There are many risks associated with running illegal piracy services. A case where 50-year-old family father from Middelfart was convicted of being behind NordicBits and Asgaard underlines this.
Tuesday June 15th, a man was sentenced to four months prison by the court in Odense, for being behind the now closed pirate services NordicBits and Asgaard. The sentence was 4 months’ imprisonment, of which one month was unconditional. He was one of several ringleaders of the two illegal sites with 23,000 users and 5,000 users, respectively, which combined made about 27,000 illegal files available. The process shows that the consequences are many when it comes to illegal file sharing services.
Detained over Christmas and New Year
A 50-year-old family father from Middelfart. This is the profile of the recently convicted ringleader, who has been behind setting up the website, payment solutions and customer service for users of the pirate services Asgaard and NordicBits, alongside a regular job and family life in Middelfart.
In October 2020, the Rights Alliance reported a number of suspected ringleaders behind Asgaard to SØIK. On December 21th 2020, the now convicted ringleader was arrested, after which he was held in custody over Christmas and New Year, while SØIK continued the investigation and arrested another six suspected ringleaders. As a pirate, you do not just risk getting a tainted criminal record. It potentially also has personal consequences such as losing one’s job, depriving oneself of one’s children and exposing one’s loved ones to harsh experiences.
Trying their luck on new services
When pirate services shut down, the homeless ringleaders tried their luck at developing new pirate services. This case also shows this when the convicted ringleader moved from NordicBits to Asgaard, as a result of SØIK’s actions, where NordicBits and DanishBits were closed in October 2020. Likewise, many of the closed page users moved to Asgaard, after which the Rights Alliance investigated and reported the site. In December 2020, Asgaard closed down voluntarily, in response to the Rights Alliance’s work and to SØIK’s ongoing actions. Before Christmas, the now convicted man was arrested.
Maria Fredenslund, Director of the Rights Alliance, says:
“With this case, SØIK shows an effective and focused effort. That is absolutely crucial when we see that backers behind closed services are trying to build new platforms from the ground up. By quickly cracking down on backers and platforms, we can keep the illegal market in check and thereby avoid a lot of violations in the future. ”
Harsh punishment for ringleaders
In the Prosecution Authority’s press release, prosecutor for SØIK, Christian Raaholt Hahn, states that the verdict “sends a clear signal to both the perpetrators and users that there will be a severe crackdown“. In an article on TV2 Fyn, Christian Raaholt Hahn also states that he went after six months in prison and now therefore wants to consider whether the sentence should be appealed. Maria Fredenslund is pleased:
“We would like the punishment to better reflect the extent of the perpetrator’s offenses on both the illegal services. Therefore, I am pleased that the prosecution will consider appealing the case with a view to six months’ imprisonment.“