Why Is Pirate Bay’s Top Man So Glum With His Multi-Million Sale?

We think there’s plenty of water yet to pass under the bridge before the SEK 60 million (£7.4 million, $7.6 million) acquisition of The Pirate Bay’s domain actually happens. Not just because little-known Global Gaming Factory X shareholders haven’t yet approved its bid, or because its revenue projections are so outlandish – but because Bay co-founder and chief agitator Peter Sunde seems so ambivalent and stressed about the whole thing

— On the day the deal was announced, an uncertain Sunde blogged “The Pirate Bay might get acquired”. In what read like a warning, he said: “If the new owners will screw around with the site, nobody will keep using it.”

— Some of the Bay’s ideological die-hards flamed Sunde as a “traitor” (and worse), bringing him to acknowledge: “The last days have been quite stress for all of us … we really love you all … If we ever needed your support, this is now.” Sunde tweets: “I fucking cried earlier that people don’t understand us.” And snaps at detractors: “We’ve been fighting for five years. Where’s the thanks?”

— Sunde has been trying to escape the flak in Brazil during an excursion for a free-software conference: “There