back to article Swedish government wins legal case to seize Pirate Bay domains

The Swedish government has won its case to seize piratebay.se and thepiratebay.se, but the site is already back up under another domain with a new logo to show it isn't beaten. The new round of whack-a-mole flared up on Tuesday when The Stockholm District Court ruled in a case brought by government prosecutors against Swedish …

  1. x 7

    thepiratebay.se is currently redirecting to a cached Cloudflare version of the site. The authorities seem to have got something wrong. However piratebay.se IS offline

    1. Ole Juul

      "The authorities seem to have got something wrong."

      You can say that again.

  2. P. Lee

    The government can take stuff it thinks belongs to you if you've been convicted?

    Does anyone have any thoughts on the actual legal reasoning behind that?

    1. John G Imrie

      Re: The government can take stuff it thinks belongs to you if you've been convicted?

      The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 would probably be a good starting point for UK readers

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The government can take stuff it thinks belongs to you if you've been convicted?

      I believe this is correct in a sense. Stuff that has been used to commit the crime can be taken as part of the conviction (which I think was done in this case).

      I think what's more interesting is that a domain name was deemed property and thus not something that is rented. Does this mean the registrar can't give the domain to someone else if the registry fee isn't paid (they could still deregister it in DNS of course)? It is after all the property of the one who did register it.

      1. Andy The Hat Silver badge

        Re: The government can take stuff it thinks belongs to you if you've been convicted?

        If the domain is rented, surely it returns to the ownership of the registrar at the time of renewal (as mentioned above) otherwise the registrar, not the perpetrator of the crime, is being penalised ...

        If I lived in a rented house and committed a crime who would then own the house, the rented tv, the Complete Anthology of Great Works by J K Rowling pamphlet borrowed from the library?

        Sounds like a dangerous precedent to set ...

        1. Pseu Donyme

          Re: The government can take stuff it thinks belongs to you if you've been convicted?

          >If the domain is rented...

          I suppose the government could sidestep the issue by paying the regular fees to the registrar for as long as they want to keep the domain out of circulation. This would be in line with no harm to the registrar - as with the court costs - due to finding them not liable. Actually, maybe the 'property' here is the right to the domain name under the same terms as with the original owner as opposed to a perpetual right to the domain name itself.

          1. jsbg

            Re: The government can take stuff it thinks belongs to you if you've been convicted?

            Isn't the reasoning about the government paying for renting the domain a bit flawed? Following the same train of thought the government should continue paying the car rental of those running people on the street, or house rent for rapist houses, etc. It is all for the safety of the society, to prevent another rape.

  3. JaitcH
    Thumb Down

    Perhaps ASSANGE has a point ...

    given how the formerly independent country of Sweden is pandering to American government and industry demands.

    1. Stu Mac

      Re: Perhaps ASSANGE has a point ...

      The Proles exist only to consume and fund that which is given to them.

  4. frank ly

    It 'got up again' quite a few weeks ago ....

    .... but it's sailed away from .se and took some time to mend its sails.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Like the new logo

    The hydra at the back seems very appropriate.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Legal reasoning.

    Legal "reasoning" according to swedish news was "the domain name was a tool used to commit crimes, therefore this tool should be seized just like a weapon, drugs or anything like that".

    That makes one wonder though, where does it stop? Can they take your home, car, phone and credit card too?

    1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

      Re: Legal reasoning.

      If you use those to commit a crime, according to that reasoning apparently: yes. Without wanting to go into the right or wrong of the current court decision, I would expect many countries have similar provisions. A home might be difficult to see as a tool in a crime, but if someone is a persistent drunk driver, and kills somebody whilst driving under influence, few would argue that confiscating car (and licence) would be excessive punishment. If someone uses his credit card to defraud people, confiscating it could be part of the punishment.

      What is needed in most countries is a court order.

    2. VBF

      Re: Legal reasoning.

      Well in the UK they can under something called "the Proceeds of Crime Act" so whilst I know nothing of Swedish law, I rather suspect that they can too!

    3. Trigonoceps occipitalis

      Re: Legal reasoning.

      Try using a car to smuggle cigarettes or booze into the UK and see what happens to the car.

    4. Naughtyhorse

      Re: Legal reasoning.

      Rather famously in the US in some states they can take whatever the hell they want and don't even need to go to the trouble of trumping up charges, let alone convicting you, mere allegation is all that's required.

    5. Crazy Operations Guy

      Re: Legal reasoning.

      In the US, the RICO act allows for confiscating anything that was purchased from the proceeds of a crime. The FBI, DEA, and the other organizations have taken cars, phones, and even houses. They can make you homeless if make even a single mortgage payment using even a single penny that was gained from crime. They can then turn around and use that property for whatever they want, including selling it and dumping the cash into their budgets, and if it turns out that you were innocent, they'll give you the profit they made on the sale (Usually only 10%, but many times less than the actual value of the item).

  7. Haku
    Facepalm

    First Pirate Bay Helps Puts Sweden on the Map, Govt. Agency Says

    Then the next day they seize their domain names.

    Congratulations Sweden, your government is as abysmal as everyone elses.

    1. Stu Mac

      Sweden is the most fcuked up country in Scandinavia, but that's been true for a very long time.

  8. Spasticus Autisticus
    Pint

    'Let me tell you about Sweden

    Only country where the clouds are interesting

    Big brother says it's the place to go

    Too much time to think, too little to do'

    (From 1978)

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You've missed the point

    Not only are the domains seized, TPB operators will be fined millions and sent to prison like the former TPB operators. It's all good. More scum is being sent to prison daily and the seized servers link those who pirate so authorities can prosecute this dimwits, too.

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