Swedish court tries woman for sharing 45,000 music files

A new piracy case in Sweden this week is a big deal said Rick Falkvinge, a Pirate Party founder. According to Falkvinge, who live-blogged the trial on Monday, the public agreed: not a seat was available in the Sollentuna courtroom. The unnamed female defendant was accused of sharing some 45,000 music tracks online – a record for local trials, he noted. She pleaded not guilty.

Falkvinge reported that the alleged pirate claimed ignorance. The woman admitted to downloading some tracks via DirectConnect in 2007, but swore she was working when the mass of file transfers took place. The woman’s defense may not hold much water, however.

“When asked what she does for a living, it turns out that she is a systems administrator, administering the network of the Swedish Food and Drug Administration,” said Falkvinge. “Not good for the lack-of-understanding defense.”

Luckily for the defendant, misunderstanding was present on both sides of the courtroom. The prosecutor admitted during the course of the trial that the initial 45,000 tracks figure may have been a bit of an overstatement. In reality, he only had proof of 50 or so shared files. However, he was still able to present file transfer logs which implicated the defendant.

Though the prosecutors asked only for parole and a fine as punishment, Falkvinge took a dim if superficial view of the defendant’s chances.

“Looking at the panel of four judges, the outlook appears bleak,” he explained. “Estimating their ages, the four appear aged 75, 45, 40 and 60. In particular, the older lay judge looks puzzled and absolutely lost in space when the prosecutor explains sharing, hubs and DC++.”

Falkvinge ultimately believes the trial is “insignificant” due to the method of file-sharing (Direct Connect) under scrutiny, noting that BitTorrent “completely negates the ability of the copyright industry to press charges” for similar mass infringement claims.

A verdict is expected by the end of the month. (via TorrentFreak)