After several actions by the IP Task Force under the State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime (SØIK), a total of seven people are now charged in the case of the closed illegal service Asgaard, after another six were charged yesterday. The actions have caused nervous reactions among the Danish so-called “release groups”.
After New Year’s, the Danish Rights Alliance was able to report that Denmark’s last remaining illegal piracy services, Asgaard and ShareUniversity, had been shut down. Thus, ending the last illegal services anchored in Denmark. During Christmas and on Thursday, SØIK’s IP Task Force carried out several actions, that resulted in the indictment of seven Danish ringleaders behind Asgaard.
In a press release from the State Prosecutor, Deputy Police Inspector Michael Lichtenstein from the IP Task Force emphasized that users of the illegal services will be held accountable:
“(…) We hope that with the arrests and imprisonments we have sent a clear signal to the Danish pirate users, that SØIK’s special IPR unit’s aim is closing the Danish piracy services and holding both ringleaders and users accountable – no one is safe,” says Michael Lichtenstein.
The press release also states that the six arrested men have been charged with copyright infringement of a particularly serious nature and that they have subsequently been released again. At the same time, it appears that in connection with the arrests, searches were made of the men’s homes, where IT specialists from the Police’s National Cyber Crime Center (NC3) assisted SØIK in securing evidence for the case.
The Danish Rights Alliance: We are present
In the wake of the news of the arrests of the Asgaard ringleaders, the Danish Rights Alliance has observed that several hard-core users and one of the so-called “release groups” have shut down in fear of legal repercussions and claims for damages.
Release groups are individuals collaborating to publish content on illegal services such as the aforementioned Asgaard. These release groups specialize in specific types of content such as movies, articles, TV series, e-books, or music.
One of these release groups, which the Danish Rights Alliance has observed shutting down, goes by the name “Xor06” and is a group that focuses on publishing e-books, audiobooks, weeklies, newspapers, magazines, and articles behind paywalls. In the case of articles, this was done in such a way that a user could request a specific article, which was then immediately uploaded to the service. The group has now announced that they are shutting down their activities.
The Danish Rights Alliance would like other release groups to follow suit and close down immediately. SØIK’s actions have hit deep into the illegal pirate environment, and we can see that several of the pirates’ communication platforms have been shut down as a result.
The actions that take place on the illegal services are considered seriously illegal, and the cases will only become more serious the longer the activities continue, explains the director of the Danish Rights Alliance, Maria Fredenslund:
“The penalty for this type of crime is six years’ imprisonment, and the IP Task Force in SØIK has shown with their latest actions against the Asgaard perpetrators that no one can feel safe. They are extremely well equipped to investigate and respond quickly and effectively to this type of crime.”