Warner Bros. Acquires The Pirate Bay

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Warner Bros. Acquires The Pirate Bay

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday April 1, 2009 @05:44AM from the if-you-can't-beat-'em dept.

mlingojones writes "TorrentFreak breaks the news of The Pirate Bay's acquisition by Warner Bros: 'After years of hostility, lawsuits, police raids and heated invective between the two groups, the Pirate Bay has today announced they have settled their differences with US media conglomerate Warner Bros. The largest BitTorrent tracker has sold out to Hollywood and the two have agreed a deal.'"

57 of 348 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Oh well by Squiffy · 2009-04-01 05:45 · Score: 5, Funny

Well, that's the end of that.
1. Re:Oh well by Anonymous Coward · 2009-04-01 05:49 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  In other news, The Pirate Bay settled with the RIAA/MPAA today.
  
  In the agreement, TPB will pay RIAA/MPAA a licensing fee for every song they sell. RIAA/MPAA lawyers hailed the deal as ground breaking.
  
  TPB managed to keep a straight face long enough to get out of the room before laughing themselves silly at the RIAA/MPAA stupidity!
2. Re:Oh well by Squiffy · 2009-04-01 05:49 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Haha, yes, I fell for it. Would you believe the "I haven't had my coffee yet" defense?
3. Re:Oh well by interkin3tic · 2009-04-01 05:51 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  you believe this?
  Why not, in order to be an april fools joke, humor would have to be involved, therefore I can only conclude that this is seriousness.
4. Re:Oh well by noidentity · 2009-04-01 05:59 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Wait, so does this mean I can download torrents from TPB on my Time/Warner cable modem, FINALLY?!? This is great! People doubted the cable companies, but they're finally showing some hope, what with this and the non-secret bandwidth limits.
5. Re:Oh well by HardCase · 2009-04-01 06:02 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  See, back in the day, /. used to come up with one really good original April Fool's joke. It was like they crafted it over the course of a month or two, then popped it on an unsuspecting crowd. It was elegant, it was funny and it suckered lots and lots of people.
  That evolved into the new philosophy of the past few years which is "if one really good joke was great, how about a bunch of really lame ones?" It's quantity over quality which, I guess, is what we want now.
  I miss the old /.
6. Re:Oh well by Anonymous Coward · 2009-04-01 06:15 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Your mom's a big fan of quantity over quality as well.
7. Re:Oh well by Cap'nPedro · 2009-04-01 06:18 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I miss the ponies!
8. Re:Oh well by kestasjk · 2009-04-01 06:24 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Who cares? (Anything for a "good old days" rant I guess, I don't remember them being so great before)
  
  --
  // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
9. Re:Oh well by Zerth · 2009-04-01 06:25 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  The downside is that since Warner bought the Pirate BAy.....there will no longer be any Warner Bros. titles offered there. Only stuff from the other guys..... /blockquote.
  This is a downside?
10. Re:Oh well by Chabil+Ha' · 2009-04-01 06:28 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  With this extension you can relive OMG!!! Ponies!!! every day. Just go into the options and change the default style to OMG!!! Ponies!!!
  
  --
  We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
11. Re:Oh well by damien_kane · 2009-04-01 06:28 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  That would actually be a pretty smart thing to do...
  
  Step 1: Agree to pay the RIAA/MPAA's "protection" fees (retroactively, of course)
  Step 2: Agree to the deal where WB takes control of your company (both assets and liabilities)
  Step 3: Profit?!!
  
  (As WB now has to pay out all of it's cash-on-hand to the RIAA/MPAA)
12. Re:Oh well by dedazo · 2009-04-01 06:38 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Remember "OMG PONIES!!"?
  I do... I still do.
  
  --
  Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
13. Re:Oh well by notsaenej · 2009-04-01 06:49 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Ah, nostalgia isn't what is used to be huh?
14. Re:Oh well by Joce640k · 2009-04-01 06:56 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Duh! The point of an April fool's is to play along, not to show how "clever" you are by spotting it (playing along is much cleverer than that...)
  
  --
  No sig today...
15. Re:Oh well by bigstrat2003 · 2009-04-01 07:14 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Yes.
  
  --
  "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
16. Re:Oh well by Joce640k · 2009-04-01 07:21 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Huh? Are you sayign it's a joke? I just went to http://thepiratebay.org/ and it's confirmed there...I don't think an april fooler could hack into their site and change it.
  
  --
  No sig today...
17. Re:Oh well by agnosticanarch · 2009-04-01 07:42 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Congratulations! You have earned the Pretentious Bastard Award!
  
  --
  I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do.
18. Re:Oh well by BCW2 · 2009-04-01 07:45 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  *Snerk, giggle, guffaw!*
  
  --
  Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
19. Re:Oh well by dna_(c)(tm)(r) · 2009-04-01 09:37 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  you're in violation of rule 1
20. Re:Oh well by Amazing+Quantum+Man · 2009-04-01 10:49 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The "Evil Bit" isn't a slashdot original, they were reporting on RFC 3514.
  
  --
  Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
Seriously, guys... by Anonymous Coward · 2009-04-01 05:45 · Score: 5, Informative

Stop it. Please. April Fools is pants.
1. Re:Seriously, guys... by cayenne8 · 2009-04-01 06:05 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  "Stop it. Please. April Fools is pants."
  Gotta ask...what the hell does that mean? Something is 'pants'?? Never heard that one before.
  
  --
  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
2. Re:Seriously, guys... by jez9999 · 2009-04-01 06:08 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Crap. Shit. Stupid. Boring. Onanistic. Take your pick.
  
  --
  == Jez ==
  Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
3. Re:Seriously, guys... by Enderandrew · 2009-04-01 06:09 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  I believe it stems from British English. They call pants trousers, and underwear pants. I also believe that pants is used as a somewhat general derogatory there.
  
  --
  http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
4. Re:Seriously, guys... by Iguanadon · 2009-04-01 06:10 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  "Stop it. Please. April Fools is pants."
  Gotta ask...what the hell does that mean? Something is 'pants'?? Never heard that one before.
  The word pants is a British term akin to "rubbish." I believe the British also use the word pants to mean underwear and trousers to mean pants.
5. Re:Seriously, guys... by VJ42 · 2009-04-01 06:11 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  "Stop it. Please. April Fools is pants."
  Gotta ask...what the hell does that mean? Something is 'pants'?? Never heard that one before.
  It's a colloquialism in British English that's used as a rough synonym for bollocks\crap\rubbish\arse.
  
  Pants in British English are underwear instead of trousers, hence the negative connotations.
  
  --
  If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
6. Re:Seriously, guys... by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve · 2009-04-01 06:20 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Stop it. Please. April Fools is pants.
  That's what I love about the Brits. Yes, we Yanks/Americans get all the crap for not speaking English properly. Yet somehow our Canadian friends to the north, who except for a few odd British spellings (colour) and a few strange words (ever sat on a Winchester? It's not a gun.) say almost the same thing as we do with an accent that's close to ours, yet they escape condemnation. And don't get me started on the Aussies, who would probably say some crap like this:
  Apfo pan
  and we'd be expected to know that means "April Fools is pants".
  
  But I digress. Really, you have to love the Brits. According to one source I found, saying that something "is pants" means it's of poor quality. So instead of saying
  April Fools is lame
  or
  April Fools' is tired (note the apostrophe because the day is April Fools' Day with an apostrophe)
  they have to tell us that "it's pants", which somehow we non-Brits will all magically know. For shizzle my nizzle.
7. Re:Seriously, guys... by Jamamala · 2009-04-01 06:25 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Pants, used in the British way; perhaps underwear to you.
8. Re:Seriously, guys... by Gizzmonic · 2009-04-01 06:29 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  It is?
  So I can go to work wearing a pair of "April Fool's"?
  
  --
  (-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
9. Re:Seriously, guys... by cayenne8 · 2009-04-01 06:33 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  "I believe it stems from British English. They call pants trousers, and underwear pants. I also believe that pants is used as a somewhat general derogatory there."
  Ah..that explains it.
  Even if I knew British English....I'd not get it, since I go 'commando'.
  
  --
  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
10. Re:Seriously, guys... by KylePflug · 2009-04-01 06:41 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I believe pants to be an evil dichotomy.
  I don't think that word means what you think it means.
11. Re:Seriously, guys... by blueturffan · 2009-04-01 06:41 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I was going to mod this post up, but I couldn't decide if it was Funny, Insightful, Informative or Interesting...
12. Re:Seriously, guys... by iron-kurton · 2009-04-01 06:47 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The expression caught on in the /. community after this story ran on Idle: Lloyd's is pants
  
  --
  Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine -- Robert C. Gallagher
13. Re:Seriously, guys... by The_AV8R · 2009-04-01 07:06 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  They're called Chesterfields, you insensitive clod!
  
  --
  What? I can't assume Occam's Razor was a slick fold-up scooter?
14. Re:Seriously, guys... by kungfugleek · 2009-04-01 07:26 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  My pants are pants.
15. Re:Seriously, guys... by Jaborandy · 2009-04-01 10:57 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Then I guess something being "pants" means it's nonexistent... at least to you.
That would turn into... by physman_wiu · 2009-04-01 05:47 · Score: 2, Funny

Netflix on demand...only slower.

This is one of the better April Fools jokes I've seen.

--
Physics is imagination in a straight jacket. ~John Moffat
It's about time by notarockstar1979 · 2009-04-01 05:47 · Score: 5, Funny

Honestly this is the whole reason for the lawsuits. It was to devalue TPB so that WB or one of the other big media groups could purchase them on the cheap. I can't believe no one saw this coming.
1. Re:It's about time by sorak · 2009-04-01 06:39 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Honestly this is the whole reason for the lawsuits. It was to devalue TPB so that WB or one of the other big media groups could purchase them on the cheap. I can't believe no one saw this coming.
  Well, they are a dot com that is borderline legality in its own country, and they don't make any money. I'm surprised they didn't get bought out in 2000.
Next on the block? Sony by pha7boy · 2009-04-01 05:48 · Score: 4, Funny

Sony was, reportedly, also interested in a deal with Pirate Bay to distribute it's share of Sony-Ericsson over the net. Fortunately, the deal fell through... for now...

--
-- All this knowledge is giving me a raging brainer.
Not a bad idea by jbeaupre · 2009-04-01 05:48 · Score: 2, Insightful

Probably the cheapest way to get rid of Pirate Bay is to buy them off. Piracy protection money?

--
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
1. Re:Not a bad idea by zoobaby · 2009-04-01 05:50 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  While sounds good, every one with the know how would go out and set up a torrent in hopes of a buy-out.
Great detective work there by Anonymous Coward · 2009-04-01 05:49 · Score: 3, Insightful

I would never have figured this out if it weren't for your insightful comment
13.37 Billion... by Nushio · 2009-04-01 05:49 · Score: 3, Informative

Thats one 1337 way to close the shop!

--
Check out Unsealed: Whispers of Wisdom! http://unsealed.k3rnel.net It's an action-RPG about Open Sourcerers.
Comment removed by account_deleted · 2009-04-01 05:51 · Score: 4, Funny

Comment removed based on user account deletion
bedeebedeebedeeTHAT'S ALL FOLKS! by Ralph+Spoilsport · 2009-04-01 05:53 · Score: 2, Funny

I for one welcome our 50 year old animated overlords.
Keew da wabbit keew da wabbit...
RS

--
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
I'm starting to miss the omgponies by lothos · 2009-04-01 05:53 · Score: 2

Bring back the pink omgponies!

--
Hosting and Domain name coupons
Re:In an unrelated news, by perryizgr8 · 2009-04-01 06:05 · Score: 5, Funny

In an unrelated news, Stallman has just announced that he's joining Microsoft.
in related news, windows 7 goes open source.

--
Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
Gawd, that's not even funny by mknewman · 2009-04-01 06:06 · Score: 2, Insightful

Guess /. is getting desperate for 4/1 stories.
Re:In an unrelated news, by shadowbearer · 2009-04-01 06:29 · Score: 4, Funny

More breaking news: Darl McBride announced that he's going to throw his weight behind linux; "If you can't beat'em, join'em." he declared in a surprise announcement from amidst the still smoking ruins of SCO's headquarters.
He was hospitalized shortly afterward in critical condition due to what appears to be injuries inflicted by an office chair.
SB

--
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
Re:This has GOT to be an April Fools story by brewmastermo · 2009-04-01 07:17 · Score: 2, Insightful

who knows...
Re:Not Reading Slashdot by panthroman · 2009-04-01 07:42 · Score: 3, Insightful

There are reasons I don't read Slashdot on 4/1. This is only one of them.
Something about your post is... impossible.
and they said by Trailwalker · 2009-04-01 10:19 · Score: 2, Insightful

Do you want to help seed? We are always looking for new seeders who can sustain 10mbit and/or higher upload speeds!
I'm living on the wrong land mass.
Anyone else get this? by Seriousity · 2009-04-01 13:01 · Score: 2, Insightful

FTFA:

The Pirate Bay team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements Warner Bros's mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful said Jim Kjeyzer, Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros.
From google's CADIE monograph:

The third - a piece missing in most AI reasoning work thus far - was to give the entity access to a rich, realistic world from which to learn and upon which it could act directly. Google's mission has always been to organize the world's knowledge and make it universally accessible and useful.

--
This post was made in complete sincere seriousity; as such any attempts to derive humour are doomed to instant failure.
Warner's Plan by Chlorine+Trifluoride · 2009-04-01 13:11 · Score: 2, Funny

1. Find a large BT tracker.
2. Acquire the site on April 1, when no one will believe you.
3. Keep full logs.
4. Get all the IPs of pirates.
5. Begin sueing left and right.
6. ...
7. Profit!

TL;DR: It's a trap!
today's april fool is tomorrow's fact by heroine · 2009-04-01 14:39 · Score: 2, Insightful

Remember when Napster sold itself to the music industry. That was originally an April fool's story, before it became real. Then there was the April fool's story about taxpayers paying off all the mortgages in the world.