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Swedish police raid file sharing 'scene'

Published: 7 Sep 10 12:40 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/28826/20100907/

Swedish police raided locations across the country on Tuesday, including WikiLeaks' ISP PRQ, acting on information from Belgian police in an international operation targeting the file sharing network known as "The Scene".

"It concerns a major case of suspected copyright infringement, that is to say illegal file sharing," said Paul Pintér, at the national unit for copyright crime within the Swedish police, to news agency TT.

Four Swedes have been detained on suspicion of illegal file sharing, confirmed prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad.

Ingblad did not rule out that there could be further suspects brought into the investigation.

The raid targeted homes in Eskilstuna in eastern Sweden, and in Eslöv and Malmö in the south. Police also hit two internet service providers in Solna near Stockholm, and at Umeå University in the north of Sweden.

"The purpose of the raids in the Stockholm area and in Umeå were to gather information about specific IP addresses," said Fredrik Ingblad.

He added that police also seized computers and servers in the raids.

"Certain finds have been made which strengthen suspicions."

One of the locations in Solna has been confirmed to be the premises of PRQ, which is home to WikiLeaks servers, but according to Paul Pintér the action had nothing to do with the whistleblower website.

The raids were part of a coordinated action in 14 European countries and were carried out on request of the Belgian police, according to a statement from the Swedish public prosecution office.

The investigation has been ongoing for over two years and concerns suspicions regarding the illegal file sharing of films within a network which goes by the name of "The Scene".

"The Scene" is an international network constructed in several layers.

At the top of the group are those who compete to obtain copyrighted material and publish it on the internet. The group has a leader and everyone knows each other through internet aliases. The one who shares the film is known as the supplier, who receives remuneration in cash or in "credz" - points in an internal hit list.

In the next layer of the network is found the "topsites". These are data severs, often at IT firms, where the material is held and spread through other networks. The Swedish part of the investigation is focused on these "topsites".

"It is difficult to say how many films this concerns, it is possibly in the thousands. The seizures in Sweden were done to find the servers," said Fredrik Ingblad.

He said that the crime which the Swedes are suspected of will probably be investigated by Belgian authorities.

"The seized material will probably be transferred to Belgium for investigation there. We will then have to see what comes out of that, crimes could also have been committed in Sweden."

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

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13:41 September 7, 2010 by byke
This article is just too funny.

The only thing its missing is quotes like "Mr yellow, was in charge of" and other hollywood fictional character or slang references.

I am sure they wanted to add crack towers like new jack city and uzi's.

Escape from Solna staring Rurt Kussel.
16:09 September 7, 2010 by bravedave
Can't the police spend their time on something else more worth while that a copyright infringement!

Hmm lets see maybe the drug cartels and gang violence, or maybe prostitution. If it has to be related to cyberspace then can they not spend more time finding and punishing these internet 'predators' that pretend they are proffessional photographers, who search for under age boys and girls to have sex with (see yesterdays aftonbladet)
16:31 September 7, 2010 by Liquidmonkey
c'mon police, r u serious?

a few computer nerds sharing movies and music is NOT more important than all the sex predators out there.

GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT !!!!!!!!
16:36 September 7, 2010 by RobinHood
How about sex traffickers, and the people who perform unauthorised circumcisions on little boys and girls? Can they expect a size 47 policeman's boot through their door anytime soon?

It makes it harder to believe JA's current difficulties are an unhappy coincidence, while the police and prosecutors seem to be so cozy with Mammon.
16:58 September 7, 2010 by Rishonim
This is what the Swedish police do best. They are a bunch of overpaid Lapplisa's. I ofter wonder if we actually do need them.. When they are not harassing a motorist for driving 20 kilometres above the speed limit on a lonely boring road in Näsjö, they are after a few geeks downloading a couple virus infected songs.
17:22 September 7, 2010 by eZee.se
When little boys or girls get butbanged its only their and their families lives that are destroyed.

When people get räped, its only the person who gets räped and sometimes the people around them whose lives are affected.

Drug dealers and cartels are just too hard to go after and their "product" just affects the people down the line.

On the other hand, when people download music and movies, they p!ss off large corporations who have paid tens/hundreds of millions to extend copyright, bästårdize it far from its intended purpose, limit consumers rights via copyright and DRM... but more importantly have paid cartloads to corrupt politicians and have maneuvered laws, courts and judges for their own benefit.

Last I checked: molested kids, rape victims and drug pushers have not contributed even a small percentage in "campaign funds", outright bribes, "gifts" and "perks", and media FUD like the movie and music _cartels_ have - and now they want to see some results for money paid/spent.

This is it.
18:26 September 7, 2010 by Soft Boiled
I agree with all of the above. All this concerns is large corporations not raking in enough profit. Ive had in the last 20 yrs 3-4 occasions to call the police because of people breaking into the building/buildings trying to steal things. The police have shown a total lack of interest every time they arrived (when they have eventually arrived). Next time I call them Im going to tell them there are suspected file sharers breaking into the apartment trying to steal my films. That should get their attention.
23:25 September 7, 2010 by ennoj2
>internet 'predators' that pretend they are proffessional photographers, who search for under age boys and girls to have sex with (see yesterdays aftonbladet)

Link for the article?
07:12 September 8, 2010 by Twiceshy
Keep in mind all that it is MONEY that make the world go round!

The deep pockets in the USA film and song will drive Sweden's police (and courts) to do what ever they want.

Yell all you want but these are the facts. Sorry.
11:03 September 8, 2010 by Audrian
This is an attempt to harass wikileak, first its leader and now the server it is using.
19:56 September 8, 2010 by Taxalien
@audrian. Agree completely.
00:08 September 9, 2010 by DAVID T
Hopefully they'll all end up in a nice Belgium prison cell with their parotbay buddies
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