AfterDawn: News

Swedish file sharers' privacy in jeopardy

Swedish file sharers have enjoyed quite a bit of protective privacy against the police. In Sweden a file sharer is usually safe from police action as the crimes do not generally carry a prison sentence. This might change now that the police will deliver Minister for Justice Beatrice Ask with a report that recommends authority for police action even in minor file sharing cases previously punishable only by a fine. According to Dagbladet, the Minister for Justice will receive the proposition this Friday.

The legislation is based on the controversial Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) and would allow police to find out email and phone call details as well as request permission for home search.



Swedish Pirate Party Chairman Rick Falkvinge opposed the whole IPRED law in an interview with TorrentFreak saying, "These laws are written by digital illiterates who behave like blindfolded, drunken elephants trumpeting about in an egg packaging facility. They have no idea how much damage they’re causing, because they lack today’s literacy: an understanding of how the Internet is reshaping the power structures at their core."

Minister for Justice Beatrice Ask has already asked the removal of parts of the proposal that could be applied retrospectively to a previous file sharing cases. She didn't want to comment on the proposition before Friday.

Written by: Matti Robinson @ 21 Jan 2009 7:23

• Previous article

• LG shows off plasma TV with one billion-to-one contrast ratio

• Next article

• Latest PS3 firmware update hits consoles

• 7 comments

• DXR88

  Quote:The legislation is based on the controversial Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) and would allow police to find out email and phone call details as well as request permission for home search.
  
  and the only thing you'll find in my house is the nice black color of a 12 gauge barrel. come on in guys the waters fine.
  

  
  

  21.1.2009 15:59 #1

• rlessmue

  ...interesting, The Pirate Bay Port!

  21.1.2009 16:23 #2

• david89

  oh how weird they say onething then anotherthing.

  22.1.2009 13:12 #3

• Mez

  Who are they david89? You must be talking about the slime that make the laws. How that works is the law makers get rattled when they hear from angry constituents. Then the media mafia slips them another 5 maybe 6 figures and they don’t care if they lose the next election. With that kind of war chest they can move to a new district and out spend the other guy 10 to 1. This is happening all over the world. The media mafia is going into hawk bribing politicians to change the laws. The laws will have the government do the policing. Good idea! They will turn the world into a police state. All they need to do is continue to bribe the politicians more and more until they get their way. Well they will stop P2P but they will not bring back sales. Most of the public hates the media mafia and will go without rather than give them any money.

  22.1.2009 14:44 #4

• hugolove

  Originally posted in another anti-RIAA thread...
  
  "This is all empty discussion - you all know for a fact that they are never going to stop until all freedoms have been stripped from us, leaving us to choose between only those options they allow us.
  
  You cannot advise using the law to get out of this - the law can and has been changed on many occasions to suit the needs of big business. This is no different. Those in charge wish to remain in charge, and will scratch each other's backs endlessly to make sure this occurs.
  
  It is not that they will not listen to the voice and decisions of the common people - it is that they hold that voice of such people in complete disregard. They want only to control you, your minds, your actions, and harness you to the wheel of their industry.
  
  They stupify you with "their" culture - Pop Idol, Gladiators, celebrity marriages and breakups, compelling you to work in their sweatshops in order to earn their valueless currency.
  
  Even your home, the roof over your head, the most basic necessity of human survival, must be bought at such a high cost that we cannot afford it without taking out an immense loan, repayable over 25 years, keeping us in bonded slavery as long as it exists.
  
  The economy is a lie - just whom exactly do we and our American and European brethren owe our national debt too? Why, the very same super-rich elite who, it is claimed, have engineered this whole situation. These, my friends, are our enemies.
  
  Direct not the brunt of your anger at our politicians or police, for they too are mere pawns. Some indeed have no clue whatsoever how this state of affairs came into being, and are merely pig-headed fools. Others are weak men who have allowed themselves to be bought with promises of wealth or power to come, and should be pitied as much as they are despised.
  
  No, my friends, these are not our true enemies. They are merely the least amongst us.
  
  The rich. Or, more accurately, the super-rich. In all manner of criminal investigations, one looks to see who benefits from the crime in order to find the purpetrator. Where, my friends, does the money go? From whose stained and scaly chin are we stealing the breadcrumbs of Piracy?
  
  For it is mere breadcrumbs we remove from the plate of the great purveyors of music - indeed there is evidence to suggest that piracy has in fact increased record sales in recent years, due to the explosive proliferation of musical availability Piracy has engendered. These breadcrumbs, therefore, cannot be said to be the reason for the immense legal upheaval we are currently experiencing.
  
  No, my friends, the issue is control. We have dared to buck our oppressor, to show him we have a will of our own, and now he would crush that will. To remain silent is to submit yourself to his dominance; to attempt to use his own system against him will only result in that system being ammended to his satisfaction. We have only one recourse...
  
  REVOLUTION!
  
  I was recently reminded that Anarchy does not mean chaos, it means "no leaders". I, my friends, am an Anarchist, and I invite you to join my cause in any way you see fit.
  
  I thank you for reading...
  
  M"
  
  Pass it on

  25.1.2009 19:05 #5

• Mez

  hugolove, enough all ready! Thiss is the 5th time I have seen your post.

  26.1.2009 08:54 #6

• Interestx

  Mez
  
  The thing is, it's absolutely right.
  You only have to look at the latest line in the US, 'class war'.
  What a joke.
  More like delusional people with next to nothing persuaded into defending the interests of the super-rich.
  
  It is perfectly plain that the law is being hijacked & abused, mere breach of copyright is being elevated into a heinous crime 'worth' ruinous fines and/or imprisonment.
  
  It's a joke, so why take any of it seriously?
  The central truth is all of this needs to be remembered, there are more of us than them.
  

  20.9.2011 09:44 #7