Well, you make a number of interesting points. Firstly, The Pirate Bay aren't charging for access. True, they make money from advertising - but you make money by using your website as a portfolio. Copyright is automatic - so the image of the synth does belong to Google. The bottom of the site clearly says "© Google". Your linking has nothing to do with it. Most of the torrents on TPB link to Amazon, iMDB or similar. Yes, geeks like me can always circumvent blocks - but we shouldn't have to. Why should non-technical people be blocked? Why should we risk legal sanctions for helping people less fortunate than ourselves? The are lots of artists using TPB - and other sites. Why should a government say which we can and cannot use? There are lots of people using WordPress for unsavoury blogs - if the government bans the site, your blog will disappear with all the others. Nevermind, you can just use another site... You say "If a state is a fascist, there are a lot more problems there than banning Twitter." Indeed there are - but the banning of certain sites, the demonising of particular ideas, is one of the first steps down that path. Neither you nor I want to end up living in a system where the government can capriciously ban anything it deems not in the public interest. Like you, I wish TPB didn't exist and that artists receive a fair payment for their work. I just don't think these draconian measures are the way to do it. Worse, I fear that they will lead to something more sinister. That's why I'm trying to kick up a fuss.