The Pirate Bay's Founding Organization Shuts Down

kcurtis sent the news that Piratbryån, the lobbying organization out of which The Pirate Bay sprang, has disbanded. (The torrent tracker is alive and well.) "Piratbyrån had many purposes, but could be described as a pro-piracy lobbying organization. It was founded in response to Antipiratbyrån, the local anti-piracy outfit in Sweden. The goal was to start a debate on copyright issues and how they affect society. Until then, most press in Sweden would simply take everything Antipiratbyrån said for granted. Internationally, Piratbyrån is mostly known for launching The Pirate Bay in the fall of 2003, just a few months after the group itself was founded. ... The final decision to disband the group came after Ibi Kopimi Botani, a prominent member and co-founder of the group, passed away. Without one of its greatest minds, the group would never be the same again, Piratbyrån's members felt."

Comments

Ibrahim Botani

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

The man's real name was Ibrahim Botani - the pseudonym "Kopimi" was adopted because many pirates refer to themselves as kopimists - "kopi mi" --> "copy me."

Here's a somewhat autobiographical post in his blog. Unfortunately for most of slashdot's readership, it's not written in english.

Re:Hmm..

[Yvanhoe]

The group founded the Pirate Bay who is alive and well and had good ties with the pirate party which, with 9% of ballots in Sweden, is alive and well. The original group was slowly becoming obsolete in the best way possible. The death of the founding member just made that more evident. Closing the group is more a way to show respect and to not cling on the past than a failure.