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Swedish Anti-Piracy Lawyer Gets New Name 'Pirate'

Posted by samzenpus on from the the-power-of-the-prank dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet (in Swedish) reports that Henrik Pontén, a lawyer of Antipiratbyrån, a Swedish organization against file sharing, has received a notification from officials that an application for change of his name has been approved and a new first name 'Pirate' has been added to his name. Authorities do not check the identity of persons applying for name changes. Pirate Pontén now has to apply for another change in order to revert the change."

7 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. 'Bout damn time... by geekmux · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...a lawyer was honest enough to carry this title.

    (ducks for cover)

    1. Re:'Bout damn time... by AioKits · · Score: 5, Funny

      Does this mean NYCL gets to change his first name to Badass?

      Badass Beckerman does have a nice ring to it...

      --
      "Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
  2. Re:it will only hurt the cause... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There is also the possibility that he did this too himself, nobody knows since who ever changed his name is anonymous.

    And know this, the news article was published on the day before the Swedish election. Very suspicious timing by the anti-piracy agency here...

  3. Who is he really now? by HorzaSe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wonder if he has to sign the request to revert his name, with "Pirate Ponten" for it to be considered?

  4. And yet transsexuals cannot change gender freely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In Sweden if you're trans and want to change to a name of the different gender you need approval from social servcies, which among other things requires you are sterile. Yet a lawyer can add "Pirate" to his first name without the agencies even checking the identity of the applicant. Hurra fÃr myndigheter!

  5. Re:it will only hurt the cause... by cffrost · · Score: 5, Funny

    ZOMG LMAO! Grow a sense of humor!

    --
    Thank you, Edward Snowden.

    "Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
  6. Re:it will only hurt the cause... by twidarkling · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't think it's blazingly hilarious, but if the system's letting anyone change anyone else's name because they're not bothering to check identities, then the system is broken. Simple as that. Better it's abused in such a fashion now, rather than something more serious, so that it can be fixed.

    --
    Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.