The Pirate Bay has hit turbulent seas once again. Earlier today torrent users noticed that the site appeared to be offline. This in itself was nothing particularly unusual -- all sites have occasional downtime -- but it soon transpired that the site was down around the world. The Pirate Bay has already been blocked by many ISPs around the world, but it was clear that this was something different.
Now it seems that the reason for the disappearance of the Pirate Bay is a raid by Swedish Police. And it is not just the main site that's gone -- the same fate became the site's forum (Suprbay.org) and associated sites Bayimg.com and Pastebay.net.
News of the Pirate Bay's initial problem were reported by TorrentFreak, and the site quickly updated its story to include details of the police raid. The site quotes Paul Pintér, a member of the Swedish police involved in IP enforcement. He said: "There has been a crackdown on a server room in Greater Stockholm. This is in connection with violations of copyright law."
TorrentFreak also reports that other torrent sites including EZTV, Zoink and Torrage are down, as is the Istole tracker. These incidents may not be related, but coming at the same time as a raid on the Pirate Bay would suggest that there is a coordinated effort underway at the moment. There have been a number of arrests over a period of months as authorities attempt to clamp down on piracy, including the November arrest of one of the site's founders.
This is far from being the first time the Pirate Bay has attracted the interest of police, and it is not the first time a raid has been carried out. The site has played a long and drawn out game of cat and mouse with authorities around the world, with mirrors and new domains popping up as one is closed down -- there are already mirrors springing up this time around, but it's not clear how long they will last.
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