Is it really any surprise that those at the wheel of Pirate Bay are wanting to get off the ride as soon as possible? They joked and scoffed at the Swedish trial held earlier in the year, feeling their site was truly untouchable and was a step forward in the "sharing" idealism of online pirates, protests were held outside of the courts during the trial - their victory seemed inevitable. Well, after the verdict came down the pipes no one was laughing anymore. And soon thereafter Pirate Bay's administers found themselves millions dollars in debt to the IFPI, the equivalent of the RIAA but for the rest of the world, for aiding in Copyright Infringement. What I thought personally which was funny was their defense of proving that they were no more at fault than Google, providing search results for indexed torrent files. Which is true, but it just seems that they forgot that their name was PIRATE Bay and they were on trial for copyright infringement - and to the courts, they didn't need any hard proof evidence to make an example out of the 'Bay.
With their future now in shambles, it appeared that something had to be done if they were ever to be seen as anything else besides martyrs of the pirating wars of the past decade - the first casualty and "traitor" being Napster. Pirate bay then announced a little over a month ago that it was going to be bought by Global Gaming Factory X AB for approximately 7.8 American million dollars. It seemed odd: Pirate bay, one of the top 100 websites in the entire world selling for less than hundreds of millions. It was apparent that those running Pirate Bay were trying to get it off their hands so they could move ahead with their own lives instead of being stuck with this huge debt and still having to eventually shut down the site. Pirate bay Co-founder, Peter Sunde, has decided to leave the company and cut his losses. Just over a week after Wayne Rosso, also a Co-founder, said he was going to help pilot the new and improved, yet legal, Pirate Bay, and then retracting that statement by pulling out of the deal altogether, leaving Pirate Bay's future up in the air, Sunde has decided to move on and try something else. I would think he's done with all the drama. With his track record it's easy to assume he'll find himself quite a good job some where, and maybe not be involved in something so controversial - to the dismay of pirates everywhere.
Global Gaming Factory X AB is still trying hard to prove they can pay up, and another date has been set for the deal to go through later on this month. If it goes down then kiss goodbye to torrenting the way you see it today. And if that isn't enough, Hollywood Studios have sent letters to the 'Bay this past week asking for its immediate closure. In other words, Pirate Bay's future looks bleak, and I don't see it surviving a few more months in the way it's seen today. Bit Torrent sites will be a much more private affair once 'Bay is gone, as the RIAA starts to work with ISP's to cut off users from even getting on the net to download and share illegally.
So in other words, download everything you've ever wanted now... while you still can. Not that I'm telling you to go do it or anything. ;)
Sources: CNET - Rosso Pulls Out of PB Deal, Sunde's Blog - Peter Leaving PB
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Brandon Davenport
