PirateBrowser

{{Short description|Tor Browser-based circumvention tool prepared by The Pirate Bay}}

{{Infobox software

| name = PirateBrowser

| logo =

| screenshot = PirateBrowser main page addon tor.jpg

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| released = {{Start date and age|2013|08|10|df=yes}}

| discontinued =

| latest release version = 0.8 (9.0.9)

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2020|04|13|df=yes}}

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| programming language =

| operating system = Microsoft Windows

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| license = Open source

|website = The Pirate Bay:
{{URL|https://piratebrowser.com/}}
{{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20170916094435/https://lilfellauk.wordpress.com/pirate-tor-browser/|Team-LiL:
Pirate Tor Browser}}

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PirateBrowser is a web browser by The Pirate Bay used to circumvent Internet censorship.

PirateBrowser

PirateBrowser was released on 10 August 2013 on the tenth anniversary of The Pirate Bay. It is a bundle of Firefox Portable 23, the FoxyProxy addon for Firefox, and the Vidalia Tor client with some proxy configurations to speed up page loading. According to TorrentFreak, it had been downloaded more than 100,000 times in its first three days,{{Cite web|url=https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-anti-clocks-100000-downloads-in-three-days-130813/|title=Pirate Bay's Anti-Censorship Browser Clocks 100,000 Downloads * TorrentFreak}} 1,000,000 times by October 2013, 2,500,000 times by 6 January 2014, and 5,000,000 times by 16 May 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-anti-censorship-browser-clocks-5000000-downloads-140516/|title=Pirate Bay's Anti-Censorship Browser Clocks 5,000,000 Downloads * TorrentFreak}}{{Cite web|url=http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-anti-censorship-browser-clocks-1-million-downloads-131019/|title=Pirate Bay's Anti-Censorship Browser Clocks 2,500,000 Downloads|publisher=TorrentFreak|date=19 October 2013}}{{cite news |title=Pirate Bay's PirateBrowser web browser reaches 1m downloads |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/21/pirate-bay-piratebrowser-1m-downloads |access-date=7 September 2021 |work=the Guardian |date=21 October 2013 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Van der Sar |first1=Ernesto |title=Pirate Bay's Anti-Censorship Browser Clocks 1,000,000 Downloads |url=https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-anti-censorship-browser-clocks-1-million-downloads-131019/ |website=TorrentFreak |access-date=7 September 2021 |language=en |date=October 19, 2013}}{{cite web |title=Pirate Bay plans new 'anti-censorship' browser |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/06/pirate-bay-anti-censorship-browser |website=the Guardian |access-date=7 September 2021 |language=en |date=6 January 2014}}

"It's not providing anonymity and it's not secure to hide your identity. PirateBrowser is only supposed to circumvent censoring and website blocking. If we made the browser fully anonymous it would only slow down browsing"{{cite web |last1=Eddy |first1=Max |title=PirateBrowser Beats Blockades, Doesn't Make You Invisible to NSA |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/piratebrowser-beats-blockades-doesnt-make-you-invisible-to-nsa |website=PCMAG |access-date=7 September 2021 |language=en |date=August 12, 2013}}

piratebrowser.com{{cite web |author1=Winston |title=PirateBrowser - No more censorship! |url=https://thepiratebay.sx/blog/233 |website=The Pirate Bay |access-date=7 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130814002248/https://thepiratebay.sx/blog/233 |archive-date=2013-08-14 |date=10 August 2013 |quote=Do you know any people who can't access TPB or other torrents-sites because they are blocked? Recommend PirateBrowser to them. It's a simple one-click browser that circumvents censorship and blockades and makes the site instantly available and accessible. No bundled ad-ware, toolbars or other crap, just a Pre-configured Firefox browser. A nice present to TPB and our users on this day, our 10yr birthday!}}{{cite web |last1=Van der Sar |first1=Ernesto |title=Pirate Bay Releases 'Pirate Browser' to Thwart Censorship |url=https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-releases-pirate-browser-to-thwart-censorship-130810/ |website=TorrentFreak |access-date=7 September 2021 |date=August 10, 2013 |quote=However, on its 10th anniversary they are now releasing a special “PirateBrowser” which effectively bypasses any ISP blockade.}} was suspended around December 2015.{{cite web |title=piratebrowser.com |url=https://piratebrowser.com/ |website=piratebrowser.com |access-date=7 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151207175047/https://piratebrowser.com/ |archive-date=2015-12-07 |quote=This domain name has been suspended...This domain name is pending ICANN verification and has been suspended. If you are the owner of this domain you can reactivate this domain by logging into your EuroDNS account.}}

The browser circumvents site-blocking in countries including, according to the Pirate Bay Web site, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iran, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, North Korea and the United Kingdom. This allows users to access some websites otherwise blocked, usually by government ban or threat of legal action by Internet service providers (ISPs) in these countries.

"The goal is to create a browser-like client to circumvent censorship, including domain blocking, domain confiscation, IP-blocking. This will be accomplished by sharing all of a site’s indexed data as P2P downloadable packages, that are then browsed/rendered locally" {{cite web |last1=Van der Sar |first1=Ernesto |title=How The Pirate Bay Plans to Beat Censorship For Good |url=https://torrentfreak.com/how-the-pirate-bay-plans-to-beat-censorship-for-good-140105/ |website=TorrentFreak |access-date=7 September 2021 |language=en |date=January 5, 2014}}

Further reading

  • {{cite web |last1=Muchmore |first1=Michael |title=PirateBrowser Review |url=https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/piratebrowser |website=PC Magazine |language=en |date=August 14, 2013}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Antonovich |first1=Chris |last2=Hatalsky |first2=Olivia Hatalsky |title=PirateBrowser Artifacts |date=12 March 2014 |publisher=Senator Patrick Leahy Center for Digital Investigations |location=Burlington, Vermont |url=https://www.champlain.edu/Documents/LCDI/Pirate_Browser_Artifacts_Report.pdf}}

References

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