3 Count: Seedbox Conviction

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1: BitTorrent Seedbox Provider Handed Criminal Conviction Over Users’ Piracy

First off today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that, in Denmark, a court has handed down a three-month suspended sentence and a fine of DKK 300,000 ($43,000) to a man who provided “seedbox” servers to a BitTorrent website.

The case began in 2021 when six people were arrested due to alleged connections with local BitTorrent websites. However, one of the names was unique. Kasper Nielsen was from the internet services company HNielsen Networks was not a direct infringer, but instead had provided the other suspects with specialized seedbox servers.

Seedbox servers are BitTorrent servers that are designed to “seed” or provide access to the content the BitTorrent itself links to. All BitTorrent clients are configured to seed some, but these dedicated servers are designed to ensure that the content in the torrent file is always accessible. Despite his indirect nature, Nielsen did not contest the case and was recently handed down the sentence. In addition to the fine and suspended sentence, he is also ordered to pay DKK 298,660 ($42,800) in restitution.

2: Online Piracy Crackdown Results in Four UK Arrests

Next up today, Anthony Cuthbertson at The Independent reports that, in the UK, the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) have arrested four people across the country in connection with a streaming operation believed to be used by more than half a million people.

The raids took place in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stoke. The arrests were accompanied by more than 200 “cease and desist” letters sent to other individuals that are suspected of running streaming services.

The move comes amid a rise in piracy globally caused by the pandemic. However, several rightsholders expressed hope that police action such as this could help tamper that growth.

3: How Fake Copyright Complaints are Muzzling Journalists

Finally today, the BBC reports that, several African newspapers have found themselves the target of false copyright takedowns in a bid to silence criticism of the CEO of a large African law firm.

According to Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), several newspapers published critical reports of NJ Ayuk, also known as Njock Ayuk Eyong, who is the CEO of the law firm Centurion Law Group and the founder of the African Energy Chamber (AEC). As part of his duties, he is an advocate for the oil industry in Africa.

Among the papers targeted is the South African paper Mail & Guardian, as well as Diario Rombe, an investigative news outlet based in Equatorial Guinea. The OCCRP has not determined who was behind the takedowns, though all the notices used the United States’ Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to get the articles taken down, at least temporarily.

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