
Pirate Bay Founder Could Be Prosecuted For Hacking “Within a Month” - Libertatea
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-could-be-prosecuted-for-hacking-within-a-month-130129/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Torrentfreak+%28Torrentfreak%29
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damncabbage
From pathy, who appears to be hellbanned:

 _Just a reminder: This case is not related to his Pirate Bay involvement. He
is accused of hacking Logica, who handles data for the Swedish Tax Authority._

 _How much empathy would you have if someone, not involved in TPB, 'stole'
information about you from your local tax authority? Especially Americans who
seem to be paranoid about their tax stuff (For example Romney). At least in
Sweden your tax data is pretty much public - when requested from the Tax
Authority._

 _As a side note: This is also true for privately held companies in Sweden,
all annual reports are pretty much public. You can for example view Mojang's
(Minecraft) figures here:<http://www.allabolag.se/5568192388/Mojang_AB> _

~~~
halviti
From what I can tell, he's never been officially accused of this crime (yet),
but it seems to have been enough to deport him, and hold him for five months
without charges, with him being held for at least a month in solitary.

That's ridiculous.

~~~
pathy
(Assuming I am actually not hellbanned - if I am, interesting...)

It is how the Swedish justice system works, you don't get officially accused,
in the American sense, until you actually go to court. He is being held during
investigation due to him being at risk of fleeing and such.

For more information on what he is going through see:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4ktning#H.C3.A4ktning_.28...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4ktning#H.C3.A4ktning_.28Swedish_law.29)

I seem to recall him being held on probable cause but I am not sure.

Edit: hm, I think accidental double post caused the my original comment to be
flagged as dead?

~~~
halviti
Yes, I am aware of this, but read your link:

 _A person may be held in custody for a period of normally not more than 14
days (seven days if only the degree of suspicion "reasonable suspicion"
exists)_

In order to hold him for 5 months, they would need to file an extension every
two weeks... and at 5 months, you're obviously just abusing the law.

If they didn't have enough evidence 5 months ago, surely they don't seem to
have it now.

~~~
pathy
AFAIK it has to be extended every 14 days by a judge.

But yes, I agree with you on that, it can easily be abused and Sweden has been
criticized for that in the past. That said, he has fled the country before and
he could tamper with evidence if he had access to a computer (probably) so in
that sense it makes sense to keep him confined - and he still has to serve his
1 year sentence from the TPB trial. The time he has spent now will be deducted
from his TPB sentence so he will probably only have to serve very little
additional time for that.

That said: It does not justify prolonged solitary confinement. He did get some
access to others so it wasn't true solitary confinement but probably almost as
taxing.

~~~
toyg
I wonder if, by pure coincidence of course, he'll end up being released right
about the end of his TPB-related sentence, and this "hacking" charge will
simply be dropped.

An expensive international manhunt for copyright infringers looks a bit
overzealous in the press, but for a "dangerous computer hacker targeting tax
records"? Much more politically acceptable.

~~~
mongol
It is not probable. He would not remain in jail this long unless a judge
determined that the "probable cause" that the prosecutor brings forward every
2 weeks is strong enough for him to remain jailed. Despite what some people
seem to believe, this is not part of a plot to keep him behind bars "just
because".

------
contingencies
I met Gottfried in 2009 and have been writing to him in prison. He is an
intelligent person and there is no evidence that he has harmed anyone.
Extraditing him from a country on the other side of the world, seemingly
without any official paperwork or due legal process, and locking him in an
extended period of solitary confinement should put the chills through all of
us. Is this what 'democracy' has come to _in mainland Europe, of all places_?

Sweden should be hung out to trial by the EU, Cambodia by the UN.

Remember the words:

 _First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--Because I was
not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak
out--Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I
did not speak out--Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me--and there
was no one left to speak for me._

Our human rights are being denied by our own governments, who see no limit to
their political power in breaking legal process and crossing global borders.

We have seen what they have done to Assange, what they have done to Kim
Dotcom, what they have done to Gottfried. All within a single year. All within
our community. All flouting international law. Not to mention Aaron.

 _As states merge with the internet and the future of our civilization becomes
the future of the internet, we must redefine force relations. If we do not,
the universality of the internet will merge global humanity into one giant
grid of mass surveillance and mass control. We must raise an alarm._ Julian
Assange, 'Cypherpunks': <http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/cypherpunks/>

~~~
toyg
_in mainland Europe, of all places?_

Not just that, in _Sweden_ of all places, beacon of pacifism, social justice
and social-democratic workers' paradise.

Mainland Europe, in general, is kinda shitty on this sort of thing anyway
(French and Italian police have horrendous human-rights records, in Italy a
trial can last 15 years or more...), but Sweden lost a lot of credibility on
these matters very quickly in the last few years. The trend is worrying to say
the least.

~~~
belorn
Great social justice only tend to pop up after some sad horrendous event has
occurred. Sadly, History has a tendency to be forgotten so event has to repeat
itself.

Most of swedish laws protecting civilians rights was created around 1935-1940
after the 1931 event in Ådalen. The laws protecting journalists was invented
after a large number issues around censorship and prosecution against sources
during the WW2 (mostly regarding criticism against Germany). The time during
the cold war also had some prominent abuses cases, which resulting outcry
pushed for more protection.

------
smutticus
We will have to wait and see how long he is kept in prison before being
actually charged and brought before a judge. If it stretches to more than 6
months then the people of Sweden need to concern themselves with their general
loss of Habeas Corpus. Right now it seems things are still developing and
maybe we should give the prosecutors a bit more time.

~~~
pathy
I just checked to be sure, but as far as I can tell he was transferred to a
regular prison on the 7th of December to serve the rest of his TPB sentence (1
year minus the time he has been detained)

The actual court case for the Logica hack is probably going to start in
February.

source: [http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/svartholm-warg-fors-
till-f...](http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/svartholm-warg-fors-till-
fangelse_7736082.svd)

~~~
subsystem
"1 year minus the time he has been detained"

I'm not sure that's true since he was detained for another crime than the one
he went to jail for. Sweden do have automatic release on parole after 2/3 of
the sentence has been served.

~~~
pathy
You may be right, I can't say for sure - I guess time will tell?

------
rikacomet
This is the case of anti-piracy champions nailing a pro-piracy person, who
they claim to have broken their laws, by breaking his rights and their own
laws.

I remember the famous saying of Winston Churchill:

 _Good things can only be achieved by good ways._

------
benologist
*Guy who stole from artists everywhere.

It's much more accurate that way.

~~~
cookiecaper
What about: "guy who started a popular, light-speed, peer-to-peer library"?

Think about libraries and why they exist. Think about the way libraries work.
Then compare with modern filesharing. It seems that the only difference is
that online, we can trade things so fast that the old guard in big media can't
think of a way to keep monetization intact.

Anyone who accepts the value of a library system (i.e., a big building that
holds various kinds of "intellectual property" for members to peruse for free
and/or a nominal one-time fee) should logically conclude that The Pirate Bay
and its ilk are a public service, not a criminal engagement.

~~~
biot
You might have an argument if all uploads to TPB were purchased (or otherwise
legally licensed) copies and people sharing materials in this peer to peer
library could only share as many simultaneous copies as were purchased. There
are a few companies who are trying to adopt such a legal peer-to-peer lending
network.

However, there's a great example of a modern library where you can find works
produced by small and big media alike, and monetization is effortless for the
consumer via nominal, one-time fees: Apple's App Store. Yet still people find
ways to circumvent the new guard just to avoid paying 99 cents for apps.

~~~
eru
I wasn't aware that the pirate accepted any uploads other than torrent-files,
which do not contain copyrighted information.

~~~
cookiecaper
This is a good semantic distinction for legal considerations, but in this
primarily philosophical discussion on the implications of filesharing, I think
"donating" a torrent which serves as a proxy to the actual content to TPB and
"donating" an actual copyrighted work to a library are decent analogs.

~~~
eru
Isn't seeding the equivalent of the donation to the library, and torrenting
just filling out the catalog index card?

