The Pirate Bay
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The Pirate Bay (commonly abbreviated TPB) is an online index of digital content of entertainment media and software founded in 2003 by Swedish think tank Piratbyrån, where visitors can search, download and contribute magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing among users of the BitTorrent protocol.
In April 2009, the website's founders Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström were found guilty in The Pirate Bay trial in Sweden for assisting in copyright infringement, sentenced to serve one year in prison and pay a fine. In some countries, Internet service providers have been ordered to block access to the website. Subsequently, proxy websites have been providing access to it.
The Pirate Bay has sparked controversies and discussion about legal aspects of file sharing, copyright, civil liberties and has become a platform for political initiatives against established intellectual property laws and a central figure in an anti-copyright movement. The website faced several shutdowns and domain seizures which "did little to take the site offline, as it simply switched to a series of new web addresses and continued to operate".
- Digital Piracy Is Evil: Stands in direct defiance of this trope.
- Digital Piracy Is Okay: Support this trope.
- Frivolous Lawsuit: Has been the target of a few.
- Five-Finger Discount: The digital version is how they get their content.
- Thieves' Guild: What their detractors say they are.