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The Pirate Bay Gets a 'Massive' $9 in Donations Per Day (torrentfreak.com)

Posted by msmash on from the people-don't-like-paying-for-piracy dept.

An anonymous reader writes: When The Pirate Bay and other torrent sites started accepting Bitcoin donations a few years ago, copyright holders voiced concerns about this new 'unseizable' revenue stream. Thus far, this fear seems unwarranted with TPB raking in an average of $9 per day in Bitcoin donations over the past year. While hardly a windfall, it's a fortune compared to the donations received by the leading torrent site KickassTorrents.

103 comments

  1. What did you expect? by p51d007 · · Score: 0, Insightful

    People "stealing" content, to actually PAY money to the server hosting it?

    1. Re:What did you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I know it wouldn't be a Slashdot discussion without sarcasm and deliberate misunderstandings, but there is nothing particularly strange about the idea that somebody would find TPB's services valuable enough to want to give money to support them. Yes, Virginia, people sometimes turn to piracy for reasons other than being a cheapskate.

    2. Re:What did you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't the theory behind torrents is that the servers don't need a lot of resources since they're just a database front-end? The content is served by the users.

    3. Re:What did you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not how piracy works. TPB and elite BBSes long before them were always run because it was a way of showing off and just because they could. People who want money or try to forbid redistribution of "their" warez aren't pirates at all.

    4. Re:What did you expect? by edtice1559 · · Score: 2

      Of course this got modded into oblivion but the assertion on /. is that people turn to piracy for reasons other than being cheap. The fact that only $9 per day gets donated runs counter to this argument. If it truly were due to other reasons (content not available locally, et cetera), the donations would be much higher. I'm sure there *are* people out there who pirate for non-monetary reasons (there's an exception to every rule) but I surmise that the vast majority simply do it because they want content for free.

    5. Re:What did you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It could also be that the people appreciating the services of these sites still consider them "suspicious". They like what the site is doing, but considers it suspicious enough not to want to donate money to it.

    6. Re: What did you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > That's right. When you're hard up and starving, you must have that Star Wars movie to stay alive.

      There may be several more likely / real scenarios. For example:
      - movie or record never makes it to distribution in your country
      - itunes/netflix/whatever does not provide that content to your country for licensing or other business reasons
      - local branch of EMI/Sony/BMG/20CF/MGM/etc.... in your country are morons that block legal digital distribution, want to sell you CDs and DVDs/BRs, that are twice as expensive as on Amazon USA despite that GDP per capita in your country is just a third of that in the USA and EMI/Sony/BMG branches claim that "that's their adaptive strategy due to high piracy in this country" and influence local lawmakers to stop or limit possibilities to buy digital content abroad.
      - local branch of EMI/Sony/BMG/20CF/MGM/etc ...in your country are morons and introduce this damn DVDs/BRs with clumsy translation dubbed over the original soundtrack, making if horrible experience
      - local branch of EMI/Sony/BMG/20CF/MGM/etc ... in your country are morons who think that audience could wait several months after global premiere of the movie and you would patiently wait (avoiding spoilers).
      - local government / court may decide that given content is "illigal" in your country.
      - given content is ante the protection period ~in public domain, but for some reasons there is no "official" re-release and someone just rips his disk/tape/vinyl
      and probably many more.

    7. Re: What did you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah. So you shouldn't watch it. Or steal. Your choice. But stop pretending.

  2. very low by Skatox · · Score: 1

    I'm surprised about this amount, I guess that most people are afraid to get caught donating to this site (I know that it's hard with bitcoins, but well)

    1. Re:very low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's actually extremely easy to track who gave who bitcoins. That's the whole point of bitcoins...well, that, and the ponzi scheme.

    2. Re:very low by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      I'm surprised about this amount, I guess that most people are afraid to get caught donating to this site

      Or it could be that people that want something for nothing aren't willing to pay for it.

    3. Re:very low by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

      Gotta wonder why Netflix is so popular, huh?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    4. Re:very low by mentil · · Score: 1, Informative

      Only if you do it wrong (disclaimer: it's very easy to do it wrong)
      Try something like this:
      1) Boot up Tor browser. Do the following steps inside Tor browser
      2) Create new free webmail address at yahoo or whatever
      3) Use said email address to create account at bitcoin exchange
      4) Use prepaid credit card (paid for in cash) to convert money to bitcoins at said exchange
      5) Donate to piratebay/etc.

      Alternative to 3&4) go to bitcoin kiosk, feed cash into kiosk, credit goes into account associated with email address you enter. I've witnessed money launderers feeding stacks of benjamins into these.

      Now if you want to argue that it's easy to tell that a particular transaction is going to The Pirate Bay, they can counter by creating custom bitcoin deposit addresses for every refresh of the "donate bitcoins" page, making it impossible to simply harvest and monitor their 1/10/million bitcoin addresses.

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    5. Re:very low by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      I'm surprised about this amount, I guess that most people are afraid to get caught donating to this site

      Or it could be that people that want something for nothing aren't willing to pay for it.

      I am sure that is "part" of it. I would actually happily donate to them, they make content easily accessible that the studios refuse to make available in a consistent manner through licensing practises. HOWEVER, I am not going to go through the pain of arranging bitcoin to do it, I use piratebay because of ease of use and bitcoin is anything but that.

    6. Re:very low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      As someone who ran a free web/shell hosting organisation (several co-located servers, switches, serial console multiplexers, PDUs, etc.) for nearly 18 years, I'm not surprised. What I did was no where near the size or capacity of TPB, nor did I do what they do (read: I made no money, had a very strict no-ad/no-porn/no-anything-that-makes-money TOS, and ran a generally tight ship) -- point being, our stuff was fairly "niche" and as such had a very passionate and dedicated set of users and community members -- yet received maybe US$250 total spanning those ~18 years. Out-of-pocket costs when I shut things down was ~$750/month (not a typo). I did it because it was an enjoyable hobby and I loved the happiness it brought others.

      What surprises me is the cash flow I see happening online these days: all the donations to Kickstarters, Twitch, streamers etc.. These make a person think people have tons of money to give away. And I suppose in some respects that's true (can't deny the evidence), but the difference might be (I'm speculating) that TPB runs a "service" that is VERY grey-market, and have the exact concern you do (re: "afraid to get caught donating"); Kickstarters tend to make promises to those who donate ("you'll get a copy of our game!" etc.), and Twitch tends to cater to "instant gratification syndrome" (you'll see your name pop up on their stream, a message read, or something "personalised" to you said/done by the streamer). I have no explanation for people who donate thousands of dollars; I've no clue where they get that kind of money.

      Maybe another part of it is that people consider TPB replaceable -- I often hear people saying things like "if ThingX shuts down, surely someone will build ReplacementY to take its place, so just how important is ThingX?". Folks saying this never have any intricate knowledge of what ThingX involves/how it's designed/built/how it works. It's not until ThingX is gone that they realise how useful it was.

      But the general Internet as a whole doesn't tend to have money to give away. Most people I know right now (in the United States) struggle just to make ends meet.

    7. Re: very low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      That's a lot of work to give the pirate bay 9 dollars.

    8. Re:very low by complete+loony · · Score: 1

      FBI retrieves video surveillance of bitcoin kiosk for time period of transaction... What you thought there wouldn't be a camera?

      --
      09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
    9. Re:very low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ATMs have one because they're robbed sometimes, a bitcoin kiosk wouldn't need one, and NOT having one would be a feature many customers would look for. Regardless, duct tape over the camera/balaclava/Guy Fawkes mask still works.
      captcha: trickier
      -mentil

    10. Re:very low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wear a hat. Problem solved.

    11. Re: very low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, at least it's less work than space-shifting a legally bought blu-ray to your NAS...

    12. Re: very low by GrumpySteen · · Score: 1

      Not really. Space shifting a blu-ray disc is just a matter of launching the ripper (AnyDVD in my case) and clicking Copy Disc. Three mouse clicks and my part is done so I can go off and do something more fun.

    13. Re: very low by dave420 · · Score: 1

      With TPB it's just a matter of clicking on a download link...

    14. Re: very low by GrumpySteen · · Score: 1

      That's now how you donate bitcoins to TPB, which is what my comment is in response to.

  3. Who would have thought? by perryizgr8 · · Score: 0

    Who would have thought that people stealing content do not want to pay money?

    --
    Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
    1. Re:Who would have thought? by millertym · · Score: 1

      I was about to post the same sentiment. When your entire business model revolves around a crowd of people who don't have the funds and/or desire to actually buy the media they consume - trying to obtain donations from such a crowd is a fool's errand.

    2. Re:Who would have thought? by quantaman · · Score: 2

      I was about to post the same sentiment. When your entire business model revolves around a crowd of people who don't have the funds and/or desire to actually buy the media they consume - trying to obtain donations from such a crowd is a fool's errand.

      I think it's more than that. It's one thing to donate to support a creator whose writing a comic or making show that you love, it's another to donate to someone trying to make money by facilitating media piracy. People might see TPB as useful or necessary, but it's hard to see them as people worthy of donation.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    3. Re:Who would have thought? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who would have thought that people stealing content do not want to pay with PonziCoin?

      FTFY

    4. Re:Who would have thought? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When your entire business model revolves around

      It's not a business model. The point of it is not to make money.

    5. Re:Who would have thought? by dave420 · · Score: 1

      1) It's not stealing, as no one is being deprived of property. Stealing is not "getting something for free", but "denying someone the use of their property". I hope you understand the difference.

      2) Study after study have shown that "pirates" spend above-average amounts on content consumed. People "pirate" things to see if they're worth buying, or to get a copy of a game they already have without copy protection, etc. Sure, some people don't, but to claim they all don't is being dishonest.

      Apart from that, you're spot on.

    6. Re:Who would have thought? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >1) It's not stealing, as no one is being deprived of property. Stealing is not "getting something for free", but "denying someone the use of their property". I hope you understand the difference.

      So, what you're saying is, if there was absolutely no way to pirate anything, the people who download torrents would never purchase Lord of the Rings or Game of thrones. Would they all switch from Windows to Linux too because they can't pirate it? Haha.. Not even a child would believe that. Piracy *IS* stealing.

    7. Re:Who would have thought? by farble1670 · · Score: 1

      It's not stealing, as no one is being deprived of property. Stealing is not "getting something for free", but "denying someone the use of their property". I hope you understand the difference.

      People are deprived of income that would otherwise be earned from the sale of the content. Call it what you want. I hope you understand the semantics. Yes yes, "but they wouldn't have otherwise purchase it!" ya BS. A non-zero number of people that pirate content would pay for it. But I suppose you are deciding that number is low enough that it's okay to deprive them of that income. If you argue that the number is actually zero, you're an idiot.

      Study after study have shown that "pirates" spend above-average amounts on content consumed.

      Links? I expect at least 5 from institutions I've heard of before, since there is "study after study" that should not be hard to come up with.

  4. Why do they need donations? by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

    Don't they make money from advertisements?

    1. Re:Why do they need donations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The record companies estimate of how much profit torrent sites make is about as accurate as their estimate on how much money they lose because of piracy.

      You don't run a torrent tracker to get rich.

  5. Who knew crime pays so well... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nine bucks is how much I pay for a skinny vanilla latte and a breakfast sandwich at Starbucks.

    1. Re:Who knew crime pays so well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pays good for Starbucks! Suker.

  6. Would Donate More But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I set aside around $350 a month to donate to random places. Most of that goes toward actual charities and a little to software for fixing annoying bugs. If websites published traffic graphs and expenses, I'd be more willing to donate to them as then I'd know if they actually needed money and how much. If you fill your site with unneeded images and 3rd party hits, I'm less likely to donate to you. There are some places that do publish that info. I gave them a years worth of service. If I can calculate the cost of me using your site, I'll pay you for at least my usage, assuming the site isn't drowning in ads or actually sells things.

    Here's a place to help you spend your money: http://www.charitynavigator.org

    Donating 10% of your income doesn't need to be limited to church goers. Aren't we supposed to be better than those crazies?

    1. Re:Would Donate More But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So it seems you think that those crazies aren't as crazy as you apparently thought once :-)
      Damn, before you know it they might be right on other things as well :-D

  7. Private Trackers Do Better by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 1

    Good private trackers rake in hundreds if not thousands a month, if they're so inclined. TPB is the commons. People don't want to pay to maintain the commons when they can enjoy a private country club.

    1. Re:Private Trackers Do Better by sims+2 · · Score: 1

      Years ago I seem to remember a torrent site (i want to think it was isohunt) raising about 300K for a new car.

      Its been years ago and so many sites have come and gone over the years I can't remember all the names anymore.

      --
      Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
    2. Re:Private Trackers Do Better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good private trackers rake in hundreds if not thousands a month, if they're so inclined.

      Do you have a source for that? Preferably not a random claim from RIAA.

    3. Re:Private Trackers Do Better by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 1

      Good public trackers rake in millions in ad revenue. TPB used to one of those. They dont get as much traffic as they did, when they maintained stable servers, but I bet they still make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

  8. Expected by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I see the shills are out in force, earning their paychecks on a Sunday night. Good for them; glad to see somebody has a work ethic these days.

  9. It would be somewhat dumb to pay by goombah99 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bitcoin, in it's raw form, is the most traceable currency in existence. Thus if one is planning to engage in clandestine activity it might be unwise to set up a link between pirate bay's public key and your private key. Such a link would exist for all time. So if at any time your key get's linked to a real identity because for example you order a pizza ten years from now or the credit card you used to buy the bit coins from Mt Gox is in Mt. Gox's records under control of the Japanese police, then you are linked to Pirate Bay.

    The saving grace I supposed it that in itself is not a crime. But that's not what on your mind if you were hoping nobody finds out.

    You could of course use some tumbler to launder the transaction but then you are trusting the tumbler company.

    Someday we'll all be able to buy a disposable bitcoin gift card in the super market with cash but until then there's always possible way to trace it back to you (in most cases).

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re: It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I get my coin by paying cash at a bitcoin atm. Good luck tracing that.

    2. Re:It would be somewhat dumb to pay by cfalcon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > Bitcoin, in it's raw form, is the most traceable currency in existence.

      Not really.

      Bitcoin is, as you point out, fully backtraceable. That's the whole point of blockchain. Now, there's various ways to "launder" it, but that's not really important. The important part is:

      If you want to LEGALLY donate to something politically charged, bitcoin could EASILY be a really good method for you. If you:
      1)- Buy bit coins at some place that is as normal as bitcoin institutions get- say, coinbase... and then...
      2)- Push the coins straight to your donation target from there.

      Then you are pretty safe. No "bitcoin washer", no darknet bullshit, not even one extra step of transferring to your own wallet first for plausible deniability. In order to trace that transaction, someone would need to be able to ask the bitcoin place you paid in cash, which transactions you did. Who can do that? Well, the government. But, you didn't commit a crime, so they won't. It's no crime to donate to piratebay, or sci-hub, or whatever.

      Lets pretend you had to donate normally, with, like, a credit card. Now when piratebay gets in trouble, or gets hacked, some jackass has a list of everyone who donated. Said jackass then smears your good name, because you donated to those pirates / left wingers / right wingers / whatevers.

      The advantage that bitcoin buys you is that you really ARE anonymous- as long as you aren't doing anything illegal. "Not being doxxed" is a pretty good benefit, right?

      And of course, you COULD take some simple steps like pushing the money to your wallet first, or whatever. You have plenty of other options if you want to make it hard for someone looking to pierce your anonymity to do so. But we aren't talking about something illegal here, so the practical avenues of people with an agenda looking to smear you or attack you are very slim.

    3. Re: It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Where do you live that there are bitcoin ATMs?

    4. Re: It would be somewhat dumb to pay by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

      Err.. Good luck spending that coin clandestinely

    5. Re: It would be somewhat dumb to pay by KGIII · · Score: 2

      They're around in Argentina and Peru that I know of. I have never used one. They're not entirely uncommon but they're not on every street corner. You see them in stores and clubs. I understand that there are some banks with them now but I am not able to confirm that at the moment. I'll send my son an email (he's still living in Peru) if you're really curious. I suspect Google knows about this - it is, after all, BTC and lots of people are interested in them. (I am not a member of those lots but I do sort of pay attention with bemusement.)

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    6. Re:It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's no crime to donate to piratebay, or sci-hub, or whatever.

      Did you follow the piratebay case at all?
      It is no crime until it arbitrarily becomes one and then it is applied retroactively.

    7. Re:It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The entire Bitcoin network is going to collapse under its own weight within a decade. Plus given how burner phones are already legislated away in a lot of areas, I really doubt we'll be picking up anonymous gift cards in the supermarket.

    8. Re: It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The bitcoin gift card purchase will be time stamped and recorded and used to retrieve the video of you making the cash purchase and the video of your license plate as you leave the vicinity shortly thereafter. Cheers.

    9. Re:It would be somewhat dumb to pay by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      So if at any time your key get's linked to a real identity because for example you order a pizza ten years from now or the credit card you used to buy the bit coins from Mt Gox is in Mt. Gox's records under control of the Japanese police, then you are linked to Pirate Bay.

      The unwritten assumption here is that an email address identifies you. It doesn't. Email addresses are transferable. One way to exchange Bitcoins untraceably is to simply give the wallet file (and optionally associated email address) to someone.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    10. Re:It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The unwritten assumption here is that an email address identifies you. It doesn't.

      If the bitcoin is used for something the government doesn't like, will they care?
      Either you did something they didn't like or you are friends with someone they don't like or you traded with someone they don't like.
      So they just stomp down on you like you were the one they were looking for and hope it works as enough of a deterring to scare others away.

    11. Re:It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >Well, the government. But, you didn't commit a crime, so they won't.

      This isn't the case in countries like the United States.

    12. Re:It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and then it is applied retroactively.

      That is the controversial bit. Why should I be tried for an alleged crime when at the time of said alleged crime, it wasn't an offence?

      Do you Americans not care about your rights anymore these days?

    13. Re:It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      Bitcoin is, as you point out, fully backtraceable.

      I know who it's coming from, because I back traced it!

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    14. Re:It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Imrik · · Score: 2

      If they decide that it is somehow against the laws that were in effect at the time of the transaction, they can apply it retroactively.

    15. Re: It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are some in the Czech Republic, e.g. https://coinatmradar.com/bitcoin_atm/223/bitcoin-atm-general-bytes-brno-galerie-vankovka-brno/

    16. Re: It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is one in downtown Vancouver (Canada).

      Of course I assume any of these are under video surveillance so not anonymous.

    17. Re:It would be somewhat dumb to pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they decide that it is somehow against the laws that were in effect at the time of the transaction, they can apply it retroactively.

      In which case there's no case to answer as it hasn't been ruled illegal to donate money to this party (yet).

  10. wew by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

    I honestly expected more. Though bitcoin is a pain in the ass. Do they accept donations that are not bitcoin? I'd be willing to toss them some extra money, it's not like the vodka is doing me any favors.

    1. Re:wew by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The site is flooded with truly ludicrous ads. People donate more to ad-free sites, but I'm sure they do better with donations+ads than either revenue source alone.

    2. Re:wew by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      How would you even know if you've got an adblocker? Which apparently everyone has.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    3. Re:wew by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have an adblocker but it doesn't kill iframes.

      https://imgur.com/2OVce24

      There's something wrong with their CSS and how the leftmost ad overlaps the actual content. It doesn't even go away if you scroll or resize the window. *That* is irritating.

  11. What pirate bay should do by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    They should ask people to donate to their favorite charity instead of them. No links.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  12. Malware advertisement income? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm assuming this doesn't include the money they make off peddling malware.

  13. Really useful data actually. by Narcocide · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Any serious bean counters/market analysts looking for accurate data on how much of piracy actually represents lost sales (situations where the customer actually had money and would have paid for the product if there were an option to do so) well there's your numbers; 9$ a day.

    1. Re:Really useful data actually. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope.
      1 You don't always pay if you have the opportunity to get it for free.
      2 Many people don't even have a way to pay in bitcoins, but they would pay in another way.
      3 Some might have the willingness to pay, even have bitcoins, but they are afraid of being tracked.

      There are probably other limiting factors.

    2. Re:Really useful data actually. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong. This data isn't even close to accurate as the only way to donate is with Bitcoin. A "digital currency" with a steep learning curve that some people don't know how to use, or like me, refuse to use it at all. Bitcoin, dispute the claims of its rabid advocates, hasn't gained mass acceptance. Not even remotely close. If the Pirate Bay offered multiple ways to donate that included everything from mailing cash and checks to major credit cards and wire transfers, then you'd get accurate numbers.

    3. Re:Really useful data actually. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Doesn't really work because the MAFIAA have been trying to cut off payment options to torrent sites for years, so it's actually quite hard to pay them now. You have to find a Bitcoin exchange, set up an account, convert some of your local currency and then send it over.

      All they have done is make paying for torrent sites are inconvenient as paying for legit content. I couldn't even buy a lot of their content if I wanted to (not interested in DRM enforced licences).

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Really useful data actually. by edtice1559 · · Score: 1

      That's an interesting twist (congratulations on your +4, but what it likely proves is that people pirate to save money. They're not going to pay (even a donation) unless the money is pried from their fingers. What the various *AAs know that the average /. poster doesn't is that pop culture icons are worshiped like deities and people will forego food in order to hear the latest Kanye West and Taylor Swift.

    5. Re:Really useful data actually. by Threni · · Score: 1

      There's no way of showing that the money people have spent on PB is necessarily instead of - as opposed to as well as - buying a product.

  14. i hate radio fm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I bet the fat boy drives a 4x4 truck with a big dish in his ass with his blonde prostitute, drying crazy running from many agents, and in the end die because nigger and kate fail believing that they are hittler and (who else again? shit... idk..) the hittler's alpha hooker reincarnations. now they hunt and kill the weak who know the words of the gods. wow muxikin.... :*(

    1. Re:i hate radio fm by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

      Movie of this rambling when?

      I'd pay cash money.

    2. Re:i hate radio fm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet the fat boy drives a 4x4 truck with a big dish in his ass with his blonde prostitute, drying crazy running from many agents, and in the end die because nigger and kate fail believing that they are hittler and (who else again? shit... idk..) the hittler's alpha hooker reincarnations. now they hunt and kill the weak who know the words of the gods. wow muxikin.... :*(

      Hey, you said nigger! I've been trained to hate you for that. Take that!

  15. wow, just wow. by Narcocide · · Score: 1

    You really got something more out of this story than anyone else here did...

    1. Re:wow, just wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But hey -- it's compelling, ain't it not?

      Look: $9/day is the amount the market is willing to bear for whatever is left over after those buying shiny CDs (and yes, vinyl) and DVDs, and those on fooTunes and barFlix are served. And after those having muzak forced upon them via some free deals/shopping mall ambient/what have you.

      The bread crumbs of the bread crumbs, so to speak. And if you believe in Invisible Hands (who does not?), the market found itself the price for that: $9/day. It's magic!

  16. Unexpected? by CptLoRes · · Score: 1

    More like what I expected. I mean, when is the last time you saw a pirate give away money?

  17. Uh, ads? by trawg · · Score: 2

    Their site is plastered with ads, or at least was the last time I looked at it (doesn't load for me so I can't check; I've recently moved countries so maybe it's blocked in the UK).

    Given its popularity I'm sure they're making thousands per month simply from ad traffic.

    I have to wonder if the low donations is reflective of the fact that people are actually unwilling to donate to people/organisations when they know they're actually doing the "wrong" thing. People have no problems pirating content but they don't actually want anyone to profit off it if it can be avoided.

    Although I recall an interview with Bram Cohen (BitTorrent creator) many years ago where he mentioned his father convinced him to put that "please donate" in the original Python client, and he said after that he was making hundreds a day. So maybe not.

    1. Re:Uh, ads? by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 2

      > I have to wonder if the low donations is reflective of the fact that people are actually unwilling to donate to people/organisations when they know they're actually doing the "wrong" thing

      It also reflects the quality of goods and services on the site. I've used it to obtain fast torrents of Linux isos (which I checksummed carefully!) before the main HTTP or FTP downloads could take the traffic, and and for media I'd purchased but was blocked from using by region codes (with thorough virus checks!). But the quality of service is so poor and so much of the content either poisoned, mislabeled, or incomplete, it's not left me wanting to support them.

    2. Re:Uh, ads? by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

      How are you not using some form of ad blocking?

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  18. What about pr0n ads revenue? by execthis · · Score: 1

    How much per day does TPB get from all the pr0n ads?

    People probably don't donate because they know none of the revenue would go to any of the content creators.

    I still say there has to be a way people can donate each month into a fund pool of their favorite content creators and have the money distributed by weight (according to star rating) among the creators.

    In order to facilitate that, a new IDv3 field that contains a unique identifier for each artist/creator needs to exist, which can be tied to their deposit account.

    1. Re:What about pr0n ads revenue? by zabbey · · Score: 2

      People probably don't donate because their they're taking content for free. If they cared enough to donate, they'd care enough to just buy the shit they're taking for free.

    2. Re:What about pr0n ads revenue? by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 2

      What about people who can't "buy the shit" because of stupid region-based copyrights so that the TV show/movie/game they want has not been made available to them legally?

    3. Re:What about pr0n ads revenue? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why not instead support people who create content which is not region-locked? Why continue to consume content when they don't want your money?

    4. Re:What about pr0n ads revenue? by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 2

      Why not instead support people who create content which is not region-locked? Why continue to consume content when they don't want your money?

      This is a nonsense argument.

      When I was young, I learned to like certain things, from shows like Star Trek to authors like Douglas Adams to music like Pink Floyd. I like what I like because of my experiences. Just because the properties I enjoy have been ensnared in modern distribution nightmares doesn't change what I like. If Star Trek were owned by a company that made access draconian, that wouldn't change my desire to consume it. If Douglas Adams (wasn't dead) wrote a book and his publisher made it massively difficult to purchase legitimately, that wouldn't extinguish my burning desire to read it. If Pink Floyd produced a bunch of awesome guitar-work but their label made me purchase a copy for every room I might listen to it in, that wouldn't diminish my want to hear it.

      I understand fully that my wants and desires do not equate to entitlement. Problem is I'm still human and there's a really easy solution to the problem. Not liking what I like isn't it.

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
    5. Re:What about pr0n ads revenue? by ottothecow · · Score: 1

      Also, if they cared enough to donate, they would probably be a member of a private tracker that would give them perks for donating and offer some semblance of safety/privacy.

      --
      Bottles.
    6. Re:What about pr0n ads revenue? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Other people must give me what I want because I like it. No, really!! Waaaaah !!!! Waaaaah ! Information wants to be free !! Waaaaah!

    7. Re:What about pr0n ads revenue? by farble1670 · · Score: 1

      People probably don't donate because they know none of the revenue would go to any of the content creators.

      You are funny. If people were concerned about the well being of the content creators they would not be visiting TPB in the first place.

    8. Re:What about pr0n ads revenue? by farble1670 · · Score: 1

      So true.

      I tried to buy a Tesla Model 3 but you know what they were back ordered until next year. I just stole one instead. It's my god-given right to buy shit and if anything stands in my way I'll just take it, because I can. My rights to have shit now trumps any interest of the content creator or the publishers / distributors they entrusted to monetize their content.

    9. Re:What about pr0n ads revenue? by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 1

      Other people must give me what I want because I like it. No, really!! Waaaaah !!!! Waaaaah ! Information wants to be free !! Waaaaah!

      There is no give involved. Information doesn't want to be free. It already is free. It's simple. The existing copyright laws are unreasonable. End of story. That's not an excuse, it's an observation. I can, and do, pay for digital content, when it's made available to me in a reasonable format with reasonable usage rights. When the usage rights aren't reasonable, I observe that information is free, and don't pretend it isn't. Shrug. Technically that's a crime. Like jaywalking. Again, shrug. You can pass all the laws you like making it illegal to media-shift from DVD to media-center or CD to MP3 player, but those laws will never be reasonable, and those who can will bypass them. It's not about entitlement, like I said.

      But... Anonymous Coward, so I don't imagine you're here for an actual discussion.

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
    10. Re:What about pr0n ads revenue? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A more appropriate comparison would be Tesla not wanting to sell their cars to Canadians because of a deal with Ford and me having to go to the U.S.A. to buy a Model 3 while lying about being American.

    11. Re:What about pr0n ads revenue? by farble1670 · · Score: 1

      A more appropriate comparison would be Tesla not wanting to sell their cars to Canadians because of a deal with Ford and me having to go to the U.S.A. to buy a Model 3 while lying about being American.

      Uh no, s/buy/steal/ and then you got it.

  19. And for 9 bucks... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... You get to be on a watchlist.

  20. Not a huge shocker by jratcliffe · · Score: 1

    Turns out, people who won't pay for content when they can find a way not to...won't pay for content when they can find a way not to.

  21. Or... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...just send them cash.

  22. So people who like to steal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't like to Donate. That is just so hard to grasp.

  23. No Anonymous Method by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    What do they expect?

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
  24. They're a piracy site by Lendrick · · Score: 1

    I mean, let's get real. Most of the pirate bay's traffic is piracy. If you're not going to pay for legitimate content, it seems a bit silly to pay people to pirate it. The software pirate community has always been about recognition and not money anyway.

  25. Is there no honor among thieves? by micahraleigh · · Score: 1

    Just like places where you can buy essays online only for you to experience credit card fraud, the robbers don't respect each other or have ideals of any kind.

  26. Go figure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Freeholes want everything for free, and aren't willing to pay anything. Who knew?