BitTorrent Pirate Sentenced to Prison & Required to Pay Damages

By iptv.legal , in News Torrents , at September 18, 2023

A BitTorrent Pirate has been sentenced to prison and charged with piracy damages by authorities in Denmark.

Recently, Denmark has intensified its efforts to combat online piracy, leading to arrests, shutdowns, and convictions.

The latest in this series is the sentencing of a 37-year-old man, who received a 60-day suspended prison sentence for pirating over a thousand works through local BitTorrent trackers.

This case is not isolated but is part of a broader crackdown on local torrent trackers and torrent sites in Denmark.

The Beginning of the Crackdown

The crackdown began in earnest in September and October 2020 when two major local torrent trackers, DanishBits and NordicBits, were taken offline.

The operators of these sites were identified and subsequently arrested. The shutdown of these major players was a significant setback for the local piracy community.

However, the void left by these sites was quickly filled by others like Asgaard and ShareUniversity, both of which saw a surge in new memberships.

But the Danish enforcement authorities, with the support of the local anti-piracy group Rights Alliance, were not about to let these new sites flourish.

They continued their aggressive stance, leading to the shutdown of these emerging sites.

The Impact of Law Enforcement Actions

Actions against private torrent trackers of this magnitude are uncommon. However, rightsholders felt it was a necessary step to impact the file-sharing habits of the Danish populace significantly.

The authorities concurred, and their actions extended beyond just shutting down sites. They pursued legal prosecutions against those involved.

The Case of the ‘Serial Infringer’

The recent case saw a man from Jylland, described as a ‘serial infringer’, being sentenced for uploading over a thousand pirated works across multiple torrent trackers.

These trackers included DanishBytes, SuperBits, and NorTor. Apart from the suspended prison sentence, he was also ordered to pay 10,000 Danish kroner (approximately $1,500) in damages to the Rights Alliance.

The National Unit for Special Crime (NSK) highlighted that this individual shared at least 242 works on SuperBits and NorTor between December 2020 and February 2021.

Furthermore, from March 2021 to March 2023, he downloaded 676 and uploaded 356 pirated files on DanishBytes.

The Message to Potential Pirates

Jan Østergaard, a Special prosecutor at NSK, emphasized that this conviction sends a potent message to both site operators and users.

He stated, “The verdict sends a clear signal to all file sharers that illegal sharing of films, music, and other copyright-protected material can have serious consequences.”

Maria Fredenslund, the CEO of Rights Alliance, echoed this sentiment, highlighting the deterrent effect of such convictions.

She believes that stiff penalties can discourage illegal file sharing, thereby safeguarding copyrighted content in the future.

What Lies Ahead?

Since the crackdown’s inception in late 2020, thirteen cases involving operators and users of torrent trackers have led to successful convictions.

This includes six cases against the leaders of the Asgaard tracker. The prosecution of the seventh operator from this site is set for February 2024, indicating that the crackdown is far from over.

Furthermore, an alleged operator of the ShareUniversity tracker is slated to face trial later this month.

torrent trackers — image source: TorrentFreak

BitTorrent Pirate – Final Thoughts

Denmark’s aggressive stance against online piracy, supported by the Rights Alliance, has led to significant disruptions in the local torrent tracker scene.

Only time will tell how effective these measures will be in the long run, but for now, the message is clear: piracy will not be tolerated.

For more information on this story, refer to the original report from TorrentFreak.

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