing trillions upon trillions, and the government tends to back it up – could this be a nice way not to pay taxes? I mean if they “lost”, say, 20,000,000,000 but made only 10,000,000,000 then their profit is offset by the loss, so, in fact they would not pay any taxes et al.

This would obviously not work in the sane world, but we do not live in the sane world...

"the various industry associations claim that they are losing trillions"

If that's the case, then they are clearly, a) making too much profit and, b) not paying enough tax. Perhaps they'd like to back up their claims, or maybe admit that they were exaggerating. Just a bit.

I remember years ago, before the advent of the Internet,,,, you went out and bought a new Album... The first few weeks of having it, it got recorded onto compact cassettes a 6 to 12 times over and handed around to all your mates..

was that music piracy... yes.... was the RIAA and all that mob screeching and playing bully boy tatics on single parent women? no...

personally... i have downloaded lots of albums off the Internet, all of them are copies of CD's and vinyl I have bought in the past. and still own... is this piracy, no, I don't think so...

i know of one or two people who download music from p2p, and if they like the album, they go and buy it... and to quote, "I just like to have the disk and the inlay cards and all that stuff.." is that wrong?

In the past, I have bought albums purely on the strength of previous releases from that artist... never again, I have a large stack of cd's i will never listen to again..one that springs to mind is Alanis Morrisette's second album, "jagged little pill' was awesome, and worth every penny, but 'Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie' was total $h1t ..I consider myself ripped off by the artist and music industry for those... maybe a organization should be set up to protect the consumer from poor album releases...

Oh please sir, come down off that high horse in which you ride, careful now, its quite the leap back to reality from where you sit, i would hate to see you hurt before embarking on the seemingly endless journey you must endure to reach the outer border of the state we common sense...

The US government doesnt handle international domain name disputes. this little chore is handled by a charming little organization called WIPO, WORLD Intellectual Property Organization. you ought to check them out some time. you can find WIPO by pointing your browser to

http://www.wipo.int

I listened with interest to a recent radio interview with a student who had recently downloaded the latest Radiohead album. Givin the option of paying as little as 50p, he chose to pay £5 for the album, which he considered a fair price; but had the album only been available on CD, for typically around £12, he would have downloaded it for nothing, as he could not afford to pay that much.

The RIAA et al. cannot claim every album downloaded by someone unable or unwilling to pay the full CD retail price as a lost sale. If the free download (or copy of a mate's CD) were not available, then many would simply not have a copy. There never was a potential sale to lose.

As for protecting the artist, if you managed stop those who will never buy the CD from enjoying the music, would they then lose interest in the band? would they then also stop buying tickets to the gigs, where the artists are increasingly making the real money? Of course, if the record companies don't get a share of the ticket receipts, that's not really their concern.

jeremy, et al,

why several of you seem to feel the need to america bash is unclear...it surely has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

for anyone still living under a rock, we here in the states are quite aware that we are having technical difficulties and are working to resolve them. please stay on the line and an american with sense with be right with you---hopefully after November '08.

meanwhile: yes, your beer is superior to ours. but who drinks beer, anyway? soccer fans and college girls, that's who. try our bourbon and you'll want to immigrate.

love,

your cousins

(p.s.--diana was a whore.)