YouTube could get some unusual competition soon: The operators of infamous Swedish Torrent site The Pirate Bay have announced that they are going to start their own streaming video platform soon. A short message on Thepiratebay.org doesn’t really reveal any details, but promises that there will be “a bit of Pirate Bay mentality behind every project we do.”
We’ll have to wait and see what that means until the site launches, but first glimpses on the new service sure look like rightsholders won’t be too happy about it. A test server of the new Thevideobay.org destination is currently used to stream unlicensed music videos and midget porn — just the kind of combination you’d expect from raunchy pirates.
The public start page of Thevideobay.org isn’t too inviting so far. The site lets visitors know that the project is currently only accessible for beta-testers and developers. “We will open for public when done,” it states.
The Video Bay server has, however, been in use for a few weeks already. It powers the Eurovisiontorrents.com website, allowing visitors to stream music videos for each of the competing groups of the Eurovision Song Contest –- which, as a side note to our U.S. readers, is like the Superbowl of European music contests.
A little bit of digging also unearths a page listing recently uploaded videos that we won’t link to, because it’s not exactly safe for work. Yes, you guessed it already, this is where the midget sex comes into play. The videos were apparently uploaded by the Pirate Bay founders Fredrik Neij and “Brokep.” There is no layout or logo visible whatsoever, but word on the net is that The Pirate Bay folks are currently looking for designers.
Now, will The Video Bay really be a full-fledged streaming video site? Like YouTube, but without any takedowns? I honestly have my doubts. There are obvious legal reasons against doing something like that. Then again, The Pirate Bay isn’t really known for following the law too closely. A Swedish prosecutor has announced to file charges against the operators of the Torrent site in early May, but that hasn’t stopped them from continuing with business as usual.
Actually, the Pirate Bay folks have been on a roll lately with new projects. They have announced a sponsorship-based online music website called Playble soon, and there have been hints about a new anonymous file sharing protocol. Maybe The Video Bay will just be one of those little diversions to keep their audience happy until something much bigger gets revealed. This wouldn’t be the first time that The Pirate Bay surprises everyone.
