Having failed in its attempt to buy the ‘micronation’ of Sealand, the group behind file-sharing website The Pirate Bay has decided to stay put in Sweden.

The Local spoke to Tobias Andersson, one of the Pirate Bay’s six Stockholm-based operators, to catch up with the latest developments from the web organisation that is the scourge of Hollywood and the music recording industry.
The Pirate Bay began life in early 2004. Bit torrent file-sharing technology was still in its infancy but growing fast. Two years later, in the summer of 2006, the organisation suffered a temporary setback when Swedish police raided the site’s servers.

“We moved to Holland right after the raid,” said Andersson.

After a short period in Dutch exile, however, the site was relaunched in Sweden. With its servers now more spread out, The Pirate Bay has become less vulnerable to police operations.

“It became obvious that some raids ain’t going to stop us. The site is based in Stockholm and we are here to stay,” he said.

The raid is going to court this summer but Andersson is not particularly worried about the consequences.

“It is uncertain what will happen there but one thing is for sure: it is likely to drag on for quite a long time,” he said.

Because of The Pirate Bay, Sweden has gained something of a reputation for internet piracy. Earlier this week it emerged that an elite corps of Swedish police has been trained to combat Internet piracy by the FBI and American lobbying organisation the Motion Picture Association.

But Andersson is insistent that Sealand and Plan B are not connected to any desire to flee from the authorities.

“We have 20,000 to 25,000 dollars to spend and we are looking at some alternatives. Really we just want somewhere we can name The Pirate Bay, so we can look on Google Maps and find ourselves there.

“It would be pretty cool and would serve as a memorial of what we have accomplished,” he said.

So no plans to pack up the servers and move them to a distant island haven?

“No. Although actually there was an internet connection on Sealand. But it would have been difficult to get the capacity we needed.

“We are happy to stay in Sweden since we are all from here,” said Andersson.

The Pirate Bay generated huge international publicity in January when it announced its intentions to bid for Sealand, a British naval platform in the North Sea settled in 1967 by an English major, Paddy Roy Bates. Bates proclaimed Sealand a state, issuing passports and gold and silver Sealand dollars and declaring himself Prince Roy.

“We have given that up now. We e-mailed them initially to see if they were interested and they didn’t know who we were.

“Then journalists began calling them and the Sealand people finally came out and said that they were opposed to internet piracy.

“The funny thing is, they ran a pirate radio station in the eighties. We tried to tell them that what we were doing was just a modern version of pirate radio,” said Andersson.

But Sealand stopped answering their e-mails and Andersson thinks he knows why.

“One of the Sealand people has written a book that is going to be turned into a Hollywood movie. A deal with us could have jeopardised that arrangement,” he said.

Indeed, the current ‘regent’ of Sealand, ‘Prince Michael’, told Canada’s CBC that The Pirate Bay was involved in “the theft of proprietary rights.”

“It doesn’t suit us at all,” he said of the Swedes’ offer.

Prior to their recent attempts at nation-building, The Pirate Bay people spent much of their time responding to letters from large multinationals demanding that they cease and desist.

“In the beginning we got a lot of threats, which we replied to officially on the website.

“We embarrassed and ridiculed these large companies and now they have stopped sending us letters,” said Andersson.

But The Pirate Bay itself is no minnow. The Alexa traffic ranking website puts The Pirate Bay just outside the top 300 in the world.

“It is the biggest site in the Nordic countries. We are quite a bit bigger than Aftonbladet newspaper, for example,” said Andersson.

Since the site carries advertising, one would think that the six Swedes could turn over a tidy profit. Newspaper Svenska Dagbladet alleged last year that the organisation’s advertising revenue far exceeds its operating costs. Not so, says The Pirate Bay.

“We’re pretty bad at making money. All these services are run by a company that takes about half of the revenue. I still work full time as an electrician,” said Andersson.

Aged between 21 and 29, Andersson says that those who run the site do so “mainly because it’s fun”.

“And then there is the copyright debate, of course. It is important that these questions are raised,” he said.

Microsoft, Electronic Arts and Warner Bros, to name but a few, have made no secret of the fact that they would prefer the questions to be raised elsewhere.

Simply funny stuff. People being … owned

We’ve all heard about people having guts or balls. But do you really know the difference between them? In an effort to keep you informed, the definition for each is listed below ….

GUTS - is arriving home late after a night out with the guys, being met by your wife with a broom, and having the guts to ask: “Are you still cleaning, or are you flying somewhere?”

BALLS - is coming home late after a night out with the guys, smelling of perfume and beer, lipstick on your collar, slapping your wife on the ass and having the balls to say: “You’re next.”

I hope this clears up any confusion on the subject……

In a Cabinet meeting this morning, Donald Rumsfeld reported to the President and the cabinet. He said, “Three Brazilian soldiers were killed today in Iraq.”

The President says, “Oh, my God!” and buries his head in his hands.

The entire Cabinet is stunned. Not a word is spoken. Usually George Bush shows no reaction whatsoever to this kind of report.

Just then, Bush looks up and says, “How many is a brazilian?”

Just in case you ever get these two environments mixed up, this should make things a little bit clearer.

IN PRISON……….you spend the majority of your time in a 10×10 cell.
AT WORK…………you spend the majority of your time in an 8×8 cubicle.

IN PRISON………you get three “free” meals a day.
AT WORK………..you get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it.

IN PRISON……….you get time off for good behavior.
AT WORK…………you get more work for good behavior.

IN PRISON……….the guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
AT WORK…………you must often carry a security card and open all the doors for yourself.

IN PRISON……….you can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK………..you could get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON………you get your own toilet.
AT WORK……….you have to share the toilet with some people who pee on the seat.

IN PRISON……….they allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK…………you aren’t even supposed to speak to your family.

IN PRISON………all expenses are paid by the taxpayers with no work required.
AT WORK…………you get to pay all your expenses to go to work, and they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

IN PRISON……….you spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out.
AT WORK ……….you spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.

IN PRISON ………you must deal with sadistic wardens.
AT WORK………..they are called managers.

Gotta love them

Replace all female flight attendants with some good-lookin’ strippers! What the heck . The attendants have gotten old and haggard-looking. They don’t even serve food anymore, so what’s the loss?

The strippers would double, triple, perhaps quadruple the alcohol consumption and get a “party atmosphere” going in the cabin. And, of course, every heterosexual businessman in this country would start flying again, hoping to see naked women.

Muslims would be afraid to get on the planes for fear of seeing naked women. Hijackings would come to a screeching halt, and the airline industry would see record revenues.

Why didn’t Bush think of this? Why do I still have to do everything myself?

Sincerely,
Bill Clinton

Feathers fly and teddies soar as we gather for a massive urban pillow fight! Swing and whack as you evade pillow-wielding assailants. Bring a pillow to Union Square and wait for the signal. Pillow fight!

The Rules
Soft pillows only! Swing lightly, many people will be swinging at once. Do not swing at people without pillows or with cameras. Remove glasses beforehand! The event is FREE and appropriate for ALL AGES. Wait until the signal to begin. This event is more fun with feathers!

Costumes and funky pillows encouraged

The Cleanup Effort: Volunteers
If you would like to volunteer, simply grab a broom afterwards by the statue There will be rubber gloves and trash bags. If you would like to donate a broom, leave it by the statue before 1:30 PM.

Spread the Word
If you could forward this to friends, blogs, forums and mailing lists, that would be great

These are real notes written by parents in a Tennessee school district…(spellings have been left intact.)

1. My son is under a doctor’s care and should not take PE today. Please execute him.

2. Please exkuce lisa for being absent she was sick and i had her shot.

3. Dear school: please ecsc’s john being absent on jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and also 33.

4. Please excuse gloria from jim today. She is administrating.

5. Please excuse roland from p.e. for a few days. Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip.

6. John has been absent because he had two teeth taken out of his face.

7. Carlos was absent yesterday because he was playing football. He was hurt in the growing part.

8. Megan could not come to school today because she has been bothered by very close veins.

9. Chris will not be in school cus he has an acre in his side.

10. Please excuse ray friday from school. He has very loose vowels.

11. Please excuse pedro from being absent yesterday. He had (diahre, dyrea, direathe), the sh**s. [note: words in ( )’s were crossed out] .

12. Please excuse tommy for being absent yesterday. He had diarrhea, and his boots leak.

13. Irving was absent yesterday because he missed his bust.

14. Please excuse jimmy for being.It was his father’s fault.

15. I kept billie home because she had to go christmas shopping because i don’t know what size she wear.

16. Please excuse jennifer fo! R missing school yesterday. We
forgot to get the sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it monday. We thought it was sunday.

17. Sally won’t be in school a week from friday. We have to attend her funeral.

18. My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent a weekend with the marines.

19. Ple ase excuse jason for being absent yesterday. He had a cold and could not breed well.

20. Please excuse mary for being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps.

21. Gloria was absent yesterday as she was having a gangover.

22. Please excuse brenda. She has been sick and under the doctor.

23. Maryann was absent december 11-16, because she had a fever,sore throat, headache and upset stomach. Her sister was also sick,fever an sore throat, her brother had a low grade fever and ached all over. I wasn’t the best either, sore throat and fever. There must be something going around, her father even got hot last night.

Now we know why parents are screaming for better education for our kids!