Napster, på Svenska

Michael C. Moynihan | June 30, 2009

Soon after announcing the forthcoming launch of The Videobay, a YouTube competitor with rather more lenient copyright standards, the folks at the BitTorrent site PirateBay have announced the sale of the controversial website to a Swedish gaming company for $8 million. Though the site's owners have long claimed the PirateBay was nothing more than a hobby and made no profit, in 2006 a Swedish newspaper calculated that they were earning in excess of €60,000 a month from a single advertising services company. The BBC on the sale:

Global Gaming Factory (GGF) has paid 60m kronor (£4.7m) to take over the site from its founders.

Once it has taken control, GGF said it would start paying copyright fees for the movies, music and games linked to via the site...

"We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site" said Hans Pandeya, head of GGF in a statement.

"Content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it," he said.

GGF has not released details of how it will charge for the content downloaded via the site. The Pirate Bay will be handed over to GGF in August.

Good luck with that. As we have seen when Napster "went legit," those who desire a dodgy looking VHS-to-digital transfer of Get a Life have plenty of other options. 

Comments

SpongePaul|6.30.09 @ 11:40AM|#

Good for pirate bay, they bent over and fucked the buyer. no one will download the legal stuff, with advertising as long as there are other sites that allow the downloads. i mean i can watch theater movies online. Why the fuck would i go to pirate bay and have limited access to content.

|6.30.09 @ 11:43AM|#

The whole point of pirate bay was to not pay for it. I'll miss it. It was a nice one stop shopping for all your premium cable needs. But if you know what you're looking for, it's not hard to find. You just have to google a bit more.

|6.30.09 @ 11:44AM|#

Impressive. My hobbies only bring in €10,000/month.

Cabeza de Vaca|6.30.09 @ 11:48AM|#

"Impressive. My hobbies only bring in €10,000/month."

That's alot for a male escort. :)

|6.30.09 @ 12:06PM|#

Retired. I'm married now, so that's just my residuals.

Paul|6.30.09 @ 12:39PM|#

Good luck with that. As we have seen when Napster "went legit,"

Napster still exists?

DHS Thinks I\'m a Terrorist|6.30.09 @ 12:46PM|#

"Napster still exists?"

Only on memorial plastic cards that you can buy at Wallgreens.

Ska|6.30.09 @ 12:47PM|#

Wow, is that a link to Chris Elliot? I didn't realize there were others who willfully endured through that show.

So PL, did you do any consulting work for Hung?

me|6.30.09 @ 12:58PM|#

nothing more than a hobby and made no profit

Standard criminal excuse.

The whole point of pirate bay was to not pay for it....It was a nice one stop shopping

I miss those old-fashioned definitions, when "shopping" meant paying for things.
You meant to say "shoplifting," didn't you, Warren?

Tricky Prickears|6.30.09 @ 1:01PM|#

Fuck Pirate Bay and all those open Bit torrent sites. They are loaded with nasty adware and malware that you don't know you are downloading. They are nothing but a huge scam. I'm surprised they still exist. And because it's hidden in small pieces, most security software can't detect it until it's too late. There are private sites that you need an invitation or recommendation to get on, which aren't bad. They mostly deal with personally recorded concerts of bands that allow it at their shows. Mostly the "jam bands" like Widespread Panic (it started with The Dead). But those sites are pretty strict with copyrighted stuff, and will boot your ass off real quick.

Tricky Prickears|6.30.09 @ 1:02PM|#

Sorry, cut and pasted to the wrong spot.

Tricky Prickears|6.30.09 @ 1:03PM|#

Try this:

Fuck Pirate Bay and all those open Bit torrent sites. They are loaded with nasty adware and malware that you don't know you are downloading. And because it's hidden in small pieces, most security software can't detect it until it's too late. They are nothing but a huge scam. I'm surprised they still exist. There are private sites that you need an invitation or recommendation to get on, which aren't bad. They mostly deal with personally recorded concerts of bands that allow it at their shows. Mostly the "jam bands" like Widespread Panic (it started with The Dead). But those sites are pretty strict with copyrighted stuff, and will boot your ass off real quick.

Rhywun|6.30.09 @ 1:09PM|#

GGF said it would start paying copyright fees for the movies, music and games linked to via the site...

That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. They link to *torrent files*, nothing more. It's the *users* who hold the actual content--which is often just a homemade, inferior copy of the original. Nobody's going to pay to copy shit from random members of the public.

|6.30.09 @ 1:10PM|#

The trick to not getting malware is to not download executable files from sites that don't have a comments section, and/or to wait for a few reviews before taking a risk. That and maybe consider actually paying for your software. Not that I'm guilt-free. I'll be paying for Unrealtournament 3 right after I finish evaluating it.

|6.30.09 @ 1:16PM|#

"Nobody's going to pay to copy shit from random members of the public."

The RIAA has been telling me that these are exact, pristine copies of the original. Now you tell me that there might be flaws in the files?

Tricky Prickears|6.30.09 @ 1:26PM|#

and/or to wait for a few reviews before taking a risk.

That doesn't always work because the placers of the malware can hijack the comments section and put their comments in. And I got a nasty Vundo from a non-executable mpeg file, or what I thought was... The funny thing was, it would freeze up my browser, and one time it froze it in the middle of a redirect to the company that placed it there called ABC Search. It froze in my address bar. I was getting online help from a site called Geeks-to-go, and I told them, and the site went out of business shortly after. However, I think they recently sold the rights to their name. Bastards. I learned my lesson. I buy my porn now. Or actually Pure TnA has streaming adult content.

me|6.30.09 @ 2:04PM|#

The RIAA has been telling me that these are exact, pristine copies of the original

No, they haven't been telling you that, Lamar. IP rights are not limited to "official" releases, as you are most certainly aware, unless you are a retard, in which case: kudos on learning how to post crackpot utterances on the intertubes! Your parents must be very proud.

|6.30.09 @ 2:36PM|#

I've found this to be good - fixes stuff that Symantec apparently can't:

http://www.avast.com/

I give it a good review....

MaterialMonkee|6.30.09 @ 2:50PM|#

In keeping with Scandinavian tradition

It does look like The Global Gaming Factory have bought themselves a new set of clothes


:)
Maybe these guys must know something I don't

|6.30.09 @ 2:54PM|#

"No, they haven't been telling you that, Lamar. IP rights are not limited to "official" releases, as you are most certainly aware, unless you are a retard, in which case: kudos on learning how to post crackpot utterances on the intertubes! Your parents must be very proud."

Yes they have, toolbag. Part of their argument in the Napster brief was that today's copies do not lose quality at each generation. Even before the Napster case, music companies lobbied hard for what became the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992. The US summarized their position in its own Napster brief.

In fact, the RIAA has to make that argument because part of the fair use analysis is the impact of the allegedly infringing work on the original.

So, please, take your third grade understanding of copyright law somewhere else.

|6.30.09 @ 2:57PM|#

And I can say with utmost confidence that every single poster here knows that copyright applies to much more than "official releases". Freaking idiot.

MaterialMonkee|6.30.09 @ 3:02PM|#

"Fuck Pirate Bay and all those open Bit torrent sites. They are loaded with nasty adware and malware that you don't know you are downloading."

Use Linux

you can't get viruses, malware etc

download this shit

www.ubuntu.com/

and stick it on either a partition or a second hard drive

Use Linux to look at p0rn, browse the web, or download anything

You probably need to keep a windows partition if you're a gamer or to use software for your job

but apart from that

If you don't need to do more than use the Internet Windows really is redundant


basically use Linux for anything to to do with the web
then use windows for anything else you might need to do

works a treat for me

havnt had a virus in years