May 6, 2008

Swedish file sharer convicted

File sharing can sometimes lead to jail, especially if you live in Sweden. This where the trial of a file sharer was found guilty of file sharing, but actually got a suspended sentence for his troubles. The only saving grace is the fact that the court stated that he would have gone to prison, but the music industry has to take some responsibility for this situation too.

The defendant was accused of uploading 4,500 music tracks and thirty movies, he was using the file sharing application Direct Connect, in fact initially there were charges that stood at 23,000 music tracks, but the authorities had to withdraw some of the charges.

Despite the prosecutors demands for a jail term the court in fact decided to go down the fine route, which is interesting, because in Sweden they organise a fine system which is in line with the defendant’s income. In this case he got 40 day fines at 250 kronor, this works out at 10,000 kronor (£800) and had to pay court costs etc of 44670 kronor (£3,700).

Source [Torrent Freak]