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The Pirate Bay Plans Servers In the Sky

1sockchuck writes "The Pirate Bay says it plans to deploy servers on airborne drones several kilometers above international waters. The site said it was experimenting with servers using Raspberry Pi, a credit-card sized Linux computer. April Fools come early? Torrent Freak says the plan is real. It's apparently a literal approach to cloud computing."

11 of 329 comments (clear)

  1. I've seen that movie... by Kenja · · Score: 5, Funny
    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  2. Pirating must pay really well by s_p_oneil · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pirating must pay really well. I can't imagine how much it would cost to manage those servers and keep them up there 24/7.

  3. Re:Search warrants not needed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ironically, such an action by the RIAA/MPAA in international waters would technically be an act of piracy.

  4. Rough design by DeathToBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I assume we're looking at:

    • Solar-powered drone with enough battery to last overnight - it's been done but it's not easy
    • Satellite modem for data comms
    • Thunking great sat dish on the back of it - not good for aerodynamics
    • GPS navigation with auto-navigation to keep it in the right place
    • Stabilised platform for the sat dish with something to auto point it at a satellite
    • Some very-low-power, very-low-weight server

    I guess there are more compact antennas available, but they're likely to be both more expensive and more power-hungry than a dish.

    Any sort of real server iron is going to cause both weight and power-consumption problems.

    The main challenge is going to be to get enough solar panels fitted to the thing to both keep it flying and keep it talking.

    Launching the thing is going to be a challenge - I'm pretty sure the FAA isn't going to approve it, so it either needs to be clandestine or off a boat. And since presumably TPB's finances don't run to aircraft carriers, that introduces challenges all it's own.

    Server reliability is going to become a major issue. If you have no way of recovering the thing then you'll need to treat them as disposable - when one fails, crash it into something and replace it with another one. Unless your budget is large, you'd better hope that doesn't happen too often.

    And, as others have commented, while removing yourself from every legal jurisdiction does mitigate your risk of having a search warrant issued, it only replaces it with the risk of being shot down. And it's getting to the stage where it's cheaper for a government to take military action than legal action, especially when they know no-one's going to shoot back.

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    Slashdot - News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters, in ISO-8859-1 Has just realised that beta makes this signature redundant
  5. I've heard this song before by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hast du etwas Zeit fuer mich
    Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer dich
    Von 99 Luftboxens
    Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
    Denkst du vielleicht g'rad an mich
    Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer dich
    Von 99 Luftboxens
    Und dass sowas von sowas kommt

    99 Luftboxens
    Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
    Hielt man fuer Ufos aus dem All
    Darum schickte ein General
    'ne Fliegerstaffel hinterher
    Alarm zu geben, wenn's so war
    Dabei war'n da am Horizont
    Nur 99 Luftboxens ...

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  6. Re:Search warrants not needed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Most likely either a RIM-156 or a RIM-162, depending on the range. The RIM-156 range is about 100 nautical miles, and the RIM-162 is about 50 nautical miles.

    That, or they'd just shoot it down with a fighter jet.

    Ladies and gentlemen, Mister Tom Clancy!

  7. Re:Clear skies? by Korin43 · · Score: 5, Funny

    But if there aren't any clouds in the sky, can you still access TPB?

    We don't know who struck first, us or them. But we do know it was us that scorched the sky. At the time, pirates were dependent on solar power. It was believed they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun.

  8. Re:Search warrants not needed... by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Funny

    ":Or haven't you noticed that the Raspberry PI doesn't, erm, fly?"

    You are not throwing it hard enough.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  9. Re:Erm... by An+ominous+Cow+art · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd suggest just under 100 of them. Be sure they're reflective of light in the 630-740nm range.

  10. Re:Search warrants not needed... by nadszyszkownik · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ballmer, is that you?

  11. Re:I guess when they crash... by GameboyRMH · · Score: 5, Funny

    They can crash without crashing, although a serious crash might cause a crash.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel