Swedish ISP raid prompts backlash

Found on The Register on Monday, 14 March 2005
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A raid by Swedish authorities last week against Bahnhof, Sweden's oldest and largest ISP, has been hailed by Hollywood as a major blow against movie piracy. But questions have been raised about whether the 10 March raid, orchestrated by Swedish anti-piracy organisation Antipiratbyran, and involving the seizure of data involving thousands of users, might have violated the country's strict data privacy laws.

Bahnhof has issued a statement (in Swedish) expressing concerns that data involving as many as 20,000 users was seized during the raid. The raid against Bahnhof is not the first anti-piracy bust in the country but it's reportedly the first to take place without any advance notice.

Reg readers inform us that the Swedish Data Inspection Board is to investigate alleged collection and computation of personal data conducted by the Swedish antipiracy office in connection with the Bahnhof raid. This remains unconfirmed since we were unable to reach anyone at the board for comment.

It's about time that someone shows the entertainment industry their limits. They not only treat customers like criminals by crippling CDs, but now it also affects people who have nothing to do with anything. People who are just on the same server as someone else they don't like.