"it's purpose is pretty obvious".

I don't think that's true. Clearly a lot of copyrighted material is downloaded from the site but there is a also a lot of material linked to legally. For example they now promote independent artists on their homepage who have content available on the pirate bay. Nine Inch Nails have a huge collection of unedited concert footage available. Open source software and Linux distros are available.

I think the 'linking to content is illegal' thing really needs to be seriously examined. Are they going to block Google next? Where is the line?

(And I'm saying this as someone who pays for content and really only does download legal content from TPB).

That's a bit like saying your historical pirate ship (the kind with sails, cannons and so on) has a cook on board to feed the crew, so it should really be considered as a floating restaurant and the plundering and sinking of other vessels is incidental to that.

I love that analogy and want to vote you up... but I don't agree with what you're saying XD

At the risk of being meta; I think you should vote up when someone contributes to a discussion in a meaningful way, regardless of server you agree or not.

There is legal content on TPB yes, but it's a pretty indisputable fact that TPB's primary motive is piracy. I think no matter what metric you use to gauge legitimate use vs piracy on TPB, legitimate use will fade into obscurity. I think it's a pretty weak defence in all honesty.

To me it sounds like a cruise liner calling itself a rowing boat because it has a couple off the back in case of emergencies.