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Swedish Police Escalate Fight Against Illegal File Sharing

This time they mean business!


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STOCKHOLM (Rixstep) — The Swedish police now want to escalate the fight against illegal file sharing and other crimes against IP rights. The police and the prosecutors have formed a special group with nine investigators who will coordinate efforts nationwide.

The new IPRED law which gives amateur crimestoppers the right to demand ISPs reveal the identity behind an IP address has not resulted in a clear breakthrough in the hunt for illegal file sharers.


The first IPRED case is now before the supreme court. Five book publishers were turned down by a disrespectful appeals court in their effort to obtain the identity behind an IP address at Ephone.

Police will at the same time intensify their hunt for the evil file sharers.

Those who make copyrighted material available through file sharing will soon have a lot more to fear - at least if the plans of the police come to fruition.

Nine investigators will be specially trained at secret commando camps this spring. They will thereafter work in three hidden cells in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. Together with special prosecutors Fredrik Ingblad and Henrik Rasmusson they will focus exclusively on rooting out the social disease that is IP crime.

The national coordinator of this glorious effort will be Paul Pintér formerly of the Stockholm county police.

'This is how we will take our historic struggle against the evil crime of file sharing to a higher level, and I am honoured to be a part of it', says Pintér. 'My job will be to collect the complaint forms and post each of them to one of the hidden cells.'


He's not even bean counter. He doesn't even have to count.

'If there's a complaint about a ring of illegal file sharers in the Stockholm area, then I forward the complaint to the hidden cell in Stockholm. If there's a complaint about a ring of illegal file sharers in the Gothenburg area, then I forward the complaint to the hidden cell in Gothenburg. And so forth. That's my job.'

The Swedish police claim copyright crime is big business. Their new national effort is their attempt to combat this alarming problem.

'Our cells will primarily concentrate on their own districts', says Pintér. 'But we'll be able to coordinate when we scramble to carry out raids.'

'Personally I think this is the melody of the future', adds Pintér. 'For example, there are many aspects of fraud that transpire on the Internet. It's difficult to know where a crime will end up and it can spread in many different directions.'


Stockholm, Gothenburg, or Malmö.

The Office of the Chief Prosecutor established two emergency positions for nationwide processing of copyright crimes already in 2008. Spreading copyrighted material and trademark infringement are two examples of heinous IP crimes.

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