In late February a Dutch company calling itself
The Honest Thief announced that it would host a new, totally legal file-sharing service. It explained that it was able to do this, despite the lawsuits facing other file-sharing networks, because: "The Honest Thief is the first Dutch company to take advantage of a recent Dutch appeals court ruling that paved the way for the Netherlands to become the world's first legal haven for file sharing companies."
Large amounts of press attention followed, including an article in the
Wall Street Journal. But visitors to
The Honest Thief website on April 1st were met with an announcement: April Fool! There was no legal file-sharing network. The hoax was a stunt to promote a book of the same name (
The Honest Thief) by Pieter Plass.
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