A verdict has been reached in the case against the first ringleader behind the illegal file sharing service, DanishBytes. The case provides an insight into how legal services are ripped for content for use on the illegal services.
On Monday 14 November, a new step in the fight against the illegal Danish file sharing services was taken. At the court in Aalborg, a 34-year-old man from Aalborg has been sentenced to 3 months’ probation and 80 hours of community service, as well as confiscation of IT equipment, for having participated in the operation of the illegal file sharing service DanishBytes.
During a 2-month period as “staff”, the convicted provided, among other things, IT support for the service’s no less than 5.000 users to engage in the illegal file sharing, which included no less than 10.000 illegal copies of protected works. Back in November 2021, NSK, the Section for Rights Protection, initiated actions at several addresses in Jutland, where they succeeded in arresting six people connected to the Danish file-sharing environment. These actions initiated because of a report from the Danish Rights Alliance.
On DanishBytes, the convicted was also active in file sharing and uploading content that was requested by the service’s users, including Danish weekly newspapers.
Another matter for which the 34-year-old man has been convicted is complicity in hacking other people’s e-mails and passwords. The convicted has obtained access to at least 1.000 combinations of e-mails and passwords by both hacking into computer systems himself, but also by purchasing hacked access information from others and downloading files from websites where other hackers have published lists of hacked credentials. The convicted used the credentials to gain access to paid services, including TV 2 PLAY and Netflix, to illegally download copyrighted works and then upload them to DanishBytes.
From legal to illegal TV content
This case is another big step in the fight against the illegal file sharing services, but it differs from the other ringleader cases in that, in addition to dealing with the operation and use of illegal services, it also involves password hacking. The case provides an insight into how copyrighted content moves from legal services such as TV 2 PLAY and Netflix to illegal services.
In addition, the case shows that the illegal services do not only focus on the latest films or series, but also TV content which is available via services such as TV 2 PLAY.
Ringleaders will be held responsible
Based on a great effort by NSK, the Section for Rights Protection, the first ringleader has now been convicted, and one can expect more lawsuits against the remaining ringleaders behind DanishBytes.
Director of the Danish Rights Alliance, Maria Fredenslund, says:
“NSK, the Section for Rights Protection, has been enormously effective in catching and bringing the ringleaders behind DanishBytes and other illegal Danish file-sharing services to court, as well as shutting down the illegal services. In this case, we have seen the hacking of private data of ordinary Danes with the aim of accessing and retrieving content and then spreading it illegally. NSK’s efforts have helped to clarify how password hacking is used to feed the illegal services with content, and it is gratifying that the ringleaders are now being held accountable for their crimes, which has consequences for the content industry as well as for the Danes who get their credentials hacked.”
At TV 2, both hacking and illegal file sharing are also taken very seriously:
“TV 2 takes the fact that our customers’ personal access information for TV 2 PLAY has been used and that our content has been misused very seriously. It is of course a big problem when Danes’ passwords are hacked and misused, and when the hackers thus gain illegal access to our content. It is not only a problem for TV 2, but also unpleasant for our customers. Therefore, we also work with several security measures ourselves, which, together with the efforts that the Danish Rights Alliance and NSK, the Section for Rights Protection, make against hacking and misuse of our customers’ information, help to minimize misuse and illegal copying,” says Ole Søgaard, who is head of IT security at TV 2.
NSK is also satisfied with today’s verdict:
“With a sentence of 90 days in prison, a signal is sent that the authorities take copyright violations seriously. Both the ringleaders and users of illegal file-sharing services risk a conviction. In this case, it has been particularly aggravating that the convict has used the login information of unsuspecting media subscribers to hack access to streaming and media services and then shared material from there via the file sharing service,” says Beytullaah Karacan, deputy prosecutor at NSK.