Pirate Party Proxy Shutdown Means Activists Will Fight Another Day

enigmax
December 19, 2012
157
bpi,
pirate-party
Print

As reported earlier today, the UK Pirate Party has taken the difficult decision to shut down their Pirate Bay proxy service. The law firm representing the party has informed TorrentFreak that due to the state of the law, choosing to carry on providing the service would be “untenable”. While PPUK’s move will be unpopular with some, it does mean that the party can put this episode behind them and fight another day.

It must have been a heartbreaking decision but Loz Kaye of the UK Pirate Party has had to back down in the face of what could have been a ruinous battle with music industry body BPI.

The dispute was over the Pirate Party’s Pirate Bay proxy, a service that enabled UK Internet users to gain access to The Pirate Bay, despite there being a court-ordered blockade by six of the country’s biggest ISPs.

In short, the BPI asked the party to take down the proxy but the party refused. In response the BPI threatened legal action, not against the party itself, but against members of the party’s National Executive Committee. This meant that Loz Kaye and others would have been held personally liable in a High Court battle.

That move appears to have taken Kaye and the other members by surprise and the proxy was shut down last night.

The BPI informs TorrentFreak that they received a letter this morning stating that the shutdown would be permanent.

“BPI has today received signed confirmations from Pirate Party UK executives that they will remove proxy access from their website to the illegal site The Pirate Bay,” they explained.

“BPI welcomes this development. Provided Pirate Party UK complies with the confirmations, no legal proceedings should be necessary.”

After being advised to stay quiet, a few minutes ago Manchester-based lawfirm Ralli sent a statement to TorrentFreak on behalf of the party.

“Despite attempts by elected members to resolve this situation, the law at present is clear and makes any decision to continue hosting the proxy untenable,” explained IP lawyer Frances Nash.

“This is not the outcome the party wanted however, any challenge to this proposed action would make it financially impossible for the party to deal with other issues for which they actively campaign on a daily basis.”

“The Pirate Party strongly believe that site blocking is both disproportionate and ineffective and will continue to lobby for digital rights and their wider manifesto.”

There is no doubt that the decision to shut down the proxy will be unpopular with some supporters who wanted to see a fight to the bitter end with the BPI. But of course, they aren’t the ones facing a massively costly and stressful High Court battle, one that would take a huge toll on Kaye and the others and one almost certainly destined to fail.

This morning the BPI told us they were “dismayed” to read allegations from Loz Kaye last week that the music industry body had threatened to bankrupt him, insisting that no such threat had been made. Actually we believe them, but that doesn’t really change the reality on the ground. A fight of this nature would be ruinous – the BPI know that and so does Kaye – hence the comment.

A High Court battle would have cost a small fortune and somehow that would need to be funded either by the individuals being targeted or party supporters. Quite frankly, and despite the admirable anti-censorship stance of the party, it would be money down the drain – and that’s if they were able to raise the huge amount of money required in the first instance.

Loz Kaye and the other targeted members of the National Executive Committee have done what all politicians have to do eventually, which is to make extremely difficult choices with the long game in mind.

The Pirate Party may have lost this battle and it will hurt tremendously, but as far as they are concerned the war is far from over.

Update: The UK Pirate Party has informed its members about the decision to shut down the proxy. Those who contributed to the fundraiser in support of the looming legal battle can get their money back.

Previous Post | Next Post

Follow @torrentfreak

Steve Smith

O please like BPI won anything with this, there are how many 100000+ other proxy’s out there>
- Wal-Mart
  
  Yes they will they already won some. Maybe you just can’t read.
  
  If Yurop is to stupid to get there act together then U.S will do it for them.
  - Guest
    
    “If Yurop is to stupid to get there act together then U.S will do it for them.”
    
    Yeah the US certainly did for me. I went to Google and got a list of 100′s of proxies to use and get around this shutdown. Uncle Sam certainly knows how to make it easy to give people access to TPB.
    - Danny
      
      Or just use google itself.
  - Yurofag
    
    oh you still funny
  - markh
    
    so you guys stopped one proxy, 100 more were created, what are you trolls going to do about that
  - Murican
    
    Everyone is so stupid, they don’t understand that they just can’t fight us. Law is on our side and if it isn’t we’ll make it.
    - Guest
      
      So now you’re not just trolling, but you are also promoting corruption? keep going with digging that hole you dug yourself and your real Mafia.
    - Dingo_RG
      
      No. The law is definitely NOT on your side. “Your law” violates explicitly basic civil rights and freedoms, that’s a fact. And the basic civil rights, as the legitimate right TO SHARE any type of information with others without monetary gain is ABOVE of any law, including any copyright legislation; because the civil rights ARE NOT negotiable, ASSHOLE.
      
      The only problem here is that the UK Pirate Party didn’t know how to defend these rights, that’s all; if they had proceeded as iiNet did, the history would be different.
    - Guest
      
      So you call yourself Murican as well as Wal-Mart? If there is any other names you might want to use to perform your for hire trolling job?
    - Murican
      
      Walmart is a silly little troll, person can’t even spell right let alone make his comments believable. You may consider me a troll but ask yourself; how is my post not true in any way, power is where the money is and there is plenty of money here.
    - Andrew Lee
      
      You mean the money is on your side at least till the artist wise up and drop you fucking morons.
      
      Look at Lewis C.K. he gets it and Dotcom is going to destroy you morons in 2013. Blame yourselves for me saying that because you’re the ones that made him my hero.
      
      Honestly I will not buy,rent, or even download mainstream products anymore for around a year now. I will buy from the artist that give a shit about their fans though. :)
  - Bewilderedprophet
    
    Yeah, they already won.
    
    It took me a whole 10 seconds to find a new proxy to use.
  - Vvgubzcs
    
    What the hell is “Yurop”?
    
    You can’t possibly mean… Europe!
    
    Gawd, the mafiaa is soo stingy, can’t even hire a decent troll LMAO
    - Danny
      
      Apparently that’s where Australia is?
  - Aspasia
    
    OK just to clarify:
    “Yurop” = Europe
    “to” = too
    “there” = their, but here it should be a singular = its
    So what Wal-Mart means is “If Europe is too stupid to get its act together then the US will do it for it”
    Maybe trolls should learn to spell before posting their nonsense on blogs. And yes, Piracy has won, it won long ago because information wants to be free and will use any channel available to circulate because information is an aspect of the Technium. Read Chris Anderson and Kevin Kelly.
  - ITakeAPotatoChipAndEatIt
    
    reads wal-mart nonsense
    ?_?
    
    Hmm.. Let me get my monocle.
    ?_??
    
    Nope, still reads like sh*t.
- Guest
  
  The blood of the entertainment executives who will die will be partly on the hands of all the idiotic sheepeople still buying their craps and still going to the movies theater.
  - Anonymous
    
    Movie theaters aka Cinemas need to also be boycotted otherwise all this amounts to nothing.
    
    Anyone remember Black March? we need more RIAA and MPAA market blackouts.
- Coordinator
  
  LIST=
  
  * Jean-René Fourtou
  * Dominique Hériard Dubreuil
  * Henri Lachmann
  * Daniel Camus
  * Maureen Chiquet
  * Philippe Donnet
  * Aliza Jabès
  * Christophe de Margerie
  * Pierre Rodocanachi
  * Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker
  * Claude Bébéar
  * Vincent Bolloré
  * Pascal Cagni
  
  Vivendi
  42 avenue de Friedland,
  75008 Paris, France.
  
  /RUN
Rogerthecabinboy

Sharing is as natural to humans as war, and procreation.

Rather than bitching, go seed something awesome instead in honour of the fine gentleman of the UK Pirate Party for doing all that was realisticly possible. Fight on, for the consensual wondrousness of the Underground Library!
guess who

so put up the fucking instructions on how to get past censorship of what one can and cannot see on the internet. it isn’t rocket science and isn’t illegal.
- Wal-Mart
  
  Yes it is illegal and the U.S is making sure other backwards countries know it.
  - me
    
    It isn’t genius. If you are against filesharing, you have no business being online. That is how the world wide web was designed. No central command, not even in th usa.
    - http://nejtillpirater.wordpress.com/ Nejtillpirater
      
      BS, laws apply also to criminality using the Internet as a tool.
    - Fredrika
      
      > “BS, laws apply also to criminality..”
      
      Which infringements or hosting proxies aren’t.
      
      > “..using the Internet as a tool.”
      
      Why not try to respond to what he actually wrote and the point he made? To afraid?
    - Pelham123
      
      Me, you nailed it.
      
      Nejtillpirater, you’re also right. Criminals – terrorists, heroin dealers, child pornographers and the like – can and will be prosecuted for criminal activities that happen to be online. But that doesn’t contradict Me’s excellent point.
      
      Frederika was right in that Nejtillpirater’s comment was random and beside the point.
      
      And I agree with the Pirate Party’s decision too. File-sharing occurs every time two electronic music-processing devices can connect to one another. We don’t need heir help to do that – we need their help defending free speech and private property rights in the UK. They have bigger battles to fight and godspeed.
    - Matter
      
      Criminals can be part of governments too, human history prove it many times, but Nej must not be interested. Filesharing could be illegal in those countries, it’s not illegal in many other nations. I just found out it’s completely legal in Spain, it’s not they didn’t make any law about it, it’s declared legal within their laws, a judge said: “P2P networks are mere conduits for the transmission of data between Internet users and on this basis they do not infringe rights protected by Intellectual Property laws”. As long as you download files for private use, you can download all what you want.
      
      Gambling is illegal in many parts of USA, in some states is legal, so, gambling is considered a good or bad thing? You indecisive people.
  - Guest
    
    If you want another proxy then use Google they will gladly give you a list 100′s of proxies that you can use to access TPB.
  - markh
    
    most of american never heard of europe, so which country has the most backward people yes say it…… USA
    - Anonymous
      
      The USA sure has the worst education known to mankind.
      
      No wonder we have the worst filesharing laws come from THAT country.
    - Yurop_eh?
      
      Jay Leno used to have a segment in his show, where he asked things of general knowledge to some people walking on the streets, I watched that online some months ago. Once he asked: “Where is the canal of Panama?” The American responded he didn’t know, then Leno asked him, “where is The Great Wall of China? The guy responded: “I suppose it’s in China”, then Leno said: “Correct, so, where is the canal of Panama?” and they guy responded: “hmm, in China?”
      
      Another question to a different man was: “What two countries have land borders with the United States?” And that person replied “Ehm… hmm… I don’t know”.
    - Yurop_eh?
      
      Typo time: “the guy” not “they guy”, I betrayed my keys or vice versa.
  - Nejtillpirater
    
    “me” you are right. This is not genius.
    
    Don’t bother with this guy. He is paid by the industry for posting fake opinions under various names such as “Nejtillpirater”. I know that because I was doing this before myself using the same name.
    
    . Why do you think someone opposed to file sharing will post at torrent freak anyway? Deuce!!!
  - IndiaGrt
    
    dude wht shit you r taking abt …wht did you mean by backward countries ……. your American fuckers need us ppl frm backward countries to do there job…….. n you tell us abt copywrite and all………. you shite troll
  - Jimmy671
    
    Wall-Mart stop voting for yourself,you bad boy.
Rogergent

What about the people that donated to help them fight the bpi who have had their money stolen by another lying government body this is getting ridiculous
- Anon
  
  Ask for a refund fuckwit ! Stop crying like a spoiled lil cunt
  
  Use this as a proxy : http://proxybay.info/
  - Rogergent
    
    How exactly am i spoiled i use blockaid.
    I have not one used pirateparty i could care less if pirate bay dissapeared forever.
    There are plenty more to take its place but the pirate party did ask for money to fight the bpi then bowed down after taking donations thats a bit wrong
    - mary hinge
      
      people donate to block aids every day, you don’t hear them complaining
    - Guest321
      
      They are giving you a refund. What more do you want?
- Duke
  
  There should be an email going out about this soon, but I can’t really say much now.
- Wal-Mart
  
  They broke the law. To bad for them.
  - Guest
    
    They have not been found guilty in a court of law of breaking the law. Get your facts right!!!
  - Ardvaark
    
    Would you care to at least clarify how did they break the law?
    
    Last time I checked, not even the court injunction to block access to the TPB was directed at the Pirate Party so they have not done anything against any law or court order. It’s just a matter of the BPI having enough money to enforce their will on the weaker party since they don’t have deep enough pockets to fight back.
    
    Even when such a will is unfounded and wrong as I said above.
    - Danny
      
      Also known as bullying, I’m sure we were taught that this was wrong in primary school.
    - Andrew me
      
      I cant wait to see someone with way deeper pockets than the monopolists sue them out of existence, now that will be a day to celebrate, remember a bully always has someone bigger and stronger than him that can bully him just as much as they bully those that cannot defend themselves.
  - markh
    
    which law did they brake, tell us smartasse, were they convicted
  - Pelham123
    
    The correct spelling is “baroke.” Otherwise carry on. You’re on a (t)roll.
    - ScrewEwe2
      
      You sure it’s not “baroque”. “I baroque that vase because it came from Walmart and was of inferior quality, like most of Walmart’s products”.
  - ScrewEwe2
    
    Your parents have a mentally challenged idiot for a son/daughter (?), too bad for them. Maybe your parents and Rogergent can both get a refund.
  - Jimmy671
    
    What a steaming load of shit,by the way how does it feel to have the I.Q.of a Sea Slug.
  - Scary_Devil_Monastery
    
    “They broke the law. To bad for them.”
    
    No, the problem is that they did not break any laws at all. They were intimidated by a promise of being dragged into a court case in order to determine whether they could be covered under “equitable remedy”.
    
    Which means irrespective of any presumed guilt, the next few years worth of spare time and money would be lost to paying solicitors, attending hearings, or preparing paperwork.
    
    By the same token, if I can fork over 20k pounds sterling, I can ensure you spend the next few months not seeing the outside of a courtroom.
- IHaveNoBalls
  
  They might have been refunded.. I would assume the website they used to gather funds will automatically return the money if it wasn’t to be used.
- Bo
  
  I just had an e-mail from PPUK offering to refund my donation. I am letting it slide. They make good use of the money, I am sure.
- Jimmy671
  
  “Those who contributed to the fundraiser in support of the looming legal battle can get their money back.”
  
  Read the article at the top of the page before commenting.
Max

They basically failed. They promised they would never hurt it down, they did. That makes them no better than any other party out there – not sticking to their word.
- XaM
  
  They made the choice as individuals, not as the party. If the party had been sued they’d probably have left it up, but as they were being targeted to be sued as individuals they had to be realistic about the six-fold financial burden.
  - Guest
    
    The pirate party uk could not have been sued as a party and the only way the BPI could sue was to sue the individuals.
    - IDIOCRACY
      
      So the solution is simple, The Pirate party has to hire an advertisement bureau to make a campaign for them, part of that ongoing campaign could be a much visited website in the form of a Piratebay reverse proxy with an advertisement in a banner for the Pirateparty, having the web address name in license from the pirateparty. Then the liability is for the company running the campaign, and they can be sued and can counter sue. Like setting up a sort of ISP that has the freedom of the law.
      Then the only thing the BPI could do to the pirate party is requesting to withdraw the license for the name, which will be an administrative issue. Also the Pirateparty could sell their domain name to a Foundation abroad where the Pirateparty hires a sub-domain from their former domain… problem solved, no UK law applicable. Or am I thinking to easy now??? hehe
    - Duke
      
      In reply to Idiocracy, the solution may not be as simple as that, but we are looking into other ways to solve the issue of the executive being personally liable for the actions of the Party. Unfortunately these things take a while to sort out.
- IHaveNoBalls
  
  It wasn’t your ass on the line.
anom

Dear BPI

Cant you just die quietly FFS!

So inconvenient all this, now I’m going to have to spend 30 seconds finding an alternative.. LISTS ANYONE?? ( ?° ?? ?°)
- Wal-Mart
  
  i-tunes
  - Guest
    
    Use Google, they will gladly provide you a list of alternate proxies to use.
  - IHaveNoBalls
    
    Itunes isn’t a proxy for TPB so try again.
  - Ardvaark
    
    I’m sorry but I want to listen to my music without being locked to a single company. I also prefer to listen to it on my machine instead of needing to be online all the time so streaming isn’t a solution either…
    
    Oh and no DRM, Delayed or gated releases or low quality files (not 320kbps) for the price of hight quality ones as well.
    
    Any suggestions?
  - Guest321
    
    You want me to pay Apple for music? I would be the last person on Earth Apple would ever see a penny from.
- annon
  
  like because lenny
- IHaveNoBalls
  
  Get the Pirate patch
  
  http://qarizmatic.com/threads/thepiratepatch.2/
  It uses proxies but its handy because when u click on the official TPB website on say google, it loads a proxy but it looks like you’re on the official page.. Its nice because its looks to the user like TPB isn’t even blocked
  
  Get it – No spyware or anything- Torrent-freak recommended it :D
- themerryreaper
  
  Eventually they will die either by embracing the 21st century marketplace and becoming obsolete or by being abandoned by the actual content creators and becoming unfunded.
  
  The choice is theirs.
- ScrewEwe2
  
  ( ?° ?? ?°) That is the best type face I’ver ever seen.
  - ITakeAPotatoChipAndEatIt
    
    ?_?
Zenamez

There’s still “https://tpb.ipredator.se/” and the TOR node to use. They haven’t one yet…
dondilly

A bit of a waste by the bpi, 1 down 999 to go.

The actions of the BPI considering the ease of bypassing the blockade and that it only affects a handful of ISPs (and only domestic not business accounts), it seems more an attempt to undermine the credibility of PPUK than any serious attempt to block access.
- IHaveNoBalls
  
  The BPI just couldn’t stand an official government body hosting the proxy.. That’s why they targeted the The Pirate Party.
  - Colin Carr
    
    The UK Pirate Party is not an ‘official government body’. They are a small political party with MPs in parliament. That is why they have just been fucked over by the greedy BPI bullies. If they’d had deep enough pockets, they’d have seen off this disgraceful assault on free speech in the UK.
    - Colin Carr
      
      Whoops, critical typo. I should have typed,
      “They are a small political party with NO MPs in parliament.”
Blithering Fool

This is certainly a partial victory for the BPI – the Pirate Party proxy was easy and everyone knew about it. This action will put SOME people off using TPB, but how many of them will go out and buy what they previously would have pirates is impossible to predict (I suspect the numbers will be small).

I do hope that a few more easy proxies spring up in its place – I personally will not be making the move to purchasing material.
- dondilly
  
  Tpb reverse proxies are not difficult to find. As well as dedicated lists, ‘pirate bay proxy’ in any search engine will return pages of results.
- IDIOCRACY
  
  I dare to say that no-one that used the proxy will buy the stuff they would normally pirate, the whole reason they were on the pirate party reverse proxy in the first place, was already because of that and it worked easy, now they will find the next easy step, for example Mozilla piratebay dancing plugin (that still needs a little work, clearer FAQ and manual but work ok once configured proper).
  And there was the Italian proxy for multiple torrent sites (see other article here on TF). with one button click proxy, can it be more easy??
- Guest321
  
  You really think pissing people off by forcing the PPUK to shut down the proxy would lead them to buying stuff from the entertainment industry? If anything more and more people would see the BPI for what they are stop buying. We already know pirates spend more money on content than your average Joe. You think this is gonna please anyone? The BPI and the MAFIAA are shooting themselves in the foot.
( ?° ?? ?°)

http://about.piratereverse.info/proxy/list.html lel ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°)
Waseihou

https://tpb.pirati.cz/ :D :D :D
- Waseihou
  
  Hmm, now it is promo bay, lol… srry did not noticed.
Guest

““BPI has today received signed confirmations from Pirate Party UK executives that they will remove proxy access from their website to the illegal site The Pirate Bay,” they explained.”

If TPB is an illegal site then shut it down, it can’t be that impossible to shutdown an illegal website can it. If the US can shutdown websites i.e. Megaupload then why not shutdown TPB. By not shutting down an illegal website that is a massive haven for online copyright infringement according to the copyright holders only continues to increase massive copyright infringement. By shutting down proxies or VPN’s will just be a waste of time and money because whilst TPB still remains operational the massive copyright infringement will still continue according to the copyright holders. If TPB is not shutdown then it proves that either 1. The website is perfectly legal or 2. That it is impossible to shutdown the website (unlike Megaupload). I wouldn’t be surprised that when MEGA launches in January that the BPI will serve court orders in time on the UK ISP’s to have MEGA blocked. I just got around this pirate proxy shutdown by going to Google and getting a list of proxy sites. Next thing that we find out is that the copyright holders will be forcing Google to block proxy and VPN’s websites from its index. The copyright holders will never win in the win because people will invent something to get around any blocks they put in place and that’s the way i like it.
- Guest
  
  oops typo, it should have said The copyright holders will never win in the end because people will invent something to get around any blocks they put in place and that’s the way i like it.
- chronoss
  
  Learn what the fuck a paragraph is….I did, around age 6.
  - Guest
    
    There is no need to be rude or insulting.
    - SomeYahoo
      
      that particular troll always insults everyone in their posts
    - IDIOCRACY
      
      @SomeYahoo
      Guess you are not much around here do you? go and read a little of his posts back in time (chronnos) you might want to consider revising your post….You do not have to agree with him of coarse, but he’s not troll (at least not compared to the real ones like NTP and Anon and their mother Pelouze. hehe grin. By the way … @chronoss: I get you’re angry, but take it out on BPI, be nice 2 each other.
    - ITakeAPotatoChipAndEatIt
      
      @IDIOCRACY
      
      He is a troll, just a mild one, who only goes after spelling/grammar, or just very angry (all the time).
- Duke
  
  My understanding is that the problem with shutting the site down is that it is currently being hosted through the Swedish Pirate Party and, unlike us in PPUk, they have money and a more accessible justice system.
  
  Plus the last time they tried to take it down they got two PPSe members elected to the European Parliament, and the next EP elections aren’t that far away.
- Guest321
  
  Shut down TPB? Are you aware that the entire Pirate Bay site can be stored in a small flash drive? If TPB is ever shut down, how long do you think it will be before thousands of people plug in their pen drives and host TPB on a distributed network that cannot be taken down?
- bobmail
  
  The problem is the issue of what is illegal in the UK versus what just barely passes the sniff test elsewhere. The UK cannot tell other countries how to operate, but they can (and have) rulings that say what can happen in the UK.
  
  This is probably the future of the internet, get use to it.
Jody Bruchon

Oh VPN, oh VPN…how lovely are thy encryption keys.
Guest

Another proxy to use is http://www.pirateproxy.net
Anonymous

what is more heartbreaking is the fact that the PP was doing nothing wrong, that the BPI did what it did simply because of the money it has and the fact that it has so many friends in the government that refuse to do anything except back the entertainment industries or look the other way.

what i want to know now is what can the PP actually fight against in the future, now that it going to ‘live to fight another day’? whatever it puts it’s name to, it is going to be a laughing stock that no one is ever going to take seriously again!

and still no mention of the donations already made!
- Guest321
  
  It’s simple. The Pirate Party has to keep growing & expanding and I am sure it will as time goes by. More Pirate Party members have to be elected to the Parliament and that’s how they can increase their political muscle. With political muscle the finances will take care of itself. All this will of course take time. So the war is far from over.
  
  It’s high time USA had a Pirate Party because that’s where all the pressure and censorship comes from. I am surprised nobody has started one there yet. May be Americans don’t care enough about their freedom.
  - Colin Carr
    
    It may be news to you, but there is a Pirate Party in the USA. But like the UK version, it is still small and has representation in congress.
- Andrew me
  
  Now this is a clear comment from someone who knows absolutely nothing about what they are commenting about. Firstly they saved time and money not fighting this blackmailing by the BPI. they would have won but the fight would have prevented them doing other things that are slowly tightening the noose around the BPI’s neck.
  
  Why the fuck ask about the donations when it was made clear in the story that anyone wanting a refund would get it, how stupid is that comment from you, showing you are nothing but a shill for the MAFFIA, and there illegal tactics. The BPI will fail, they will be closed down they will become irrelevant in the UK, and when it happens millions of citizens and artists will celebrate, fuck you for trying to turn people against the Pirate Party, they will survive this blackmail and hopefully the money that was donated, people will still donate for the fights they have in the future.
chronoss

ever day a new way to post around here makes ya wonder if your posting here …and ill add to this topic
pirate party bends over should be the title….what no protests not marches
heh until you grow a god damn pair your useless and even worse then useless poltically
- markh
  
  you are such a loser, because how many new proxies are online, hahahaha pathetic troll
- MadAsASnake
  
  “Pirating” is not a global organised movement. If it was, MAFIAA would be history. It is simply a term used to describe the widespread activity of sharing things. It’s done pretty much be everyone and all for individual personal reasons. To the best of my knowledge, this activity does not require anyone to grow a pair, especially the 50% of the population that would find that impossible.
- Bo
  
  Your grammar and typing make my eyes hurt.
http://openid.anonymity.com/on9zdb Let’s Get Ready to Rumble

So if I do general people now get the right to sue not this letter organizations but their workers ?

If so the UK Pirate Party should consider suing Geoff Taylor and Tony Wadsworth was individuals for taking part in a know technique known as extortion
Liam JH

BPI win by default, the UK Pirate Party look like a bunch of spineless wimps who are not willing too stand for what they believe in.
- barton71
  
  Oh please. It would have cost ten of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of pounds to fight this in the courts, with the knowledge that the fight could not be won. What is the point in doing that? When you have little to no financial resources, you have to pick your battles carefully.
  - Liam JH
    
    How could they not win the fight, they where doing nothing illegal and backed out of a civil case, a civil case that if argued correctly using the 2004 precedents would have been thrown out.
    - barton71
      
      Lets assume for a second that the UK Pirate Party would win the case, it would still have cost a small fortune to fight the case in court. The £9k that was raised would be a rain drop in the ocean, compared to the final legal bill.
      
      Your anger is directed at the wrong people. Direct it towards the BPI for bringing this action in the first place. Direct it towards a legal system that allows scenarios like this to develop. Direct it towards the politicians who suck the financial teat of the entertainment industry and who refuse to consider changes to copyright law.
    - Scary_Devil_Monastery
      
      “How could they not win the fight…”
      
      Not the point. If the BPI is willing to throw resources at the case it boils down to every accused more or less having to fork over hundreds of thousands in legal fees or be forced to default, automatically assuming culpability.
      
      This strategy is old hat and it’s the way patent trolls do it – use a monetary investment in order to force your much poorer target to match you. The first one to drop out loses.
  - http://gene-poole.tumblr.com Gene Poole
    
    To be perfectly fair, then in a situation as you’ve described, one ought not state that the Pirate proxy is staying up and will never come down, and then start asking for donations to fight it. It’s a bit unprofessional and looks disorganized. They should have kept quiet until they had spoken to their lawyers.
    
    I think it’s shit what Geoff Taylor and company did, acting like they had no other choice than litigation, but I also think Loz made a huge mistake shooting his mouth off like this because it looks terrible. I don’t want him to step down but it might be a wise move for the party’s future.
- Guest
  
  The scientific name for an animal that doesn’t either run from
  or fight its enemies is lunch.
  - Michael Friedman -
  
  The Pirate Parties of the world will eventually be consumed.
  It is only a matter of time.
- Anonymous
  
  Live to fight another day – that wasnt fighting – thats bending over handing the BPI the lube and saying more please.
  
  Thats the main reason I won’t be voting for these jokers not now not ever, until they grow some balls, then I may reconsider.
- Andrew me
  
  hahahahah it is so cool to see the anger in the comments form BPI shills, they attempt to shine a bad light on the Pirate Party but in effect they just look like stupid shills, the Pirate Party as they said has other ways to destroy the BPI. and the fact that there are 1000′s of other proxies to access thepiratebay must be burning an ulcer in your stomach. I support the Pirate Party 100% and will vote for them when they are on my voting form every time. BPI cannot and will not win this fight they have already lost in fact they just do not acknowledge it yet, the thieves and con artists in the BPI will be fuming that there blackmailing did not work as planned , level heads ruled the day and the money and time wasted fighting this will be used in much better and more effective ways to destroy the BPI once and for all.
  - Liam JH
    
    Yeah right – I love the BPI and hate ‘pirates’ thats what you took from my post (tard).
    
    The point is that Loz Kaye has shown to be nothing more than a politician, incapable of backing his words with action.
http://techfleece.com/ Richard Gailey

Yeh, I just received the email from The Pirate Party where they were offering to return the donations that we gave. Told then that I am more than happy for them to keep it.

What the BPI have done is pretty disgraceful and is blatant financial bullying. Fuck them.
- Captain Buzzoverinthehead DFC
  
  Good show. As and when I get my email I’ll do the same.
- puddipuddi
  
  I wish we could move this post to the top so everyone would stop bitching.
Keith

The BPI are assholes, They have no bloody idea how to stop piracy, Shutting down 1 proxy won’t change dipshit, The BPI need to get their heads outta their ASS and provide LEGAL ways for people to download their content, Rather than going around like blind emo cunts.

Linking to website content is NOT Illegal, if it was Google could be sued for trillions, because that is what they do, They index and link to websites online. Proxies are not illegal either, maybe they might link to illegal things, But the actual proxy is not illegal.

Internet censorship should not be even happening, There is always a way around censorship, The reason TPB has not been shut down yet, is they have LEGAL torrents on there as well as the illegal ones.

The BPI are muppets, until they pull their heads outta their ass, and provide everyone online with LEGAL alternatives, They will carry on pirating, The BPI need to learn that technology is advancing at an alarming rate, and if they insist on still using old-school technology, they will become very outdated rather quickly.

Innovate and Embrace Technology, not everyone wants DVD and BluRay discs, They want computer files which they can watch on-the-move, a DVD/BluRay costs a lot to produce, and a file would be a cheaper to produce, and they could in effect sell a hell of a lot more if they did it this way.

People now demand more ways of watching their content, such as Online Streaming, MP3/MP4 Players, Mobile/Cell Phones, Dedicated Portable Players and so on.

The days of watching a DVD/BluRay in the living room are numbered, The BPI and MAFIAA need to get this into their thick skulls and EMBRACE the modern technology, Not cast it aside like its a virus, my advice to them is either Innovate or Die, as that will ultimately happen if they fail to embrace the new ways people can watch content.
- dondilly
  
  While the PPUK proxy was only one of many, it was one of the most popular.
  
  The vast bulk of TPB reverse proxies are funded out of the host’s own pocket, few if any carry advertising to subsidise the cost.
  
  Many of the smaller proxies are set up as a matter of principle and in defence of a free net. One knockon effect of taking out the ppuk proxy is to put the others under greater strain. Do that to enough of the larger proxies and the less well funded ones collapse under bandwith costs.
Sucno9

I just don’t understand people flaming and blaming the pirate party for giving up and not sticking to their word. They are fighting a big war and not all battles can be won right away. Instead of bashing them, a show of support would be better.
- Anonymous
  
  the old ‘say one thing, do the opposite’ is what has pissed people off. might just as well either kept quiet or just admitted from the start that they were gonna shut it down. the disgraceful behaviour by the BPI is irrelevant. they were always gonna get their way because they have too many people in government and the courts backing them. look at what has happened to those running linking sites. they have not been ruled illegal but the operators have still been jailed even though there is no files on them. the judges are making what isn’t illegal, illegal and ruling on what have been brought as criminal cases when they are actually only civil cases. how bias is that? what chance has anyone got under these circumstances? you even get an extended sentence when the judge thinks you’re arrogant! i mean, come on! since when has that been justice? it’s nothing less than personal opinion, not law! fuck me, did he have a bloody great bribe or what? he should be removed from the bench but it wont happen because the orders overall come direct from the government. just yesterday, Vince Cable announced a new police force just to combat ‘illegal file sharing’. so much for cutting the number of police officers and the amount of funding. so much also for the lying friggin Tories, who had a supposed independent report drawn up by Prof Hargreaves, only to ignore almost every conclusion he arrived at and every recommendation he made. talk about mimicking the US government!
  - dondilly
    
    Don’t be so sure that the BPI would have got their way in court. While the BPI relied on the newzbin case to get TPB blocked, both blocking orders were hrough uncontested. In both cases ISPs were more interested in passing blame for the blocks rather than the merits of blocking, its ineffectiveness and collateral damage.
    
    Since newzbin, the government and even the UN have spoken out against blocking and we have also had the well publicised promobay case that revealed the existing order allowed the BPI to play God.
    
    If the BPI were so sure they could win against PPUK, they would not have resorted to personal attacks. Don’t forget, there was never any claim by the PPUK they would break a court order explicitly against them. Like the remaining unblocked ISPs, the BPI was expected to get a court order. The only difference was that ppuk made it clear they would fight.
    
    Under the circumstances, other than the risk of PPUK having costs awarded against them, damages would against the party or its officers would not have been granted unless they failed to comply with an order against THEM. The bpi personal threats speaks volumes as to the weakness of their case.
- Guest321
  
  I understand the financial problems but the PPUK should have atleast hit the streets and made some noise before caving in. Atleast they would have made more people wiser but by silently backing down it makes them look spineless. People who join politics should know what they are getting into.
Kyle Jackson

Anyone having problems in the UK due to this pointless action, just gonna leave this here:

http://about.piratereverse.info/proxy/list.html
https://twitter.com/OffensivAtheist Bismarket

I guess it had to come. At least they tried & i believe they did their best within a corrupt system. sadly they never stood a chance, money always wins (well nearly always)!
Guest

PPUK has just stood up and proclaimed “HEY MAFIAA, WE’LL GIVE UP IF YOU LEGALLY PRESSURE US!”.

Achieving copyright reform is going to mean taking the MAFIAA to court multiple times. If PPUK surrenders when they’re faced with legal threats then they can never do this. Or anything else they set out to accomplish because their opponents can just threaten to sue and make them fold like a cheap suit.

They’re confirmed for useless. At least we still over other Pirate Parties in other parts of the world that haven’t thrown in the towel. Sweden springs instantly to mind.

Now let me correct Torrentfreak on something – they said this was a “hard decision”. No, it’s just duplicity. Pure and simple.
- Guest
  
  *have other
- Anon
  
  What would you suggest become the basis of a legal action by the PPUK against the industry leaders? “We don’t like your product or your windowing releases or your method of distribution, so we are going to sue you and infringe upon your products instead” ?
  
  While you explain to the court the entertainment industries are fascist, of course. Yeah. Do it.
  - Guest
    
    Nothing was mentioned about legal action by the PPUK against the industry leaders.
    - Anon
      
      Several comments here are calling for just that. I thought perhaps you did, too.
      
      “Achieving copyright reform is going to mean taking the MAFIAA to court multiple times.”
      
      Taking another party to court is inherently a “legal action.” I just wondered what you had in mind and on what basis.
  - Scary_Devil_Monastery
    
    Using the law as an abusive tool while calling for “equitable remedies” and incidentally forcing assumed defendants to match a large lump sum of legal fees in court or forfeit has actually been deemed illegal many times, yes.
    
    But before I continue, am I adressing the “Baghdad Bob”-Anon or the “Anon” trying to troll him? Given that both your arguments are howlingly insane it’s very hard to tell which one of you is the caricature of the other.
Man

i wish pirate party all the best !
Anons

Fuck the BPI.

Boycott the recording industry.

Fuck BPI, FACT, RIAA, MPAA and all those other fascist cunts.
mary hinge

i have got a sore arse from farting in their direction
http://www.facebook.com/people/Johnny-Cash/100002427462340 Johnny Cash

This is stupid. Yesterday I was saying how great it was to have someone on our side who have our backs and today I’m back here just to find out they too have went against their own word. At least if you’re going to let them win, don’t fill us with hope with all your empty promises.
Xult

Rather than castigate these people for removing the link. We should work harder to have these people elected into office. That is where they are needed rather than fighting futile court cases. Where they can ammend the law and defeat the bastards.
All of the above people who say the will not vote Pirate Party are either ignorant or Trolls!
- Guest
  
  Trolls are good people. They are simply misguided, morally anal or employed by other Bigger Trolls, depending on them for their existence.
  
  Do not castigate Trolls. Take down the Big ones and they become headless chickens. Most little people eat chicken. Maybe not for breakfast but, all in all, even Big Chickens end up in the pot.
Thedarkhole

Sorted https://tpb.ipredator.se/
Pingback: Pirate Party Shuts Down Pirate Bay Proxy After Legal Threats | TorrentFreak
Szchifo

I find it amusing that the BPI insist ‘creative’ people get paid for the stuff they create.

Ive been in a band for 8 years and haven’t been paid a penny.

Id love to put my music on Pirate Bay for free so I can get some interest going but I cant cos BPI are stopping me.

Tossers
- Youseemconfused
  
  Perhaps it’s because nobody wants to buy your shit? http://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-anti-piracy-group-takes-pirate-domains-to-avoid-prosecuting-121210/#comment-732636963
Pajo

personal miiroing – my understanding is tpb is just a few hundred megs. anyone got a link to a mirror .zip file torrent…
Anonymous

They should have kept running it, the BPI’s case is on shaky grounds anyway.

I am not going to be wasting my vote on a party which has no balls to stand for its beliefs, even if they are almost bankrupt.
- Guest
  
  You could join them:
  
  You get to stand up for your beliefs.
  You get to be a part of something larger than your own ego.
  You can put your balls in the firing line, find out what it’s like…and
  You could save them from bankruptcy by donating a regular amount.
- Colin Carr
  
  The legal advice they got said their chances of winning against the BPI were extremely poor.
  Yes, we can see they were in the right to operate a proxy, but the Engish legal system, especially the civil courts, depends more on who can afford the best liar. Whoops, that should be lawyer.
  - Anonymous
    
    The legal advice I was told that they had received was that of what the parent post said the BPI’s case is on shaky grounds anyway. This is correct.
    
    The biggest problem isn’t that the UKPP have the more solid ground than that of the BPI, but that the BPI has the bigger pockets enabling them to drag out the court cases so long that the UKPP run out of funds to keep fighting and lose by default.
will

How to create an internet that cannot be shut down or censored:

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/decentralizing-telecom.html
CrazyH

They could at least run a Tor relay.
Guest

They should have put a list of links up to other proxies in place of their url for users that are not in the know.

Are they going to get in trouble for linking to a proxy that links to content only?

Maybe they could link to search terms on multiple search engines that link to proxies that link to content?
- bobmail
  
  They would still be in the same place, helping people to bypass the court order.
  
  They would likely still get sued and still lose.
Pingback: Pirate Party Proxy Shutdown Means Activists Will Fight Another Day | Www.Colton.Me.Uk - Weblog
Onion

Just use the Tor browser. Don’t act as a Tor Relay – they don’t encourage bit torrent traffic since Tor is used by people in censored countries to get news out. The Tor browser can be a bit slow loading pages but if its privacy u want u can’t beat it for surfing.
Baba

Hi, does anybody have a good reliable alternative way of access that does not require me paying for additional services or having to vastly alter my internet access settings?

Thanks!
bobmail

“While PPUK’s move will be unpopular with some, it does mean that the party can put this episode behind them and fight another day.”

Talk about bull crap. What it means is that they talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. When push comes to shove, they know in their heart of hearts that they are wrong, and rather than put themselves on the line and standing up for what they believe in, they instead choose to slink away and hide.

The truth hurts: They are big talkers, small doers, just like most of the pirate community.
Nathan Cluff

Those Damen Bozos without the pirate bay theres nothing but minecraft left God Please damen BPI to hell LOL

TorrentFreak

The place where breaking news, BitTorrent and copyright collide

Pirate Party Proxy Shutdown Means Activists Will Fight Another Day

Related Posts

Previous Post | Next Post

NewsBits

The Pirate Bay Isn’t Down Completely, Just Having a Few Issues

Pirate Bay Founder Gottfrid Svartholm on Freedom of Speech

Blu-ray Anti-Piracy Tech Stops Discs and Promotes Purchases

Foxtel Breeds Pirates by Locking Up Game of Thrones

UK Student Admits Breaching Sony Copyrights With Leak of PS3 SDK

MostDiscussed

Pirate Bay Takes Over Distribution of Censored 3D Printable Gun

McAfee Patents Technology to Detect and Block Pirated Content

Pirate Bay Finds Safe Haven in Iceland, Switches to .IS Domain

Copyright Trolls Threaten to Call Neighbors of Accused Porn Pirates

The Pirate Bay Moves to .SX as Prosecutor Files Motion to Seize Domains

CopyQuote

PopularArticles

VPN Services That Take Your Anonymity Seriously, 2013 Edition

Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2013

Which VPN Service Providers Really Take Anonymity Seriously?

What’s The Best VPN / Proxy for BitTorrent?

BTGuard Review: How Does it Work?

Optimize Your BitTorrent Download Speed