Having apparently been scared off illegal file sharing in large numbers by a new Swedish law that went into effect April 1, pirates in that country now have a new safe harbor to escape law enforcement.
Three Swedish Internet service providers, among them Tele2, one of the country's three major broadband operators, have stated that they will erase traffic data to protect their customers' privacy.
"It's a strong wish from our customers, so we decided not to store information on customers' IP numbers anymore," Niclas Palmstierna, CEO of Tele2, told Swedish national news agency TT Tuesday morning.
The information is crucial in investigating piracy. When surveying the Internet to spot computers involved in uploading or downloading copyright-protected material, it's easy to capture these computers' IP data. But to identify the person using the computer, it's necessary to ask for the ISP, as IP numbers normally are assigned dynamically by the provider.
The new so-called IPRED law in Sweden, based on an EU directive, gives copyright owners the right to ask for customers' identity from ISPs, if a court agrees.
Strong indications showed that total Internet traffic in Sweden decreased by 30 percent to 50 percent the day the law took effect, and traffic still remains low, as indicated by traffic exchanged between ISPs in major Swedish network exchange Netnod.
Tele2's decision to erase traffic data follows a similar decision by ISPs All Tele and Bahnhof.
The move in itself is not against the law. On the contrary, European law on electronic communication (PDF) demands that ISPs only store traffic data for a limited time period to handle billing, inter-operator traffic, and security issues. The law then requires them to erase that data as soon as possible.
Copyright owners are upset nonetheless. "It's astonishing that someone who claims to be a serious communication operator wants to assist in crime, which is implied by what (ISPs) are doing" when they erase data, lawyer Peter Danowsky told the Swedish daily newspaper SvD.
Danowsky represented the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in the high-profile Pirate Bay case. Four men were sentenced to prison for assisting in making 33 copyright-protected files available over the Internet. (The IFPI represented a number of record labels in the litigation.)
Overall Swedish Internet traffic apparently dropped drastically on April 1 when a new antipiracy law went into effect. The graph represents traffic in gigabits per second through Netnod, the major Swedish node for exchange of traffic between operators.
(Credit: Netnod)"Major portions of the Internet traffic derive from illegal file sharing, which makes it an important revenue source for the ISPs," Danowsky added.
The downturn in Swedish Internet traffic results in lowered costs for ISPs, while revenues remain the same as prescription fees are flat rate. But long-term revenues are at stake, as demand for high bandwidth could decrease.
Other major ISPs in Sweden declare they will not follow Tele2's decision. They say they need traffic data to handle security issues. But data will be stored only for a few weeks.
Telia Sonera, the country's largest ISP, tells SvD that it stores data for "a short period," whereas another major ISP, Norwegian Telenor, says it stores data for a maximum of three weeks. So copyright owners that want traffic data must turn to a court very quickly after securing evidence on illegal file sharing if they want a chance to get at the identity behind an IP number.
According to Swedish police, the operators' move to erase traffic data will also make other cybercrime investigations more difficult, Swedish national news agency TT reports.
Meanwhile, the first case under the new IPRED law drags on. Five audio book publishers have turned to the law to get at the identity behind an IP number allegedly used for illegal file sharing, but the ISP Ephone refuses to hand over the information, declaring that the evidence is too weak.
The court now says the material from the parties is extensive and that it largely will be up to the parties to decide how long the court's decision will take, according to the daily SvD.
A sentenced Pirate Bay defendant and two politicians from Sweden's Green party are launching a fund to help people accused of copyright violations under the country's new antipiracy law.
The fund is intended to assist citizens being prosecuted by copyright-holding companies. "When it comes to criminal cases, the accused get a defense attorney for free, but not in civil cases," Maria Ferm, a member of the Green party's youth branch and one of the fund's founders, told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.
Ferm is starting the fund along with Lage Rahm, a Green party member and member of the Swedish parliament, and Peter Sunde, the spokesperson for The Pirate Bay, who has said he supports the Green party. Last week, Sunde was one of four men found guilty of having made 33 copyright-protected files accessible for illegal file sharing via the Piratebay.org Web site. They were sentenced to a year in jail.
The fund is part of a larger "integrity association" aimed at helping with legal support for alleged pirates accused of infringement by copyright holders. Ferm, Rahm, and Sunde say their ambition is to provide 50,000 to 100,000 kronor ($6,000 to $12,000) in legal aid per case, according to Dagens Nyheter.
Starting a fund to assist people accused of copyright infringement are (from left) Lage Rahm, Peter Sunde of The Pirate Bay, and Maria Ferm.
(Credit: Pontus Alexander/Fabian Landgren)The new Swedish antipiracy law went into effect April 1. The so-called IPRED originated from the European Union's "International Property Rights Enforcement Directive." IPRED stipulates that property rights holders can take their grievances to a court, which will examine the evidence and decide whether the name of a holder of an IP address will be released by the Internet service provider who then can run a civil case.
The Green party, part of Sweden's opposing left alliance bloc, voted against the law, since it members said they thought the law had the potential to be abused.
The integrity association says it thinks there is an imbalance of power when large, multinational record and music companies can sue individuals. The association thinks there is a risk that the accused could be threatened into silence and wouldn't want the case to come to court. The fund should be used only to cover legal costs, not to pay fines to copyright holders, according to the trio.
On the law's first day, five Swedish audio book publishers went after an alleged illegal file sharer in court, in hopes of revealing the identity of the person behind a particular IP address.
Another ISP fights back
But Swedish Internet service provider ePhone refused to give out the ISP user's address. It said the evidence is unclear and it wants to protect the integrity of its subscriber. In a statement (PDF, in Swedish) to the district court Solna outside Stockholm, ePhone, among others, stated that it has not been proven that the audio books have been made available to others, a requirement by the IPRED law.
ePhone questioned how the Swedish Anti-piracy agency, an organization supported by a consortium of film and game organizations that are collaborating to fight Internet piracy, acquired the material without logging on to the FTP server where the files were stored. The files should instead be considered as legal backup copies, according to the law firm Wistrand, which is representing ePhone.
Bahnhof, another Swedish ISP, has rebeled against IPRED based on an earlier law that it says contradict IPRED.
Dagens Nyheter quoted a man working for the district court in Solna as saying that the first IPRED case, which is expected to be a precedent, should be decided by late June.
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