Popular File Sharing Site Using .MS Domain

thepiratebay-logoPopular file sharing site The Pirate Bay has officially switched on the Montserrat-based domain name ThePirateBay.ms.

According to TorrentFreak.com which shares news on filesharing and copyright matters, “the new addition is welcome since the torrent site recently lost control over most of its active domain names. The Pirate Bay has gone through a lot of domain changes over the past year.”

The site, which originated in Sweden lost many of its active domains due to copyright holder complaints as it shares movies, music, television and other content without permission.

The .MS extension was registered several years ago but it hasn’t been used as a primary domain until now.

Running a copyright infringing website usually breaches the terms and conditions of the registry where that domain is registered. On that basis the registry can usually block the domain, though it can be quite a lengthy process and may require a court order.
According to Denzil West of MNI Networks Ltd. which manages the .MS domain on behalf of Montserrat, the “.MS Registry is fully automated; as are most domain registries around the world, so there is no pre filtering of domain names; or vetting of the activity carried out on the website.

“For example if you registered goldenbay.ms and started to do something untoward with the site; we would not know until someone complained.  We would then review the site and take action in accordance with our published policies.”

Information regarding the .ms Complaints Resolution Service can be found on the MNI Networs website at: http://nic.ms/pdf/44_complaint_resolution_service.pdf

This should be read in conjunction with other Policy documents such as the:

The Acceptable Use Policy does identify copyright infringement as a prohibitive use of the domain.

Currently, there are approximately 10,200 registered .ms domain names.  (The number fluctuates daily as new names are registered and old names deregistered and deleted.)