Wikileaks is about to release a cable from the American Embassy in Stockholm, which reveals that the US government was interested in file-sharing issues in Sweden. Actually, the American Embassy was cooperating with the Swedish government in order to reduce file-sharing threats. This cooperation resulted in The Pirate Bay raids in 2006 conducted under the US pressure.
Actually, everybody knew that the American government has been actively participating in copyright enforcement in many other countries throughout the world, Sweden being one of them. The raid on TPB’s servers back in 2006 proved that the United States had threatened to put Sweden on the WTO’s blacklist if they fail to solve The Pirate Bay problem.
However, that was far from the end of the US-Sweden collaboration on this front. Wikileaks is going to publish a US Embassy cable in possession of Swedish Television, proving that the American pressure on Sweden to settle the file-sharing problems went on in the following years. In the cable, dated back 2 years ago, the American Embassy outlined 6 items they wanted to be solved, all of them connected with online copyright violation. Just in a year, 5 of those 6 items were turned into action. Among them were appointment of more copyright police and educational anti-piracy campaigns. As you might have already guessed, The Pirate Bay tracker was mentioned in this cable, too.
It is said in the cable that it was not easy for the US Embassy to get openly involved in piracy issues, as a lot of press coverage was unfavorable towards them. This made Minister of Justice to deny that Sweden was ever under the US pressure in piracy related issues.
Meanwhile, ex-Pirate Bay spokesperson Peter Sunde seems to be surprised about the leaked cable’s content, even though it wasn’t news for him that the US put pressure on the Swedish authorities. He admitted that it was known for a long while that the United States was hiding behind the raid and pressured Sweden. However, it was news to them that they were still doing it.
This cable hasn’t been published by well-known service Wikileaks yet. However, it is expected that they will release it in the near future. This, along with some other cables, can add more insight into the backroom deals connected with file-sharing and copyright infringement.
US Government Interested in Swedish Anti-Piracy Efforts
Actually, everybody knew that the American government has been actively participating in copyright enforcement in many other countries throughout the world, Sweden being one of them. The raid on TPB’s servers back in 2006 proved that the United States had threatened to put Sweden on the WTO’s blacklist if they fail to solve The Pirate Bay problem.
However, that was far from the end of the US-Sweden collaboration on this front. Wikileaks is going to publish a US Embassy cable in possession of Swedish Television, proving that the American pressure on Sweden to settle the file-sharing problems went on in the following years. In the cable, dated back 2 years ago, the American Embassy outlined 6 items they wanted to be solved, all of them connected with online copyright violation. Just in a year, 5 of those 6 items were turned into action. Among them were appointment of more copyright police and educational anti-piracy campaigns. As you might have already guessed, The Pirate Bay tracker was mentioned in this cable, too.
It is said in the cable that it was not easy for the US Embassy to get openly involved in piracy issues, as a lot of press coverage was unfavorable towards them. This made Minister of Justice to deny that Sweden was ever under the US pressure in piracy related issues.
Meanwhile, ex-Pirate Bay spokesperson Peter Sunde seems to be surprised about the leaked cable’s content, even though it wasn’t news for him that the US put pressure on the Swedish authorities. He admitted that it was known for a long while that the United States was hiding behind the raid and pressured Sweden. However, it was news to them that they were still doing it.
This cable hasn’t been published by well-known service Wikileaks yet. However, it is expected that they will release it in the near future. This, along with some other cables, can add more insight into the backroom deals connected with file-sharing and copyright infringement.
US Government Interested in Swedish Anti-Piracy Efforts
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