Electus Matari where war declared by Privateer Alliance on 111-10-31. At the moment we got no information why this happens or who hired the mercs to attack our supply lines in high sec. However its rather cheap to hire privateers alliance, because you only need to pay the war fee to them and its done. However till now privateers did not encounter any wins on their side and additional it seems to run very bad on their side.

Background Information:
Following information is directly referenced to the article on eve-history.net.

The purpose of the Privateers was to provide players with the opportunity to engage in PVP regardless of their skill or standing and without having to seek out a dedicated PVP corp. All applications were accepted. There was no tax and no rules. Pilots were encouraged to join the Privateers for as short or long a period as they liked.

You may join as you wish and take part at no cost. Fight anywhere, with alts, mains or trials. There are no rules for you to follow. If you can shoot it, its a valid target. 24/7 365 we war dec alliances. We are now the Privateer Alliance. We are adding members and member corps every day. What started as 1-2 alliance wars a week has grown into 20-30+ fulltime alliance wars every week. We are growing fatser than ever and proving the privateer concept can be viable in EVE. If your a lonely pilot and want in on 15,000-20,000 war targets join our corp the Privateers. If your a corp and have interest in joining our alliance simply have your CEO convo me in-game.

-- Infinity Ziona and Surreptitious on the EVE-O forums, 2006.11.25 22:58:00

Modus Operandi:

They accomplished this by declaring war on many corporations and alliances known to operate in Empire. Modeled after the historical idea of a privateering ship, joining the Privateers was the equivalent of being handed a "letter of Marque" by a government to legally attack other nations ship. Thus, a privateer is not a pirate in that their actions are legal... depending on which side of the guns you were on.

The Privateers was originally set up as a corporation by Infinity Ziona towards the end of 2006 and taken over by Surreptitious and expanded into an alliance. Funding for war declarations came both from Infinity's and Surreptitious' private funds as well as donations from members. Loot could be quite valuable as a large number of targets were haulers, freighters and mission runner's ships. As the size of the Privateer Alliance grew, they would occasionally be hired as mercenaries.

With no organization, no rules and few pilots with real experience, the Privateers were not a PVP alliance in the traditional sense. Their power came from their numbers and making Empire a dangerous place. Pilots in the Privateers had no strategic aims beyond forming ad hoc gangs and patrolling the lanes between major trade hubs looking for targets. At it's height, a war declaration by the Privateers could effectively shut down a corporation's normal Empire operations. No assets, inexpensive ships and no purpose than to fight made the Privateers difficult to harm.

At their height in March 2007 the Privateers maintained approximately 150 simultaneous war declarations. [1] They were finally nerfed by rising war declaration fees.

Current Status

After the nerf, the alliance has shrunk down to between 100 and 200 members.