Pirate Bay founder jailed for hacking Danish data

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Danish court on Friday sentenced the Swedish founder of file-sharing site The Pirate Bay to 3½ years in prison after he was found guilty of hacking into a private company handling sensitive information for Danish authorities.

Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and a 21-year-old Dane were found guilty a day earlier of breaking into the servers of the Danish branch of CSC in 2012 and accessing more than 91,000 social security numbers, driver’s license numbers and police records of sought-after people in Europe.

Svartholm Warg, who is known by his Internet alias “Anakata,” didn’t dispute his computer had been used in the hacking. However, the Copenhagen court rejected his claims that it must have been used by someone else who accessed it remotely. He immediately appealed Friday’s sentence.

In 2013, a Swedish court dismissed a similar case, saying it could not rule out that others might have remotely accessed his computer, as he claimed. However, Svartholm Warg was convicted of hacking into the servers of Sweden’s police force and tax authority and obtaining sensitive information.

Svartholm Warg was previously given a one-year sentence with three Pirate Bay colleagues for copyright violation in 2009. He fled Sweden but was arrested in Cambodia three years later. He was deported back to the Scandinavian country where he served out prison terms before being extradited to Denmark for prosecution.

The Dane, who was not identified, was sentenced Friday to six months for accessory to a hacking attempt. He was released Thursday after having served 16 months in custody.

The Pirate Bay is one of the world’s biggest free file-sharing websites, offering millions of users a forum for downloading music, movies and computer games.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up