AfterDawn: News

Facebook blocks Pirate Bay torrents

Just about a week after the notorious Pirate Bay tracker unveiled a new feature that let's Facebook users share torrents on their profiles, Facebook has responded by blocking users from doing so. While this latest change doesn't seem to have gone down particularly well with some Facebook users (not unusual), it will keep them out the of the firing line of media companies fighting BitTorrent-driven piracy.

Indeed, the company is not hiding the reason for this move, with spokesman Barry Schnitt saying the social networking giant, "respects copyrights and our Terms of Service prohibits placement of 'Share on Facebook' links on sites that contain any content that is infringing. Given the controversy surrounding The Pirate Bay and the pending lawsuit against them, we've reached out to The Pirate Bay and asked them to remove the 'Share on Facebook' links from their site. The Pirate Bay has not responded and so we have blocked their torrents from being shared on Facebook."



In Facebook's defense, most other sites with user interaction on some level would make the same move, but even a small percentage of Facebook users who would have found this useful amounts to a lot of noise in protest. This block comes as the Pirate Bay revealed 100,000 users have signed up to test their IPREDATOR service, designed to provide anonymity to file sharers.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 9 Apr 2009 16:38

• Previous article

• French National Assembly rejects 'three strikes' legislation

• Next article

• YouTube, Universal to launch 'Vevo' music video site

• 5 comments

• Morreale

  As if Facebook wasn't lame enough...

  9.4.2009 17:34 #1

• igolg

  spam edited by ddp…

  9.4.2009 22:33 #2

• domie

  Never used facebook so don't know much about it. The Pirate Bay is entitled to do whatever they like on their own sites and servers seeing as they pay for them but when they introduce something that allows users of other sites to implement pirate bay / torrent links on a site that has no connection with TPB then they have really overstepped the mark.
  They may be happy defending themselves against the lawsuit and consider they have a good case against the charges of copyright infringement etc but they have absolutely no right to interfere with other sites affairs or how their sites are organised and encourage the other sites users to introduce copyright infringing material ( possibly ) . In fact it seems very much like the type of action that TPB itself wouyld complain about - a big fish muscling in and implanting itself on other people's webspace/rights without any notice or authority.

  10.4.2009 04:53 #3

• vyze

  Originally posted by domie: ...when they [Pirate Bay] introduce something that allows users of other sites to implement pirate bay / torrent links on a site that has no connection with TPB then they have really overstepped the mark.
  How would posting torrent links differ to any other link?
  One can post links to websites that contain material that document to making bombs, illicit and illegal adult material, recipies for making controlled substances such as nacortics, directions on how to eat children or any other illegal or not socially accepted material and that isn't the fault of the people that host the website (unless if they put the Share>Facebook on there). After Facebook founder failed to purchase Twitter he redesigned, which most people hate, the site to be more Twitter-esque. Pirate bay didn't say USE ALL THE FACEBOOK BANDWIDTH TO ILLEGALLY PIRATE MEDIA

  10.4.2009 18:11 #4

• hermes_vb

  Let's create a new type of social network called PirateBook. It would be like a canteen where pirates hang out and share share stories...LOL

  17.4.2009 15:34 #5