Private torrent trackers with Danish roots have long been the go-to place for file-sharers in Denmark. Not anymore.

Starting in the fall of 2020 , Danish law enforcement toppled several thriving torrent communities.

With help from local anti-piracy group Rights Alliance , DanishBits, NordicBits, ShareUniversity, Asgaard and others were systematically dismantled.

Sting Operation

When the first trackers fell, preparations for the operation had been ongoing for years. It all started when a former lawyer working for Rights Alliance went undercover at the private tracker DanishBits in 2016. As a quiet user, the infiltrator mapped the site’s internal relationships and identified key individuals in the wider Danish tracker ecosystem.

The details of this sting operation read like a film script but for many involved, it turned into a real-life drama. Not only were several trackers subsequently shut down, a number of community members were prosecuted too. More than two dozen people, from prolific uploaders to ringleaders, all had their day in court.

After the tracker dominoes fell, more than two dozen suspects were investigated and taken to court. This resulted in a wide range of sentences, with most of the tracker admins receiving conditional prison sentences of a few months. Some were ordered to carry out community service.

Conditional Prison Sentence

This week, the National Unit for Special Crimes ( NSK ) announced the final sentence related to the ‘Asgaard’ tracker. The Court in Horsens sentenced a 48-year-old man from East Jutland, who pleaded guilty to copyright infringement, to a suspended prison sentence of 60 days.

The defendant was the last of seven Asgaard tracker administrators to go before the court. The man helped to get the torrent site off the ground in 2019 and served as an admin of NordicBits before that; both offenses were accounted for in the conviction.

Asgaard became immensely popular in Denmark toward the end of 2020, after DanishBits and NordicBits shut down. The site had an estimated 1.5 million monthly visits at its height, making it the biggest pirate site in the country for a while.

Harsher Punishment Wanted

The guilty verdict is good news for Rights Alliance, but a bittersweet victory. While the crackdown effectively decimated the torrent tracker problem, the sentences handed down have been relatively ‘mild’. The tracker operator and many other “ringleaders” don’t have to serve time in prison, as the sentences are conditional.

Rights Alliance Director Maria Fredenslund notes that copyright and IP-related crimes are historically not viewed as severe crimes in Denmark, adding that a tougher sentence would be more effective.

“Sentences for IP crime are in general too low in Denmark, to have a sufficient deterrent effect. We believe the sentences in many cases should have been much harder,” Fredenslund informs TF.

“The reality is that IP crime has not been seen as a severe crime in Denmark historically, so we are starting from a low point and building from there to obtain adequate sentencing that will keep others from committing similar crimes.”

NSK prosecutor Hans Bohn Sørensen is content with the verdict, however, which marks the end of the Asgaard prosecution.

“I am satisfied with the verdict, which now ends the proceedings against the founders and administrators behind one of the largest illegal file sharing services we have had in Denmark,” Sørensen says.

Threat Neutralized?

The recent sentence and those that were handed down earlier are not the harshest on a global scale and unlikely to spook hardened criminals. However, deterrence is not solely determined by the harshness of a punishment .

Another factor that plays a key role is the likelihood of getting caught. With a multi-year crackdown on several trackers, Danish police and NSK have shown that this risk is, perhaps, higher than ever.

Commenting on this aspect, Fredenslund praises the authorities’ invaluable efforts, which helped to ensure that Danish file-sharing services no longer pose a significant threat to Danish rights holders.

Of course, new trackers will always emerge but Rights Alliance sees these as marginal problems in the grander scheme.

“The current trackers only harbor the very hardcore illegal users in Denmark. They don’t pose a threat that’s comparable to Asgaard, ShareUniversity, DanishBits, etc.,” Fredenslund notes.

With the final conviction of the last Asgaard admin, all cases related to the tracker are closed. Cases against other trackers are still pending, however. In the meantime, Rights Alliance maintains its focus on emerging threats, including those related to Artificial Intelligence.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

At the height of the online file-sharing boom, the phrase ‘Sharing is Caring’ was a reminder that peer-to-peer file-sharing systems lived or died on the availability of upload bandwidth. Its presentation allowed it to be about much more than that.

The ‘give to get’ philosophy forms part of the BitTorrent protocol even today, but Sharing is Caring was a phrase that could influence human behavior, to the benefit of the wider file-sharing movement, with no suggestion of pressure.

Sharing is Caring implied that by freely sharing whatever content file-sharers had at their disposal, downloaders would know that otherwise anonymous uploaders actually cared about them . If everyone felt that way, everyone could show that they cared too . It was simply a case of sharing the content other people had shared with them , with others in need of the same content ; karma and piracy in perfect harmony.

Counterargument: Sharing Isn’t Caring

While that may have been an unlikely piece of utopia for as long as it lasted, rightsholders viewed sharing rather differently. Well known for his work at the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau, Antipiratbyrån, Henrik Pontén – who sadly passed away in 2020 – often signed off emails to TorrentFreak with, “Remember, Sharing is Caring.”

In the context of what was said in the body of those emails, the real message was clear: people should care about creators too.

In much the same way that Antipiratbyrån had its name reappropriated by rival group Piratbyrån (The Pirate Bureau), the phrase ‘Sharing is Caring’ would later be repurposed by Danish anti-piracy group RettighedsAlliancen (Rights Alliance).

Share With Care

Around 2012, agreements between rightsholders and YouTube, which allowed the former to more easily remove infringing content from the latter, prompted discussions in Denmark on how similar arrangements with other service providers could help to fight piracy.

Facilitated by Denmark’s Ministry of Culture, a series of meetings attended by Rights Alliance, various rightsholders, ISPs, Google, Microsoft, and payment providers, concluded with the signing of a Code of Conduct.

Signatories committed to making the internet a safer, better place, based on respect for copyright and the promotion of legal products. In September 2014, members of the Telecommunications Industry Association in Denmark (TI) signed a Code of Conduct that ensured pirate site blocking applications, filed by Rights Alliance against a single ISP, would be implemented voluntarily by all ISP members of TI.

To this background and following development work by the Rights Alliance, the Danish Ministry of Culture, the Danish Consumer Council, and ISPs, a new anti-piracy education campaign was born. To find out what Share With Care had to offer, members of the public simply needed to visit a blocked pirate domain and let their ISP handle the rest.

The image above is a translated version of the anti-piracy splash screen that still greets customers of Danish ISP DKTV a decade later.

In general terms, little seems to have changed over the years. It’s still possible to search for movies and TV shows on a platform called FilmFinder which informs visitors where content can be watched or purchased legally. The same applies to eBooks and Denmark-focused new outlets but for less obvious reasons, items of genuine furniture .

A Decade of Share With Care

In a statement this week, Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund said that much has changed since the launch of Share With Care a decade ago.

“The 10 years with Share With Care show how far we have come today in the vision of a regulated internet, where we can block illegal content and guide users along the way,” Fredenslund said.

“With the collaboration around blocking and behavioral regulation measures such as FilmFinder, we in Denmark have shown the way to protect content through measures that regulate both content and consumption. With the permanent extension of Share With Care, we look forward to taking the effect of the collaboration to new heights in the coming years.”

A Decade of Blocking Statistics

Rights Alliance also released a small amount of data related to the pirate site blocking measures carried out by the country’s ISPs over the last decade.

“Over the years, the Share With Care collaboration has resulted in 2,217 blocked websites,” Rights Alliance notes.

As far as we can determine, blocked websites seems more likely to mean blocked domains in this instance.

The blue section above represents websites subject to court-ordered blocking measures, around 250 according to the chart. The much larger green section represents mirror sites, proxies and other platforms that appeared after court-ordered blocking of a specific domain, to circumvent blocking measures.

Since these domains are blocked by ISPs voluntarily, we can conclude that the vast majority of domains blocked in Denmark for copyright reasons, are handled on an administrative, company-to-company basis.

Current State of Blocking

No other blocking data was made available this week but TorrentFreak was able to review the latest blocking list issued to ISPs. At the time of writing it contains 892 domains, the majority of which do indeed appear related to circumvention efforts.

For example, the list contains four basic domains for YTS, probably the most visited torrent site in the world right now. The site’s main domain, yts.mx, is obviously a target and the same goes for the other three. Four other domains, including yts.movie and yts.pm, appear to be non-functional, while another 30 refer to sub-domains on unblocking portals such as Unblocklit, Proxybit, and Unblockproject.

Other sites for which circumvention domains also dominate include The Pirate Bay, TorrentDownloads, Torlock, and well, the list goes on. Two unexpected domains on the list include konsumenttestargruppen.com, which according to reports was used for scams , and a very long URL that allows users to access The Pirate Bay’s onion domain, without having to install Tor.

While Rights Alliance is certainly in favor of site blocking, some believe that meddling with DNS is a step too far. Others believe that nobody should have the right to dictate which sites are available, and which ones are not.

Whether intentional, accidental, or simply a quirk of translating Danish to English, isn’t entirely clear. Whatever the reason, local ISP DTKV operates its blocking page on a sub-domain of its main site (dktv.dk) using the Danish word ‘censur’ or ‘censorship’ in English.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Last Thursday, a Danish court sentenced a 24-year old programmer from Silkeborg to 60 days probation for his role in operating the torrent tracker ShareUniversity.

The sentencing is the latest in Denmark following an unprecedented crackdown on local torrent trackers that has already resulted in more than a dozen prosecutions, with more yet to come.

The National Unit for Special Crime (NSK) reports that it’s happy with the conviction. In addition to serving the suspended prison sentence, the man must also pay 20,000 Danish kroner ($2,800) to the Rights Alliance, which represents the copyright holders.

“I am satisfied with the verdict, which rests on a thorough investigative work. The judgment emphasizes that copyright infringement is a crime that is taken seriously by the legal system,” NSK’s prosecutor Jan Østergaard says.

Thus far, the Danish courts have mostly handed down suspended prison sentences, which makes the associated press releases a little repetitive. However, the Rights Alliance , which was a driving force in the early investigations, recently decided to share additional background.

Undercover Operation

Thomas Heldrup, the anti-piracy group’s Head of Content Protection & Enforcement, has been running an undercover operation for more than half a decade. This helped the police to pinpoint many of the targets and also played a role in the most recent prosecution.

“We were undercover at ShareUniversity and based on what we gathered from this work the authorities filed the case which led to last week’s sentence,” Heldrup tells TorrentFreak.

As detailed in the Danish podcast Zetland , it all started when the Rights Alliance went undercover at the private DanishBits tracker in 2016.

Heldrup initially registered as a regular user of the tracker seven years ago. He wasn’t interested in downloading movies or music. Instead, he tried to map and follow the site’s lead figures, with the ultimate goal of identifying the main boss, MrDB.

The undercover operation meticulously followed public discussions, taking notes on the tracker’s key figures. Occasionally, some comments would reveal people’s ages or occupations, but progress was slow. It eventually took a financial problem to really get the ball rolling.

MrDB was particularly cautious and didn’t share personal details. However, when there was an issue with the site’s Bitcoin donations he swiftly put up a new payment option, so users could pay directly in Danish kroner. This patch allowed the lawyer to follow the money, which was routed to a bank in Belize.

From the Caribbean to Africa

While it’s fitting for a pirate to bank in the Caribbean, the paper trail eventually led to the tracker’s downfall. The real breakthrough came when Heldrup’s constant monitoring revealed MrDB’s real name.

It’s not clear where the name surfaced but, according to Zetland’s writeup, it was mentioned during online arguments between Danish trackers, which had a long-running rivalry. That name, combined with the information from Belize, ultimately led to the operator, who was neither in the Caribbean nor in Denmark.

In the fall of 2020, Danish authorities eventually located the then 33-year-old DanishBits operator in Morocco, where he was arrested and eventually extradited to Denmark.

Tracker Domino

The arrest marked the end of the popular tracker and the start of a crackdown, which also hit a rival tracker around the same time. In that investigation, police identified the 69-year-old operator of NordicBits, who was living in Spain.

Under questioning, the NordicBits operator admitted his involvement in the site and agreed to shut it down voluntarily. Danish authorities intended to take the operator to court, but the man was seriously ill and passed away before being prosecuted.

The prosecution of MrDB continued and he eventually received a one-year prison sentence, of which nine months were conditional. Meanwhile, other targets were lining up as well.

After DanishBits and NordicBits shut down, two smaller trackers – Asgaard and ShareUniversity – took over. These sites accepted a lot of new members but also attracted the attention of the Rights Alliance and the police, which kept up the pressure.

With help from undercover work and follow-up investigations from the authorities, the trackers folded after a few weeks , effectively decimating the local torrent tracker scene.

Several people involved with these sites, including uploaders and users, were prosecuted, with many receiving suspended prison sentences.

Undercover Lawyer Speaks

Looking back at the past few years, Thomas Heldrup is proud of what was achieved. While the undercover work was important, the active collaboration between rightsholders and the dedicated IP crime unit of the Danish police, proved to be the key to success.

“Our work usually needs to be backed up with the investigation tools that the police have at their disposal to track and disclose information about the citizens,” Heldrup tells us.

The Right Alliance could have opted to file civil cases, but that wouldn’t have been as successful. The investigative tools of the authorities are broader and the anti-piracy group also believes that it’s more appropriate for the official authorities to bring these cases to justice.

Heldrup was sometimes surprised to see how much personal information staffers and uploaders shared online. At times, they were simply too eager to share, which eventually allowed both Rights Alliance and the police to connect the dots.

“I can say that our undercover work put us in a position to map what profiles were the crucial players in running the sites and where resources at the police were best spent to bring down the sites.

“We spent a long time collecting info that, when looked at as a whole, could lead to the identification of the people who have been arrested in these cases. And yes it did come as a surprise to what extent people are willing to share info about themselves on these platforms,” Heldrup concludes.

—

An overview of the cases prosecuted thus far can be found below. The trial against several alleged operators of the Asgaard tracker is scheduled for February next year. Danish readers can hear more about the undercover operation through the Zetland podcast .

Targets	Service	Date of judgement
ringleader	ShareUniversity	05.10.2023
users and uploaders	DanishBytes, Notor, SuperBits	13.09.2023
users and uploaders	Asgaard	22.06.2023
ringleader(s)	Asgaard	24.04.2023
ringleader(s)	Seedbox	28.02.2023
users and uploaders	DanishBytes	25.11.2022
ringleader(s)	DanishBytes	14.11.2022
ringleader(s)	Asgaard	03.11.2022
users and uploaders	SuperBits / Nielsen Networks	01.09.2022
ringleader(s)	Asgaard	15.03.2022
ringleader(s)	Asgaard	15.03.2022
ringleader(s)	Asgaard	04.02.2022
ringleader(s)	Asgaard	15.06.2021
ringleader(s)	DanishBits	27.04.2021
users and uploaders	DanishBits	23.03.2021
ringleader(s)	Plex-server	03.03.2021
ringleader(s)	NextGen	07.05.2020
users and uploaders	DanishBits	12.02.2020
users and uploaders	DanishBits	25.06.2019
ringleader(s)	Movielocker	01.11.2018

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Following a piracy crackdown in Denmark and the closure of the largest torrent sites as part of a joint Rights Alliance and police operation, content-hungry pirates dispersed to find new homes.

With DanishBits and NordicBits consigned to history, many ended up at Asgaard, a relatively young private members site happy to take on new members.

Opening up under these circumstances was a bold but risky move. Within weeks the site’s operators belatedly arrived at the same conclusion and decided to shut down before things got out of hand. They were already too late; multiple arrests, a string of prosecutions, and several convictions followed.

Anti-piracy group Rights Alliance is now reporting the details of yet another Asgaard-related conviction.

Sharing Pirated eBooks & Paywalled Articles

Asgaard announced its closure in mid-December 2020 but that didn’t stop at least one of the site’s staff spending Christmas in prison .

The announcement also failed to prevent Rights Alliance and Danish police from investigating offenses that took place months before Asgaard offered to take in new members. Or indeed, offenses that took place even after Asgaard shut down.

According to Rights Alliance, a member of Asgaard was also part of a piracy release group known as ‘Xoro6’. Between July and December 2020, the now 41-year-old man from Funen illegally copied and shared over 1,000 eBooks, audiobooks, newspaper articles and magazines with other Asgaard users.

Around 85 of the articles were obtained from a paywalled service operated by Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet. The anti-piracy group says that the man gained access to the platform using credentials belonging to legitimate subscribers to the service.

Six-Month Suspended Prison Sentence

On June 22, 2023, at the Court of Odense, the former Asgaard member was handed a six-month suspended sentence for sharing the eBooks and the paywalled articles obtained using the credentials of unsuspecting Ekstra Bladet+ subscribers. But that wasn’t all.

“The 41-year-old was also convicted of eight counts of fraud in online shopping,” a statement from Denmark’s National Unit for Special Crime (NSK) adds.

“Here, he had falsely claimed to the sellers that he had either not received the goods or had returned them. Therefore, he unjustifiably got his money back.”

Rights Alliance says the man defrauded online stores to the tune of DKK 17,229 ($2,524) but his offending didn’t stop there.

Plex Server Subscriptions

The man was reported to the authorities in January 2021 for the eBook and article-sharing offenses but despite the shutdown of Asgaard, infringement of other types of media continued.

“He then became involved in running a Plex server where at least 3,468 movies and series were made available to paying customers. A relationship for which he was also convicted in court,” Rights Alliance notes.

“Here he was responsible for advertising the Plex server on platforms such as Discord and also for registration, payment and guidance of the service’s customers, who could buy access to the server for DKK 100 [US$15] per month.”

The Slippery Slope

“It is not the first time that we see cases like this, where illegal sharing of creative content easily becomes a criminal slippery slope to more serious offenses,” says Rights Alliance director, Maria Fredenslund.

“It is therefore important to intervene early, so that we avoid rights holders as well as general consumers and companies being exposed to a wide range of criminal acts.”

On top of his suspended sentence, the man was also ordered to pay DKK 41,715 (US$6,111) compensation to Rights Alliance. Given the level of offending and the aggravating factors, that’s not much compared to similar cases elsewhere. Nevertheless, NSK deputy prosecutor Brian Borgstrøm says the outcome is acceptable.

“I am satisfied with the verdict, which emphasizes that organized and systematic infringement of copyright is a form of crime which the authorities take seriously,” Borgstrøm concludes.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Obtaining a proper education can give people a leg up in life, but this privilege does come at a price.

Studying can be a costly endeavor, requiring expensive textbooks that may only be in use for a single semester. To reduce costs, some students choose to share books or buy cheaper second-hand versions. Textbook piracy is also widespread and in many cases considered socially acceptable among students.

Last year, a Danish student survey found that nearly half of all students who use digital textbooks obtain copies through illegal means. Most students are well aware that selling and pirating books is against the law, but 68% still found it acceptable to share pirated books with friends or other students.

Criminal Conviction

Rights Alliance , a Danish anti-piracy group that represents rightsholders in several sectors, has had this issue on its radar for a few years now. Thus far, it has resulted in several criminal convictions of what, at first glance, seem rather small offenders.

This month another case went before the court after a 25-year-old man was found guilty of selling PDFs of pirated textbooks to 12 people. The offender avoided a prison sentence, in part due to the lengthy proceeding, but was ordered to pay a fine of 5,000 Danish kroner (~$670) in compensation, while 2,450 kroner (~$360) were confiscated.

The court concluded that the man sold 56 pirated copies in total, which he stored on a Microsoft OneDrive server. This wasn’t a typical hardcore criminal operation, however, as the seller himself wasn’t the source. He received the pirate books for his “social work” study from other students and decided to sell them to others online.

While this type of activity is clearly illegal, the sentence also has an ironic twist. A quick calculation shows that the fine and confiscated money amount to less than $20 per pirated textbook, meaning that buying them legally would probably have been more expensive.

Facing the Consequences

Commenting on the recent verdict, Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund says the case highlights that relatively small acts of piracy can have real criminal consequences.

“Thanks to an effective effort by the police, it was possible to stop the systematic sale before the consequences became too great. This case shows that systematic illegal sales are not reserved for an overwhelming profit. Just a few completed sales of illegal textbooks can have criminal consequences,” Fredenslund notes .

According to the anti-piracy group, most of the textbooks in the case originated from Nota , a Danish Library for people with print disabilities. Responding to this finding, Nota’s acting director Michael Karvø stresses that it will continue to tighten its security to prevent piracy.

“Nota takes the illegal sharing of Nota’s materials very seriously and therefore has a continuous focus on the implementation of new security measures to prevent illegalities,” Karvø says.

Taking Responsibility?

The educational book publishers association is pleased with the conviction. However, Secretary General Pia Vigh notes that educational institutions can and should do more to address the piracy problem.

“When so many of the students share digital study books knowing that it is illegal, it shows a great need for the educational institutions to take more responsibility,” Vigh comments.

The association calls for a cultural change in the educational setting, where piracy should not be without consequences. Instead, it should be actively condemned, also by teachers.

Whether this conviction or the others reported previously will have a serious impact remains doubtful. As the price of textbooks remain high, some students are still willing to take a calculated risk.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Piracy is by no means exclusive to any particular generation but among the general public, it’s often associated with younger people.

This notion may very well change over time as the Internet-native generation gets older. That said, younger people tend to be more open to change, also when it comes to piracy habits.

Over the past two decades, new online piracy sites, apps and other consumption methods have emerged. This can pose quite a challenge for anti-piracy outfits, whose main goal is to spot new piracy trends and nip them in the bud.

Social Media Piracy Panel

To help with this ongoing process, Danish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance plans to involve youth directly. This week, a job listing appeared online offering teens an hourly wage of 150 Danish kroner (~US$22) to join a piracy discussion panel.

“We want to know more about young people’s ways of being and behaving on social media – and online in general. With your help, we will become much wiser about young people’s behavior and will be able to reach new heights in our work.”

Rights Alliance is specifically looking for young people between the ages of 15 and 17. These teens will join a panel of eight peers who, together with an employee from the anti-piracy group, will discuss piracy-related Internet and social media developments.

Friends and Family are Safe

There’s no need for prospective candidates to be deeply involved in illegal activities or to expose pirating friends. The main goal is to learn how young people are exposed to pirated media during their online activities, which can help to spot emerging threats.

“It is important for us to emphasize that you should not disclose yourself, your friends or others in your social circle. The sole purpose is to help us learn more about current trends,” Rights Alliance clarifies.

According to the job listing , each panel meeting will last for roughly two hours with three tentatively scheduled for the coming year. The meetings will take place in Copenhagen and travel expenses will be covered.

While it’s unusual for anti-piracy organizations to recruit teenagers, it makes a lot of sense. Piracy preferences change rapidly and obtaining direct input from younger people is a relatively effective way to keep an eye on new developments.

Preventing Bad Habits

Speaking with TorrentFreak, Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund says that the panel should help to provide more insight into the habits and behavior of today’s youth on social media.

“We are especially looking into how we can educate and perhaps prevent young people from forming bad habits with regard to consuming illegal content like live football, films, etcetera, on social media platforms,” Fredenslund notes.

Online piracy remains a major challenge in Denmark. Last year, an annual survey carried out by Mediavision revealed that movie and TV piracy had reached the highest level in nine years . According to the same research, YouTube and Facebook were cited as the most used piracy sources, but it’s likely they’re just the tip of the iceberg.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

In common with most broadly comparable countries, internet users in Denmark enjoy movies and TV shows, music, videogames, and ebooks.

The problem for rightsholders is that a subset of the population prefers not to pay for the privilege.

Local anti-piracy group Rights Alliance (Rettigheds Alliancen) mitigates all types of piracy but for the past few years, has maintained a keen focus on torrent sites.

Working in partnership with the Danish government’s SØIK IP-Task Force, Rights Alliance forced several sites to close down and successfully prosecuted site operators , staff members, and users who uploaded content to those sites.

In 2021, Rights Alliance targeted specialized servers that not only supply content to torrent sites but also play a role in boosting download times while improving security.

Seedbox Providers Appear in the Crosshairs

In basic terms, every BitTorrent user already operates a potential ‘seedbox’. A computer (box) loaded with a correctly-configured torrent client and content to upload can ‘seed’ or share content with others. However, the term ‘seedbox’ usually refers to a pre-configured remote server running a torrent client.

Accessed via a web interface in the user’s browser, these remote torrent clients have several advantages, including 24/7/365 uptime, high-speed connections, and depending on the provider and many other factors, varying levels of protection against rightsholders’ lawsuits.

In 2021, news broke that six people had been arrested in Denmark due to their alleged connections to several local torrent sites. Among them was Kasper Nielsen of internet services company HNielsen Networks, a supplier of servers under various brands that could be configured for ‘seedbox’ purposes.

Available information indicated that the servers had been used by an unknown number of users to share content on private torrent sites ShareUniversity, Superbits and DanishBytes.

Prosecution

Targeting the operator of a service provider, offering access to fundamentally legal servers and software, isn’t the same as targeting a user of those services who act as direct infringers. In order to hold a third party liable for someone else’s infringement, rightsholders usually need to show negligence or demonstrate that the provider or similar third party is somehow complicit.

In Denmark, the bar has been set fairly low. In 2015, a man was arrested for running a site that carried no pirate software but did advise users how to use piracy app Popcorn Time. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court , and the man ultimately received a six-month conditional sentence for contributory infringement.

When Rights Alliance filed its criminal complaint against HNielsen Networks, the anti-piracy group referenced the landmark Filmspeler case which involved the sale of piracy-configured media players.

Seedbox Seller Sentenced

According to statements published by Rights Alliance and NSK (Særlig Kriminalitet) Denmark’s Special Crime Unit, Nielsen was convicted yesterday for selling seedboxes in the knowledge they were being used by others to share movies, TV shows, eBooks and other content, without permission from rightsholders.

“On February 28, the Court in Aalborg ruled against the Danish owner behind a seedbox company for, in the period November 2020 to May 2021, having sold seedboxes and server capacity to an unknown number of people, knowing that they were used for illegal sharing of no less than 3,838 copyright-protected works on the Danish and Nordic file sharing services ShareUniversity, Superbits and DanishBytes,” Rights Alliance reports.

Nielsen was handed a three-month conditional (suspended) sentence and a confiscation order for DKK 300,000 (around $42,600), the amount users had paid his company to access the seedbox servers. The 35-year-old must also pay compensation of DKK 298,660 to Rights Alliance.

“Providers of seedboxes have a responsibility to ensure that their services are not used for illegal uploading and downloading of copyrighted content, which the Rights Alliance can clearly see that they are doing,” says Maria Fredenslund, Director of Rights Alliance.

“Therefore, this case helps to send a signal to other providers that you cannot deliberately sell services to the illegal market.”

Defendant Did Not Contest The Case

Since court documents are yet to be published and Rights Alliance was unable to share copies with TorrentFreak, we asked Nielsen if he could provide more background detail on the case. An important detail is that Neilsen was advised by his lawyers to take a plea deal, and did so at any early stage.

This came to light when we requested details relating to the Rights Alliance claim that “no less than 3,838 copyright-protected works” were shared on the torrent sites. Since 3,838 is pretty specific number, how was that proven?

The simple answer is that when Nielsen took the plea deal, there was no need to prove anything in court. The 3,838 figure and any evidence related to ‘knowledge’ of infringement carried out by seedbox customers on the sites, were accepted as true.

In respect of the 3,838 titles shared on the sites, there was apparently no indication of how many clients were sharing that content, so one user per title was assumed. No data is available to confirm or deny that claim but Neilsen says that the decision yesterday renders that moot, and he’s pleased the case is all over.

“I am quite happy that the case is over and that I can now focus on the future for myself and my company. The sentence is what we aimed for. The financial side is naturally tedious but we’ll overcome that,” he says.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Free access to information is a broadly held ideal, but when students have to pay for their textbooks, it’s far from reality.

Getting a proper education certainly isn’t cheap. As a result, many students have found shortcuts in pirate sites such as Libgen and Z-Library.

In addition, pirated books are also regularly shared between students or resold through online marketplaces. The latter can lead to a lucrative revenue stream, but certainly not without risk.

Textbook Pirate Convicted

Yesterday a 26-year-old Danish man was convicted in a criminal case, following an investigation by anti-piracy group Rights Alliance . The man was found guilty of offering 29 textbook pdfs for sale through local online marketplace DBA.

While a criminal conviction doesn’t look good on one’s resume, the textbook seller won’t have to serve a custodial sentence. Instead, the court issued a 10-day suspended prison sentence.

On top of the probation period, the man was also ordered to pay 5,000 Danish kroner (~$700) in compensation to Rights Alliance, while 2,245 kroner (~$310) were confiscated.

Rights Alliance is pleased with the deterrent message sent by this criminal conviction. While the punishment may not scare hardened criminals, it confirms that selling pirated textbooks is a crime.

Piracy Culture in Education

Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund welcomes the outcome while stressing that more must be done to change the ‘unhealthy’ pro-piracy culture among students.

Last year, a student survey found that nearly half of all students who use digital textbooks get their copies through illegal means.

“Unfortunately, we see an unhealthy culture in higher education, where every other student has acquired study books illegally. This means that a large part of Denmark’s youth is willing to break the law,” Fredenslund says .

Piracy Beats Legal Options

Most students are well aware that selling and pirating books is against the law. However, 68% still find it acceptable to share digital textbooks with friends or other students.

This type of sharing isn’t a fad; it appears to be ingrained in the educational culture. The chart below shows that piracy is by far the most common method to obtain digital textbooks, beating legal options.

Rights Alliance is calling for a thorough culture change and is actively engaging with educational institutions to see what can be done. The anti-piracy group has already launched some informational campaigns, but they failed to produce the desired outcome.

Culture Change?

This week’s conviction of the textbook seller is not the first. Similar suspended prison sentences have been handed down in previous Danish textbook piracy cases.

Rights Alliance says it is important to confirm that these activities are illegal. However, as the survey showed, most students are already well aware of the legal angle, but continue to share textbooks nonetheless.

It seems that the high cost of textbooks is a major driver of this activity, but there are indications that prices will fall. On the contrary, widespread piracy could make textbooks even more expensive, effectively creating a vicious piracy cycle.

Pia Vigh, Head of the Secretariat for Danish Education Publishers, hopes that the broader educational system will put the piracy issue on the agenda. If not, it may become increasingly expensive to publish Danish textbooks.

“The management, lecturers, and tutors must take responsibility and make the students understand that it ultimately affects themselves, their professionalism and their study environment if they share study books illegally,” Vigh says.

The question is whether students can be convinced that copyright and their study environment are more important than their own wallets.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

After gaining serious momentum over the past seven years, the pirate IPTV phenomenon is now a major challenge for the entire audiovisual entertainment market.

While at times unpredictable, pirate subscriptions are now viewed as a credible market alternative. When compared to packages offered by legal providers, they are more comprehensive and less restrictive. And when cost enters the equation, there can only be one winner.

As one side pays millions to produce or license movies and TV shows, the other only has to worry about when they’re available to copy, so that subscriptions can be sold to the public. And anti-piracy groups making test purchases, of course.

Investigation Launched Against Smart IPTV

Anyone involved in the pirate IPTV market in Sweden runs the risk of attracting local anti-piracy group Rättighetsalliansen (Rights Alliance). As one of the key forces responsible for the prison sentences served by the founders of The Pirate Bay, Rights Alliance certainly understands torrent sites. Today, however, it finds itself fighting IPTV piracy, which presents different problems and new opportunities.

The anti-piracy group has just announced the indictment of a man suspected of being behind pirate IPTV service, Smart IPTV. The platform is described as “medium-sized and well-functioning”, offering a large selection of TV channels and movies. In common with many similar IPTV services, Smart IPTV only accepted cryptocurrency.

Investigation Began in 2019

What first drew attention to Smart IPTV isn’t clear but following an intital report by Rights Alliance, police launched their own investigation. Rights Alliance mentions no specific date but says that police targeted the home of a key suspect late 2021. Smart IPTV only accepted payment in bitcoin but that didn’t appear to slow down the investigation or lead to less evidence.

“Images from the house search show, according to the indictment, that the suspect at the time was handling Smart IPTV and was logged into both email accounts and crypto wallets with links to the service. Cryptocurrency was also taken into custody during the search,” Rights Alliance says.

During the raid, police seized five mobile phones and a computer. All were found to contain material related to IPTV and/or cryptocurrency. Among other evidence, police also found email exchanges with IPTV customers and discussions about a problematic server.

The indictment reportedly lists a sample 20 films but also seeks a seizure order of SEK 12,350,000, around $1.18 million. Rights Alliance says that during the preliminary investigation, the suspect denied committing any crimes, so guilt will have to be decided in court if there’s no change of course before then.

In the meantime, similarities exist between this IPTV case and another reported in Sweden. It also features a man arrested in 2021 in connection with a pirate IPTV service, the involvement of cryptocurrency, and a sudden twist on the final day of the trial.

Similar IPTV Arrest

In November 2021, local news outlet SVT reported that a “young man” had been arrested in Bromölla in southern Sweden. The arrest followed an investigation by Rights Alliance on behalf of major film companies including Nordisk Film and SF.

Predictably, police made a test purchase using bitcoin and then sought cooperation from payment services and domain companies, far detached from the assumed safety of the blockchain. It transpired that the man had purchased the IPTV service’s domain and then registered it in his own name.

During the raid, several phones and computers were seized along with SEK 94,000 (around $9,000) found on a bedside table in an envelope, but the real money was believed to be held elsewhere. According to investigators, customers paid to access the unnamed service using bitcoin and they believed that around SEK 1.5 million ($144,000) could have been generated by the suspect.

In a report published four days later, estimated revenues had escalated to SEK 2.8 million. In the earlier report, it was claimed that police had seized bitcoin worth SEK 358,000 ($33,400) from a wallet held on the man’s phone. That figure jumped to SEK 400,000 ($38,400) while the cash found in the envelope suddenly became cash found in a box.

Whichever details were accurate, all reports agreed that the police were much more interested in some other numbers, ones that could potentially unlock a much bigger haul. All they needed was a minor miracle or a little cooperation.

Hand Over The Codes? No, I Don’t Think So

According to a photograph supplied by police and published by Expressen , officers needed access to codes to unlock the suspect’s Trezor hardware wallet, possibly a top-of-the-range ‘Model T’ variant, according to the company’s website .

With just 14 tries left to guess a passphrase of up to 50 digits long, access to any digital assets seemed unlikely, so police asked the suspect to provide the code.

“I do not know it. Or it’s clear I know, but I don’t want to say,” he told police.

The device appeared to live up to its billing and no crypto was accessed. As far as a confession went, the man said he designed the IPTV service’s website and answered a few emails. People like him, he added, are simply on the front line.

“It is illegal television. There are those at the top and it’s like a pyramid, and it’s us at the bottom who get hit,” he said. The prosecutor agreed.

“We don’t know who is at the top of the pyramid. But he has an important role in the network,” Prosecutor David Ludvigsson said of the suspect.

On Trial for Copyright Infringement, Accounting Issues

Regardless of his claimed minor role, the man went on trial charged with copyright infringement. He also faced charges of improper accounting after failing to keep records of the money he received from selling illegal IPTV subscriptions.

Film companies, including Nordisk film and SF, originally sought damages of SEK 13.5 million ($1.3 million), an amount that’s very close to that now being sought from the man reported by Rights Alliance this week. When that trial will take place is unclear, but the movie companies will be hoping for a better result this time around.

The trial of the man who refused to hand over his codes took place earlier this year, and having considered the circumstances, the court preferred probation over a custodial sentence. While the Bromölla man would’ve welcomed that, he was then ordered to pay SEK 2 million ($192,000) in compensation to the rights holders.

Police still hadn’t been able to gain access to the hardware wallet. On the last day of the trial, it was emptied to the tune of several million kronor.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.