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Torrentreactor.net claims to have bought Russian village and renamed it "Torrentreactor"
Remember when the Pirate Bay tried to raise enough money to buy the Principality of Sealand? Well, this is a bit different. Torrentreactor.net, one of the most popular torrent sites on the Internet today, says it has bought the small village of Gar, in the Tomsk province of Russia. The single requirement was that the town rename itself to "Torrentreactor."
Whether this is legit or not is still unclear at best. The folks at TorrentFreak, who were first to report on this, say that while they've attempted to contact the authorities in Tomsk, they haven't received any word back yet. This, coupled with the fact that torrent sites in general are notorious for pranks and publicity stunts, makes the whole thing look like a hoax. It certainly doesn't help that the image used by Torrentreactor.net has what appears to be a well-shopped sign that reads "Torrentreactor" in Cyrillic text. When you view the image, note the weathering of the text. The town was supposedly just renamed, so the text should be brand new, shouldn't it?
According to Torrentreactor.net, the village has been sitting in near desolation until now. The 214 inhabitants make a living their selling vegetables in other nearby towns. There are three computers in the whole village; one at the administration office and two at the school -- but only one has access to the Internet and it's via dial-up modem. None of the villagers had any idea who or what Torrentreactor.net was.
The total price of the transaction came out to 4.5 million Rubles, or the equivalent of $148,000 USD, which isn't a bad price for an entire village. The lion's share of the money is apparently to be split amongst the villagers, with the rest going to needed repairs and upgrades for the roads, school, and farm equipment. Torrentreactor.net is also going to pay the equivalent of $30,000 USD to get the town wired for broadband, as well.
Of course, this is all according to Torrentreactor.net, so take it with a grain of salt until there's some sort of official confirmation from the Russians.
Comments
7
Subscribe to commentsvalery.prideAug 8th 2010 9:22AM
Well, I am Russian, and I can say that 'buying a village' sounds as absurd as it possibly can. Administrative and territorial units in Russia, including villages, cannot be held privately. It might be possible to buy all houses in a village, but this still doesn't give you right to rename it. And, to be honest, 4.5 million rubles is a price of one-room apartment in Moscow, or price for one small house in a village, but definitely not for entire village.
Drew GreenAug 8th 2010 12:43PM
One small house in a village? You can get a nice starter home in the US for that price (or a little less). I find it hard to believe you get a hut in a village for $150,000.
Bryan PriceAug 8th 2010 9:32AM
Sad, I know a bit of Russian and enough Cyrillic that I shouldn't have been reading it as TOPPEHTPEAKTOP. Finally, after almost a day, it finally clicks that it's indeed Cyrillic, not English, and it pops into my head.
AemonyAug 8th 2010 9:33AM
In rural Russia, torrents pirate you.
Bryan PriceAug 8th 2010 9:35AM
@valery.pride: I'd think of it more as naming rights. Like most baseball and football stadiums have some kind of corporate name attached. They don't own the stadium, they just get to call it what they want.
valery.prideAug 8th 2010 10:15AM
I think there are some regulations that allow you to attach team name to a stadium. With village, though, all federal registers should be updated. It is so much trouble that even if villagers themselves applied for it, it won't necessarily be authorized by local government.
What actually puzzles me, is the fact that torrentreactor somehow managed to make a deal with a desolate village in deep rural area in Russia. Did they really sent someone there? Even if they did (which I doubt), it is likely that village administration just answered "sure, no problem" and took all the money. And no name change was actually done.
RMNAug 9th 2010 1:25AM
"it is likely that village administration just answered "sure, no problem" and took all the money."
I don't thing this story is true but heck yea they'd take $148,000 to change the name.