Pirate Bay Founder Gottfrid Warg Faces Danish Jail Time

Hammeh writes BBC news reports that Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Warg has been found guilty of hacking into computers and illegally downloading files in Denmark. Found guilty of breaching security to access computers owned by technology giant CSC to steal police and social security files, Mr Warg faces a sentence of up to six years behind bars. Mr Warg argued that although the computer used to commit the offence was owned by him, the hacks were carried out by another individual who he declined to name.

Comments

Find a better excuse

[cdrudge]

Mr Warg argued that although the computer used to commit the offence was owned by him, the hacks were carried out by another individual who he declined to name.

Every bittorrent user has tried that excuse when they were caught and I don't think it has ever worked. Try to be a little more original next time Mr. Wang.

Re:Find a better excuse

[MightyMartian]

Wow, worst case of injustice EVER????

"not me" did it!

[gatfirls]

Really dude? Why not at least say you had a virus/botnet on your machine. At least that gives a reasonable doubt.

Re:"not me" did it!

[wonkey_monkey]

There is no way the courts should hold people responsible for something unless they can prove the person who possess it or the evidence of said action can actually be connected.

Yes, but it's not "prove" as in "any other explanation is 100% impossible." It's "prove beyond a reasonable doubt."

Without that you wouldn't be able to convict the man standing over the body with the knife in his hand screaming "I'm glad I killed him." There are endless possibilities for the accused's innocence, but most of them would be rightly considered ridiculous and would only belong in an episode of Jonathan Creek.

Someone who has seen far more of the evidence in this case you or I ever will has decided the criteria for guilt have been met. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I'm going to lean towards the conclusion that he got convicted not because the system is rigged, but because he did actually do it and the preponderance of evidence was to that effect.

How to torpedo your own boat.

[westlake]

Mr Warg argued that although the computer used to commit the offence was owned by him, the hacks were carried out by another individual who he declined to name.

Every bittorrent user has tried that excuse when they were caught and I don't think it has ever worked. Try to be a little more original next time Mr. Wang.

But this is something new!

He admits that the hacking was criminal, that the hacker was using one of his computers, and that he knows who the hacker is, but won't name him --- even after being found guilty on the felony charge.

When was the last time you heard tell of a geek throwing away three perfectly serviceable "Get Out Of Jail Free Cards?"

Re:Who the hell cares whether "IP!=Person?"

[timeOday]

If that is true, then the 'friend' who used Warg's computer to hack and is now standing by watching Warg go down in flames is a real dick for not coming forward.

Re:IP != Person.

[f3rret]

Refusing to make a statement or refusing to incriminate yourself or others does not constitute 'contempt of court; you are afforded the right to remain silent under Danish (and also US) law.

Re:BT

[rev0lt]

...And yet you probably don't have polyo because some guy decided to give the cure to the world. Have a look at your software stack, and the hardware that follows, and all the people that innovated without thinking about money first. Whatever you are today, you owe to those people. And most of them don't really care if you made yourself rich or not - if you cannot conceive this concept, I pitty you. No money in the world will fill that hole.