AfterDawn: News

Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde resigns

According to his latest blog post, The Pirate Bay founder and spokesperson Peter Sunde is stepping down from his position, hoping to move along with his life, one that has been under media scrutiny for years now.

Says the post:



"The past years I’ve been very active in the discussion of the current state and the future states of the internets. It’s an important cause and I will not give the fight up.

However, I have decided to not be the spokes person for The Pirate Bay anymore. The reasons are many but most importantly it takes too much of my time. I want to build something new and I want to focus my energy in a different direction. I have projects waiting to be finished, a book is waiting to be finalized and many more books are waiting to be read.

Our issues has been raised to another level and it’s time for biological dispersal. At the same time, I have a feeling of being sessile when I need to be the most motile creature ever. The regeneration will continue with me in another place.

Today marks the end of a small era for me, but I am simply leaving a role in order to be a person instead.

Sometimes when you draw on the foggy insides you find what you’re after."

The Pirate Bay is currently under a bundle of lawsuits from all types of trade groups and media groups and is under acquisition by a software company that wants to take it legal.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 3 Aug 2009 13:32

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• 21 comments

• domie

  Wait ! Did I read that right ? A book is to be written ? No doubt followed by the sale of movie rights and then a world tour ? I can hear the cash tills merrily clinking away right now !
  I do see his point about wanting to step out of the limelight but really it is a limelight that he broke his balls to get into through unceasing self-publication :
  - the hilarious insulting letters in response to all the legal threat emails he received from various lawyers all over the world ( they were funny ) that were pasted all over the main pages of the site to attract maximum publicity.
  - the ridiculous and outrageous appeals for donations to buy their own fantasy island that so many fools bought into before announcing tens of thousnads of pounds down the road that it was shelved as it would cost millions more than they had ( did anyone dare ask for their donation money back and receive a response ? )
  - accepting massive private donations from extreme right-wing millionaires like Carl Lundström. (keep sweden for the swedish promoter)
  - making public appearances up and down the country to publicise their cause (and web site)
  
  if anyone can explain what the last 3 sentences in the report are meant to mean in real english i'd be most grateful, in particular ....
  - "biological dispersal" ( is he going to turn into a packet of automatic washing powder ) ?
  - " I have a feeling of being sessile when I need to be the most motile creature ever" ( why do I get the feeling this guy was a biology student on steroids ?
  - "The regeneration will continue with me in another place" - oh wait , now I get it - he's the new Doctor Who !!!
  - "Sometimes when you draw on the foggy insides you find what you’re after." - that one defies explantion or definition.
  
  
  shame that there is no mention to all the websites loyal supporters, no word of thanks for them nor those whose money was donated to their "worthy country buying causes" and is no doubt jingling in his back pocket and bank account as we speak.

  3.8.2009 14:10 #1

• ZippyDSM

  Finally tired of it all eh?
  A better place to rant about it would be book and film but the irony and censoring shall be lulzy at best...

  3.8.2009 14:43 #2

• beanos66

  rats fleeing a sinking... :)

  3.8.2009 17:42 #3

• Mysttic

  Honestly, he lasted longer than I thought he would; not that means much. I agree with domie tho, no one last thank you to the thousands of people who donated money to the cause or even a thank you to those that were smart enough to not donate but still put up a shout in hopes they wouldn't have gotten the sentence they did get.
  
  Welcome for all to see the real face of TPB, and with that he bids you adieu leaving whats left of the garbage for his friends and colleagues to pick up.

  3.8.2009 17:44 #4

• elitepunk

  ...yeah but...if this dude is supposedily going to jail anyway, how much money can he have? did he stash the rest away or... like he is not taking all that cash to jail surely? or he isn't going to jail lol im confused...

  3.8.2009 17:48 #5

• elitepunk

  well in any case just sink that ship already. aka i want a better site. should have been sunk long ago.

  3.8.2009 17:51 #6

• domie

  Originally posted by elitepunk: like he is not taking all that cash to jail surely? or he isn't going to jail lol im confused...No, I believe that those who go to or don't go to jail tend to leave their money that they gained either legally or illegally in something called a bank account ;)

  3.8.2009 17:52 #7

• joe777

  @ Domie. Why dont you just write "I hate TPB" and that will save you talking dribble any more and posting in the comments section when theres an article about TPB in the future.
  Give us all your evidence of all this money your on about. Now remember dont post back more dribble saying "I run this and that and I know how much you can make" nonsense. Give us a screen shot of his bank statements:P
  It really annoys me when peeps say about all the money the boys have when there is no backing it up!!!
  Children should be seen and not heard.

  3.8.2009 17:56 #8

• david100k

  Well said domie.

  3.8.2009 23:56 #9

• ikari

  Originally posted by joe777: @ Domie. Why dont you just write "I hate TPB" and that will save you talking dribble any more and posting in the comments section when theres an article about TPB in the future.
  Give us all your evidence of all this money your on about. Now remember dont post back more dribble saying "I run this and that and I know how much you can make" nonsense. Give us a screen shot of his bank statements:P
  It really annoys me when peeps say about all the money the boys have when there is no backing it up!!!
  Children should be seen and not heard.Can you prove they don't? Where is your data that supports they don't have a lot of money?

  4.8.2009 00:19 #10

• bogwart16

  If you make allegations the burden of proof is on you; why should people defend against baseless attacks?
  
  If there are rats deserting a sinking ship it is you turncoats who are doing it. When TPB was going strong and waving two fingers in the air everyone was cheering them on. Now the party's over you're all slinging mud.
  
  Hypocrisy. What a wonderful thing. Smug little buggers.

  4.8.2009 08:25 #11

• MightyOne

  Nothing lasts forever
  
  I don't blame Peter one bit for "moving on". Stress is not good for anyone and i'm sure there's alot of stress involved. Let someone else step in. He wasn't doing all this just for himself you know.

  4.8.2009 09:33 #12

• blueboy09

  It would have never jump from the abandoned ship. He's the leader of the free world (in torrents anyway), and he should've went down fighting! The bravest people in this world are the ones who give a damn for his/her cause. I'm not saying that backing down is the wrong thing, but he still should've stayed in the game for as long as he could. My question is what about his 3 other followers. What are they going to do now that he is gone? - BLUEBOY

  4.8.2009 17:45 #13

• bogwart16

  Originally posted by blueboy09: ... and he should've went down fighting! The bravest people in this world are the ones who give a damn for his/her cause. - BLUEBOYBut he did go down fighting; he and his colleagues have been sentenced to prison terms, in case you hadn't noticed.
  
  All this fine talk is well and good, but how are a handful of people going to resist the will of national governments, never mind vermin like the MPAA/RIAA etc with bottomless pockets?
  
  And you have to see that whatever jutifications downloaders/uploaders want to use, their actions are illegal according to the law as it stands. It's a bit difficult trying to compare TPB with, say, Google when TPB has a link on its front page with instructions on how to download torrents.

  4.8.2009 17:55 #14

• joe777

  @ bogwart16 in my country its perfectly legal to download music and movies. So no, it is not the law of my land and a few others too.

  5.8.2009 00:00 #15

• bogwart16

  I don't know, obviously, which country you are referring to, but it doesn't make any difference. And there is a big difference, legally, between downloading and uploading.
  
  I believe that in Spain this is still legal, but the point is that the American government puts a lot of pressure on other countries to fall in line. It's why the French, who refused to pass a 'three strikes' law, suddenly backpedalled and made it law.
  
  Why do you think the big torrent sites have, over the years, been closed down one after the other? And it is a process which will gather speed as more and more music and films are available for legal download.
  
  Trust me, I'm not on their side. But you have to be practical with this stuff because there is so much at stake these days.

  5.8.2009 00:26 #16

• DXR88

  Originally posted by blueboy09: It would have never jump from the abandoned ship. He's the leader of the free world (in torrents anyway), and he should've went down fighting! The bravest people in this world are the ones who give a damn for his/her cause. I'm not saying that backing down is the wrong thing, but he still should've stayed in the game for as long as he could. My question is what about his 3 other followers. What are they going to do now that he is gone? - BLUEBOYPeter Sunde was fighting a tank with a BB Gun. he could out run it but he couldn't stop it.

  5.8.2009 01:24 #17

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by bogwart16: I don't know, obviously, which country you are referring to, but it doesn't make any difference. And there is a big difference, legally, between downloading and uploading.
  
  I believe that in Spain this is still legal, but the point is that the American government puts a lot of pressure on other countries to fall in line. It's why the French, who refused to pass a 'three strikes' law, suddenly backpedalled and made it law.
  
  Why do you think the big torrent sites have, over the years, been closed down one after the other? And it is a process which will gather speed as more and more music and films are available for legal download.
  
  Trust me, I'm not on their side. But you have to be practical with this stuff because there is so much at stake these days.The only thing at stake is our personal rights and freedoms and what they (government) can make off us by restricting them. IMO sharing is a fundamental right of the populace but making any money from it is the right of the CP owners.

  5.8.2009 01:34 #18

• bogwart16

  I, and I'm sure all of the users of this site, would agree with you. Unfortunately we're not the ones making stupid laws which harm and hinder us rather than helping us and they are the buggers with the heavy artillery.

  5.8.2009 06:18 #19

• joe777

  Originally posted by bogwart16: I, and I'm sure all of the users of this site, would agree with you. Unfortunately we're not the ones making stupid laws which harm and hinder us rather than helping us and they are the buggers with the heavy artillery.Agreed!!! Lets all fight back

  5.8.2009 10:30 #20

• Mez

  bogwart16, I can assure you it was not the US government pulling the strings. The media maffia is doing the persuading by stuffing law makers pockets with money. That is what they have been doing for the last year or more. Changing laws. There may be as many as a dozen countries that passed those kinds of laws in the last 16 months. They make someone else to the policing amd punishing.

  10.8.2009 07:56 #21