It is important to intervene early before illegal file sharing becomes a criminal slippery slope. This is illustrated by the sentencing of a 41-year-old man who received a six-month suspended sentence for illegal file sharing, fraud, and for copying and sharing Ekstra Bladet+ articles using other people’s passwords.
On June 22, a 41-year-old man from Fyn was sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence at the Court of Odense for copyright infringement of a particularly serious nature, fraud and for unauthorized access to Ekstra Blandet+ via passwords belonging to others. In addition to a prison sentence, he is sentenced to 120 hours of community work, confiscation of a large number of possessions and compensation of DKK 41,715 to the affected rights holders.
In the period July to December 2020, the convicted was part of a release group with the pseudonym “Xor06” on the now closed file sharing service Asgaard. Here he illegally copied and shared books and articles with the platform’s users, in collaboration with a number of other members that he himself helped recruit to the release group. In total, there were at least 1,004 e- and audiobooks, newspaper articles and magazines, and 85 articles reserved for paying subscribers of Ekstra Bladet+. At the request of Asgaard’s users, he obtained the articles by gaining unauthorized access to Ekstra Bladet+ through the use of logins belonging to paying subscribers of the service.
In a press release from NSK, Assistant Prosecutor Brian Borgstrøm states:
“I am pleased with the verdict, which emphasizes that organized and systematic copyright infringement is a type of crime that the authorities take seriously.”
Read NSK’s press release on the verdict here (in danish)
A criminal slippery slope
In January 2021, The Danish Rights Alliance, on behalf of Ekstra Bladet and Danish Forlag, reported the now convicted man to Section for Rights Protection in NSK (then SØIK). However, while his illegal activities at the time only concerned the sharing of literature and Ekstra Bladet+ articles on the file sharing service Asgaard, this was the beginning of several serious offenses, for which he is also held accountable in the verdict.
In the aftermath of Asgaard shutting down, the convicted man simply moved his criminality to another platform. He then became involved in the operation of a Plex server where at least 3,468 movies and series were made available to paying customers. A fact for which he was also convicted in court. He was responsible for advertising the Plex server on platforms such as Discord and also for registration, payment and guidance of the service’s customers, who could buy access to the server for DKK 100 per month. He is also convicted of fraud, which he committed at the same time, as he defrauded webshops to pay a total of DKK 17,229.74 for goods that he claimed not to have received or returned.
“It is not the first time we see cases like this, where illegal sharing of creative content easily becomes a criminal slippery slope to more serious offenses. It is therefore important to take early action to prevent rights holders as well as consumers and businesses from being exposed to a wide range of criminal acts. In addition, the case is a reminder that there is nothing innocent about sharing content illegally.”, says Maria Fredenslund, CEO at Rights Alliance.
Read more: Ringleader behind file sharing service and misuse of access information for TV 2 PLAY sentenced
What is a release group?
A release group is one or more people who are responsible for converting content into illegal copies, which they then upload to a file-sharing network, allowing other users to access the illegal copies. Release groups often specialize in certain types of content, allowing them to stand out and gain popularity among users. For example, Xor06 primarily copied and shared literary content such as articles, e-books, audiobooks and magazines. The people behind a release group therefore play a significant role in determining what content is exposed to piracy and where the content is spread to.
File sharing networks also consist of operators and users. The operators are the inveterate backers of the file-sharing network, who are responsible for the establishment and operation of the service. The organization behind a file sharing network can be compared to a company, where the operators perform various functions that are essential to maintain and develop the service. For example, coding the website, setting up payment solutions or communicating with users.
Users cover the wide range of people who use the file sharing network. A user can be more or less infiltrated in the network. This includes both those who use the platform to consume illegal content a few times and those who actively engage in uploading and sharing content. Here, it can often be a short path from passive user to active trafficker.