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Torrent Site Uploader and Member of ‘The Scene’ Sentenced to Prison in Denmark
Danish authorities have claimed two new victories in the ongoing battle against online piracy. A 46-year-old man, who allegedly uploaded content to the Danish torrent trackers "SuperBits" and "DanishBytes", was sentenced to nine months in prison. The other defendant, a 48-year-old man, was linked to 'The Scene'. He received a twelve-month sentence for hosting two servers and sharing pirated content in one of the most elusive piracy groups.
In Denmark, law enforcement authorities and rightsholders have worked hard to shut down the thriving local torrent tracker scene over the past five years.
These efforts targeted private torrent trackers including DanishBits, NordicBits, Superbits, Asgaard and ShareUniversity. More than two dozen uploaders and admins connected to these sites were convicted as a result.
Torrent Tracker Uploader Sent to Prison
Thus far, several cases against alleged pirates have resulted in conditional prison sentences. This means that the defendants don’t have to serve time if they don’t go astray in the near future. Two new sentences, announced last week, break this trend.
Danish Police report that the Court in Hillerødr sentenced a 46-year-old man to nine months in prison, three of which are unconditional. The man reportedly shared 74 terabytes of pirated films and TV shows via the torrent trackers SuperBits and DanishBytes.
The 46-year-old, who confessed to his wrongdoings, was also sentenced to 120 hours of community service. Whether the man was merely an uploader or if he also had other roles at the tracker, isn’t immediately clear from the public announcement.
Member of ‘The Scene’ Convicted
In addition to the torrent tracker case, the National Unit for Special Crime (NSK) reported that a 48-year-old man was convicted for uploading content and hosting two servers for the international piracy network “Scenen”, which translates to “The Scene”.
Following a confession, the Court in Nykøbing Falster handed down a prison sentence of 12 months, of which four months are unconditional.
The Scene refers to the top of the so-called ‘piracy pyramid’ where content is meant to be shared privately. In the press release, NSK mentions that the 48-year-old illegally copied content from three streaming services, specializing in Danish children’s series, including dubbed ones.
The police further mentioned that the defendant had 134 terabytes of copyrighted material in his possession, strongly suggesting he was not a minor player.
Danish Crackdown on The Scene
The authorities note that the alleged “Scene” member was active from November 2021 until his arrest in November 2023. This aligns perfectly with the arrest of a then-47-year-old man, announced by NSK at the time.
The November 2023 arrest sparked rumors of a broader Danish crackdown on The Scene, which reportedly involved several arrests. While police didn’t mention The Scene by name, the description certainly matched.
“The case is about an organized network that has illegally shared extremely large quantities of films and TV series via file sharing services,” NSK Police Commissioner Anders-Emil Nøhr Kelbæk said at the time.
In the wake of the arrest, several Danish Scene groups stopped releasing new content. The group “DKiDS“, which specialized in children’s content ripped from streaming services, was among them.
DKiDS’s most recent upload was November 21, 2023, one day before the arrest of the now-convicted defendant.
The Danish crackdown on The Scene reportedly resulted in more arrests, but it’s unclear whether additional convictions are pending. However, last week’s sentencing confirms that Danish police succesfully targeted Scene elements.
Landmark Prison Sentences Without Profit Motive
Commenting on the news, NSK Special prosecutor Jan Østergaard says that he is very satisfied with the outcome in these two unrelated cases. These are the first unconditional prison sentences of their kind; both for copyright infringement but without motivation to profit.
The fact that both defendants shared many terabytes of copyright-infringing data contributed to the severity of these sentences.
“This is the first time that the courts have imposed unconditional prison sentences on file sharers who have no criminal record and have not benefited financially. It is the enormous amounts of data of illegally shared copyrighted material that have been the decisive factor for the harsh sentences,” Østergaard says.
Danish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance is also pleased with the sentences. The group was not involved in The Scene case, but it played a major role in the enforcement actions against “SuperBits”, “DanishBytes” and other torrent trackers.
Rights Alliance’s director Maria Fredenslund hopes that these sentences will serve as a stark warning to others.
“For many years, we have had a massive focus on closing down illegal Danish file-sharing services, and thanks to our and NSK’s efforts, this has been successful. Let the verdicts be a wake-up call to the users and perpetrators who persist: Violations of rights can be discovered – and taken seriously when they do.”
These two prison sentences are not the end of the Danish piracy crackdown. Rights Alliance informed us that other cases are pending and NSK said that two additional cases are currently awaiting a court hearing. Whether any of these related to The Scene is unknown.
