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by funkyy 4408 days ago
I think you need to do your research. Those guys are pretty packed. Their DC alone is money making like crazy. I know few folks that actually used their hosting services ~2 years ago - their pricing is among highest in industry. Also they have dozens of small projects running. TPB is running ads etc - what would be cost of running, 10 dedicated servers? And what would be the income? Around few hundred thousands?
2 comments

I assume you got tax records to support that PRQ is earning money like crazy? I am going to assume that the tax collectors know their job and is not letting a crazy revenue source continue going untaxed.

For TPB advertisement, do you have numbers on how competitive advertisement space is for a website like the pirate bay? Would startups here forexample be willing to pay top dollars for ads there? Willing to use untraceable methods to pay for it?

I personally have a hard time seeing either PRQ or TPB as massive revenue sources at this point in time.

What's the point of using untraceable methods to pay for advertising? Won't your name be right there in the ad?
The companies advertising in places like this are usually not exactly the ones with a legit business address and a great track record of being transparent.

The money made from ads is probably a lot less than the ad revenue you know from other places, there are a lot of middlemen, ad networks, and money services involved and everyones takes their cut.

The advertiser might be willing to put down his name, but what about the person/persons on the other end. No one knows who is running TPB at this time, nor where the servers are. If that information would leak through paper-trails, you can be sure legal actions would be sent their way by a number of anti-piracy groups. Questions about taxes and damages could also pop up depending on whom is running TPB and from where.
If running TPB was such a lucrative activity as you assume, why would they hand TPB over to the Pirate Party to run? If you watch the movie (TPB AFK), you'll surely get that they weren't in it for the money, and that they don't even know if they made some money out of it.