pirates

8-25-09, 8:07 a.m. To include that The Pirate Bay is back online. To see a detail story on the site go here.

A Swedish district court has ordered an Internet service provider there to stop servicing The Pirate Bay.

The most popular BitTorrent tracker in the world appeared to be inaccessible to many in the U.S. on Monday morning but the blog TorrentFreak reported that the site had found a new connection to the Web and there were reports from readers that they were able to log on to the site. Citing a source close to The … Read more

Media companies will struggle to grab any money owed by The Pirate Bay, as Sweden's official debt collector found that three of the four founders have "no attachable assets" in that country.

In April, a group of 13 media companies, including Warner Music Group and EMI, asked the Swedish government agency, commonly known there as the "bailiff," to collect more than 30 million Swedish Kronor, or about $4 million on their behalf.

This was the amount the media firms were awarded by a Swedish judge after finding four men associated with The Pirate Bay--Peter Sunde … Read more

Updated at 11:25 a.m.: To include quotes from Swedish stock exchange official.

The chairman of Global Gaming Factory X, the company that announced in June it would acquire The Pirate Bay, is stepping down, according to documents filed with Swedish authorities.

Magnus Bergman filed documents on Friday with the Bolagsverket, an official registry in Sweden that stores information on companies, such as the names of directors, how many shares they own, and earnings reports. Bergman indicated in the filings that he would no longer be affiliated with Global Gaming, a company that regulators and the Swedish media have … Read more

Hans Pandeya, CEO of Global Gaming Factory X--the company attempting to acquire The Pirate Bay and now steeped in controversy, says he has revealed the names of his financial backers to The Los Angeles Times.

Since announcing on June 30 his company's plan to acquire The Pirate Bay, Pandeya has declined to provide the names of his investors, who he has said will put up 60 million Swedish Kroner, or about $8.5 million, to fund the acquisition.

The news that surfaced in the past week has called Pandeya's credibility into question.

Swedish stock exchange AktieTorget on Friday … Read more

Sweden's Economic Crimes Bureau has begun an investigation into some of the events surrounding the planned acquisition of The Pirate Bay by Global Gaming Factor X.

Swedish newspaper SvD reported Saturday that authorities are looking for possible insider trading after Global Gaming's stock rose sharply a week before the company announced plans to acquire The Pirate Bay--the best known BitTorrent tracker in the world, which was used by millions to pirate films.

Trading of Global Gaming shares was halted by AktieTorget, a Swedish exchange, on Friday after officials there requested proof that Global Gaming had enough money to … Read more

Update, 3:10 p.m. PDT: To include new statements from Global Gaming CEO that he was being facetious about the company going out of business. Update, 1:45 p.m. PDT: To include new statements from Global Gaming CEO that company may go out of business.

The Pirate Bay has always attracted a lot of controversy, but now scrutiny and criticism has been directed at the company bidding to take over the famed BitTorrent tracker.

The Stockholm-based company that whipped the media into a frenzy in June by announcing it would acquire The Pirate Bay, is being eyed with … Read more

A much more detailed update be found here.

Update 9:00 a.m. PDT: Clarified the reason why regulators stopped trading.

The authorities that govern one of Sweden's stock markets has halted trading in Global Gaming Factory X, the software company that is due in less than a week to complete an acquisition of The Pirate Bay.

Swedish authorities said Friday that they stopped the trading because of questions about Global Gaming's financing and its ability to complete the acquisition.

"Global Gaming Factory has not provided information showing that the full amount is secured," Aktietorget, the … Read more

A much more detailed update be found here.

Johan Ljungberg, CEO of Peerialism, the technology company that is supposed to be an integral part of a revamped Pirate Bay, said Thursday he has developed doubts about the plan.

When it was announced in June that Global Gaming Factory X, would acquire The Pirate Bay for about $8 million, the Swedish software company said it would also pay about $13.5 million to obtain Peerialism.

Peerialism's technology improves the transferring and storage of data over peer-to-peer networks. Pandeya's stated intention is to use Peerialism's technology to help tap … Read more

The Pirate Party UK, which is dedicated to technology and copyright-law reform, has become an official political party.

The party was registered by the Electoral Commission this week, the party's leader Andrew Robinson told ZDNet UK.

"We're still in the early stages of forming the party," Robinson said Thursday. "We're still very small."

The U.K. organization has around 250 active members, Robinson said.

Electoral Commission registration allows the party to raise funds and list Pirate Party UK candidates at the next general election, which must take place before June 2010. Similar parties … Read more