LimeWire, the pioneering file sharing site, turned off its sharing software a couple weeks ago following an injunction from a judge. Now it’s back, sorta.

Ars Technica tells us that hackers have created LimeWire Pirate Edition. Unlike the former model, there are no centralized servers or advertising. It’s decentralized, much like BitTorrent.

According to the coders behind the release, “A horde of piratical monkeys climbed aboard the abandoned ship, mended its sails, polished its cannons and released it FREE to the community to help keep the Gnutella network alive.”
Ars contacted the project’s leader, a hacker who goes by the name MetaPirate. Why had he decided to tweak the recording industry in such a public fashion? “Speaking for myself, the motivation is to make RIAA lawyers cry into their breakfast cereal,” he said by e-mail. “I hope the other monkeys have nobler intentions.”