Dot Pirate needs OpenNIC's alternate DNS to function.
OpenNIC – the alternate root registry – has launched .pirate as a TLD that would appeal to free speech advocates.
According to Dotpirate.me:
“The .Pirate TLDis a domain space that was born out of the frustration of world governments attempting to dictate what a person can and cannot have on their websites. It’s not just the United States; Libya and a few Middle Eastern countries have imposed censorship on their TLDs as well. What’s worse, they do not give you any warning and just decide one day “we don’t like this site, off”. Not understanding that it doesn’t remove the website’s contents and removes the ability for the website to have a fair trial in court.”
While this might be related to issues about freedom of speech, we pointed out how in the recent past, famous pirate web sites such as The Pirate Bay and Demonoid moved to alternate ccTLDs.
That sounds cheaper than waiting for ICANN to roll out their salvo of approved gTLDs, although to access any of the alternate OpenNIC TLDs one needs to modify their DNS settings.
