Pirate Bay Domain Name Sets Sail and Moves to Ascension Island

 by James Fenner

The domain name of the infamous file-sharing website, The Pirate Bay, has recently set sail and moved to Ascension Island, in a bid to thwart the ever-pursuing authorities.

According to TorrentFreak – a blog site dedicated to discussing the latest news on digital issues and file sharing – The Pirate Bay was forced to make the move after a recent domain name seizure. The author reports, following pressure exerted by the entertainment industry, The Pirate Bay’s .SX domain name was seized and nameservers were removed from thepiratebay.sx, based in Sint Maarten – the Dutch half of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. Consequently, a number of visitors were unable to successfully load the site.

The Pirate Bay Domain Seized by BREIN?

The Pirate Bay was then forced to move to thepiratebay.ac, the domain of which is controlled by Ascension Island. The outcrop is a volcanic island, situated in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, that

currently remains under British reign. Home to a population of just under 900 residents, the island was once used as an air and naval station for Allied forces in World War II, and for British forces during the Falklands. However, considering the UK government is vehemently opposed to online piracy, it is expected the site’s domain will relocate in the near future.

It has been speculated that a Dutch organization, called BREIN, was responsible for landing the peer-to-peer file sharing site in hot water. BREIN represents the interests of Dutch record companies and film studios and was instrumental in forcing the shutdown of a number of small BitTorrent communities, thought to be involved in facilitating file-sharing practices.

In 2009, BREIN demanded The Pirate Bay’s co-founders block access of Dutch citizens to their website, after launching a court case against Mininova. Ultimately, the group ignored the Amsterdam District Court’s ruling, which had ordered the removal of a set list of copyright-protected media.

Only last month, BREIN issued instructions to Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij; the anti-piracy organization contended that the .SX domain was under Dutch jurisdiction and was infringing upon the rights of “Rights Owners.” A cease and desist was reportedly sent to Neij, with a deadline for the site’s shutdown set for Nov. 22.

Past Litigation

The Pirate Bay was founded in 2003 by a Swedish anti-copyright outfit, called Piratbyrån. The site’s co-founders have faced increasing pressure from various factions of the entertainment industry, encountering raids and a slew of litigation.

In 2009, the trio were tried in Stockholm for expediting the dissemination of copyrighted material. After Judge Tomas Norström sentenced the defendants to a year of imprisonment each, and a fine of $3.6 million, the group launched an appeal, alleging Norström to have had connections with pro-copyright organizations. As a consequence, judge Ulrika Ihrfelt was appointed by a Swedish appeal court to look into the accusations of judicial bias. It was later established that Ihrfelt was also a member of the same pro-copyright organizations as Norström. Ihrfelt was then replaced.

A retrial was then denied, as the court decided the original judges’ affiliations with pro-copyright organizations failed to constitute bias.

After appealing the initial verdict of the first trial, the defendants were then awarded a reduced sentence, offset by an increase in the total number of fines. Ultimately, the appeals court ruled the group were liable to pay damages of $6.5 million to the entertainment industry.

Meanwhile, an insider has articulated plans to relocate their domain name to Peru, which would provide the site with a .pe domain. The Pirate Bay’s operators claim they have plenty of alternative domains to which they are able flee the authorities.

By James Fenner

Sources:

Kotaku

TorrentFreak1

TorrentFreak2

BREIN

The Independent

CBS News

TechRadar

Gizmodo