The Pirate Bay Founders, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm
(Credit: Pontus Alexander/Fabian Landgren)Partying with "cute blondes," and maintaining one of the world's most influential underground Web sites keeps The Pirate Bay team busy, according to cofounder Peter Sunde. But in their spare time, the three Scandinavians have labored to bring back SuprNova.org.
In an e-mail interview with CNET News.com, Sunde detailed some of the site's new features and launch timetable (there isn't one). He also outlined why his group wanted to bring back SuprNova, which boasted a rabid following before shutting down in 2004 as a result of legal action by the movie industry.
"We want to send a finger to the ones who try to stop sites like (SuprNova and The Pirate Bay)." Sunde wrote in his e-mail. "It's not right to close them down and this is proof that you can't. I think this is the first time in history that any closed file-sharing site has returned and that's just awesome for us to be part of."
Hollywood has accused SuprNova and The Pirate Bay, founded by Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij, of encouraging copyright theft. They track BitTorrent files that are often used to download unauthorized copies of TV shows and movies. A representative for the Motion Picture Assoc. of America (MPAA), could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Sunde said SuprNova is going to be a starter site for those new to BitTorrent.
"SuprNova will be for the beginners," Sunde wrote. "It's easier to use than most sites out there and we want everybody to be able to use it. We will probably also run a new java applet client on the site for those who do not know what a torrent is--that means you can press another download link and it will open a client directly with no installation and still download."
SuprNova will differ from The Pirate Bay in significant ways. First, SuprNova will be a torrent index and according to Sunde, the site will feature over 1 million torrents at launch.
"The Pirate Bay has its own trackers," Sunde wrote. "We have more info on the torrents since people upload them to the site and describe them."
An important difference between SuprNova and other Torrent trackers is that the site won't be censored. "We will be the first indexer site where you can find stuff even though people want the stuff removed," Sunde said.
As for reports that the site will debut this week, Sunde didn't want to commit to a certain date.
"It will launch as soon as we're done with the site," he said. "As you know we're not very conventional. We party, we have girls over (blondes most of the time) and we do this in our spare time. It was supposed to launch in February really so we're a bit slow."
SuprNova.org, a well-known BitTorrent hub before being forced to shut down three years ago, is apparently making a comeback.
An agreement was reached that allows the operators of The Pirate Bay to use the domain name, according to reports published Thursday on blogs, TorrentFreak and Slyck.com.
Like The Pirate Bay, SuprNova helped users locate BitTorrent files of movies, TV shows, and books. It's believed that a large number of the files are copyright copies and scores of people from all over the world download them in violation of copyright law. Hollywood has accused such sites of encouraging piracy.
TorrentFreak reported that the new SuprNova will debut sometime in the next week. The Pirate Bay founders could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Like the name suggests, Suprnova was white hot with file sharers before flaming out in Dec. 2004. Founded in Slovenia in late 2000 by Andrej Preston, SuprNova's popularity paralleled the rise of BitTorrent as a file-swapping tool.
The site went dark following worldwide legal action by the Motion Picture Association of America.
Since SuprNova's closure, file sharing has continued to grow despite the MPAA's legal efforts.
Preston told Slyck that he gave permission to The Pirate Bay founders to use the SuprNova domain under the condition that they preserve the "community spirit."
"I'm going to go study abroad, actually in film industry and I do not want to be associated with it anymore," Preston said according to Slyck. "I still support the whole concept of piracy and I believe it's the next step in media revolution, but I do not have the time for it anymore."
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