Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2014/02/26/pirate_bay_becomes_research_bay_for_three_days/
Pirate Bay becomes 'Research Bay' for three days
Notorious site teams with Lund University Internet Institute to probe file sharing habits
Posted in Networks, 26th February 2014 04:32 GMT
Notorious file-sharing site The Pirate Bay has found a way to clothe itself in a little respectability for a couple of days by teaming with Sweden's Lund University Internet Institute to research file sharing.
The Institute operates a ”Cybernormer” effort that says “Understanding online norms and values is essential to developing relevant and effective laws and policies.” To help that program along, Pirate Bay users are being asked to complete a survey about their file-sharing habits.
The Cybernormer chaps say “The purpose of this survey is to help researchers to better understand habits and norms within the file-sharing community” as “With your help, we hope to create a knowledge base that will influence legitimate laws and law enforcement related to the Internet.”
The two organisations have made similar efforts before, with surveys in 2011 and 2012 producing academic papers listed here and this database detailing past results.
Organisers promise that “no IP addresses or other personal data will be stored” if you chose to participate in the survey. ®