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Facebook Cuts Off Pirate Bay Links

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the hyperlinks-are-bad-mmm-kay dept.

narramissic writes "Citing legal reasons, Facebook has ended its brief relationship with The Pirate Bay. The Pirate Bay added a 'Share on Facebook' button around two weeks ago to its site that allowed its users to post links to small information files on Facebook that are used to download audio, video, etc. via BitTorrent. Facebook is now blocking those 'bookmarklets' as well as any links from The Pirate Bay, said Peter Sunde, of The Pirate Bay. Sunde said he received an e-mail from Facebook justifying the action because of the legal proceedings against Sunde and three others. The men are awaiting return of a verdict on April 17 from a trial that concluded early last month in Stockholm. They are charged with helping to make available material under copyright."

31 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. They haven't ended the relationship... by gillbates · · Score: 5, Funny

    They've just changed the status to "complicated".

    Of course, we all know what comes next: In a few weeks, their status will go back to "In a relationship", and the day after prom will be suddenly changed to "single".

    --
    The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
    1. Re:They haven't ended the relationship... by cellurl · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Thats like banning craigslist because its nasty.
      I encourage people to put legitimate stuff on TPB.
      I put good church sermons (occasionally) on TPB.
      (I would provide a link, but TPB is blocked at work...)

    2. Re:They haven't ended the relationship... by scientus · · Score: 4, Informative

      (I would provide a link, but TPB is blocked at work...)

      try putting in your host file

      83.140.176.200 thepiratebay.org

      or setting you DNS server setting to 4.2.2.3

      and then going to https://thepiratebay.org/

    3. Re:They haven't ended the relationship... by Wild+Bill+TX · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm not sure I understand what place free content has on The Pirate Bay...

      --
      Audioscrobbler
    4. Re:They haven't ended the relationship... by mmclean · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And just how does a non-resolving reverse IP prevent detection by a Deep Packet inspection toy? I know networking isn't my IT areas of expertise, but maybe I'm missing something here ? Yeah, didn't think so. I award scientus one "you fail at teh inner tubes".

    5. Re:They haven't ended the relationship... by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Come on, get with the party line - it's not about copyright infringement, it's about openness and sharing. Sure, it's openly sharing copyrighted works, but that's not the important part.

    6. Re:They haven't ended the relationship... by scientus · · Score: 3, Informative

      its SSL, if you all all noticed the s, that means that almost all sniffing is averted.

  2. They can do that? by BabyDuckHat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But they can't get rid of all the crap quizzes? I call shenanigans.

    1. Re:They can do that? by emocomputerjock · · Score: 5, Funny

      You can take the users out of myspace but you can't take the myspace out of the users.

    2. Re:They can do that? by thedonger · · Score: 5, Interesting
      • mySpace = profitable
      • facebook = wants to be profitable
      • therefore, facebook becomes mySpace-like

      It is already happening. Look at how much more crap on which there is to click compared with prior to the most recent update.

      --
      Help fight poverty: Punch a poor person.
    3. Re:They can do that? by CarpetShark · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But they can't get rid of all the crap quizzes? I call shenanigans.

      Indeed.

      I also think it should be illegal to discriminate against people/organisations based on law suits that haven't yet concluded. That whole innocent until proven guilty thing, you know? Not that most courts' conclusions have any bearing on the ethical reality of a situation, of course.

    4. Re:They can do that? by _KiTA_ · · Score: 5, Informative

      But they can't get rid of all the crap quizzes?

      I call shenanigans.

      The crap quizzes bring in advertisement dollars. There's a reason you can't filter those stupid things out.

    5. Re:They can do that? by Malevolyn · · Score: 3, Interesting
      This works in more than one way:
      • Twitter = popular and trendy.
      • Facebook = wants to be more popular and trendy (and wants the liveblogging market).
      • Therefore, Facebook's new homepage is Twitter.
      --
      Your ad here.
  3. Sounds fair by houghi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Our company blocks facebook. :-D

    And what if they used tinyurl.com or any other that does the same?

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    1. Re:Sounds fair by Ilgaz · · Score: 3, Informative

      If they have advanced "employee watching" technologies, it will get him into major trouble. In fact, in a real business network, he can't even change DNS or even install anything.

  4. The rise of redirect links by davidwr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I predict a sudden increase in "redirect" links like TinyURL and the like and in "human-readable" links that can't be clicked on and can't be automatically scanned for but which humans have no trouble turning into a real link.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:The rise of redirect links by tjonnyc999 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I predict a sudden increase in Slashdot predictions.

  5. And the funny thing is... by dancingmad · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's funny, because I am more trusting (I originally wrote trust, but there are no websites I trust implicitly) of the Pirate Bay not to screw around with my computer or be dicks, while I don't trust Facebook at all with my photos or private information.

    --
    "There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
    1. Re:And the funny thing is... by xaxa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Then you had better avoid downloading any "keygens" from TPB.

      You don't download any keygens from TPB. TPB just tells you where to look.

  6. Damn it by b0ttle · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where am I going to get pirate bay links now?

  7. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  8. What about Google? by kimvette · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let's compare:

    Piratebay:

      * links to public domain content
      * links to legal "copyrighted content"
      * links to unauthorised "copyrighted content"
      * links to open source content
      * links to creative commons-licensed content

    Google:

      * links to public domain content
      * links to legal "copyrighted content"
      * links to unauthorised "copyrighted content"
      * links to open source content
      * links to creative commons-licensed content

    Yahoo:

      * links to public domain content
      * links to legal "copyrighted content"
      * links to unauthorised "copyrighted content"
      * links to open source content
      * links to creative commons-licensed content

    So, facebook ought to ban both Google and Yahoo.

    As an aside: if you draw, photograph, type, speak & record, or write it, it's copyrighted automatically so "linking to copyrighted material" is a BS cop-out, not to mention an attempt at social engineering to get people to accept that sharing "copyrighted material" is bad. It's not. In fact many forms of copying is legal - AND COMPENSATED. Ever download an .mp3 and burn it to an audio CD disk? Years ago, did you ever record radio to an audiocassette? Do you ever store ANYTHING on DAT? If so, the RIAA has been compensated the price they agreed to for those works, because those media have levies associated with them.

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    1. Re:What about Google? by stuckinarut · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Years ago, did you ever record radio to an audiocassette? Do you ever store ANYTHING on DAT? If so, the RIAA has been compensated the price they agreed to for those works, because those media have levies associated with them.

      Home Taping was apparently killing music back in the days of the vinyl LP 20 years ago. I distinctly remember the skull and cross bones tape logo. I'm not sure the RIAA has already been compensated except by the licence fee the broadcasters pay. Canada has a blank media tax aimed at compensating the RIAA for CDs burnt but I doubt they think it's sufficient.

      Both these mechanisms for copying are limited by the ammount of blank media you can obtain and the time involved in creating copies with the media.

      What scares the beejeebus out of the RIAA is that bits and bytes have an almost limitless supply for everyone aside from the almost negligble initial cost (approx £70 for 1 terrabyte == 1000's albums, way more than you can listen to in a whole years listening). The other thing is our fat internet connections can fill this limitless storage while we sleep with the products they used to be able to strictly control the supply of.

      Once they wake up and realise the days of skimming a fat profit out the music industry by simply playing the middle man are over and get back to promoting artists and recouping costs by finding good acts that sell out big tours and flog merchandise that can't easily be replicated, say T-Shirts the better.

      The genie is already out the bottle and isn't going back in however much they keep their corporate heads in the sand.

    2. Re:What about Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Every file TPB has is a .torrent with no illegal content, yes.

  9. Re:slashdot topics these days by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Surely there must be something going on in the wide world that is both topical to Slashdot and not related to file sharing or global warming?

    Perhaps you should submit some of those stories, and perhaps visit the Firehose and vote up some of the kind of stories you want to see, and vote down some of the things you don't?

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  10. Re:slashdot topics these days by DeskLazer · · Score: 5, Funny

    it's because filesharing is LINKED to global warming! the more we do it, the more global warming, the more the terrorists win, the more we welcome our robotic overlords!

  11. Draw the line? by uffe_nordholm · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Granted, Facebook is owned (I assume) by some company, group of companies, individual or group of individuals, and as owner of Facebook it/he/she/they can decide what rules apply to material posted on Facebook. For the rest of us, we are left with two mutually exclusive choices: live by the rules, or leave Facebook.

    However, I wonder how far they are willing to take this. If providing a link to a link to (possibly) 'illegal'(*) material is against FB rules, is a link to a link to a link OK? Or what about a link to a link to a link to a link to a link to a link to a link to a link to a link?

    For rest assured, no matter where FB draws the line, it can be gotten around. And _will_ be gotten around!

    And what about posting links to Google search result pages, with searches like "mp3 Madonna filetype:torrent"? If they are to treat all equally, even a link like that should be blocked.





    * I write 'illegal', knowing full well that it is most likely not the material itself that is illegal, but making it accessible to others without the copyright owner's permission.

  12. Shitface-Book by flibuste · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Facebook has a serious censorship problem:

    They happily keep violent/nazi/negationists sites up and running, but will censor a breast-feeding site or a site from people who have YET to be proven guilty of any wrongdoing (let's remind everyone that being on trial doesn't make you guilty).

    Seriously, people using Facebook should consider why they're doing this. It's funny to see how M$ gets easily bashed each time they move a finger, but Facebook gets away with pretty much everything.

  13. I must be missing something by Presto+Vivace · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But Pirate Bay seems to take the view that because something is technically possible it is acceptable, or at least no one can stop us. I just don't have much sympathy for that point of view. I watched their agit-prop Steal this Film and it seems to me that Pirate Bay is unable to distinguish between Free Speech and Free Beer.

    1. Re:I must be missing something by anonieuweling · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Local Law is what you are missing.
      Your context is non-Swedish.

  14. Brilliant by DesScorp · · Score: 3, Insightful

    (I would provide a link, but TPB is blocked at work...)

    try putting in your host file

    83.140.176.200 thepiratebay.org

    or setting you DNS server setting to 4.2.2.3

    and then going to https://thepiratebay.org/

    Yeah, have him violate his workplace policy so he can get to the Pirate Bay.

    He deserves whatever he gets if he actually listens to you.

    --
    Life is hard, and the world is cruel