Sweden Pirate Party Threatened with Law Suit

Sweden Pirate Party Threatened with Law Suit

February 19, 2013 · by Anton Nordenfur · in ,

Today,19 February 2013, the Pirate Party of Sweden reported that it received a letter from the Rights Alliance on account of the party supplying The Pirate Bay with Internet access. In the letter, the Rights Alliance makes it clear that they intend to take legal actions against the Pirate Party and its representatives if the party does not shut down The Pirate Bay’s Internet access by February 26.

The Pirate Party’s party leader, Anna Troberg, is upset over the threat:

Anna Troberg leader of PPSE

Anna Troberg – Wikimedia CC-BY-SA

“The Pirate Party’s operations are legal, and legal operations should not be subject to such threats. It is not illegal to provide The Pirate Bay with Internet access, says Troberg. There is no list of illegal sites that ISPs cannot provide access to.”

Unfortunately this type of blackmail that the Pirate Party is exposed to is not unusual. Large and small internet-providers are often the victims of similar pressure from the copyright industry’s lawyers.

– When they feel that the law isn’t enough they take matters into their own hands and turn the thumb screws on individuals and companies that have a hard time fending off the copyright industry’s wealthy giants, says Troberg. It is depressing that they are still allowed to continue this way without interference by either politicians or the judicial system.

“Similar cases has been marred by shocking miscarriage of justice, which obviously is something we need to take into consideration when deciding how to proceed with this. These days a legal operation is by no means a guarantee for a fair trial. This is why the Pirate Party exists and is needed, more than ever.” Troberg finishes.

The action by the copyright industry follows similar attacks on the Pirate Parties of The Netherlands and The United Kingdom where the leaders of PP.UK were personally threatened with legal action for hosting Pirate Bay proxies.

 

Featured image : Piratpartiet CC-BY-SA

Anton Nordenfur

About Anton Nordenfur

I'm a board member of the Swedish Pirate Party and editor here at Pirate Times. I'm primarily interested in research and education politics, and have a bilingual blog at anton.nordenfur.se. I currently live in Linköping where I study physics at the university.

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