Answering questions will be me, fraux, discobbedienti, rsmsrsmsrsms, dekaminski and nittonfemton. Maybe others will join in, it's hard to know with this crowd =)

Ask us anything about our projects, internets, philosophy, community or maybe that nice bus in the movie!

Questions about TPB should go to brokep that is doing that in an parallel AMA here.

Comments: 540 • Responses: 126  • Date: 

sbay81 karma

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

snuggl43 karma

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.

Fagasaurus_Rex41 karma

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?

snuggl31 karma

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.

Fagasaurus_Rex8 karma

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.

dekaminski20 karma

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

DavidMC454640 karma

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

dekaminski111 karma

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

derione152 karma

Not sure why, but man, that was deep.

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

dekaminski48 karma

<3

seanbyram38 karma

You are, the internet is a wonderful place.

dekaminski37 karma

<3

nittonfemton79 karma

snuggl48 karma

haha wow, you got superb backup skills

nittonfemton42 karma

jag är en samlare..

discobbedienti39 karma

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

AstroturfedRebellion36 karma

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?

discobbedienti47 karma

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

loptr29 karma

I second this re. Henrik Pontén.

dekaminski20 karma

+1

o0OIDaveIO0o34 karma

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

discobbedienti146 karma

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

bladhet34 karma

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?"

discobbedienti28 karma

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

dekaminski25 karma

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

Obi-Prawn_Kenobi32 karma

  • 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?

loptr63 karma

  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.

sebastiansboat11 karma

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

loptr19 karma

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

This contains information on any answer desired.

sebastiansboat3 karma

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

rockar78730 karma

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

nittonfemton62 karma

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

snuggl53 karma

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

rsmsrsmsrsms53 karma

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.

dekaminski42 karma

I don't play games.

Deusincendia27 karma

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.

discobbedienti31 karma

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

cjjsebastian26 karma

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?

discobbedienti62 karma

"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.

dekaminski24 karma

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

Vazelyne23 karma

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?

dekaminski24 karma

We gave the beast away to some other dudes.

nittonfemton16 karma

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.

Ectra22 karma

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!

discobbedienti53 karma

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.

snuggl30 karma

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.

rsmsrsmsrsms27 karma

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.

dekaminski21 karma

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).

droidballoon20 karma

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

snuggl21 karma

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.

fraux21 karma

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

nittonfemton18 karma

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".

discobbedienti18 karma

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

dekaminski11 karma

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.

jobzy19 karma

Where is the pirate bus now?

snuggl23 karma

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

ken2723818 karma

  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?

snuggl43 karma

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

XxPikachuxX14 karma

What is your current situation with the law?

fraux45 karma

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

discobbedienti30 karma

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

dekaminski15 karma

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

glitchwizard13 karma

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

dekaminski19 karma

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.

dekaminski29 karma

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

W1ZZ4RD13 karma

Why did you leave TPB in 2004?

dekaminski26 karma

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.

W1ZZ4RD6 karma

Do you have any regrets from leaving?

dekaminski20 karma

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

fraux18 karma

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

snuggl3 karma

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

demontague9 karma

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

I loved the documentary.

snuggl15 karma

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.

spysappin9 karma

Do you like cheese?

dekaminski10 karma

Do you like whine?

discobbedienti10 karma

Only soy cheese.

nittonfemton3 karma

Eating gruyere right now..

john70718 karma

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!

discobbedienti20 karma

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!

rsmsrsmsrsms9 karma

And something new WILL come.

snuggl17 karma

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

dekaminski15 karma

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".

Billimaster238 karma

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

fraux18 karma

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

snuggl15 karma

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.

nittonfemton3 karma

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

dluksa7 karma

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

dekaminski25 karma

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

fraux23 karma

  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.

nittonfemton21 karma

misogynist creeps, sometimes doing good things.

dekaminski15 karma

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

camaro797 karma

Are you afraid of some shit from Swedish goverment?

rsmsrsmsrsms15 karma

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.

dekaminski9 karma

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

AstroturfedRebellion7 karma

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

discobbedienti20 karma

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.

maromaro7 karma

  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?

snuggl8 karma

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.

siiiiik7 karma

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

nittonfemton19 karma

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

discobbedienti11 karma

None of them. They're slow as hell.

Vimknight7 karma

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.

dekaminski16 karma

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

VonSnoe6 karma

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.

discobbedienti11 karma

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.

dekaminski8 karma

Thanks for the answer I wish I had written.

dekaminski5 karma

We are happy with the current status of things.

o0OIDaveIO0o6 karma

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

discobbedienti20 karma

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

professionalbadass6 karma

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?

snuggl13 karma

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.

fraux10 karma

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

DomeSlave5 karma

[deleted]

dekaminski24 karma

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

rsmsrsmsrsms12 karma

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

iamahipcat5 karma

What is your favorite species of Pokemon?

dekaminski13 karma

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

dekaminski19 karma

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

nittonfemton12 karma

More of a Pony fan...

discobbedienti9 karma

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

lauriekindred5 karma

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

dekaminski14 karma

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

lauriekindred2 karma

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

snuggl6 karma

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

nittonfemton13 karma

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 ?

olihoops5 karma

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)

nittonfemton16 karma

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.

snuggl14 karma

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

discobbedienti11 karma

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.

joachimzz4 karma

What are your political views? Leftist?

rsmsrsmsrsms15 karma

so far left it's not even political

snuggl14 karma

i think the leftists called us decadents.

discobbedienti12 karma

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

nittonfemton11 karma

yes.

dekaminski10 karma

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

bladhet4 karma

what is piratbyrån now? are you gone forever?

dekaminski9 karma

We are in your head.

dekaminski3 karma

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

aarton3 karma

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

discobbedienti6 karma

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

KrazyKomrade3 karma

How did you keep TPB running for so long?

nittonfemton6 karma

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

rsmsrsmsrsms8 karma

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.

Dioreus6 karma

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

discobbedienti30 karma

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

evrebady3 karma

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

loptr10 karma

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

discobbedienti6 karma

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

WE NEED YOU TO FIGHT FOR YOU AND THE NEXT GENERATION

dekaminski3 karma

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

Joesih3 karma

[deleted]

dekaminski16 karma

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.

fraux18 karma

and my face. it needs more fraux-face.

discobbedienti12 karma

Boring court flick. Nicely done though.

rsmsrsmsrsms11 karma

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.

discobbedienti11 karma

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

rsmsrsmsrsms7 karma

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.

Reactions3 karma

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

rsmsrsmsrsms9 karma

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.

nittonfemton8 karma

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.

HKNation3 karma

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

snuggl8 karma

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.

slyro0073 karma

Thanks for doing this AMA! You guys rock!

  • How much does it cost to run TBP?

dekaminski11 karma

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

fraux10 karma

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

ok really we can't answer that and nobody can

txgi3552 karma

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

discobbedienti4 karma

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.

txgi3553 karma

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

dekaminski5 karma

Based on your answer, we like you too.

lazyburners2 karma

How can we find out about your other various projects?

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

discobbedienti5 karma

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!

Incog-negro2 karma

Any plans for future projects?

dekaminski3 karma

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.

discobbedienti3 karma

What do you need?

Skyblaze7192 karma

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?

fraux4 karma

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"

nittonfemton4 karma

transparency, self-sanitazion.

jokesizzle2 karma

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

discobbedienti4 karma

Any java class will do.

snuggl3 karma

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

pfein2 karma

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

fraux4 karma

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.

Deusincendia1 karma

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?

snuggl3 karma

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

lauriekindred1 karma

What other projects are on the go?

fraux3 karma

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

LyingPervert1 karma

What is your views of Anonymous?

discobbedienti5 karma

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

Evolve please.

TKJ1 karma

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

ItsChadReddit0 karma

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?

discobbedienti5 karma

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