PRQ is a Swedish Internet service provider and web hosting company created in 2004.
Ownership Based in Stockholm, PRQ was created by Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij, two founders of The Pirate Bay.Häyhtiö, Tapio. Net working/Networking, Tampere University Press, p. 344, 2008.
Business model Part of PRQ's business model is to host any customers, regardless of how odd or controversial they may be. The New York Times wrote in 2008 that "The Pirate Bay guys have made a sport out of taunting all forms of authority, including the Swedish police, and PRQ has gone out of its way to be a host to sites that other companies would not touch."Gallagher, David F. BITS; Wikileaks Has Friend in Sweden The New York Times. 25 February 2008. The PRQ service has been described as "highly secure, no-questions-asked hosting services". The company holds almost no information about its clientele and is maintaining few if any of its own logs, according to a 2008 news report.Goodin, Dan. Wikileaks judge gets Pirate Bay treatment, The Register, 21 February 2008. Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm are said to have amassed "considerable expertise in withstanding legal attacks". Svartholm is quoted to have said, "We do employ our own legal staff. We are used to this sort of situation" in a telephone interview. Due to hosting The Pirate Bay, PRQ was the target of a police raid.
Criticism The co-founders have been criticized for hosting controversial websites, including web pages that promote paedophilia,Carp, Ossi. Pedofilsajt tar skydd av lagen Dagens Nyheter, 5 June 2007Libbenga, Jan. Pirate Bay founders host paedophilia site The Register. 5 June 2007.Thangham, Chris V. Pirate Bay Founders Host Paedophilia Site, Calling it Free Speech Digital Journal. 6 June 2007. such as the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), a paedophile and pederasty advocacy organization. Local authorities and anti-paedophilia activists in Sweden have failed to persuade PRQ to close the sites.Vinthagen, Peter. Police powerless to close paedophile forums The Local, 9 April 2010. The pair defended their decision, citing freedom of speech.Moya, Jared. The Pirate Bay, Paedophilia, and Freedom of Speech , zeropaid.com, 7 June 2007.
Other criticism originates from the hosting of BitTorrent website The Pirate Bay, WikiLeaks, and the French far-right blog Fdesouche.
Legal issues On 1 October 2012, PRQ was raided and a number of sites which they provided hosting for were taken offline for alleged copyright infringement.
References
External links Official website The Swiss bank of Web hosts Foreign Policy on PRQ