While this sequence of events is almost comedic, that split-second decision to backup the site turned out to be the most pivotal moment in the sites short history. Within days the site was restored online thanks to the backup. Without it, the situation today might look very different.
This determination and defiance from the sites operators set the tone for the years that followed. Learning from their experiences, safety measures were put in place. Backups were spread around the globe to mitigate any future attacks, and although the site has gone down for 24 hours or more since the raid, the culprit has often been technical or wild party related.
After all their equipment was confiscated by the authorities in 2006, Peter, Fredrik and Gottfrid were escorted to the police station. During their questioning the Pirate Bay trio gave up
very little information. Gottfrid quickly confessed to his crime of killing the Swedish prime minister when he was 2 years old but that was all they got.
The raid eventually resulted in a lengthy investigation out of which the police generated 4000 pages of evidence against the people involved. The evidence was used by the prosecution during the Pirate Bay trial of 2009 and the appeal of 2010 where four people who were previously involved with the site were sentenced to
jail time and significant fines.
Their sentences were eventually
made final early 2012, although that is
not the end for all involved.
Despite these sentences The Pirate Bay is still online, but not without change. The sites tracker has since been removed and the default .torrent files
were switched for magnet links to make the site less prone to outside attacks. The site also has more registered users than ever before.
At the time of the raid The Pirate Bay had only a few hundred thousand registered users, but with the spotlight on the deviant Swedes, the user count soon skyrocketed. At the start of July 2006 the site broke the magical milestone of one million registered users, and that was just the beginning.
Today, despite numerous court cases, court-ordered blockades by ISPs and two full trials at the Stockholm Court, The Pirate Bay has 5,741,691 registered members. Quite a remarkable achievement for a site that doesnt even require registration to download.
Remembering their survival, The Pirate Bay today celebrates Pirate Independence Day, an initiative they started back in 2008.
To celebrate today, we encourage you to keep on sharing. Keep on uploading, downloading, swapping bits of information, they
announce.
Let today be the pirates independence day! Today we celebrate the victories weve had and the victories that will come. Today we celebrate that were united in our efforts. Keep on waving that black flag! they conclude.
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