X

Sweden Pirate Party sets sail with its own ISP

Avast! The Swedish Pirate Party has launched its own Internet service provider, an anonymous service for file-sharers and lovers of freedom on the high seas of the Web

richard-trenholm-square.jpg
richard-trenholm-square.jpg
Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
See full bio
Richard Trenholm

The Swedish Pirate Party has launched its own Internet service providarrrr. PirateISP will be an anonymous service for anyone who objects to the monitoring of their Internet activity.

The party is a partner in PirateISP, along with anonymity service ViaEuropa. The ISP aims to provide competition for other ISPs, keep copyright issues in the headlines, and ensure smooth sailing for its users. PirateISP CEO Gustav Nipe told TorrentFreak that the service is "one way to tackle the big brother society".

A beta test for 100 users of the anonymous service has kicked off in Lund, Sweden. Traffic will not be monitored and no logs kept, with the service offered across Lund in two weeks and the whole of Sweden at the end of summer.

The Pirate Party already supplies bandwidth to the popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. The Pirate Bay's first mates are awaiting the results of an appeal after being found guilty of copyright infringement charges.

Should the Pirate Party get itself elected to the Swedish government, it plans to exploit diplomatic immunity to host file-sharing servers within parliament.