A Swedish politician is now ensnared in the Warez Scene police crackdown on piracy that occurred last month, with the person’s computers seized and sent for forensic analysis. It's unknown if anything has been found, though Swedish officials state that they will keep the computers as long as they need to.
One IP address identified in the case led to a 32-year-old politician currently living in Eskilstuna, Sweden, although the unnamed politician denies any involvement.
It’s unknown what political party the politician belongs to, but Sweden does have an active Pirate Party. Representatives from the Stockholm Prosecution Office said the leading politician has been cleared, but wouldn't go into specific details regarding the case. It seems interesting that the person in question has been cleared of file sharing issues, but the government is still analyzing his computers.
During the Warez Scene raid in Europe last month, authorities in a dozen nations significantly hurt file sharing servers stored across Europe. Some Warez Scene 'topsite' servers in the UK were temporarily downed, while others were permanently shuttered.
The personal and professional use of pirated software isn't uncommon among politicians, government agencies, or private companies. The CIA was recently accused of using faulty pirated software to launch unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) drone attacks on targets in the Middle East.
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has been tipped off that LG Electronics is illegally using pirated Adobe software in its Russian offices. A company utilized by the Chinese government to create the 'Great Firewall of China' also was accused of stealing software code from a small US security firm.
Copyright lawyers themselves have been found stealing information as well -- while suing thousands of others for stealing digital content.
The copyright trade groups don't normally target these companies because financial agreements are normally reached after copyright violations are discovered.
Software companies interact with large corporations differently than end users, with quiet deals and agreements being forged away from the public eye. Some companies also work with large corporations on replacing unlicensed software with legitimate copies, along with sometimes organizing informational seminars to discuss piracy.
