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Pirate Bay Launches Uncensored Image Hosting

Posted by Zonk on from the can't-imagine-what-will-get-uploaded dept.

Spamicles writes "The guys over at the Pirate Bay have launched a new, censorship-free image hosting website called BayImg. Users of the new service don't have to sign-up in order to upload images. However, they can assign a 'removal code' to uploaded images, in case they want to delete the files after a while, and tags to categorize images. BayImg currently supports 100+ file formats, and supports uploading Zip and Rar archives. The maximum file size of uploads is 100MB. The article also discusses TPB's plans for launching a video streaming service that will potentially compete with YouTube."

47 of 461 comments (clear)

  1. Bob Goatse must be thrilled by Deekin_Scalesinger · · Score: 5, Funny

    To be immortalized thusly..

    --
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  2. well... by wpegden · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People are going to like them a whole lot less if this turns into a big child porn site.

    1. Re:well... by swingkid · · Score: 5, Informative

      But since you can't just browse the images, the only people who would see the child porn are child porn enthusiasts, and the feds who investigate them. So it's unlikely that you'd hear about it, unless you were into that stuff. In which case, ew, you perv...

    2. Re:well... by cromar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's sad that the harbors of Freedom are sent underground like this. I would rather be able to see the filth of society clearly than have it skulk by unnoticed, whatever the forum.

    3. Re:well... by Liselle · · Score: 4, Informative
      From the damned front page of the site:

      bayimg.com is a place where you can host all your images. We do not censor them. We believe in freedom of speech, it's of utter importance to us. As long as your pictures are legal they will be hosted here, but we reserve the right to remove images due to technical reasons though.
      Did I miss the memo where child porn became legal in Sweden?
      --
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    4. Re:well... by swingkid · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It seems they have tagging for images, so I guess I'm wrong about browsing. My bad.

    5. Re:well... by Amouth · · Score: 4, Informative

      no but they do state right at the front page

      "As long as your pictures are legal they will be hosted here"

      so sence child porn is illigal it will be taken down if noticed

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
    6. Re:well... by Goaway · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Oh, so by "uncensored" they meant "just about as censored as always"?

      Well, I guess they might survive a little longer, then.

    7. Re:well... by computational+super · · Score: 4, Insightful
      As long as your pictures are legal they will be hosted here

      Isn't that, er, the definition of censorship? Censorship = Banned by such-and-such government, ergo illegal? By this logic, over-the-air radio and television is "censorship free", even in China, since they're broadcasting anything they want as long as it's legal.

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    8. Re:well... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Depends.

      In England 17 is legal. The legal age varies a lot. In some countries it is higher- in some countries it is lower.

      The model's apparent age varies a lot too. How can you trust what looks like a 14 year old isn't really an under developed or made up 18 year old?

      And it just needs to be enough to get them into court so they have to spend money defending themselves. Heck, in some cases you can arrest them and force them to post bail and can hold them for months if they can't post bail.

      --
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    9. Re:well... by Kadin2048 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I would rather be able to see the filth of society clearly

      Take a nice, hard look. (You'll want the "Random" board. Totally NSFW.)

      As far as I can tell, 7chan seems to be made up of people who got banned from 4chan, which in itself is remarkable, since 4chan's moderation is...minimal...at best.

      --
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    10. Re:well... by Kadin2048 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Did I miss the memo where child porn became legal in Sweden?

      I know nothing about Swedish law, but it's entirely possible that they define both "child" and "pornography" differently than in the U.S., creating a space where something is legal if it's on a Swedish webserver, but not if it's in one in the U.S. (Actually, I think there are a number of respected, non-pornographic films that contain nudity that fall into this area.)

      Anyway, if they want to avoid getting constantly raided by the local gendarmes, they should probably create some sort of "Foreigner's Guide to Swedish Obscenity Law" so that people can at least have a shot at knowing what's illegal before they upload it.

      In particular, aside from pornography which is the obvious one, I wonder about extreme animal cruelty (there is some downright disgusting stuff out there, and to be honest I find it more offensive than most of the run-of-the-mill CP). I kinda hope the Swedes make that illegal, since I think its presence does encourage its creation -- some dickhead sees another dickhead gain some sort of minor notoriety online by setting a kitten on fire and decides to emulate them. Since animals are more easily available and even more vulnerable than children, and the disincentives against hurting them are less, it doesn't take much.

      --
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    11. Re:well... by AdmiralWeirdbeard · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Restricting images for legality is different than censoship in the common parlance. censored for appropriateness of content, or type of image, or anything else that the various previously existing hosting site censor for is an invasive filtering that goes a level above simply saying, "hey please dont upload anything illegal." And given what the pirate bay does, i think we can safely assume that they're concerned less with the minutae of libelous or offensive images than not going to jail as part of a kiddie-porn ring.
      saying "we're going to censor your images so we dont go to jail" is totally ok in a way that saying "we're going to censor your images for things we dont like" is not.

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    12. Re:well... by MBGMorden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes but that kinda defeats the point.

      As another poster mentioned would this mean much if "The Chinese Pirate Bay" opened it's "uncensored" and couldn't show a picture of the Taiwanese flag?

      Or if "The Iranian Pirate Bay" opened the "uncensored" site that couldn't show a boob?

      Uncensored generally means unrestricted. If you're doing it as a way of promoting freedom from an oppressive government, then saying "We're only gonna leave uncensored what the government will let us." doesn't really do much. I could have done that without the help of a new and nifty website.

      --
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    13. Re:well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      By "uncensored", they mean "we don't care if it's copyrighted by someone else", of course. It's The Pirate Bay, not hard to figure this one out.

    14. Re:well... by illegalcortex · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Just curious, but is it legal for photography/video? And is it legal for downloading said materials of people that age?

      Because even in states in the US where it's legal for two underage people to have sex, it's usually not legal for them to make photographs/video and distribute them.

      Too lazy to try to google the answer. And kind of scared of what results I might get...

    15. Re:well... by Dogtanian · · Score: 4, Informative

      Grandparent: In England 17 is legal.

      Parent: actually its 16

      It depends what you're talking about; the age of consent in England *is* 16, but I believe that to appear in adult material you have to be at least 18. (I remember hearing that apparently Samantha Fox - a 1980s "page 3" star- was 16 when she did her first shoots, and they commented that this would not be legal nowadays. Note that page three is topless, and no more).

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    16. Re:well... by coaxial · · Score: 4, Interesting

      [Ed. Note. For full effect, you should imagine this being read by the always helpful June Thomas]

      Actually the age criteria for nude photography is a bit more complicated than a simple inequality. You can photograph anyone regardless of age (assuming of course you have his/her and/or his/her parrent/guardian's informed consent), as long as it's not in a "sexually explicit or lude and lascivious manner." This why you can have pictures of naked babies, children's genetalia in medical or sex-ed books, even in art. If the photographs or video are in sexual manner, then you have to 18.

      How do you know where to draw the line when prosecuting child porn cases? In practice you don't have to define the exactly where the line is. A video of a grown man ejaculating on a nude 5 year old's face is pretty good indication, of that video being on the wrong side of the law. Same for a photo of 10 year old spreading her labia for the camera.

      So how do investigators know that the individidual in the photograph or video is a real person that is under 18 years of age at the time of recording? Easy. The FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have an incredibly large collection of child porn. Like all porn, child porn is shared widely and has a very long life time. Investigators look for previously identified bonafied child porn, and prosecute on those instances. New suspected child porn is identified by medical doctors, who examine the material an give an expert opinion of whether the individual is underage. (Yes, they also maintain a database of false positives.)

      When it comes to possession, posession is illegal. While it may be a dubious comfort, the US Attorney probably won't prosecute you for each individual photo or video in your 100 GB pr0n collection, but rather for just a two or three photos or videos. I say it's dubious, because you'll still be going to jail for a long long time.

      And before anyone gets the wrong idea. I recently served on a federal grand jury. The Assistant US Attorney explained the law to us.

      In an unrelated case, he ran a DEA video explaining -- in detail -- three methods used to manufacture methamphetamines. Yes. You could take notes. ;)

    17. Re:well... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 4, Funny

      Everything in Texas is bigger! Even our mistakes.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    18. Re:well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nudity isn't porn.

      I'm guessing you're an american.

  3. Wonder what country it's in? by Valdrax · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can't see this thing both:
    1) Holding true to the principles of no censorship whatsoever.
    2) Not being immediately shut down when some troll posts necro-pedo-beastility images as part of some SA vs. Fark vs. 4chan contest to find the most simultaneously illegal and offense image to post.

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  4. I'm yearning for the video service from them by vivaoporto · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just to upload this video.

    Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free .. You are a Pirate!!!!

  5. Re:I wish I could like this... by OS24Ever · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah I had a semi-grudging respect for what they were trying to do at first, and then I saw that. I still think they're going bass ackwards about it though. They take the fight to make a created work free. One thing I do not get about this whole thing is their version of making it free is take someones hard work, and let anyone who wants it get it without collecting any monetary reward for the person who did the work.

    This image site can do the same thing (ignoring the pedo stuff). Someone could go to the store, buy a Playboy Mag, scan in every image and post it to the site and everyone else could download the pics for free if they new the URL and of they go. So all the money playboy paid the model, the photography crew, the editors, the printers, poof.

    Contrary to some of the internet ho's out there who like their pictures posted for free some people like monetary compensation for their investment/grace of good luck genes and deserve to be rewarded for it. How is supporting hosting of their images for no monetary fee 'free speech'

    If they were hosting Neo-Nazi's, Black Panther, Anti-semtic, Islamic Jihadist stuff, sure ok that's free speech. But taking someones work and providing it for free? That's what copyright was intended for and it's not free speech, it's theft of services or whatever is the new legal mumbo jumbo for saying stealing money from someone who worked to earn it.

    --

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  6. Easy by Colin+Smith · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Publish the date, time and ip address of every upload. No censorship.

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    Deleted
  7. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  8. Re:Image files 100MB? by mobby_6kl · · Score: 3, Funny
    From the bayimg site:

    Max file upload size is 100MB. If you're crazy and upload that much, then you should consider getting friends.

    Hmmm, perhaps they know more about their target demographics that it might seem at first...
  9. ranking system by superwiz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Without some ranking system. At least as good as diggit, it will just become a trash land. It has no search mechanism, no ranking of content. No categorizing of content other than by unsearchable tags. As it stands, it is a little more than the beginning of another attempt at usenet.... except even less organized.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  10. Re:I wish I could like this... by MobyDisk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The point is that they don't judge what it the content is. The fact that people use The Pirate Bay to post child porn instead of blank panther stuff is a measure of how awful society has become, not a measure of TBP's intentions.

  11. Losing their way? by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Piratebay keep acting like they are untouchable and the guardians of censorship, but it just seems they are trying to push the boundaries until thy get caught.

    --
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    1. Re:Losing their way? by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Piratebay are trying to be the guardians while acting like anarchists. They will do more harm than good.

      --
      I like muppets.
  12. TOR by Valdrax · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Publish the date, time and ip address of every upload. No censorship.

    Post it via TOR or some anonymizer. Unless they ban all IP associated with such tools (which even sites under dedicated troll assault like 4chan can't do), that's no guarantee for the hardcore.

    Still, it's an idea that I find amusing for deterring the casual bad actor.

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  13. Re:I wish I could like this... by Disfnord · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So, in other words, people should be free to say what ever they like, as long as you agree with it. Brilliant.

  14. What about pirated software? by A+Friendly+Troll · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Since they allow archives on the site, are people going to use this to upload and share warez? Or does the system scan uploaded archives and rejects non-images based on content?

    BTW, I visited the site about 10 hours ago, and the tag cloud was full of injected JavaScript - it was pretty much benign (only a couple of alert functions), but funny nevertheless, and seems like the whole thing was put together very quickly. They've fixed the problem now.

  15. Re:Image files 100MB? by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Image files with 100MB? Seriously? That seems quite large, even for packing some images in one archive.

    But quite handy for steganography, which is probably what this is really for.

    --
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  16. Re:I wish I could like this... by Otter · · Score: 3, Funny
    Yeah I had a semi-grudging respect for what they were trying to do...One thing I do not get about this whole thing is their version of making it free is take someones hard work, and let anyone who wants it get it without collecting any monetary reward for the person who did the work.

    I don't understand your confusion -- catering to a bunch of greedy, selfish leeches *is* what they're trying to do.

    --
    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
  17. Trolls vs the World by blueZhift · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It seems to me that once again the question comes down to whether or not the freedoms of the many are going to be ripped away because of the misbehavior of a few trolls. There have always been people who abuse the system and cause grief wherever they go just because it is fun for them to aggravate people/authority/whatever. Does that mean that all of the rest of us have to live in chains? I think not. Humanity needs to learn that in order to have freedom, sometimes we have to allow people to do bad things and clean up the mess afterwards. There is no freedom to do good without also having the freedom to do evil. If we can't accept that, then we'd might as well give up all of this lip service to freedom and lock the handcuffs right now.

    --
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  18. I don't get it by TitusC3v5 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Could someone please indulge me as to why there is such a dire focus on child pornography? It's a horrible crime, certainly, but I've never see the same status associated with other, and in my mind, just as horrible acts such as snuff films, brutal rape, torture, etc. Is this simply another act of 'think of the children' knee-jerking, or is there some reason why this is seen to be counted as worse than torture and murder by a large part of our population?

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    1. Re:I don't get it by Hatta · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Could someone please indulge me as to why there is such a dire focus on child pornography?

      When people have children something hormonal happens to their brains that makes them lose all perspective when children are involved. Think of how irrational your parents were? I remember one time when my younger brother got a ride home and didn't call. He was less than an hour late, and my dad made me drive around with him looking for my brothers body in ditches at the side of the road.

      It's the Helena Lovejoy effect. Saying "think of the children" makes people revert to emotional thinking and makes them easier to manipulate. So it follows that if you're trying to grab power, appealing to the safety of children will make people fall in line.

      Personally it works the other way on me. Any proposal put forth "for the children", I automatically assume is bullshit. After all, if it had real merit they wouldn't need to manipulate us into going along with it. If someone involved in neuropsychology is looking for a good thesis, pinpointing exactly what is causing this effect would be wonderful.

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    2. Re:I don't get it by managementboy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Maybe a generation issue, my Father disappeared when he was 14 with his cousin who was 16 for several months as they where riding bike around northern Germany. He got in trouble when he got back, not for disappearing without saying anything, but for having skipped helping out at home.

      Times change, peoples problems change.

  19. Re:TPB Are Theives by Hatta · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Personally, I am siding with my morals here, TPB is legal, but wrong.

    That's funny, I'm siding with my morals here too. Free copying is illegal, but moral. Scarcity is a great evil, if it can be abolished it must.

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  20. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  21. Woot! Online backups! by dannycim · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1) Backup to file.
    2) Encrypt file.
    3) Inject data stream into lossless image format.
    4) Upload image.
    5) Retrieve anywhere.

  22. Illegal stock tips by drx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    http://www.bayimg.com/album/GaacoaAaA

  23. Re:TPB Are Theives by jimicus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Scarcity is a great evil, if it can be abolished it must.

    OK, let me run a thought experiment by you.

    Let us imagine, for the sake of argument, that I invent a cheap 3-dimensional copying device which produces perfect copies of anything placed in it. Even down to the material used to produce the copy, its strength and its colour. This device can be made and sold cheaply enough to market it to the general public, and it's not really possible to spot the difference between the copies are originals.

    Note that it doesn't allow you to create an object from scratch (so it's a bit different to computer software in that respect, and thus the ability for individuals to innovate with it is substantially curtailed). Considering the economy as a whole (including the number of people currently employed in manufacturing), Is it a good or a bad thing?

  24. Re:TPB Are Theives by Hatta · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You mean replicators? That would be fantastic. No one would ever have to work again.

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  25. Legal == permission from copyright holder? by zigamorph · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "As long as your pictures are legal they will be hosted here"

    To be perfectly legal you have to have permisson from copyright holders. If you have a quick look around the site it seems improbable that this is the case for most of the pictures.

  26. Re:TPB Are Theives by Hatta · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Isn't the point of advancement to make our lives easier? If we just fill that time with more work it becomes a rat race, a tread mill. I don't want to live in that kind of world. The dream is 100% unemployment, 100% leisure time. If we can enjoy good food and drink and family and have a roof over our heads at no cost to anyone, why would we need a job? If people want to engage in productive behavior, and I'm certain most would as it's in our nature, that's wonderful. But eliminating scarcity would free us from the tyrrany of having to work merely to survive.

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