Like most comparable countries, Internet users in Denmark enjoy movies and TV shows, music, video games, and e-books.
The problem for rights holders is that a subset of the population prefers not to pay for the privilege.
The local anti-piracy group the Rights Alliance (Rettigheds Alliance) mitigates all types of piracy, but for the past few years has maintained a heavy focus on torrent sites.
Working in partnership with the Danish government's SรIK IP task force, Rights Alliance forced the closure of several sites and successfully prosecuted site operatorsstaff members and users who uploaded content to those sites.
In 2021, the Rights Alliance targeted specialized servers that not only supply content to torrent sites, but also play a role in increasing download times and improving security.
Seedbox providers are in the spotlight
In basic terms, every BitTorrent user already operates a potential 'seedbox'. A computer (box) loaded with a properly configured torrent client and content to upload can 'seed' or share content with others. However, the term 'seedbox' generally refers to a preconfigured remote server running a torrent client.
Accessed through a web interface in the user's browser, these remote torrent clients have several advantages, including 24/7/365 uptime, high-speed connections, and depending on the provider and many other factors , different levels of protection against claims by rights holders.
In 2021, it became known that six people had been arrested in Denmark due to its alleged connections to various local torrent sites. Among them was Kasper Nielsen of Internet service company HNielsen Networks, a provider of multi-brand servers that could be configured for 'seed box' purposes.
Available information indicated that the servers had been used by an unknown number of users to share content on private torrent sites ShareUniversity, Superbits and DanishBytes.
Prosecution
Targeting the operator of a service provider, offering access to fundamentally legal servers and software, is not the same as targeting a user of those services who acts as a direct offender. To hold a third party liable for someone else's infringement, rights holders generally must show negligence or show that the provider or a similar third party is complicit in some way.
In Denmark, the bar has been set quite low. In 2015, a man was arrested for running a site that did not include pirated software, but advised users how to use the Popcorn Time hacking app. The case went to the end. to the Supreme Courtand the man finally received a six month suspended sentence for tax violation.
When the Rights Alliance filed its criminal complaint against HNielsen Networks, the anti-piracy group referenced the milestone movie player case that involved the sale of media players configured for piracy.
Seedbox seller sentenced
According to statements published by Rights Alliance and NSK (Sรฆrlig Kriminalitet) Denmark's Special Crimes Unit, Nielsen, was convicted yesterday of selling boxes of seeds knowing that others were using them to share movies, TV shows, e-books and other content, without permission from the owners. of the rights.
โOn February 28, the Aalborg Court ruled against the Danish owner behind a seed box company for having sold seed boxes and server capacity between November 2020 and May 2021 to an unknown number of people, knowingly that they were used to share them illegally. of no less than 3,838 copyrighted works on the Danish and Nordic file-sharing services ShareUniversity, Superbits and DanishBytes,โ reports Rights Alliance.
Nielsen received a three-month suspended (suspended) sentence and a forfeiture order for DKK 300,000 (about $42,600), the amount users had paid his company to access the seedbox servers. The 35-year-old must also pay compensation of DKK 298,660 to Rights Alliance.
โSeedbox providers have a responsibility to ensure that their services are not used to upload and download copyrighted content illegally, something that Rights Alliance can clearly see they are doing.โ says Maria Fredenslund, director of Rights Alliance.
"Therefore, this case helps send a signal to other providers that they cannot deliberately sell services to the illegal market."
Defendant did not contest the case
Since the court documents have not yet been released and the Rights Alliance was unable to share copies with TorrentFreak, we asked Nielsen if he could provide more details on the case. One important detail is that Neilsen was advised by her lawyers to take a plea deal, and she did so at an early stage.
This came to light when we requested details regarding the Rights Alliance's claim that "no fewer than 3,838 copyrighted works" were shared on torrent sites. Since 3838 is quite a specific number, how was it tested?
The simple answer is that when Nielsen accepted the plea agreement, there was no need to prove anything in court. The figure of 3,838, and any evidence relating to 'knowledge' of infringement by seedbox customers on the sites, were accepted as true.
Regarding the 3,838 titles shared across the sites, there was apparently no indication of how many customers were sharing that content, so one user per title was assumed. There's no data available to confirm or deny that claim, but Neilsen says yesterday's decision makes that moot and he's glad the case is over.
โI am quite happy that the case is over and that I can now focus on the future for myself and my company. The sentence is what we seek. The financial aspect is naturally tedious, but we'll get through it,โ she says.
