We are the Pirate Bureau, the organization that spawned TPB and much more. AusA

Thanks for inspiring TPB and the continuous support of freedom of speech and free internet. We all salute your cause.

thank you too! don't forget that it wont be more then we make of it, pay it forward and teach your kids, parents, friends and neigbours about encryption.

Thanks for all your work keeping the Internet an open forum for its users! Any upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for?

We are all individually involved in a lot of different exciting projects! But PB as a a brand or organisation was put to rest a few years ago.

thanks for the response, as a followup, why was the Pirate Bay brand put to rest? It's a huge brand around the world that has a ton of influence.

Afaik TPB is still up and running. We, however, left the ship in early 2004ish.

Hello! How did the whole TPB get started? What sparked the idea? Were you afraid to start the website?

TPB originally was meant to be a place for us and our closest friends. Quite soon we noticed we had a lot of friends.

Not sure why, but man, that was deep.

EDIT: I now feel like I'm part of some super giant family.

<3

You are, the internet is a wonderful place.

<3

The original designs, by DiNO:

http://i.imgur.com/ArNFkMV.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/NyHJ2cx.jpg

:)

haha wow, you got superb backup skills

jag är en samlare..

Bittorrent was kinda new. We wanted to advance from the (then) reigning DC++. Afraid? We ain't afraid of no ghosts.

We know you have, at least in TPB trials, had contact with many representatives of the copyright industry. As much as I dislike them, they are all humans. Have they ever said anything particularly interesting, sympathetic, or disconcerting to you? Even something that was legitimately scary?

Some of them are really nice. Some are just puppets. Henrik Pontén is one of the nicest "antipirates" out there.

I second this re. Henrik Pontén.

+1

What has been your favourite memory of running the pirate bay since starting it?

Getting stopped by cops when shopping, only to be asked about how to use utorrent.

awsome, i can imagine how strange that must have felt. "Tjena är du en av dedär killarna från tpb?" "ehm ja?..." "kan inte du berätta hur man använder utorrent?"

Pretty much. + they were huge. I thought I was gonna end up in "Cops gone bad 2".

Most of the memories have included cats. Some in flames.

• If I look under my chair will I find a free computer?
  
• Can we expect to be able to purchase remote controlled solar powered flying TPB servers to bypass our local ISPs in the near future?

1. I believe this is a Schrödinger type scenario. Our lawyers ask us to refrain from commenting on those.
2. Yes, there will be a Kickstarter available any week now.

Is there anywhere to get more info on answer #2?

http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/4741944/powr.broccoli-kopimi

This contains information on any answer desired.

The problem is that I'm in the Netherlands where TPB is blocked.

Here is a PDF: http://www.theartgalleryofknoxville.com/podcast/powr.broccoli-kopimi.pdf

When you want a game/software, then you buy it, google it, or just download it from TPB?

I actually buy most games, mostly because it's no hassle anymore. Movies on the other hand I never pay for. Except cinema.

i buy most my games from steam now a days. rest of it is free and/or open software.

To me, it is very uncommon that I want to use a software which does not exist in a free version. (And in this case, free does basically mean GPL.) So well, I google it.

I don't play games.

First, Thank you so much to all of you. Second, the internet is becoming more influential in political matters everyday. Do you guys believe a time will come when the internet with the help of free speech can destroy the corruption in Governments worldwide?

Edit: Wow its an honor to get a reply from one of you. I have so much respect for what you are all doing.

1. Thank YOU!
2. I think we're already there. If we allow ourselves.

Do you find it funny that the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division pirates movies and TV Shows, or are they above the law?

"FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division" ?

Sounds like the most boring job ever. I sure hope they torrent some movies and TV shows to brighten their sad days.

@discobbedienti say "FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division" RLY quick a dozen of times and the secret message will shine through.

Did you expected TPB to become that enormous torrent beast? The entire world knows about it, talks about it. Some fears it. How did you handle that?

We gave the beast away to some other dudes.

No, we were never ready for it to take off the way it did. We had no server capacity to speak of at the time.

What are your thoughts on Spotify and the success it's had?

Do you think subscription services like it could one day make piracy unneeded?

Thanks for the game changer that was TPB!

I'm sorry but fuck Spotify. 3-4 major labels own a huge chunk of it, resulting in them getting a bunch of money even from plays of indie artists.

We need indiefy.

Spotify could go a dangerous way back to the days of MTV when TV decided what we liked to listen to. Putting all the songs in one basket is a bad idea, piracy will still solve that.

To us, "piracy" has always meant so much more than just consumption or downloading. Piracy is not necessarily digital, illegal or whatever. So it should be obvious that a centralized streaming service – where one company is in control of the supply and how it is presented – can never make piracy unneeded.

It is too often forgotten that Spotify started with a VC pitch including a shitload of pirated mp3:s (to fill their archives and get the things going).

If TPB was just one of the projects of PB, what were/are the other projects?

ten years ago people really didn't understand how to use the internet, we spent lots of work on education, making guides, flyers, media appearances, etc to teach about file sharing. also made a few other sites and physical projects. like an art exhibition in Italy which is an epic journey in its own right.

we did a loooooooooooot of afk-talking, and writing, and helped kids with their homework in highschool

We had one site were we sold votes in electorials to the highest bidder.

Another one mocking american forces in Iraq.

Bikt.nu was kind of like 4chan. It roughly translates to "i confess".

Mainly being cocky in media. Trying to divert the discussion from boring right/wrong talk into progressive thoughts about the internets potential.

Piratbyrån was one projects coming out from a quite flexible and creative group of people connected to both hacking and politics. Other projects (that noticably never got as popular as PB and later TPB) include stuff concerning different kinds of free-riding; subways, work, shopping, democracy.

Where is the pirate bus now?

I think its last trip will be the one we did summer 2011 to CCCamp, its now parked and quite gold coloured.

1. I don't know if you know this but do you guy know how many proxies for The Pirate Bay exist?

2. What is your favorite Bittorrent Client?

1. well over 9000.
2. we cant have favorites, it would be unfair.

What is your current situation with the law?

depends on the country, it's illegal in russia to be pro-gay so i guess some of us needs to go to jail in that part of the world

traw-law-law-law-law-law-law-law-law-law-law-law!

Seriously speaking our engagement in Piratbyran never ever have resulted in any kind of complications with the law.

Why did you leave TPB in 2004?

We were running too many projects in parallel at the time, and to be honest most of us are quite worthless when it comes to tech. TPB was handed over to people who were dedicated and wanted to make it huge and awesome.

Do you have any regrets from leaving?

No, not really. We're more of partystarters than actual hosts.

it was a mutual separation involving politics, safety and humour, but we kept joint custody over some of our children until they all died.

to many shiny new things to do, TPB was better left off in the hands of the administrators so we could focus on matters at hand

What projects are you guys working on now? What are the plans for PB in the future?

PB is dead, and has been for some years now. But I guess most of us are still into the things that got us interested in this stuff; hacking or politics.

Or hacking politics...................................................................

What's your opinion on the silk road? Can it last?

I loved the documentary.

I think silk road, or similar, can't not exist any more. its an idea that has started and like most ideas it cannot be removed that easily.

Do you like cheese?

Do you like whine?

Only soy cheese.

Eating gruyere right now..

Hi! I just have one small question:

Did you ever think that your projects were ever going to be this big?

Thanks for doing this AMA.

edit: Thanks for the replies!

Obviously not. We didn't believe that bittorrent would reign for this long. Back in our days, a protocol or service was replaced by a new one every 2 years. IT'S TIME FOR SOMETHING NEW!

And something new WILL come.

Not really no, PB started as a discussion in a pub over a stupid press release from some hollywood thugs that the papers reprinted as news and ended in something quite larger

Honestly most of the stuff we ever have done started "as a discussion in a pub over [something stupid]" and ended up in "something quite larger".

How many are you in the pirate bureau you'd say ?

no real answer exists, but maybe 8-20 people and at least 1 bot, depending on time and place

from 2 to 20000, its hard to tell as we never really was good at organizing stuff. but the more active clusters where about 10-20 people.

edit: you see what i mean about us being bad at organizing? yeah.

Piratbyrån is no more. Dunno how many were involved. Probably between 50-100 in varying effort..

Are you afraid of some shit from Swedish goverment?

Of course we are afraid of governments' shit. Every sane person is, right? That does not mean we're personally afraid. Being members of the Pirate Bureau wasn't really dangerous or something.

Now then again, what is the "Swedish government"?

From what I understand, the Pirate Party has 2 Members IN the Swedish Parliament. Correct me if I'm mistaken, please.

Wrong. 2 members in the EU parliament. The swedish gov are quite toothless. And that's a bit of a problem since they swallow anything the copyright lobby serve them.

Came here to say Dekaminski is amazing.

Left feeling content and at one with the world.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY Where the fun never stops and the stalkers always stalk.

My life is fun. So is the elephant.

My left side is weaker than my right and my girlfriend always screams.

I have no idea what you're talking about but thanks for the compliment.

Which industry lawyers were the hardest to deal with? Music, Movies or Gaming?

We just said fuck off to all them. Equally easy.

None of them. They're slow as hell.

What do you think of Anonymous? Have you ever worked with them on anything? You're both outstanding spokespeople for internet freedom.

Personally, I find Anonymous quite interesting. Apart from the misogynist thing, which is quite problematic.

1. anon sweden is a joke without a good point, worldwide i think it's.... kinda cute? we're so different BUT: 2. we both used the internet i guess. 3. hmpf.

misogynist creeps, sometimes doing good things.

Since the question has been edited, may I ask why? :(>~

1. What do you think the future holds for copyright laws? Will the industry finally realize what people need? Is the end of strict DRM in sight or is the trend going to continue spreading?

2. If you were in position to change the copyright laws, what would you change them into?

What do you think the future holds for copyright laws?

It seems to be an all or nothing game. the lawmakers arent looking to stop anytime soon i think. if we all dont do anything about it.

If you were in position to change the copyright laws, what would you change them into?

I would abolish them in total, then deal with the situation that would appear. maybe it would be awesome, maybe new laws would need to take place.

What are your guys' opinions on the legal system behind copyrights in the United States and around the world? What do you think should be done to fix it? What kind of compromises do you think would satisfy both the consumers/pirates who seem to call for the absolute abolishment of copyright, and corporations/government bodies proposing stricter internet regulation? Do you think any are possible/plausible or are we fighting a futile war?

The fact that file sharing will happen and that the gigantic Orwellian surveillance system that need to be in place to make sure we couldn't do these things are so insanely intrusive that its neither feasible nor wanted and so expensive that no one would afford it. We need to "fucking deal with it". We need to see that the internet is here to stay and so is the reproductability of digital goods, we cannot wish or anger this away. it doesn't care about hurt feelings. We need to have a discussion about if our future really need a enforceable system to sell and control digital copies or if it should go the way of the piano tuners.

So whats the alternatives? Can we trust the rabid anti piracy law makers to one day say "well, thats enough. this is how far we shall take the law, now let them pirate". They will do no such thing! instead there will be more and more regulations and laws with no end. As soon as we accept the validity of their claims, that our communications are less important then their hunt for copies, we also accept a chain of regulations, that are working to end the internet as we know it.

Either trust your politicians to stop making stupid laws or chose your what you want for a future.

i'll tell you this: i'm easy. as soon as the copyright-cowboys comes along with ONE rule and/or idea that works democraticly with the law, i wouldn't mind. i wouldn't even mind them owning EVERYTHING. but they really suck so i don't want to give them any rights to culture or money at the moment

What are the chances of it being unblocked in the UK ever? I know there are ways to get around it, but still :)

With a million proxies, it's not really an issue anymore right? Besides politically.

Are you still closed for second thoughts?

Or will you update your site soon?

As a Swedish person I'm curious to why the site went over to that sign.

A lot of shit went down that year. Our co-founder and close friend Ibi died. A lot of us focused on our friends and families.

It was also a note to everyone. As the discussion about filesharing and copyright was pretty much the same as in 2003. We felt that we had done our part and that there was no reason trying to convince the anti pirates about our causes.

Thanks for the answer I wish I had written.

We are happy with the current status of things.

[deleted]

Our take on the Pirate party has always been that it is too much about pirates and too little about partying.

We're not in the business of naming political parties.

Do you think it is wrong if the people behind TPB organization are making huge amounts of profit? (Take out server maintenance and all, i know it's very expensive and that they work very hard to keep the site running)

I dont know how much they make. If any, they've never strike me as very sharp businessmen. But who knows? I think they would make more money without all the seminude anorectic girls.

the guys always had to keep real jobs to feed them what i know.

Don't know about the current owners. But if you've ever met brokep, tiamo and anakata, it's quite obvious they are no millionaires.

What is your favorite species of Pokemon?

My kids like Pokemon, but I've never learned what those monsters are really called.

So I just call them "Number one", "Number two", etc and they answer "Yes, daddy?".

More of a Pony fan...

We're too old for that Pokemon hype. Sorry.

Do you think its time for a revamp of TPB after its 8 years of existing?

I think we all are surprised that TPB still is alive.

Because of how old it is or because you thought it would be shut down?

we always hoped and thought something better would be up within a year or two.

at the time Bitorrent was the new protocol. I am surprised there hasn't been anything new. 2013 is supposed to be the future, right ?

What are your political views? Leftist?

so far left it's not even political

i think the leftists called us decadents.

disobedient with a pinch of disco. communists with a flavor for champagne.

yes.

I would call ourselves a group of radical but extraordinarily functional and pragmatic outcasts.

what is piratbyrån now? are you gone forever?

We are in your head.

But yes, the entity Piratbyrån is dead. Formally since three years back, practically maybe even more.

do you plan on expanding TPB into something more? or will TPB always be the same? not that there is anything wrong with that i love TPB

We don't run TPB anymore. But one can only hope that TPB quits soon. So that something new can emerge.

[deleted]

TPB AFK is a quite dark movie concerning mainly the TPB trial. At least my main objection is that it misses at least 6 years of total lulz.

and my face. it needs more fraux-face.

Moooore!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Amfy4DOCQAEW0nX.jpg

Boring court flick. Nicely done though.

We really should do a shorter remix with all the boring court scenes deleted. If only for we who did already spend some time at the court, listening to the trials.

So, only the bus scene? Could work...

We prefer not to regard TPB AFK as a finished project, just because the official film is nor premiered. We really look forward to what will happen with all the film material that was not used in that official film. Great scenes from our bus, etc.

Thanks for doing this AMA! You guys rock!

• How much does it cost to run TBP?

You should ask the fishy ppl making money of ridiculous porn ads, not us.

40 000 million euros. the account number is.............

ok really we can't answer that and nobody can

what's the longest skid any of you ever did on a bmx?

our bike hero omniuwo isn't here today, but hes that guy that always show up with a new bike he welded him self with some weird never-seen-before feature.

What would you do differently if you had a second chance with TPB?

it would be an idea to use the features of the bittorrent protocol in order to sophisticate certain kinds of "old" P2P-networks, like soulseek and audiogalaxy. not driving everybody to a search engine on the www, but also cultivate the potential of browsing each other's music folders.

Would have a less arrogant and hopefully more mature look on the dynamics of things. Lot's of silly arguments at the time. Involving cats.

And would have prevented it from being the only site around. Should have spawned copies of copies of copies of TPB.

How did you keep TPB running for so long?

most of us had been involved in political activities before, but this was the first time we actually had any fun.

part of it was that we avoided making formal decisions, in favour of doing everything in real-time on IRC.

in order to avoid making formal decisions, we also had to avoid holding cash. so if we got some cash at any point, from selling t-shirts or whatever, we immediately had to spend it.

Just so you know, I pirated your T-shirt. Sorry.

If you're sorry, you haven't understood a thing.

WE REALLY NEEDS YOU KEEP FIGHTING FOR US AND NEXT GENERATION THANKS YOU

We need you to fight for you and the next generation.

We need you to fight for you and the next generation.

WE NEED YOU TO FIGHT FOR YOU AND THE NEXT GENERATION

WE ARE JUST ORDINARY PEOPLE DOING ORDINARY THINGS BUT THANK YOU VERY MUCH WE APPRECIATE IT!

what is traffic like? are there certain times after a new tv show or movie comes out that traffic increases a ton?

Sweden is really cold and dark during the winter. Lot's of polar bears roam the streets. Other than that, Traffic is the name of (at least) 2 great movies.

i like you guys. you are a creative bunch. keep up the good work.

Based on your answer, we like you too.

What are some good classes or things to learn for someone to work on or improve programs like TPB or others?

Any java class will do.

learn to program, learn about encryption and networks. But most important get out on the internet and get in touch with others!

What is the one thing people, as supporters for a free internet, need to contribute towards the rejection of any internet regulation in any form/country/corporation?

oh the scenarios are endless i guess, but maybe to always think outside yourselfs? like "yeah this is great for me and my ipad buuuut what about the rest of the world, or the world that i one day would love to live in"

transparency, self-sanitazion.

Any plans for future projects?

Everything we do is part of both future and projects. Some of those we do together in new formations, some not. For the moment, what we are doing together is what we always have done the best; chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool.

What do you need?

How can we find out about your other various projects?

How has being involved with TPB created opportunities for you elsewhere?

We should write a book.

But this one time, we made an auction site for selling and buying votes. During the swedish election about joining the European monetary union. That was fun!

Besides spawning TPB, what else did y'all do? It's a bit of Internet history black hole (at least in English)...

the language part is a bit sad yes! but i believe the book is translated into english: powr.broccoli-kopimi

our stuff depends a little bit on what role we took atm, but we raised awarness about the "safety" of a Printscreen used in court which i personally loved, and also a site called "fluktarna" where you could sign a petition to notify ISPs not to give out your info to private companies.

I raise my glass to you, the mostly unsung heroes of TPB. Thank you very much for your service!

Unsung? Not at all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa7RB3HQkGQ

What is your views of Anonymous?

Love the disorganization. Quite fed up with the childlish attitudes and misoginy.

Evolve please.

What other projects are on the go?

PB is closed, but if you need to change something you should start some projects up yourself!

Do you guys believe that it is possible that if the internet stays open long enough that the internet could naturally morph into a new form of government based on equality that could end up replacing current corrupt governments?

It depends on how hard we pull on it. the other side has quite a head start and a good team.

I just downloaded 2 Katy Perry albums and her movie (I know, so straight). Thank God for you guys.

My question, what are all of your favorite ice cream flavors?

Vanilla soy ice cream with some peanut butter in it. :)~~~~