Top file-sharing website The Pirate Bay (TPB), which touts itself as “the world’s most resilient bittorrent site”, has expressed its displeasure over the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) Internet blockade.

In a directive to Internet Service Providers (ISP) last month, the regulatory agency ordered them to block access to 10 sites deemed guilty of copyright infringements, including TPB. 

private bay story “We are upset that Malaysia is again transgressing the people’s human rights,” said site representative Winston Bay to Malaysiakini .

He cited the recent United Nations declaration of the Internet as a fundamental human right, lamenting that at the same time, Malaysia is blocking access to it.

Bay also argued that TPB is the "biggest culture exchange in the history of humankind" and will not be stopped by neither a “corrupt government” nor its “stupidity”.

“People will of course be able to use TPB anyhow, just as in every other country where we have been blocked, the traffic in the end increases.

“It shows that corrupt governments will not be tolerated, and that the Internet manages to circumvent stupidity,” said Bay.

‘We are number one’

In his tongue-in-cheek reply to Malaysiakini ’s query, he also said that they are “very, very upset” that the MCMC has listed the site as number two in the directive to ISPs.

“We are thinking of filing charges against the Malaysian government for not understanding that we are number one. It is damaging our reputation.

“If you talk to the idiots over there, ask them if they really didn’t know how big we are. We can’t be number two! We’re not Bono,” he quipped in the missive.

According to the “About Us” page on TPB’s website, the site was founded by Swedish anti-copyright organisation Piratbyrån in late 2003, but it split off from its parent in October 2004.

In 2006 the site changed its ownership yet again, to be run by a non-profit organisation registered in the Seychelles.

Numerous legal actions has been initiated against TPB over alleged copyright infringements, though the site has managed to beat off detractors and proudly announced that it has never once taken down a torrent because of legal action.

The bulwark of its legal defence is that it never stored such files but only tracks torrents to such files, as such it is never in physical custody of any material, copyright infringing or not.

            

Parties that have engaged in legal broadsides against the sharing website included software giant Microsoft and entertainment powerhouses SEGA and Warner Bros.

However, the site does have a terms of use policy that it will enforce over user violations and takes a dim view of child abuse or such criminal activities which it encourages users to report.

TPB is the most well-known site that tracks torrents for file sharers worldwide.