

Ask HN: Would it be illegal to make a Pirate-Bay-based application? - jawerty

I was looking into making an open source thepiratebay library for using it programmatically via python or ruby. Seeing as PirateBay isn&#x27;t the most legally recognized website, would making something like this be considered illegal?
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garethsprice
It's technically not illegal to link to a site that links to copyrighted
material, but there's still the potential for legal challenges to come up -
especially if whatever you build is successful.

The RIAA/MPAA etc can ruin your life with an expensive, years-long lawsuit
whether you are found guilty in the end or not.

If you really want to make it, make it for fun and release it anonymously.

Historical context:

Napster:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster#Lawsuit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster#Lawsuit)

Legal discussion:
[http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=c71fa5d9-8380-...](http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=c71fa5d9-8380-4714-b7fb-73d8d426973b)

(I am not a lawyer! Get legal advice if you are worried!)

~~~
smartwater
I personally know someone who had a website seized by the U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) for linking to copyright content. It all comes down
to intent. When visiting a site like ThePirateBay or TorrentButler, it's clear
that they are intentionally facilitating copyright infringement-- and that's
what they will charge you with, amongst other things. It's hard to deny that
fact when 99% of the content has a copyright, even if you hide behind the DMCA
"user uploaded content" clause.

With that being said, they made 1M+ from it and didn't get caught. Your
results may vary.

------
w4
If you're seriously concerned with the legality (side note: legality in what
jurisdiction?) of implementing something like that you should spend a couple
hundred bucks and chat with an attorney.

Unhelpful, I know, but it seems like you have legitimate cause for concern,
especially if you're located in the US, and HN isn't a source for legal advice
regardless of the quality of commenters on the site. This is doubly true since
the complexity of your question is likely far greater than you might
anticipate, as is often the case with legal concerns, and likely not easily
addressed here.

So basically, if you're seriously concerned about legality: consult with an
attorney. If you can't, or don't want to, spend the money to do so: don't
write the library, or at a minimum don't publically distribute it. And if
course, none if this is to be construed as legal advise, yada-yada, etc.

~~~
jawerty
Thanks a lot. That's what I was thinking, consult a legal professional and
then write or not write it considering the advise I was given. I notice there
are a lot of ThePirateBay libraries, so I wasn't too worried about it but its
better to be safe than in court.

