First Swede Prosecuted For File Sharing

praps writes "The Local reports that a 27-year old man who allowed people to download a film from his PC has become the first Swede to be charged with illegal file sharing, after a tip-off from the country's notorious Anti-Piracy Bureau. It's a critical test case, as prosecutors say that anything less than a prison sentence would make future prosecutions unlikely." From the article: "The case was brought after a tip off from Antipiratbyrån (APB), a lobby organization set up by the media industry to combat illegal downloading in Sweden. Since the man was reported APB has found itself in hot water, with an Internet company accusing the organization itself of illegally downloading films and games.

Here is what he said:

[AtariAmarok (451306)]

The file sharer was heard to say: "I cupy zee-a feeles und shere-a muosic vit my friends. Policee breek duon my duor und keeck my kittee. I im nut heppy. Bork Bork Bork!

Re:Here is what he really said:

[DancesWithBlowTorch (809750)]

Actually, I think he mostly speaks in Swedish, since he's from Sweden. That's a large Country in the north of Europe (an area called Scandinavia), boasting one of the world's best education systems, an extremely well developed technological infrastructure (far better than the US, for example) and very strict ecological standards. The people there have got a language that is different from English (although remotely connected, both being germanic languages). English -- since you might wonder -- that's the language you've just used. Or, well, tried to. Swedish sounds quite different when compared to English. It is much more melodic. "Bork" is not a very common word in Swedish, as far as I know.
Surprisingly enough, the swedish people, despite having this beautiful old language, try very hard to learn and speak English, because it happens to be a very popular language all over the world. It might be that a few of them have a rather strong accent, but you should hear how ridicolous native english speakers sound when they try to speak _any_ other language.


Sorry for ranting. I know you where joking. But jokes about other people's lack of english skills mostly come from persons who have never mastered a foreign language (we don't even talk about their own...), that pisses me off.

And, by the way: I'm not swedish. But all (8) the swedish people I know are extremely proficient in English.

Way to go!

[AtariAmarok (451306)]

Modded +4 Insightful for bashing the muppet "Swedish Chef"!

Re:Here is what he really said:

[infinite9 (319274)]

But jokes about other people's lack of english skills mostly come from persons who have never mastered a foreign language

Most americans can't even speak English properly.

And next.

[AtariAmarok (451306)]

Next thing, I will mention Kermit the Frog, and will get flamed for bashing the French and swamp-dwellers.

English vs. Swedish

[Simonetta (207550)]

If you want to see how different Swedish is from English, go to Stockholm.

If you want to see how similar Swedish is to English, go to Helsinki.

Prison?

[ram4 (636018)]

A prison sentence for copyright infrigement? Are we loosing the sense of proportion here?

What about murderers? Oh right, they also get prison sentences.

Re:Prison?

[by Anonymous Coward]

So a human life is worth about 8 pirated movies.

Good to know.

Re:Prison?

[Jugalator (259273)]

Each of which probably represents about 2,000 man-years of work.

Yes, there's where the sense in it is. Some part of your income is more important to preseve than a life.

Re:Prison?

[v01d (122215)]

Then you'd say, "So a human life is worth 18 pirated movies. Good to know."

And the point would still be valid. A life is worth more than every movie ever made; any punishment for copyright violation that includes jail time is out of proportion.

By the same token anyone who risks jail time to download Big, is a bit crazy.

Re:Prison?

[ram4 (636018)]

Granted, but what about this further distinction:

* Copyright infringement, for profit (illegal reselling of a copyrighted work for which you have no rights).
* Copyright infringement without profit (illegal redistribution, for free).

Would you agree that the second is of a lesser degree. And that it is closer to "free advertisement" (as in: "look, I like this movie/music, I think it's cool, don't you share my view?").

Re:Prison?

[Taladar (717494)]

Probably worthless because the court system is designed to help rich people, the kind of people commiting crimes for money, not normal people.

Re:Prison?

[MathFox (686808)]

This is the classic Robin Hood defense, and under American law, essentially worthless in court.

As far as I know, Sweden is a member state of the EU and US law doesn't apply there. In European Law (at least the Dutch law that I find easier to read that the Swedish) they make a difference between "infringement as business" and "infringement as private activity". It can make a factor 10 difference in punishment!

Re:Prison?

[Ohreally_factor (593551)]

Copyright infringement without profit (illegal redistribution, for free).
Would you agree that the second is of a lesser degree.

This is the classic Robin Hood defense, and under American law, essentially worthless in court.

Maybe it's worthless in court, but it rhymes, so I imagine Johnny Cochrane could use it pretty effectively.

Re:Prison?

[daikokatana (845609)]

Recently there was a lot of commotion about a murder case here in Belgium. The end result was a 1 year sentence for the killer. Yes, that is 1 (one) year.

Where is your sense of proportion now?

Do you want another example? Ok, I have one right here. A guy (drunk) crashes his car into a building at high speed, kills one bystander. Previously, they have taken away his license three times for drinking and driving, speeding and reckless behaviour. End result? One year in prison. Please put him in jail with that Swede, I think they have a lot in common (sarcasm overdose).

Less than prison is ineffective??

[vitalyb (752663)]

Ugh, for crying out loud. I can only hope that the judges are more sane than the persecutors.

It is still a question if that's "stealing" at all but they just have to put someone in prison for it anyway.

Seems like what they're hoping for is that the whole P2P is a bad dream and if they POP it hard enough, it will all go at once. Next aim would be to put a man on an electric chair, I guess?

So... How hard do they need to abuse the next victim for you to stop downloading? Prison? Ass rape? Work camps? Sheesh.

Re:Less than prison is ineffective??

[slavemowgli (585321)]

Sweden does not have the death penalty (in fact, the abolishment of the death penalty is a requirement for becoming a member of the European Union). And fortunately, Sweden's not Australia, either, so there's probably no real chance that this guy (or someone else) will be extradited to the USA to undergo trial there.

Re:Less than prison is ineffective??

[by Anonymous Coward]

On this side of the Atlantic we've moved past the medieval system of executions and brutal prison that you Americans incomprehensibly think is compatible with civilisation. We recognise two things - firstly, that prison is about rehabilitation, not anal rape, and secondly, that simply being deprived of one's freedom for several years is already a horrible punishment, without actually having to chain people to damp dungeon walls.

You people seem to think justice is all about retribution and "making the bastards what did it suffer". We think it's about keeping criminals away from the public (so they can't continue to commit crimes), and trying to reeducate them so they won't go on and commit crimes again when they're released.

Europe has a lower crime rate per capita than the USA: in the case of Sweden, far lower. There are only two possible conclusions - either Americans are genetically predisposed to crime, or the European systems of government, education, and justice work better than the American one. I'll leave it to you to decide which of the two you consider less unflattering.

Re:Less than prison is ineffective??

[Dice Fivefold (640696)]

The reason the prosecutors want a prison sentence is this:
According to Swedish secrecy law, the ISPs can only be ordered to reveal the identities behind IP numbers if the crime is worth a prison sentence. This case will serve as a precedent. If this guy is spared from prison (very likely), ISPs will no longer reveal file sharers identity.

Re:Less than prison is ineffective??

[Belial6 (794905)]

You don't get to play the holier than thou information is property card unless the producers that you speak of, go back and pay for all of the works that they used to create their derivitive works. (i.e. every idea in every movie, right down to the language itself.)

Just because someone doesn't know you took a five dollar bill out of their wallet, and just because they don't call the police, doesn't mean that you haven't stolen from them. Based on the "IP" concept, every movie, song, book out there is a p

Re:Less than prison is ineffective??

[file-exists-p (681756)]

Thus, your argument is that copying bytes is equivalent to raping people ?

Let me guess, in real life, people often tell you "yeah, right" and leave when you debate with them ?

--
Go Debian!

Nice prosecutor

[bigtallmofo (695287)]

I thought the headline First Swede prosecuted for sharing files on net was fairly ominous but then I felt better after I read down a bit...

Here's a quote from the prosecutor:

"As these cases do not involve criminals, but instead quite ordinary people who share their files, any prison sentence would certainly be suspended," Rudström said.

Is it just me or does this sound like something that would be said by a defense attorney?

Re:Nice prosecutor

[remahl (698283)]

According to Swedish law, the responsibility of the prosecutor is not to get the most severe punishment, but the most appropriate and lawful one. The prosecutor may not even prosecute if he/she is not reasonably sure it will result in a conviction.

Re: Nice prosecutor

[Black Parrot (19622)]

> I thought the headline First Swede prosecuted for sharing files on net was fairly ominous

I was shocked just to hear that the first Swede is still alive.

Re:Nice prosecutor

[Eradicator2k3 (670371)]

"I mean, the guys in jail would laugh at him for going to jail for sharing files."

Sven: "Hey, I'm Sven the Swine. I dismembered 12 people using nothing but a rusty spoon."
Bjorn: "I abused 20 nuns and stole 50 million Euro from orphanages at gunpoint. What are you in for?"
You: "I allowed others to download "Hipp Hipp Hora" off my computer."
Bjorn: "What the hell is that? It sounds like it involves hippos."
Sven: "You SICKO!"

Crimnal Case???

[adennis (846411)]

I don't know about everyone else, but copyright violations seem like they should ONLY be civil. This criminal prosecution is just taken to far: congress was even attempting to pass a bill that would make copyright violation a criminal offense in the US! (I dont think it passed though..)

Won't putting these people in jail prevent the copyright holders of collecting damages? (Isn't that the point: that they are supposed to be reimbursed for lost money?)

If this happened in the US, the end result would be that everyone that is ever convicted of copyright violation is going to be punished twice: jailtime plus civil lawsuit...

Maybe sanity will prevail....

[garroo (748175)]

From the article: "It is, for example, a breach of copyright laws to copy a music book, but it is not illegal to receive or use the copied book," said the party's legal affairs spokesman, Johan Linander. "It should be no more complicated than that in the digital arena," he added.

Hopefully, this sort of more sane attitude will prevail. How is this different than if he lent a copy of the DVD to a friend?

In many countries, it would be acceptable to view it, copy it, or parts, while it's in the borrowers possession.

This should be the case here. The whole world is surely watching this case! Use your heads Sweden!!!

APB

[Rosco P. Coltrane (209368)]

tip off from Antipiratbyrån

My file døwnløåding sister wås bitten by an antipiratbyrån once...

Re:APB

[The-Bus (138060)]

Come si our loveli byttørrents...

Re:APB

[Jugalator (259273)]

My file døwnløåding sister wås bitten by an antipiratbyrån once...

FYI...

Norway and Denmark:
å : aa, æ : ae, ø : oe

Sweden:
å : aa, ä : ae, ö : oe

Re:APB

[Rosco P. Coltrane (209368)]

Norway and Denmark:
å : aa, æ : ae, ø : oe
Sweden:
å : aa, ä : ae, ö : oe

Not that this helps us ignorant redneck Americans any, since almost no English words have "aa" or "ae" in them. How are these sounds pronounced, anyway?

"aa" is pronounced like the danish "å" and "ae" like the swedish "ä"...

APB themselves aren't really spreading files

[Jugalator (259273)]

Since the man was reported APB has found itself in hot water, with an Internet company accusing the organization itself of illegally downloading films and games.

More exactly: for paying a person to infiltrate an ISP to download and spread copyrighted files there, and later sue that ISP. I don't think the infiltrator was actually employed by the anti-piracy bureau; he just got some money to do the job. Also, it's not known anyone else at APB has in any case done this themselves. It's still of course quite dirty tactics to sue an ISP, and I hope they're not getting away with it.

Why can't American law be as sensible as Europe's?

[standbypowerguy (698339)]

Almost every artice I read involving IP law in Europe shows that the legislative and judicial bodies in Europe display far more common sense than the their American counterparts, which appear to be motivated only by "good ol' boy" corporate greed and a misplaced sense of righteousness. It's readily apparent to me that the real innovations in contentent delivery and IP law reforms that are soreley needed will come from Europe, not the US.

Re:Why can't American law be as sensible as Europe

[LWATCDR (28044)]

Really. Not from what I see in this story.
My question is this, isn't entrapment illegal in Sweden?
If not then I think the need a major overhaul in there laws.

Pirate Bay

[kiveol (866603)]

The person in charge of Pirate Bay (a major BitTorrent site) has been flaunting the fact that laws in the US/EU don't have any effect in Sweden. http://static.thepiratebay.org/legal/ [thepiratebay.org]

This could be the end of the low ratio of torrents deleted vs. the law suits...

Re:Pirate Bay

[ardiri (245358)]

• The person in charge of Pirate Bay (a major BitTorrent site) has been flaunting the fact that laws in the US/EU don't have any effect in Sweden

he isn't flaunting that US/EU laws have no effect; he is simply mentioning that bittorrents are not illegal. if bittorrents were illegal, then so would a http reference from slashdot. keep in mind a bittorrent only tells you how to get the files by providing information as to where the file is being tracked. its not the copyrighted file in question that he is hosting.

hence, its perfectly legal.

Re:Pirate Bay

[BlowChunx (168122)]

move the servers to Russia or some other place where they still have freedom

Man how times have changed...

In yet another critical test case ..

[RedLaggedTeut (216304)]

In yet another critical test case, prosecutors say that anything less than a prison sentence would make future prosecutions of people exceeding the speed limit by 16 km/h(10mph) unlikely.

This APB is in a big mess.

[a_n_d_e_r_s (136412)]

"accusing the organization itself of illegally downloading films and games."

Downloading ? No its uploading they are accused of. One informant they hired was the main one responsible for uploading films, music and computer programs to a computer at a ISP who they later got the police to raid and take for evidence.

The thing is a whole mess with basically everyone involved having been accused of misconduct or unlawful activities - ISP, police and the APB.

Re:Entrapment?

[CyberDruid (201684)]

It is forbidden. The police are not allowed to entice a suspect to commit crime in any way.

Africa calling..

[E IS mC(Square) (721736)]

Now is the time to move to Africa - the animal and music pirate sanctuary!

The First Swede...

[Nimrangul (599578)]

You know when I first read that I thought for a second that that must be their version of a president, the First Swede.

Sounds like a good name for a gouvnerment official.

WHAT?

[nege (263655)]

Are they kidding? Putting this guy in jail will be the informational age equivalent of being a martyr! Someone should tell the prosecutors: "If you strike him down, he will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine!"

APB caught violating copyright!

[d99-sbr (568719)]

Now this will certainly crack you up, but it turns out that Swedish public access radio (SR) channel P3 did an interview with Antipiratbyrån (APB) a while ago. APB then went ahead and published this interview on their website. Naturally, republishing a recording from radio is an obvious copyright violation.

Somehow, SR discovered this. They brought their legal counsel into the studio, rang up APB, and confronted them. APB's response?

* Firstly, they try to claim that they only link to the audio clip, and not a copy of it. The legal counsel shoots this down immediately citing a court decision where linking directly to a file is equivalent to sharing a copy.

* Secondly, APB claim that what they are really looking for are pirates who make a lot of money from their piracy. As has been discussed pretty heavily in Swedish media, this kind of piracy is virtually nonexistent in Sweden.

* Thirdly, they dismiss the whole thing, because, and this is the best thing: THEY ARE TOO BUSY HUNTING DOWN PIRATES!

This news hasn't really broken yet, and because of easter holdays I believe it won't until early next week.

Skip

Well in the US...

[suitepotato (863945)]

...it was always explained to me by lawyers back when I first started writing programs that copyright and patent and trademark were only supposed to be civil constructs for the early protection of the originator, giving them a chance to make first fair use of their creations.

They were NOT supposed to be used to create monopolies on things like calling "dibs" on the front seat of the car in perpetuity when you were a kid. The onus was on the originator to take steps to protect their turf at the outset, and from then on. It was up to the originator to perform due diligence in enforcement of their transitory rights in the matter or lose them. These were NOT rights in the same sense as freedom of speech and so on, these were legal constructs based in laws and not presupposed natural holdings recognized in the US Constitution.

Now it's at the point that various associations are unilaterally taking it upon themselves to do the due diligence on behalf of the originators and in most cases with no legal agreement to perform that representation on their behalf. Only the parties directly affected have any standing and they must do their own work short of legal assignment of rights and/or responsibilities by binding contract.

You cannot merely imply that a third party has standing simply by virtue of the subject matter. IOW, you can't simply have the RIAA do your copyright enforcement for no better reason than they are a recording association and you made a recording. You have to enter into an agreement or they have no business doing your enforcement for you. That's the way it was explained to me when I wrote my first program and like an adult, I accepted my responsibilities.

Moving it from the civil side to the criminal side is the next level of lunacy. As most every lawyer I've ever spoken with agrees, we already have some several hundred times more laws than we can possibly enforce, causing us to reduce more and more criminal offenses to de minimus status, where they aren't worth the time of the authorities to go after.

If we continue on this path unabated, we will get to the point that the police will have to either put all this crap on the back burner and ignore most of it, or they will have to become a weird combination of the firemen of Fahrenheit 451 and the thought police of 1984. Is this really what we want?

The other consequence is growing civil unrest and here in the age of the global Internet, with cryptography and hacking knowledge being so freely availible, and the growing anti-corporate socialistic mindset combining more and more with basic human cynicism, we're looking at more and more subversive and reactionary fighting back.

Does it only seem like the future is going to end up like some techno-future anime? I am all for growing rabid peaceful noncompliance, fighting them to a standstill, until a peace treaty of sorts can be worked out if only in terms of a gentlemens' silent agreement. We need to come to an accomodation somewhere in between before it is too late.

Copyright insurance

[jlebrech (810586)]

I have a plan that would remove all this nonsense and that is an insurance for people who use p2p. People can pay a small sum per month and if a company sues that individual for copyright theft the money from the insurance pays up for the lawsuit and damages. And as companies only sue a minor number of people an insurance company would also make money.

Re:ThePirateBay

[NetNifty (796376)]

Both web site and tracker working for me at the moment.

Re:ThePirateBay

[ch-chuck (9622)]

I just noticed that the mplayer [mplayer.hu] site had a 'shut down' notice, now it's not responding at all, altho google has a cached [64.233.161.104]
version of the "closed for patent infringement" statement. Hmmm, it was just updated with a redirection to the closed notice.

Re:from the i-own-everything dept

[Rosco P. Coltrane (209368)]

i-own-everything

Is that a new Apple product?

Re:is this story not telling us anything, or

[by Anonymous Coward]

Of course it's one year, all you have to do is right-click on the file and go to Properties...

Location: c:\files

Size: 630.25 MB

Size on disk: 630.4 MB

Prison term for file sharing: 365 D