Do you, anakata and TiAMO get any money for being involved in TPB AFK?
Nope. I think we've rather lost money on traveling places to help with the film.
has gottfrid learned to encrypt his own email yet? or are you and Fredrik helping him
He has the longest cryptopassword I've seen. Took over a minute to type it in, and he's a fast typer. So yes. :)
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Waiting for the EU-court and european court of human rights to take the case.
What is your opinion on TPB AFK? I love the film but is there anything you dislike about it? Thanks for doing an AMA! :D
I have mixed feelings about it, quite heavily. I posted about it in my blog, it's kind of long-ish. I think Simon and his team left out a lot of things that I personally see as important. I think the trial parts are boring and for me TPB is so much bigger than just a few court cases. TPB is the people (not the crew - the users) and their experiences. I wanted them to have a movie.
Who was the genius who replied to that cease-and-desist about Shrek?
Edit: Here's what I mean
Edit 2: I'm aware it says Anakata at the bottom, but I was asking from memory, so please stop telling me.
Probably Gotte. Most of the letters was either by him or our legal aid Mikael. I wrote a few as well, for the lulz.
How was Cambodia? Do you recommend it? Is there any hope for the free internet? EDIT: also anything super weird / interesting you remember about this whole journey that wasn't in the movie that you'd like to share?
Ask Gottfrid. he's the one living there.
Great movie!
anyway How are the rest of the guys doing, and how do you see TPB's future?
edit:spelling
Fredrik is fine, Gotte is locked up in Stockholm. TPB should die (I've said this for a few years) so that something good will replace it. Come on, it's 8 years old website with essentially no updates. There must be something better... !
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No.
Why did you start The Pirate Bay?
It was started because it was fun. That's kind of always what happened with the things started by Piratbyrån. To piss someone off has sometimes been a motive as well.
If you had to do it all over again, would you do anything differently?
Yes, I would have encrypted gottes harddrive for him.
How many TBs of files have you approximately downloaded from TPB?
Why only GB? Let's talk PB.
How did you come up with the idea for TPB? I mean I don't think anyone can imagine the world without it now, and I'm young enough where I've always had it around. But did you just decide to go for it one day, and did you ever expect to become as big as it is?
Noone excepted it to be as big as it became. Then it would have had a better name! It kind of just grew, and grew, and still keeps growing. It's like perpetual computer viagra.
How do you deal with your critics making false claims about you and your work/unfairly attempting to discredit you? How do you deal with people retaliating against you without properly understanding your work or intentions? This must be psychologically taxing. What are your coping strategies?
Being right.
How's TPB hosted, and how has TPB being blocked in the UK affected the site (I assume not at all).
TPB is hosted in some sort of cloud thingie. I'm not involved today, so I'm not sure anymore. TPB being blocked in a country has, in every single attempt, given more traffic to it. It's like trying to shoot a black hole with an bow&arrow.
this may seem a broad obtuse question but: is The Pirate Bay now what your previously thought it would be?
I would have hoped it was gone already. I think that we need to have less single points of failures - which TPB kind of is. All the other file sharing sites are centralised or dependent on TPB.
What motivated you to create and maintain TPB?
Was the story about purchasing Sealand real? How would that have worked?
Motivation comes from the importance of freedom of information. Sealand was real! They just wanted too much money for it. We raised a lot, and I bought rain forest for the money in brasil somewhere. Tiamo was not happy with me wasting the money on "crap" (his view) and anakata laughed at me for believing in doing good.
As one of the founders of one of the most popular sites on the Internet, do many people recognize you out in public?
A lot do, yes. But being from the northern part of europe, we have an unwritten rule of not acknowleding that we recognize someone, which I love. When I go to places (forums, conferences etc) people are more open with it, which is fine.
Is anything happening with an appeal for the #spectrial miscarriage-of-justice to European courts, either the EU Court of Justice or the ECHR?
Hey Rick, congrats again on the engagement :) They should reply within a few months actually. There are (as you blogged about) lots of new things going in our direction!
Hey Peter! Looking at your startup Flattr, it seems that it is in line with your ideals of helping the world community, unfortunately it is not well known as of now and certainly does not compare to TPB. What is the team doing to grow Flattr so it can grow to the point of being a force on the internet like The Pirate Bay?
EDIT: For those who don't know, Flattr is a microdonation platform for easily supporting content creators that you think deserve compensation for their hard work!
Well, the problem for flattr is that internet has become very centralised. A lot of people are trying to fix that through technology but also by setting up partnerships with sites that control information (facebook, youtube etc). The biggest thing we need to make sure is that we take back that control from these corporations and make a more open network.
What is your opinion on Free Software movement and FSF?
I love them. There was shots of me discussing a lot with Richard Stallman in some cuts of TPB AFK but was cut out. Hopefully they'll be extra material so you can hear his (clever) views on piracy as well.
Hey Peter, thanks for doing this AMA.
Do you have any areas of interest in which you are planning to work in the future?
I'm planning to fix the payment industry right now, doing some boring artwork and I also want to go with the Sea Shepherds to antarctica and hunt those fucking japanese whalers. If the sea shepherds will have me :)
Now that TPB is essentially a magnet index what separates it from other sites of its kind?
I would say it's the people on the site. The moderators, the users, all making it a great place. TPB is the community, without it, it's useless..
What country has the highest download rate from you? The highest mirror/host rate?
When I was active the biggest countries was US/UK/SE for historical and internetical reasons.
How would you recommend TPB users stay safe?
Using a condom, regular excersise and preferably eating only vegan food!
Do you regret any of your actions pertaining TPB (etc) ?
No. YOLO!
Thanks for creating the pirate bay.
Thank you for making it something that people care about.
What do you think of torrent justification that today's youth seems to have?
They should seed more.
Do you watch melodifestivalen? How do you feel about Sean Banan?
Thanks for doing what you guys do/did. There's such a huge portion of the population that would never have been able to have access to so much information and entertainment without TPB. Holding thumbs for you.
I don't watch it! It's not my type of music. Sean Banan is funny I guess. Thanks for the words :)
If you had to rewrite copyright law to make it fit into the modern era, how would you change it? How would authors, game developers, filmmakers, etc. be able to make money and protect their works under your system?
I think that Flattr is somewhere along where I would have done it. But then again, most of the people actually creating things have almost nothing of their actual income from the copyright of the works. 99.9% make their living on working in grocery stores, gas stations, office work or whatever. Rather put a system in place where culture is supported by the government, which it is partially today.
Hello there, Peter! When I met you in Lithuania a few years ago, you told me that there's some sort of plan B in case you lose the trial. Since this is an AMA, what is that plan B?
We're still on plan A, no need for plan B. Yet!
Totally thought you created Trailer Park Boys. Found the truth, not dissapointed. Thank you for creating a very handy tool.
Trailer Park Boys is the better TPB, honestly. One of my top 3 shows. I'm usually jokng that TPB is three guys from the northern part of their continent. One drug addict, one drunk and then bubbles. Fits both TPBs..
On a scale of 1 to Awesome, how awesome is Markorepairs?
He's KINDA funny! So I'd say 1337.
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Given what happened with Acta, SOPA, PIPA and all of that I think we have a good chance to stop the scary future. But we need to fight it. I think we're in the start of something, and we need to raise our voices!
Big fan, thanks for doing this AMA Two Questions: Is there anything people in the U.S. can do to help? Writing a representative? Would joining a growing pirate party group be beneficial?
I think just asking is good. We shouldn't all just go to the pirate parties - go to the normal parties as well and tell them to change their views to fit the real world. We kind of need to lobby, not just protest.
has the piratebay considered hosting from international waters?
We tried buying a country a few years back. Then a year ago or so I know that some guys set up flying drones in international waters with radiolinks.
What's the best way/s to support TPB?
Starting a "competitor". We need to not just rely upon ONE site!
I watched the film yesterday and I enjoyed it. I have also used TPB in the past and thought what a revolution it was. I studied in Germany (from USA) in 2003 and there was a guy in my dorm that would broadcast movies from his computer through the dorms to everyone's TV. I couldn't help but think how much trouble he could get in for doing that. Did you ever think that the large companies would come after you while you were developing and implementing your idea?
It took three days from the opening of TPB until the first legal threat came, so yeah kind of. :)
Do you think it's been worth it? I mean you've pretty much ruined your life in Sweden economically, I know there's ways to circumvent it - but still.
Who cares about financial life in Sweden. I have good friends that help me if I need help, and I don't live in Sweden.
Who is keeping TPB running now?
Winston.
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Hey, the music industry is doing great - and they should. The record industry is going away, thank god. But I think my greatest gift hasn't been given away yet. I hope so at least. :)
What kind of server infrastructure does the pirate bay run on? How did you and the TPB team scale and manage it?
Cheapest computers available, sometimes without chassis (too expensive). Writing fast code was key.
I do not have a question, I would just like to be acknowledged by someone who is world famous. Please and thank you, if you could.
tl;dr
What OS/Hardware/Smartphone do you use?
Laptop I run a macbook air (I travel a lot so it's great). I use a nokia n9 because of the openness. But I try to not use a tracking device, sorry smartphone, at all.
What is the most infuriating thing a producer or lawyer has ever said to you?
"You've raped me, my friends, my kids, my mother and father, then you spit me in the face and tell me to love it." It was one of the top people at a record company in Sweden. I left the meeting two hours later and the guy told me that I'm probably going to hear from him when he needed a job. AFK TROLLING.
When they got Kim DotCom did it worry you guys a bit?
We already had our "hit". It worried me that I didn't have as much cool stuff and war rooms as he has.
Thanks for making TPB!
Used the site for years, and didn't really have any special questions.
My only question is what the original group in the starting was doing just before making TPB? Having a coffee? sitting around jerking it? :D
THANKS AGAIN from Canada!
The AMA for Piratbyrån - who founded TPB - is on reddit just after mine!
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Everytime I see TPB i hope that it's Trailer Park Boys.
Do you see a possible future where torrent websites embrace encryption like Kim Dotcom is doing with Mega? Could this work technically?
You can just turn on encryption today. It does little though. We shouldn't hide what we're doing, we should be proud of it.
Just saw the TPB AFK documentary earlier today, and it was very interesting. I would've liked to see more about TPB though, and less about the trials. Thanks for doing what you do for the internets. Is it correct that you will be the only one to accept the prison time? How in the world are you going to be able to pay that ridiculous sum of money that the judge fined you to?
Have no money, wouldn't pay if I had it.
What do you think is the worst part about the pirate bay?
The layout, the old crew, the shitty code and that noone else has been able to make a better site...!
Do you regret everything that happened? If you were to send yourself a letter in the past, would you warn yourself not to create TPB?
PS: Thank you very much for doing this.
I would have sent a letter telling myself the winning numbers for a lottery ticket...
Do you make any money from founding TPB? If so, how much money do you make? Thanks for everything!
I make my living from conferences and writing mostly!
Has it been worth it? I mean, you could certainly have chosen an easier career path.
No doubt - it's been worth every single second of it. It's not a career, it's life.
If Gotte had encrypted his hard drives would have ye not got sentenced?
His email was the only evidence in the case.
Will you actually jerk off for 5 years?
That's fredrik! And knowing him, it's not unlikely!
Which place was that scene that the 'subpoena server' was bringing you letters all the time? What happened after you 'got served'? ;o
It was in the court. Nothing happened. Since the letter was not left at the floor where the guy left it, I had to file a police charge that someone stole them. This means that i was technically not served. :)
Thank you so much for what you have done for the internet as a whole. My question is what is your favorite film?
Taxidermia and donnie darko!
What did the filmmakers really think they were going to get out of the project way back when it first began? surely not the incredible story seen in the film.
TPB was way more fun and crazy back before they started filming I must add.. It was the golden days of crazy internet with lots of time and energy being spent on just playing around!
Do you guys have any plans for future projects?
We all run lots of other projects. I started Flattr.com and some security services (like the VPN service Ipredator.se). Lots of things coming out all the time!
Man, I gotta say, I love how firmly you guys stand up for yourselves. Are you ever worried about your enormous balls pulling planets out of their orbit?
You know that leap year thingie...?
Happiest moment of your life so far?
When my brother got his daughter. Sorry for the cheesy answer!
For someone with limited knowledge on this subject, how much riskier is it using TPB versus a private tracker?
7
Hei Peter!
Was the pressure from the U.S. on the Swedish government mentioned in the trial and was it ever revealed just what happened there?
No it was not part of the trial, even though we wanted to bring it up. It is however part of the appeals to the european courts!
who was your favorite actor to work with, when creating/filming "Trailer Park Boys"
Ricky. I also had a crush on Lucy.
What are your views on the current degeneration of democracy in favor of party and hard currency influenced policy/politics in the western world?
The problem with the western world is that we think to believe we're so great. We need to make more laws against corruption all over the world. Globalisation has brought out the worst tactics and playing rules from everywhere to everywhere...!
You are the best person.
I think a mother would rather think that of her kid, Mother_of_pearl!
What if some government is able to put so much pressure on the peering TPB is using that they raid the data center again or just cut the power?
GLHF. :)
Let's say that in the future the world governments crack down on internet freedom, and force users to be completely known and transparent in anything they say or download on the web. (Government logins, excessive bandwidth monitoring.) Is there anything that can be done to circumvent the worst internet surveillance possibilities?
Build another network, dump the old crap. Epic win!
I saw the movie yesterday and I wanted to know, is Gottfrid really a junkie?
He has had issues with drugs, yes.
What do you think about Aaron Swartz's suicide? I find him and your lot devoting your life doing the same thing (i.e. awesome things).
I was really sad when I got to know about it. I've written quite a few articles for scandinavian news papers about it, and also on my blog. Aaron and I shared lots of friends and devotion, I'm really sad for the people closest to him. He's really going to be missed, not only as an internet freedom fighter, but also by his friends.
you mention wanting tpb gone so a new one can come along. What would you like to see from a successor?
Less talk about pirates, more about ninjas!
do you trust the judicial system or still believe in it. or did the whole lobbyism / Bias thing crush your hopes that everything is gonna be ok ?
I do not trust it in Sweden anymore. I think that it's kind of fucked up. Not only by lobbyism but by this idea that they do nothing wrong. I think we need to change governments if they allow things to get this fucked up!
Could you beat Bert Karlsson if you took a cage match? How would you finish the match?
15 years ago he actually parked on my parking spot. I told him that if he doesn't move his car within 3 seconds I would smash it to pieces and burn it to the ground. He moved it directly. Kind of already won.
What is your opinion on the Tor browser? Useful? Thanks Peter! Love TPB
It's great! Support Tor and the guys and team behind it as much as possible!
What kind of drugs was Gotte doing?
Are you a leftist?
I know that someone once paid him with weird drugs. He's experimenting. Yes, I'm very leftist.
Watched your movie and I thought you were totally cute. Any chance we can be friends IRL? :)
IRL?
With the Six Strikes plan soon to be implemented by providers across the US, what ways are there to bypass or protest this action, aside from dropping your Internet plan?
Tell your ISP that you will leave them. If you can't leave them, build a new ISP. In the meanwhile, use VPN's, Tor and help the projects that seem to do good for helping the community!
Last year I remember reading about TPB being hosted from drones hovering out at sea at some point in the future. Is that still happening? I mean are you guys testing this out? Or was it simply an entertaining press release?
Link to article: http://thepiratebay.se/blog/210
It might already be running on that...
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Simon started filming in 2008!
You are part of the Knights of the Internet. If a robber uses a ladder to break into a house, you are not going to arrest the carpenter that made the ladder.
The only constructive thing I can say is thank you.
Also, what's your preferred *nix distro?
Debian!
In your opinion, which is the best interview you ever gave?
I interviewed Richard Stallman once.
What has been the hardest aspect of dealing with entire trial throughout the years? How has your family come to handle it? Hope all is well.
Not falling asleep... my family is really supportive!
How is Flattr doing? I think it's an excellent idea for giving back to content creators, but I don't see it everywhere. Is it still growing?
It's growing and thanks for liking it! It's hard to get sites to allow it though, because everyone thinks there's a catch. Too good to be true, kind of thing. If you want to help, tell sites to add support for flattr!
How do you currently make a living? Is Kronofogden (Swedish Enforcement Authority) trying to enforce salary from you?
Talking at conferences etc. Kronofogden can only work in Sweden, I have no relationship to them.
Well done for sticking around instead of fucking off like the other two guys did.
They didn't really fuck off though. Gottfrid is in prison, Fredrik is dealing with raising kids. They're great people, in their own ways :)
Have you considered entering politics?
Not really. I don't like those types or parties...
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If you ask any of the others, they will say they are the only sane ones. It's all in the eye of the beholder!
First of all, thank you for the AMA.
What do you think of Kim Dotcom, his websites (old and new) and his problems with justice?
Kimble.... long story short, he's weird. I respect weirdness. I don't like all of his old moves directly, but trying to believe he's a changed man. I think his recent troubles has changed him a bit, I hope so. My biggest issue with Kim and all of the other people that are active in this sphere is... why the fuck does noone have good taste...?!
Any new projects you are working on?
Yes, lots! You'll see.
If you could describe Hollywood in one word what would it be?
Hollywood?
Since nobody is asking, can you please put up some proof?
Isn't the flair enough? www.brokep.com/reddit.txt
What do you feel about the importance of being able to access educational journals a online for free?
All access to all information is probably vital for the right person. I think that educational material, especially the ones paid for with government grants, of course should be public domain.
What was your favorite response to a company who had ordered you to take down their content?
EDIT: Oh my god, the co-founder of Pirate Bay actually responded to me!! I'm gonna tell all my friends about this! Thanks for being awesome you guys!
The legal threat from Linotype was the funniest. They sent a list of list of fonts they wanted taken down from TPB. The reply has a new font (from the list) for each word in the letter.
Is there any material that you would not want pirated?
Swedish dansbandsmusic.
Why do you think the virtues of TPB and the Pirate Party and the ideas of anti-copyright are so much larger and more popular in Sweden than elsewhere in the world?
It's a cold country, with vast distances. Scandinavians built communications to not have to go out in the cold and not having to travel to the other side of the country. Distance from Malmö (south) to Stockholm (south of the middle) is as far as Malmö to Paris.... kind of need communication.
Are you paranoid about people coming to bust your door open?
Nah. I'm more paranoid to have a door to open myself.
I can't find enough words to say how much I appreciate your work. I have one of your t-shirts. You guys are fucking sick.
If I had a question, it would be -
How do you feel about the Piratebay's competitors such as Isohunt? What is your opinion on them?
I think more competitors are needed. I like that Isohunt has stayed around for a long while, big ups to Gary for that. (On the other hand, can't understand why a young man like him is against abortion. Can't respect that.)
How much money have I lost because of this? Do I need it? God knows I certainly work hard enough to deserve it.
That said, thanks for making the world a better place.
Thanks yourself man. Keep doing good work!
Peter, I never really knew that there was such a big rift within the TPB family. Especially with TiAMO and Anakata and yourself. Was this played up in the movie? When TiAMO said those things in the bar and you were either told about it or shown the footage of it to reply you looked genuinely hurt.
I was not hurt. We talk like this privately all the time. They are the most interesting things in the movie, I wanted more of that, and less of the court stuff. We still respect eachother a lot and the dynamics is kind of working!
I watched TPB AFK last night and you were the only character that I identified with.
Sorry that the laws are so fucked.
If you could change one law, what would it be?
Thanks!
I would make it illegal to eat animals. :)
What is your favorite BitTorrent Client?!?!?!
rtorrent!
Thanks for the AMA, Peter! My question: you reference in this thread that you are surprised that TPB has been around for so long and that something better should have replaced it. What improvements to a PB-like site could be made?
Working all the time, integrating with "social media websites" (oh how I hate that thing), having a working search function, having a working upload mechanism,... the list is endless.
What have you downloaded lately ?
TPB AFK and finnish movies.
Hej Peter. Are you disappointed with your attorneys? The documentary made it seem like none of you were properly prepared for the trial.
Not really, i kind of liked them. My lawyer is old and respected. I changed his mind about a lof of these things. For me it was kind of a gamble. He was also one of the top politicians in the swedish christian democrats, not exactly who I would vote for. I wanted to influence him to change their views on this. (They're part of the government). It's like trolling in a good way.
How many times have you personally been "served" legal papers? How many of the encounters end with offensive exchanges of words?
Lots. I've also been followed by private investigators. As has my closed ones. Kind of stupid, why would they do that, to find out what I'm doing online?
So.... what's Gottfrid's sex life like?
Contrary to popular belief, the TPB trio doesn't sleep with EACHOTHER.
Are you happy how the documentary ended up? Were many interesting things left out, or did Klose use most of the material?
I would like to have seen lots of other things. Over 200 hours are edited out!
TPB seems to be the thing you are publicly most identified with, I however, want to thank you for flattr.
Thanks! That makes me happy! Flattr is kind of my baby, that not enough people notice. It's the more beautiful of my babies as well.
How many different server locations are there currently?
You can have a server anywhere you want!
So... did Gottfrid have digits of pi memorized... through an excercise of rote memorization or something, or was he computing it in his head as he was going along? In the movie you (or someone) mentioned he's a sort of a cryptography genius. When you say this, do you mean he's just really good because of the virtue of being very experienced -- having spent years and years working with the stuff, or is he some sort of enigmatic prodigy genius who knows weird stuff and you can't really explain how he knows it?
He's simply amazing and totally weird and obnoxious. Perfect guy for a movie!
Do Ricky and Julian treat Corey and Trevor the same way in real life?
No, didn't you see The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour?
If you had a hybrid teleporter/time machine that could take you anywhere at anytime, but only for 5 seconds, who would you punch in the mouth?
George Bush or Ronald Reagan
What are your thoughts on Kim Dotcom's Mega? Greetings from a fellow swede :)
I think it's good that he tries. One shouldn't give in to corrupt pressure. And sorry, I'm not Swedish :)
Please tell Reddit about Flattr. @ https://flattr.com/
I hate to brag - Flattr is super awesome and Reddit should integrate it for every upvote.
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It's insane. But he might actually get better from it, his health was not the best.
Do you shit where you eat?
That is to say, do you use TPB for personal use and participate in seeding/uploading?
Using TPB is not eating shit really, is it? I use it alot!
In hindsight, how do you wish you invested your time? Would you have remained as passionate as you had been knowing it would lead to a shut-down? Thanks for your time!
There's no shut down! It's still up. You can't change a person really, so yes, I have no regrets.
What is your relationship with Gotte like?
After watching the documentary, I have to say his lifestyle, attitude, and general demeanor do not help your cause.
I love Gotte. He's an amazing guy. I hate some of his views. When I talk about veganism he tells me be about the dog he ate the day before or something. I would say that his lifestyle is his own choice, his attitude is generally very honest and impressive (but not helpful maybe). He's not polished, and that's the best thing about him.
HeJ PeJter. Lunch next week? :)
TJO! Klart!
Ever thought about writing a book?
Been writing on one for quite a few years. Got my laptop stolen (twice) with chapters on them without a backup. Was happy because they sucked. In a few years the book might be done :)
What's your favorite beer?
I don't drink alcohol!
How does it feel having a movie about your biggest success??
My biggest success was getting my girlfriend I think! There's no movie out about that is it?
thanks for the pirates bay
And as my thanks here's a picture of a sloth
BEST. PIC. EVAH.
If you could recommend one thing from 'hiding' yourself from your ISPs finding out that you're downloading movies, etc, what would it be?
Since I started a VPN service, it might be that one... ipredator.se
What do you think of mega.co.nz as a new way of sharing information? What's your opinion of Kim Schmitz (or Dotcom, nowadays)?
It's not really new, it's the same old. Doesn't mean it's bad. I haven't really used it.
Have you ever felt guilty over TPB?
Just that it's not good enough!
Does TPB AFK give an objective view on the personal struggles you experienced or is it overdramatized?!
It's very much drama that is a bit faked. It's a picture, not necessarily right or wrong... it's not the way i felt about this period of time.
Do you think Kim dotcom s four ideas to reduce piracy would actually work? Have you spoken to him about a more coordinated defense? Do you think that there could be legal overlap between your cases?
Only way to reduce "piracy" is to make it legal.
Any good news about flattr?
New version coming out! I'm really proud of it :)
Could you tell us a bit more about your heritage and how you landed in the "middle" speaking five languages?
My father is from Finland (the karelian part) and my mother is from Norway (the city of Bergen). I grew up moving around and learned lots. I think that's the power of smaller nations, having to get influences from neighbors.
Which impact do you think 3D printers will have? I assume TPB and others rather quickly will have various designs online.
I love 3d Printers, but I think we need to work on re-using plastic for failed/unwanted products or we'll be filled with crap all over. TPB has had a "Physibles" part for a year or so with 3d designs.
What's in your torrent queue these days?
Finnish movies mostly. I try to get up2date with my finnish skills!
Is there any symbolic meaning behind doing the AMA at a time that suits the US' population better than Sweden's?
edit: You should add an introduction of yourself in the OP. I hate seeing AMAs (especially very upvoted ones) which doesn't explain the reason of the AMA.
The meaning is that the time suits the whole community kinda well. I'll see if I can add that!
Kim Dotcom implied in interviews, that the U.S. is an outdated business model and acts so aggressively because secretly it sees itself and it's industry in existential danger. Your thoughts on this?
They're kind of two-fold. The US has all of it's power because they pollinated the whole world with hollywood propaganda. They need the movies to be spread to keep people interested in the US. At the same time, they don't want to look weak or run over. That's why they hate us all.
Are you still friends with Gotte?
Yep. We've agreed to disagree on things outside the discourse of the internets.
When Suprnova collapsed did you fully expect the Pirate Bay to take off so massively as it did?
Not really. I also want to add that I loved suprnova, and especially the guy behind it. He's one of the loveliest guys around.
As much as I enjoy what tpb has done, I fear it will stand as an example asshole politicians and corporations will use to regulate the Internet more fully in the future. Thoughts?
If we can't use our freedoms, they're not worth having.
what would you say to someone that uses the Pirate Bay to constantly download copyrighted music and movies.
Go outside and see the sun a bit. Vitamine D is needed for being healthy.
Do I have permission to pirate "the pirate bay AFK"?
That's impossible actually..
If you were an Monopoly piece what piece would you be?
The cover for the game.
[deleted]
Mexican!
Have you ever met those hot chicks from Abba?
Abba sells fish, not chicken. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abba_Seafood
first i want to congratulate for the extremely good work!!! My question may be not relevant, but here it go:
"what do you think that Kevin Mitnick thinks, about all the stuff that is going on with PTB ? " Cheers!!!
I met Kevin Mitnick a few years back, in Mexico. He seemed happy but had a copyright notice on all of his slides at a presentation and told everyone to not record the presentation.... If you have nothing nice to say about a person, and so on...
The canadian in me thought this was about Trailer Park Boys
The pirate in me has always dreamed of being an extra in TPB.
Tjänera grabben. I just want to say, that you did a great op piece on NRK. The "lovforslag" to Stortinget really presses my cider, encroaching the freedom of the internet in norway!
How do you figure we (norwegians) fight this injustice?
Thanks! The norwegians needs to raise their voices more. It's one of the most quiet countries around, not working against the lobbyists!
How is life always looking over your shoulder? Do you enjoy what you do? If one day you were to have to go into a new career, anything at all, what would it be?
I'm always looking forward, otherwise I'll just hit a wall if I don't see where I'm going. I have no "Career", i just do what i think is right (&fun)!
How does it feel to be a part of changing the way people view different types of media? Pretty revolutionary if you ask me
Not sure what to answer. It's kind of grown on me, and becomes everyday life. Don't know how it is to NOT be part of this...
What was your favorite scene with Ricky, Bubbles and Julian?
When bubbles drives his go-cart, ricky in his trailer being all drunk.
How would you describe your political views?
Socialist.
Who was 'Judas'? He replied to some TPB 'spam' but is not mentioned in AFK?
He was the legal counsel for TPB!
Where do you guys stand now?
EDIT 1: Been reading all of your responses so far, so you answered pretty much! :-)
Hey Gent. :) We stand tall!
Whats your toughts on spotify and netflix? do u think the world needs more of this kind of stuff?
It all sounds good, but they're centralizing the data control again. I think we need less of those and more of not being controlled. Not everything is about the files we share, but it's more about how we share them.
Hey Peter, I'm 23 and really just started getting into programming, creating web apps, and all that. While there are obviously lucrative fields for programmers at big tech giants, honestly, one of my dreams is really just to start something with a huge impact someday like you guys have created - something that really disrupts the way people think of freedom, information, and law.
When I read about TPB, Kim DotCom, Aaron Schwartz, etc.,., I can't help but think you guys are mega geniuses and I'd never be capable of stuff like this.
Do you have any advice for someone like me who's just getting started with all this tech stuff - who wants to do something fucking awesome but can't help but feel guilty about starting later than other hackers as I sit every day with terminal open creating facile projects?
Hey
You can't really plan on doing something big, it kind of has to be the right place, time and so on. It mostly happens if it happens. Don't plan your life with that as a goal, plan your life to become happy, don't stress and be nice to yourself and other people!
Brokep! How is it like being one of the only vegans around the tech people you're usually surrounded with? You're my role model for being an atheistic, vegan who fights for Internet Freedom! :D
The tech community is actually full of atheists, vegetarians and vegans. Look at Jacob Appelbaum for instance, a favorite vegan. :)
How big is your CD collection?
Last CD i bought was an album by Moby in 1995.
Do you stand by your website mocking dead U.S. soldiers? Why do you dislike America? Genuinely interested.
I was not part of that. I don't dislike America (hey, brazil is awesome). I do however dislike a lot of the US of Americas attitude and government. The people is not the fault really, but the political system is a bit screwed up with few choices and money buys the win.
What made you want to be a vegetarian? Was it difficult for you to eat only vegetarian or was it something that you were brought up with? Thanks for all you've done for the file sharing community, I watched AFK yesterday and thought it was really interesting.
I had a really hard time with my health when I was eating meat. I never really questioned that I was eating it. I was on a vacation and only had veg food for a week and it was the first time for many years that I felt good in my body. I have not eaten any meat since then. It's probably the best thing I've done. After stopping to eat meat, I also understood the problems with the meat industry. It disgusted me quite a lot and this is something I think is so important to educate people about!
What do you think of Athene, best gamer in the world?
Don't really know him, just met him for an hour or so by coincidence. Felt like a great guy, with a big heart.
any chance that we get to see some extended footage of TPB AFK? I was really looking forward to the documentary and liked the insight but it was way to short.
Lots coming out soon according to Simon!
Thanks for making the most viewed Bambuser broadcast of all time!
Thanks for doing an important service. You know I love you.
Other than Flattr, do you have any other online payment projects/ideas on the go?
Yes, secret for now.
What's a good TV series to download?
Trailer Park Boys! TPB FTW
vim or emacs?
nano
Have you heard about the new push in Norway to get ISP's to block sites like Piratebay for HOSTING (ye, they say hosting) illegal content.? But when asked about Youtube, a site that carries soooo much illegal copyrighted content (ugh) and if that will be blocked the response is "of course not"
I wrote about it here: http://www.nrk.no/ytring/som-kina_-med-lusekofte-1.10905805
What is your opinion of the Sverigedemokraterna?
They're (badly) disguised fascist racist assholes.
You have a lot of SISU!
Kiitos paljon :)
What did you do for a job before TPB?
I've done a lot. TPB was never a job, it's always been a hobby, at best, still taking all my spare time. That's why I stopped doing TPB, I needed time to do other things. :)
How tall are you?
Tall enough for any rides!
What do you think about Kosovo?
I love Kosovo. I've been there a few times, and i've met only nice people, and so happy. It feels like home!
Ok guys - I have to sleep. I'm a bit tired after two hectic days with the release of the movie. Thanks for ALL your questions, and I'll try to be back tomorrow and reply to the ones I missed. Really love reddit and I hope that you all keep sharing! Hugs, P
