TPB as in The Pirate Bay, not Trailer Park Boys. Really sorry. I'd prefer being from that TPB.

Comments: 4554 • Responses: 75  • Date: 

xNotch3039 karma

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.

lolkep2393 karma

Thanks yourself man. Keep doing good work!

EJR942590 karma

Thanks for creating the pirate bay.

lolkep2510 karma

Thank you for making it something that people care about.

MackerLad931315 karma

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.

lolkep1439 karma

Probably Gotte. Most of the letters was either by him or our legal aid Mikael. I wrote a few as well, for the lulz.

imionme1159 karma

If you had to do it all over again, would you do anything differently?

lolkep2460 karma

Yes, I would have encrypted gottes harddrive for him.

BoldTitan1055 karma

What do you think of torrent justification that today's youth seems to have?

lolkep2985 karma

They should seed more.

Doooomed936 karma

[deleted]

lolkep2026 karma

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.

Falkvinge752 karma

Is anything happening with an appeal for the #spectrial miscarriage-of-justice to European courts, either the EU Court of Justice or the ECHR?

lolkep639 karma

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!

mangex749 karma

has gottfrid learned to encrypt his own email yet? or are you and Fredrik helping him

lolkep1276 karma

He has the longest cryptopassword I've seen. Took over a minute to type it in, and he's a fast typer. So yes. :)

jpslimecakes724 karma

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

lolkep1243 karma

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.

dspectar670 karma

What motivated you to create and maintain TPB?

Was the story about purchasing Sealand real? How would that have worked?

lolkep1358 karma

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.

lolkep669 karma

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

ForeverPregnant654 karma

How would you recommend TPB users stay safe?

lolkep2040 karma

Using a condom, regular excersise and preferably eating only vegan food!

mHtt581 karma

What's the best way/s to support TPB?

lolkep1727 karma

Starting a "competitor". We need to not just rely upon ONE site!

iKevFtw571 karma

As one of the founders of one of the most popular sites on the Internet, do many people recognize you out in public?

lolkep1146 karma

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.

YourDonation477 karma

Please tell Reddit about Flattr. @ https://flattr.com/

lolkep659 karma

I hate to brag - Flattr is super awesome and Reddit should integrate it for every upvote.

ismo420475 karma

What is the most infuriating thing a producer or lawyer has ever said to you?

lolkep1138 karma

"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.

thisisnota464 karma

Do you regret any of your actions pertaining TPB (etc) ?

lolkep1725 karma

No. YOLO!

Incog-negro456 karma

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?

lolkep1081 karma

You know that leap year thingie...?

cggreene421 karma

Great movie!

anyway How are the rest of the guys doing, and how do you see TPB's future?

edit:spelling

lolkep1139 karma

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... !

honeybadga394 karma

Totally thought you created Trailer Park Boys. Found the truth, not dissapointed. Thank you for creating a very handy tool.

lolkep585 karma

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..

Fagasaurus_Rex371 karma

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!

lolkep569 karma

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.

peig367 karma

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?

lolkep466 karma

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!

hansjens47360 karma

has the piratebay considered hosting from international waters?

lolkep850 karma

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.

choperius351 karma

Do you, anakata and TiAMO get any money for being involved in TPB AFK?

lolkep702 karma

Nope. I think we've rather lost money on traveling places to help with the film.

soggyfritter299 karma

What country has the highest download rate from you? The highest mirror/host rate?

lolkep517 karma

When I was active the biggest countries was US/UK/SE for historical and internetical reasons.

InFerYes293 karma

Who is keeping TPB running now?

lolkep436 karma

Winston.

FenwayFranks282 karma

[deleted]

lolkep442 karma

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!

comradeloren234 karma

[deleted]

lolkep452 karma

Cheapest computers available, sometimes without chassis (too expensive). Writing fast code was key.

VanMayonnaise225 karma

[deleted]

lolkep433 karma

We're still on plan A, no need for plan B. Yet!

dariusm5224 karma

What OS/Hardware/Smartphone do you use?

lolkep521 karma

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.

CalmYoTitz219 karma

Why did you start The Pirate Bay?

lolkep460 karma

It was started because it was fun. That's kind of always what happened with the things started by PiratbyrÄn. To piss someone off has sometimes been a motive as well.

rum_rum211 karma

this may seem a broad obtuse question but: is The Pirate Bay now what your previously thought it would be?

lolkep401 karma

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.

Frajer206 karma

When they got Kim DotCom did it worry you guys a bit?

lolkep775 karma

We already had our "hit". It worried me that I didn't have as much cool stuff and war rooms as he has.

A_GZA202 karma

who was your favorite actor to work with, when creating/filming "Trailer Park Boys"

lolkep335 karma

Ricky. I also had a crush on Lucy.

zboz202 karma

Could you beat Bert Karlsson if you took a cage match? How would you finish the match?

lolkep526 karma

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.

9tank198 karma

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).

lolkep333 karma

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.

traceroute_185 karma

Hey Peter, thanks for doing this AMA.

Do you have any areas of interest in which you are planning to work in the future?

lolkep569 karma

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 :)

scr1ptr185 karma

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.

lolkep530 karma

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.

excessmusic182 karma

What is your opinion on Free Software movement and FSF?

lolkep321 karma

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.

vankirk177 karma

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?

lolkep360 karma

It took three days from the opening of TPB until the first legal threat came, so yeah kind of. :)

Kaepora162 karma

[deleted]

lolkep771 karma

Being right.

nckt140 karma

[deleted]

lolkep322 karma

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!

Rapedroid131 karma

Now that TPB is essentially a magnet index what separates it from other sites of its kind?

lolkep260 karma

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..

falafelnr1131 karma

How many TBs of files have you approximately downloaded from TPB?

lolkep366 karma

Why only GB? Let's talk PB.

Raven_Rise127 karma

you mention wanting tpb gone so a new one can come along. What would you like to see from a successor?

lolkep431 karma

Less talk about pirates, more about ninjas!

chris-colour104 karma

Hi Peter!

So what's happening with your PB trial as of now? You came across very well in AFK and I hope everything works out for you.

Also, I'm very intrigued by the arguments shown in the trial. There's a clear split between you guys defending the mechanism of file sharing as a principle and the prosecution attacking the consequential ability to download copyrighted versions of things. I'm wondering what is your opinion specifically on downloading copyrighted materials like films, music etc?

Personally, I find myself completely split on the matter. On one hand, I think it's pretty shitty that people don't get the revenue from taking financial and creative risks by creating things. While on the other hand, there's so much cynical money-making crap out there that it's hard to feel loyal to the media industries. For programmes especially (photoshop, 3Dmax etc) I know that many companies turn a blind eye to students using pirated copies because it ensures that the offices will end up using those same programmes as those students become workers. I think this is an interesting undercurrent. Like Gabe Newell said (I'm paraphrasing here): the issue isn't one of theft, it's one of customer service.

I should also say that I'm a complete hypocrite in this situation, as despite thinking that people who create things should get their rewards, there's so much stuff easily available for free that I can't help but put my morals aside and enjoy the ride.

lolkep165 karma

Waiting for the EU-court and european court of human rights to take the case.

cypher5001102 karma

On a scale of 1 to Awesome, how awesome is Markorepairs?

lolkep261 karma

He's KINDA funny! So I'd say 1337.

MoonManAndHarmony89 karma

What is your opinion on the Tor browser? Useful? Thanks Peter! Love TPB

lolkep153 karma

It's great! Support Tor and the guys and team behind it as much as possible!

teamcoltra77 karma

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.

lolkep134 karma

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!

Takamei176 karma

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

lolkep188 karma

It might already be running on that...

812e12iegu12e74 karma

Hej Peter. Are you disappointed with your attorneys? The documentary made it seem like none of you were properly prepared for the trial.

lolkep246 karma

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.

lolkep68 karma

Thanks for doing an important service. You know I love you.

Leppaluthi63 karma

[deleted]

lolkep140 karma

It's insane. But he might actually get better from it, his health was not the best.

deathforge62 karma

Any new projects you are working on?

lolkep109 karma

Yes, lots! You'll see.

xDGDZEx58 karma

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?

lolkep165 karma

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.

burgplayer54 karma

Happiest moment of your life so far?

lolkep169 karma

When my brother got his daughter. Sorry for the cheesy answer!

Slayers_BriefS50 karma

So.... what's Gottfrid's sex life like?

lolkep187 karma

Contrary to popular belief, the TPB trio doesn't sleep with EACHOTHER.

derKetzer647 karma

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?

lolkep125 karma

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!

Spunsh45 karma

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?

lolkep89 karma

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.

Ncrpts42 karma

What have you downloaded lately ?

lolkep89 karma

TPB AFK and finnish movies.

justheretorustle38 karma

What kind of drugs was Gotte doing?

Are you a leftist?

lolkep64 karma

I know that someone once paid him with weird drugs. He's experimenting. Yes, I'm very leftist.

gentthaci29 karma

Where do you guys stand now?

EDIT 1: Been reading all of your responses so far, so you answered pretty much! :-)

lolkep41 karma

Hey Gent. :) We stand tall!

KevinPeters23 karma

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!

lolkep71 karma

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.

maromaro21 karma

I saw the movie yesterday and I wanted to know, is Gottfrid really a junkie?

lolkep47 karma

He has had issues with drugs, yes.

too_many_moths15 karma

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?

lolkep38 karma

GLHF. :)

Whoaduder14 karma

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?

lolkep38 karma

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.

mawmawmawmaw11 karma

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?

lolkep22 karma

Have no money, wouldn't pay if I had it.

DIGGYReddit9 karma

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!

lolkep25 karma

The AMA for PiratbyrÄn - who founded TPB - is on reddit just after mine!

pissedoffbitcoinguy8 karma

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?

lolkep35 karma

Ask Gottfrid. he's the one living there.

I_have_no_ear5 karma

Well done for sticking around instead of fucking off like the other two guys did.

lolkep17 karma

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 :)

jhrf5 karma

Do you view your greatest gift to mankind the downfall of the music industry?

lolkep18 karma

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. :)

marsvolta5 karma

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?

lolkep15 karma

Build another network, dump the old crap. Epic win!

tylersburden4 karma

Are you paranoid about people coming to bust your door open?

lolkep5 karma

Nah. I'm more paranoid to have a door to open myself.

vesky3 karma

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.

lolkep16 karma

I would have sent a letter telling myself the winning numbers for a lottery ticket...