Many private torrent sites track user traffic to ensure that when content is downloaded, an agreed amount is uploaded back to the rest of the community.

Users can independently maintain their own transfer records, which help them keep track of overall bandwidth used and compliance with site rules, whenever traffic volume is an important factor.

But whether they’re held locally, on a torrent site, or by an intermediary service, the usefulness of logs is reversed when they fall into the wrong hands.

DanishBytes User Arrested Then Prosecuted

Early November 2021, Denmark’s Public Prosecutor for Special Economic and International Crime (SØIK) announced that six people had been arrested following criminal referrals by Rights Alliance. All were members and/or operators of ShareUniversity and DanishBytes.

Prosecution of site operators is not uncommon but when it’s deemed in the public interest, pirate site users can also face charges. Every case is unique so criteria differ, especially across national borders, but when evidence shows large volumes of infringement, successful prosecutions become more likely. That was the case when a former DanishBytes user was sentenced last week.

According to Danish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance, the 28-year-old man was a regular site member and wasn’t involved in running the site. That being said, evidence showed that for the period January 2021 to November 2021, he downloaded and/or uploaded no less than 3,000 copyrighted works, including movies, TV shows, music, books, audiobooks and comics.

Guilty Plea and Sentencing

Information released by the National Unit for Special Crimes (NSK), a Danish police unit focused on cybercrime, organized crime, and related financial crime, reveals that the user’s traffic statistics interested prosecutors.

“During the period, the man downloaded no less than 100 TB and uploaded no less than 20 TB of copyrighted material,” NSK says.

BitTorrent trackers operating a ratio model usually insist on a better ratio of downloads to uploads but DanishBytes’ situation was out of the ordinary.

The site launched in January 2021 in the wake of other sites being shut down , so had to get going from a standing start with no users. Even when arrests were being made, the site still had a relatively small userbase, which can limit opportunities to upload more. That may have been a blessing in disguise.

Faced with the evidence, the man decided to plead guilty and was sentenced last week at the Court in Vibourg. In common with similar prosecutions recently, he received a suspended conditional sentence of 60 days’ probation, 80 hours of community service, and confiscation of his computer equipment.

“I am satisfied with the verdict. With a sentence of 60 days of suspended imprisonment, the court sends a clear signal that not only the masterminds, but also users of illegal file sharing services can risk being punished,” says Beytullaah Karacan, deputy prosecutor at NSK.

Rights Alliance Welcomes Conviction

The case against the DanishBytes user began with a Rights Alliance investigation and a referral to the police. As part of his sentence, the man must pay the anti-piracy group DKK 5,000 (US$600) in compensation but Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund is focused on the deterrent effect of another successful prosecution.

“In the Rights Alliance, we have been very focused on getting those behind illegal file-sharing services convicted. But it is equally important that we bring to justice the users who are on these illegal services and who help to keep the services running,” Fredenslund says.

“It is an important signal to send that it is not only masterminds who risk prison sentences, but also systematic users. Therefore, it is satisfactory that yet another user has been convicted, and we expect more of these lawsuits in the future.”

Earlier this month another DanishBytes user received a suspended sentence for his role on the site. The 34-year-old was user who for two months worked on the site’s staff. Importantly, he also used hacked Netflix credentials to obtain content before sharing it with other users of the site.

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

As part of a campaign against torrent sites in Denmark, local anti-piracy group Rights Alliance (Rettigheds Alliancen) targeted several members-only torrent trackers.

Early November 2021, the Public Prosecutor for Special Economic and International Crime (SØIK) announced that six people had been arrested following criminal referrals by Rights Alliance. All were members and/or operators of ShareUniversity and DanishBytes. One of those arrested was a 33-year-old man from Denmark.

Man Progressed From Site User to Staff Member

Following his arrest one year ago, this week Rights Alliance revealed more information about the now 34-year-old from Aalborg. The anti-piracy group informs TorrentFreak that the man was initially just a regular DanishBytes user but was later promoted to the site’s staff.

His position on the DanishBytes team led him to provide IT support to the site’s users. At that time the members-only torrent site offered more than 10,000 copyrighted works to around 5,000 members and, in common with similar sites, not all users understood how everything worked. Rights Alliance says the man did other work too.

Content Acquisition and Hacking

The anti-piracy group says the man was “active in file-sharing” and an uploader on DanishBytes. When users requested specific content to be made available, which included pirated copies of Danish weekly newspapers, the man fulfilled the requests when he could. But there was another side too, one usually hidden from public view.

The prosecution’s case included evidence that the man also uploaded video content to DanishBytes. The content was acquired from legal streaming services including Netflix and TV 2 Play, a subscription channel owned by the Danish government. Anyone can legally sign up to these platforms but obtaining content from them carries risks when redistribution is the end goal.

The man countered these threats by obtaining streaming service login credentials himself via hacking, and by downloading lists of credentials offered by other hackers. These lists typically contain email addresses and passwords exposed due to a data breach. When users deploy the same username/password combination across sites, all of their accounts face potential exposure.

In this case the DanishBytes user avoided paying for Netflix and TV 2 Play while ensuring that any copies he made would be associated with innocent users’ accounts. Rights Alliance couldn’t confirm if any copies were traced using watermarking or similar means. HOwever, it did confirm that the man’s role as a staff member on DanishBytes ended with him being kicked out after two months.

Convicted and Sentenced

Having been convicted for his offenses on DanishBytes and those related to hacking, this week the man appeared for sentencing.

“At the court in Aalborg, a 34-year-old man from Aalborg has been sentenced to 3 months’ probation and 80 hours of community service, as well as confiscation of IT equipment, including for having participated in the operation of the illegal file sharing service DanishBytes,” Rights Alliance reports.

Rights Alliance Thanks ‘Danish FBI’

Founded in 2020 with a vision to create a Danish version of the FBI, DSK (National enhed for Særlig Kriminalitet) is a police unit focused on cybercrime, organized crime, and related financial crime. Following this week’s sentencing, Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund thanked the ‘Special Crime Unit’ for its work on the DanishBytes case.

“NSK, the Section for Legal Protection, has been enormously effective in catching and bringing the masterminds behind DanishBytes and other illegal Danish file-sharing services to court, as well as shutting down the illegal services. In this case, we have seen the hacking of the private data of ordinary Danes with the aim of accessing and retrieving content and then spreading it illegally,” Fredenslund said.

“NSK’s efforts have helped to clarify how password hacking is used to give birth to the illegal services with content, and it is gratifying that the masterminds are now being held accountable for their crime, which has consequences for the content industry as well as for the Danes who get their credentials hacked.”

The sentence handed down to the DanishBytes user is broadly in line with those handed down recently in similar cases. However, those cases did not feature hacking or stolen credentials so the sentence is likely to be considered lenient.

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

Large public torrent sites, such as The Pirate Bay, RARBG and YTS, attract massive international audiences. By dedicating themselves to a specific niche, smaller torrent sites can also generate significant traction.

Some sites focus on a particular type of music, for example, while others may concentrate on movie genres including horror or anime. Since most torrent sites typically carry content in English, private torrent sites catering to speakers of a particular language can become hugely successful, something especially true for those attracting Scandinavian users.

Copyright holders operating in Denmark, where just six million people speak Danish, view private torrent sites as unfair competition in what is already a relatively small market. So, in partnership with their colleagues at Danish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance, a decision was made to shut down all local torrent sites – for good.

Pulling Sites Up At The Roots

With backing from the Danish government’s SØIK’s IP-Task Force, Rights Alliance took down DanishBits and NordicBits , two sites with big reputations that stretched far beyond Scandinavia.

Taking these sites down sent a clear deterrent message but instead of shutting down, private tracker Asgaard took in new members , many from the shuttered sites. A few weeks later the previously emboldened Asgaard announced it too would close, mostly to avoid staff being arrested.

Danish police didn’t get the memo and over the next several months, seven people were arrested. By March 2022, four prosecutions had led to criminal convictions.

– Man, 50: 4 months in prison, 3 conditional ( June 2021 )
– Man, 43: 3 months in prison (conditional) plus community service ( February 2022 )
– Man, 54: 3 months in prison (conditional) plus community service (March 2022)
– Man, 35: 3 months in prison (conditional) plus community service ( March 2022 )

As the image above shows, earlier this year three of the seven were yet to face the courts. Following a process last week, just two remain.

Fifth Criminal Conviction

On November 3, 2022, at the Aarhus Courthouse in Denmark, a 47-year-old man became the fifth member of Asgaard to be convicted since is closure in late 2020. He allegedly co-founded Asgaard in May 2019, with Rights Alliance describing him as one of the site’s masterminds.

In addition to buying Asgaard’s domain name, asgrd.org, he helped cover the costs, make decisions related to its operations, and also acted as its ‘press officer’. Rights Alliance reports that between 2015 to 2020, he was also associated with DanishBits and ShareUniversity.

“The sentence is 3 months’ probation and 80 hours of community service, confiscation of DKK 2,282 [US$305.00), a desktop PC and two external hard drives, and compensation to the Rights Alliance of DKK 35,000 [US$4,670],” Rights Alliance says.

“During the period of the crime, Asgaard had 23,000 users, and gave access to at least 15,000 files with copyright-protected works, several of which were shared before their digital premiere.”

And Then There Were Two

Following the conviction last week, just two of the initial seven suspects are yet to face the courts. An updated graphic from Rights Alliance indicates that an Asgaard moderator and one other person are yet to have their cases concluded.

Rights Alliance Director Maria Fredenslund says that the convictions are the product of hard work designed to wipe out all Denmark-based file-sharing sites.

“It is immensely satisfying to note that the masterminds are now – one by one – being convicted of their criminal enterprise. We are dealing with a number of backers who were not only systematic in their violations of the rights of the members of the Rights Alliance, but also well organized,” Fredenslund says.

“They were dynamic, in the sense that if one service was shut down, they continued their illegal activities on another. Each sentence in this extensive case is an underlining that despite the organization and dynamic methods of the masterminds, they will be caught and held accountable for their violation.”

According to Jan Østergaard, Special prosecutor at the National Unit for Special Crime (NSK), the conviction sends a message to site operators and site users alike.

“It is very satisfying that, on the basis of a strong and focused effort, NSK has brought another mastermind to account,” Østergaard says.

“It sends a clear signal to both the masterminds and to the Danish pirate users that there is a great focus on this type of crime.”

NSK was established on 1 January 2022. Among other things, NSK aims to combat complex organized crime and financial crime.

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

As pirate site blocking programs expand around the world, Denmark already has more than 15 years of experience in this branch of copyright protection.

After blocking Russian MP3 site AllofMP3 in 2006, Danish rightsholders haven’t looked back. The big drive now is how to streamline the site-blocking process so that piracy platforms can be hit as quickly and as comprehensively as possible.

Part of the problem is that to have pirate domains blocked, rightsholders need to have authorization from the court. This can be obtained by obtaining an injunction against an ISP but when a single ISP is the target, other ISPs are not legally required to do anything.

In 2014, rightsholders and ISPs solved these problems by signing a Code of Conduct which ensures that when one ISP is ordered to block, others follow voluntarily. But in the world of site-blocking, there’s always more to be done.

Dynamic Blocking….And Beyond

Since blocking pirate sites is a commitment rather than a one-off effort, Denmark’s site-blocking regime also tackles domain switches and proxy sites. This so-called ‘dynamic blocking’ doesn’t require a new court process. Anti-piracy group Rights Alliance has the authority to identify any new domains and forward them to ISPs for blocking, a process that will now be accelerated.

The Conduct of Conduct (CoC) that provides the framework for blocking has been revised over the years, to accommodate the changing piracy landscape. Earlier this month it was updated again, hoping to shut down domains more quickly than before.

“[T]he illegal market on the Internet is constantly and rapidly developing, which is why it has been necessary to carry out a slight revision of the CoC agreement,” Rights Alliance explains.

“This implies greater flexibility and automation of the processes in the agreement, which should make it easier for both the Rights Alliance and the members of the Telecom Industry to block illegal websites.”

The plan is for ISPs to block new domains within seven days, using automation to retrieve updated lists before carrying out the usual DNS blocking.

How Will The System Work?

Both Rights Alliance and Teleindustrien (Telecommunications Industry Association in Denmark) have published copies of the new Code of Conduct but neither explain how the new system will work. Indeed, the CoC contains a paragraph that explains that a section detailing the individual steps, procedures and criteria, has been withheld “in order to achieve the purpose of the agreement.”

Given that Denmark’s blocking program is DNS-based, it’s trivial for ISPs to modify local DNS entries to redirect pirate site visitors to Share With Care (SWC), a portal designed to encourage pirates back on to the legal path of authorized content services.

Somewhat intrigued by the apparent need for secrecy, we took a closer look at Teleindustrien and to our surprise, found the complete opposite.

Complete Blocking Transparency

It appears that when ISPs are ordered to block domains for any reason, Teleindustrien goes public with three things: the laws under which the blocking was ordered, who ordered the blocking, and which domains were blocked in response.

For example, the telecoms industry group details recent blocks associated with the Ukraine conflict (including RT.com and sputniknews.com) and publishes the domains to an easily downloadable .csv file – perfect for ISPs looking to implement DNS blocking.

Another .csv file is published for gambling site domains deemed illegal in Denmark, 183 according to the latest batch

The data relating to Denmark’s pirate site blocking program reveals how quickly it has expanded over the years. In 2017, Danish ISPs were blocking around 100 pirate sites , a figure that jumped to 478 in 2020.

The latest .csv file containing the list of blocked piracy domains is dated September 27, 2022. It contains 892 URLs – some of them domains in their own right and others representing sub-domains on various sites dedicated to unblocking.

It’s unclear how the new streamlining provisions in the revised Code of Conduct can beat pulling a plain text file from a website but Teleindustrian also provides the data in PDF format for the Adobe fans out there.

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

Early September, Swedish anti-piracy group Rattighetsalliansen (Rights Alliance) reported on a trial that took place at the specialist Patent and Market Court in Stockholm.

A man and woman, a couple from Eskilstuna in eastern Sweden, faced accusations of running an illegal IPTV business and laundering the proceeds. The man, reportedly in his 40s, was said to have run two different IPTV services from which he generated around SEK 2.3 million (around US$213.2k) in revenues over an unspecified period.

The woman denied any knowledge of her partner being an IPTV operator and said that as far as she was concerned, he only repaired set-top boxes. Rights Alliance said that revenues were funneled to the woman from IPTV-related sales and as a result, she faced charges of money laundering.

Rights Alliance and Police Investigation

Following an investigation launched by Rights Alliance and taken up by the police in 2020 following a criminal referral, evidence showed that the man sold illegal IPTV subscriptions and set-top boxes pre-configured for piracy.

Documents released by Swedish police linked the couple to IPTV brand Nordens Bästa IPTV (The Nordics’ Best IPTV). Information released by Rights Alliance this week indicates the man sold subscriptions to NorthTV and PlayTV, which together offered access to live TV channels plus movie and TV show libraries.

Payments for PlayTV subscriptions were accepted via a PayPal account, which over a six month period in 2020 amounted to roughly SEK 1.2 million (around US$111,800). Other payments were received into the man’s Swish account.

Man Sentenced to Prison

This week the Patent and Market Court found that the scale of the crime was worthy of time behind bars. The man received a six-month prison sentence, which is a notable step up from some of the conditional and community sentences handed down in similar cases during the past year.

“By accepting payments, he has controlled which people have received the supply on the illegal services and by sending boxes, he has made the films in question available. He is therefore convicted as a perpetrator,” Rights Alliance says.

“The verdict shows once again that the people behind the illegal services cannot hide behind objections that they only did a minor part, such as posting boxes or answering questions from customers. The investigation also shows how the illegal services bring in large sums that end up directly in the pockets of the perpetrators.”

While a custodial sentence is significant, Rights Alliance and the police didn’t get everything they’d hoped for. The man and his partner were acquitted of money laundering charges after concluding that the evidence didn’t convincingly link the income to PlayTV and NorthTV.

Pirate IPTV is a “Big Problem” in Sweden

“Illegal IPTV is a big problem,” Rights Alliance says, commenting on the sentencing.

“It affects both the film and television industries as well as society at large. As many as 380,000 Swedish households (9%) pay for illegal IPTV services, according to Mediavision. This generates millions of kroner in revenue for criminals and organized crime.”

To combat threats from IPTV and similar illegal services, Rights Alliance and partners, including the MPA, IFPI, local film producers, and the gaming industry, signed a deal earlier this year with internet service providers in Sweden to simplify the blocking of pirate sites.

The signatories will also work together to help form clear legislation that will pave the way for a streamlined administrative site-blocking regime .

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

For more than 15 years, most piracy headlines in Sweden had some connection to The Pirate Bay.

Perhaps anti-piracy groups grew tired of chasing and then the media moved on, but today it’s barely mentioned, despite providing the same functionality as it ever has. Web-based streaming sites have been relegated too, largely thanks to a newer scourge – pirate IPTV services.

Responsibility for tackling pirate IPTV in Sweden falls to anti-piracy group Rights Alliance. Their recent successes include a four-month suspended sentence and $164K in damages against a subscription reseller, and 140 hours of community service and $231,000 in damages against another reseller.

A new prosecution in Sweden looks set to continue the trend.

Couple Faced Trial For IPTV-Related Offenses

Rights Alliance says that a trial recently took place at the specialist Patent and Market Court in Stockholm. A man and woman, a couple from Eskilstuna in eastern Sweden, faced accusations of running an illegal IPTV business and laundering the proceeds.

According to Rights Alliance, the man is suspected of “running two different IPTV services” which together generated around SEK 2.3 million (around US$213.2k) in revenues over an unspecified period.

The woman claimed to have no idea that her partner was in the piracy business – according to her, he was a set-top box repairman. Misunderstandings aside, Rights Alliance says that SEK 1.3 million (around US$120.5k) was funneled to the woman from IPTV-related sales. As a result, she now faces money laundering charges.

Long Running Investigation

Rights Alliance says that after discovering “two IPTV services” and reporting them to the police, subsequent investigations linked them to the same illegal activities. According to a report from Ekuriren ( paywall ) , the investigation began in 2020 and was handled by Sweden’s National Operations Department (NOA).

NOA identified an Eskilstuna man in his 40s as the suspect and inevitably paid him a surprise home visit. A police photograph shows a cardboard box containing several smaller boxes, that in turn may have contained Linux-based set-top boxes. A couple of remotes (soiled), and other sundry items complete the haul.

The same slide also reveals the name of an IPTV service – Nordens Bästa IPTV (The Nordics’ Best IPTV).

Police found customer lists connecting the man to sales of IPTV subscriptions, most likely providing access to thousands of live TV channels and movies. The man also sent close to 1,400 packages through the mail, other documents reveal.

Resellers and IPTV Service Operators

For potential buyers lacking specific knowledge, it can be challenging to know the nature of the person selling them an IPTV subscription. Users can buy subscriptions directly from those operating IPTV services but in most cases, they will be dealing with a reseller operating their own branded website.

Resellers’ connections to those actually operating IPTV services (servers and other infrastructure) are mostly limited to buying ‘credits’ from a self-serve web service at one price, and then reselling them to customers under their own branding, hopefully at a higher price.

These differences don’t matter much to the customer, but they are important when reporting cases. They’re important to suspects in those cases too, and crucial to the wider fight against piracy.

Differences in Terminology

In the Swedish case targeting the man and his partner, Rights Alliance says he is charged with “running two different IPTV services”. According to the Ekuriren report, the investigation shows that he mainly sold set-top boxes. It’s acknowledged that the man ran two websites and received payments, but a cardboard box of set-top boxes isn’t an IPTV service.

Language barriers and terminology preferences may be at play, but the difference between prosecuting someone behind an IPTV service and prosecuting a reseller of someone else’s service is significant. If prosecuting the operator of a service means that the service gets shut down, all resellers of that service have nothing further to sell. It tackles the problem at the source and causes much more disruption.

Prosecuting a single reseller not only means the underlying service continues, but all other resellers still have access to subscriptions that can be sold to the public. That doesn’t mean that prosecuting resellers is pointless but it does put a lot of faith in deterrent messages. These already face fierce competition from the small chance of being caught to the considerable profits available.

Of course, IPTV sellers of all kinds prefer to hang on to those profits and that’s not going to happen in this case.

In addition to the seizure of around SEK 1.3 million (around US$92.7k), police also seized a Tesla. There’s also the potential for damages and prison sentences, with the length of the latter likely to be affected by the man’s status as a ringleader (the operator of a service) or just a cog in the machine (reseller).

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

The decision whether to pirate content or pay for it is ultimately a personal choice influenced by any number of factors.

From content availability to the ability to pay, from wanting content now or being forced to wait, the scales can easily tip one way or the other.

By emphasizing the benefits of legal consumption and elevating public perception of risk, anti-piracy groups try to tip the scales in favor of rightsholders. Showing real-life consequences of piracy is one of the available options.

Deterrence For All

Torrent sites offering Danish content were popular in Denmark for obvious reasons, at least until anti-piracy group Rights Alliance teamed up with police to shut them down .

When key DanishBits players were arrested, convicted and later sent to prison , anyone inclined to launch a new site had a crystal clear example of the potential risks. As a deterrent to regular BitTorrent users, it wasn’t the right message.

The pursuit of high-level players would’ve simply reinforced the belief that only those at the top face any risk. But Rights Alliance hadn’t forgotten regular torrent site users and was preparing to send them a hand-crafted message.

Regular BitTorrent User Sentenced

A former user of DanishBits appeared in court Thursday having pleaded guilty to sharing around 40 movies on DanishBits. As previously reported , he had no formal connections with the site other than membership, and wasn’t part of any specific uploader group. He was a normal user, much like any other.

Rights Alliance needed a conviction that would resonate with the general public so after hiring a specialist company to gather tracking evidence, a case was built against the DanishBits user. Instead of being handed to a lawfirm for civil action, the case was accepted by the police for criminal prosecution.

Yesterday the Court of Frederiksberg handed down a 30-day conditional prison sentence and ordered the man to pay DKK 2,840 (US$380) in damages, the exact amount requested by Rights Alliance on behalf of its rightsholder partners. The Court also ordered the confiscation of two computers and external hard drives.

Compared to the wild damages awards available to U.S. courts in civil cases, $380 may seem insignificant. But what it represents is a real amount attached to a very real criminal conviction, one that Rights Alliance (RA) believes can offer significant support to credible anti-piracy messaging.

RA: Conviction Marks a Turning Point

Considering the importance of the prosecution, TorrentFreak asked Rights Alliance CEO Maria Fredenslund if the conditional prison sentence would send the right kind of message. Was it too harsh, or perhaps not harsh enough?

“That was what the prosecution was going for, and we certainly think that a prison sentence has a deterrent effect,” Fredenslund says.

“Not least because the compensation claim is also taken into account, and our experience with the’ environment’ shows that it also means a lot for the preventive effect.”

Rights Alliance obviously wants knowledge of the conviction to be a dominant factor when choices are being made over whether to pirate content or pay for it. Maria Fredenslund believes that the combination of police intervention and adjudication of compensation claims in criminal cases could help tip the scales in favor of legal content.

But just as importantly, Rights Alliance CEO believes that the case represents a turning point in the fight against piracy – the involvement of the police.

“Finally, we have come to the point where the theft of films, series and other content is also a task that the police take care of. It is a necessity and therefore also a milestone in the work to ensure good conditions in the digital area,” Fredenslund concludes.

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

The vast majority of BitTorrent users prefer ‘public’ torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay. There are no barriers to entry and no rules to follow. It’s quick and convenient.

Private torrent sites work on a membership basis, with an invitation required for entry. Once admitted, users must keep their accounts in good standing, which usually means balancing whatever they download with comparable uploads.

Rules differ depending on the site, but the general theme is that people can download whatever they like, as long as they share back with the community. This can mean that they’re sharing many movies or TV shows at any one time, and that makes them a more interesting target.

DanishBits Shutdown Triggers More Legal Action

A closed and less public ecosystem is generally considered a plus for security but when any site becomes a target for determined law enforcement, all bets are off. In October 2020, when Denmark-based private tracker DanishBits shut down , that was just the beginning.

After being arrested in Morocco, one of the site’s ringleaders was extradited to Denmark, where he was later convicted and sent to prison . Just weeks earlier, a DanishBits user received a conditional sentence for his activities on the site.

The possibility that more torrent site users could face prosecution was previously left open by police. However, anti-piracy group Rights Alliance believes that a focus on user behavior can change attitudes towards piracy and those who participate in it.

Through an initial case with specific goals in mind, Denmark may be about to find out.

Criminal Prosecution for ‘Serial Offender’

Given the previous successes against DanishBits users, it’s no surprise that Rights Alliance selected another of its former members for prosecution. The existence of the case was reported by Denmark’s K-News in advance of a hearing scheduled for this Thursday. It’s been a long time in the making.

As part of an investigation by Rights Alliance, anti-counterfeiting company MarkMonitor was brought in to gather intelligence on Danish users actively sharing a minimum of 10 movies, to which Rights Alliance members own the rights. The decision to go after mostly ‘serial offenders’ is aimed at differentiating this type of action from more predatory conduct associated with copyright trolls.

“We have put a lot of focus on getting a verdict for downloading films,” Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund told K-News.

“It is the primary thing for us that we get to set a principle in criminal law. And that it is the police who have to do it. We follow what is going on in this world, and we can see that when a high penalty is given, it has an impact on how people download and refrain from downloading films.”

Setting a Deterrent Example

When the very first ‘copyright troll’ cases appeared from under their bridges in the mid-2000s, the name of the game was to pick someone who would never fight back , hit them with a massive default judgment, and use panic to get people to pay settlements.

The situation with Rights Alliance is more nuanced. The anti-piracy group is seeking a similar deterrent but is doing so with caution. The outsourcing of the tracking data to a reputable company, a police prosecution, and then a court deciding the punishment, means that there can be no claims of profit-motivated foul play. But is the file-sharer’s case ordinary enough to make it relatable, with no special circumstances?

“To our knowledge he has no ties to the operators of DanishBits and he has not been faced with any charges in this regard,” Rights Alliance informs TorrentFreak.

“He is a typical user of a private BitTorrent tracker like DanishBits in the sense that he is not a part of an uploader group or a first uploader, but he did use a seedbox when he was apprehended.”

Something else that interested us was the possibility that data seized from DanishBits may have been used as evidence in this case. Rights Alliance told us they don’t know if the police did that but at least in this matter, the police prosecution should be the end of the matter and Rights Alliance won’t need to follow up with a civil case.

“The state/police is prosecuting the case. We do not plan on following up with a civil case if our damages claim is handled in the criminal proceedings. There is no fine to be paid, but we have brought a damages claim.”

The Court’s Sentencing Options

Since this is a criminal prosecution, a prison sentence is available to the court. Rights Alliance says that the maximum prison sentence the court can consider is 18 months, according to the charges and Danish copyright law. Rights Alliance (RA) also has a damages claim of DKK 2,800 (US$380) which is very low compared to some of the claims seen elsewhere. Is this the kind of claim that may appear in future cases?

“Our damages claim will vary on a case by case basis. We take into account any special costs due to the type of evidence gathering required and the amount of infringing use of RA member’s works. In the past it has been an uphill battle to get damages claims in criminal IP cases decided by Danish courts, so we are starting from a low baseline and working our way to a more reasonable level,” Rights Alliance concludes.

While any type of prosecution will be unacceptable to the majority of file-sharers, Rights Alliance is playing this right down the line. There’s no shadowy tracking company involved and no corporate structures in place for plaintiffs to hide behind. There is also no targeting of users sharing a very small number of movies and the damages request is currently very low.

It has all the hallmarks of a project designed to deter, not one designed to rake in money. Rights Alliance knows it can’t be labeled as yet another copyright troll and has taken every step to avoid that. As these campaigns go, that is very unusual, but whether it will have the desired effect is another story.

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

Over the past two years, Danish law enforcement authorities have effectively dismantled the once-thriving local torrent tracker scene.

These enforcement actions were combined with various court orders that compel Internet providers to block pirate sites . In theory, these efforts should be the perfect environment for piracy to decrease. On the ground, the opposite is happening.

Piracy Rises in Denmark

Danish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance reports that illegal consumption of movie and TV content has reached the highest level in nine years. This number comes from an annual survey among more than a thousand respondents, carried out by Mediavision.

“As many as 580,000 Danes watch films and series illegally, which is an increase of 80,000 Danish pirates since the spring of 2021,” Rights Alliance notes.

According to the latest data, 13 percent of the Danish population between the ages of 15 and 74 regularly pirate film and TV content. Compared to previous years, people are increasingly downloading and streaming locally produced content.

YouTube and Facebook Pirates

Interestingly, when respondents were asked about the sites they use to access content illegally, YouTube and Facebook were mentioned most often.

Nearly half of all Danish pirates (48%) use YouTube to access content illegally with 42% using Facebook. These two “big tech” sites are far more popular than traditional pirate sources such as Popcorn Time and Solarmovie.

The survey further reveals that almost 30% of pirates use YouTube and Facebook exclusively. The remainder have scattered over more than a dozen alternative pirate sources, of which streaming sites FirstRow Sports and Mr. Swe are growing most rapidly.

Deeply Disturbing

Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund is concerned about this “deeply disturbing” trend that’s clearly going in the wrong direction.

“We are seeing an alarming increase in the volume of illegal consumption, which is mainly due to more and more people streaming content illegally via Facebook and YouTube,” Fredenslund says.

“Although these platforms now are required to provide effective tools to ensure that illegal content cannot be uploaded, Mediavision’s investigation shows that we have not yet seen the effect of this.”

Fredenslund hopes that both YouTube and Facebook, partly motivated by new legislation such as the EU Copyright Directive, will do more to prevent copyright-infringing content from appearing on their platforms.

Blockades & Workarounds

In Denmark, Rights Alliance has been the driving force behind many enforcement actions. The group helped to obtain several site-blocking orders and following negotiations, all major ISPs will adhere to these.

These blockades obviously don’t apply to YouTube and Facebook. And for traditional pirate sites, people can find workarounds.

Mediavision’s survey found that more than a third of all Danish pirates use VPNs (38%) or alternate DNS servers (36%) to get access to blocked sites.

Password Sharing

Aside from piracy, rightsholders also face another challenge. The number of people who share passwords to subscription services such as Netflix and Disney+ is growing as well.

Last year, 31% of all Danes shared passwords to streaming services with people outside of their household. In 2022, this percentage has grown to 37%, even though most people know that it’s against streaming platforms’ terms of service.

While password sharing is not counted as piracy, it likely results in a loss in revenue. Nearly half of all respondents indicated that they would sign up for a subscription if sharing was no longer possible.

“Sharing passwords may seem harmless to the individual user, but it is not allowed, and it affects the entire food chain when content is not paid for,” Fredenslund says, calling for more strict enforcement.

All in all these data reveal that unauthorized media consumption is hard to curb. While extra enforcement efforts may help, rightsholders may also want to look into affordable legal options, as opposed to requiring people to take out a handful of subscriptions.

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