Pirate Bay's missing co-founder arrested in Cambodia

[Leeky]

The Swedish authorities have finally caught up with the Pirate Bay’s missing co-founder after local police in Cambodia arrested him at a home he had rented in the capital, Phnom Penh. An international warrant had been issued by Swedish officials for the arrest of Svartholm Warg, 27, for failing to turn up to serve his one-year jail sentence in April.

“His arrest was made at the request of the Swedish government for a crime related to information technology,” a spokesperson for Cambodian police said. “We don’t have an extradition treaty with Sweden but we’ll look into our laws and see how we can handle this case.”

Warg was one of four co-founders of the Pirate Bay, found guilty of copyright infringement by the Swedish courts in 2009. He faced a one-year prison sentence alongside Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundstroem and all four were ordered to pay $4.4 million in compensation to several film and music studios.

Neij, Lundstroem and Sunde appealed the conviction in 2010, and were successful in reducing their jail terms to between four and ten months, but were slapped with an even bigger $6.7 million fine. Warg was unable to attend, with his lawyer claiming he had received text messages from Warg’s mother saying he had fallen ill in Cambodia. His fate was left in limbo after the court decided to hear his case once he was fit to appear.

However, by October 2011 the court's patience had run out, as Warg fell off the radar and even his close friends feared he was dead. Despite this, the Stockholm District Court heard the case in his absence, ruling to uphold his original one-year sentence and in doing so ending any further avenues of legal appeal. Then in April, the Swedish authorities issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to turn up to serve his sentence.

The infamous file-sharing site, founded in 2003, has continued to operate despite the conviction of its founders and block attempts in several countries, which they claim has only helped increase traffic. Its 30-million strong community has so far eluded law enforcement organizations.

All four strongly deny any wrongdoing and argue that TPB does not actually host any copyrighted material.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/50010-pirate-bays-missing-co-founder-arrested-in-cambodia.html

 

[agissi]

Yikes, I bet he's in big trouble now.

 

[Tygerstrike]

More like he will be in trouble once he gets to Sweaden. Im more comcerned that Cambodia has arrested him. Cambodia isnt the most "progressive" when it comes to their jails. Im sure he isnt enjoying his time in their jail while waiting to see what is going to happen to him. And once again we see the PB claiming innocence. Im so tired of the symantics they use to cover their butts.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

"The infamous file-sharing site, founded in 2003, has continued to operate despite the conviction of its founders and block attempts in several countries, which they claim has only helped increase traffic. Its 30-million strong community has so far eluded law enforcement organizations."

'Eluded law enforcement?' yeah, right. More like, we're lucky enough to live in a country that doesn't block our access to certain sites and even protects us from making our online lives public. I'd bet there aren't many Chinese or North Koreans in that 30 million strong community.

 

[Leeky]

I think eluded is the correct term here. At the end of the day countless government lobbies, departments, organisations and media-backed groups have tried and failed to bring down TPB over the years -- with short term results at best. The site has remained one step ahead all of the time, and even countries blocking the site wholesale have done sod all to dent the traffic it receives.

In the UK pretty much every major ISP has blocked access to their site. TPB responded by using crap loads of proxies via different domains to counteract the blockades. For every domain blocked by our courts TPB has 50 more up and running, for example. The same is true for other EU countries, and those throughout the world doing their best to stamp out those accessing it.

I'm no American, but the impression I get is they'll quite happily let you get the magnet files to download illegal content, so they can file a lawsuit or threaten legal action once you're done downloading. At least that's the impression I get -- feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[amstech]

The "people" in "charge" believe stern enforcement of the law, heightened regulations and continuous pursuit will eventually quell illegal file sharing. The harder they squeeze, the less grip they have.

 

[Guest]

He ran from a one year JAIL sentence. LOL

 

[Guest]

"The "people" in "charge" believe stern enforcement of the law, heightened regulations and continuous pursuit will eventually quell illegal file sharing. The harder they squeeze, the less grip they have."

Deep & meaningless.
I don't suppose that even you know what you mean!

 

[jetkami]

Depends on where they send you. I heard they were sending him to Detroit.

He ran from a one year JAIL sentence. LOL

 

[Zilpha]

We WILL drag these people kicking and screaming into the digital age. I don't pirate content, but if it's not easily accessible I don't buy it either. What does that mean? If it's not on Amazon, I don't bother with it. That's what is hurting their bottom line more than the pirates - the people like me who would be all too happy to purchase content if it were more accessible, but don't, because it isn't.