Swedish Teenager Turned Over To Police By School Headmaster For File Sharing Acquitted By Court
from the one-part-of-this-is-absurd dept
Last week, there was a lot of attention to criminal charges brought against a 15-year-old kid in Sweden, after his school's headmaster turned him over to the police after discovering some downloaded films and file sharing software on his computer. It did seem absurd to charge him with a crime, rather than civil infringement, but that's what happened, and the prosecutor in the case seemed almost gleeful about the possibility of convicting the boy of a crime. Except... it took just a few days for the court to acquit the boy. The ruling involved a head judge and three "lay judges." From my understanding of the Swedish judicial system, "lay judges" are somewhat (though not exactly) akin to a jury in the US (Swedes feel free to chime in and clarify). There was apparently a split among the lay judges, with two voting against conviction and one being in favor. The split resulted in acquittal. The prosecutor, rather than recognizing the sheer absurdity of the case, instead insists that it's "absurd" the kid was acquitted, and now vows to appeal. Because there's nothing more important than convicting someone of a crime for sharing a couple movies. Honestly, if Swedish prosecutors wanted to draw more support for the Swedish Pirate Party, I don't think they could have picked a better strategy.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Bork Bork Bork
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Bork Bork Bork
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Bork Bork Bork
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Bork Bork Bork
The content companies wanted the teenager to lay some eggs, via payment for watching/hearing their music/videos. Instead, the headmaster found out that the teenager instead had laid a bomb, which was in the form of pirated content in his computer. He chased the teenager with a rolling pin but he managed to get away, so he turned him in to the swedish prosecutor, who then put the teenager in a pot. But then the court opened the pot and let the teenager go free. And now the prosecutor is threatening to appeal and pursue the teenager with a meat cleaver.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lay Judges
The Swedish system works like this: you have an educated judge who went to law school in a panel of four at the lowest court. The other three are politically appointed from the municipal level.
They vote on the verdict. In the case of a 2-2 split, the option that favors the defendant wins. Here, two out of four wanted to acquit, so acquittal it is.
The idea with this is that if a law is obviously bonkers and out of touch with reality and, as it's called, "the public perception of justice", then the lay judges are able to overrule the schooled judge.
In terms of checks and balances achieved, it is therefore similar to the jury system.
However, the lay judges are in a minority in the appeals court, and absent from the supreme court.
Cheers,
Rick
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Lay Judges
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Lay Judges
It's an affront to democracy. Just because they for once ruled "the right way", does not mean that the system works. Even a blind squirrel you know...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Lay Judges
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Lay Judges
Your entry almost reads as a defense for this insanely broken system. Please tell me that I'm mistaken.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wonder how much..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Will never hold in the appeal court.
Also, even if he is not convicted for lack of intent (dolus), the copyright holders may still drive the case in a civilian court for damages, as he after all has confessed the circumstances (culpa). And really the damages is the real punishment here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Will never hold in the appeal court.
It's a win-win for the Pirate Party regardless of the outcome of the case, and a PR nightmare for anyone arguing for stronger copyright.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Will never hold in the appeal court.
I don't claim to understand the differences in the legal systems from the US to Sweden, but one would expect that a teacher demanding answers from a student to use in a criminal case would be looked upon poorly.
You have someone in authority demanding answers - or else.
Can anyone share information about how the system works in Sweden per the rights of the accused and such please?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Will never hold in the appeal court.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Will never hold in the appeal court.
I'm shocked by it, but I think that is because we have a much different system in the US that we like to think is "fair" and from our point of view that is "wrong" to allow everything in even if it was gathered illegally.
But it seems like Sweden has things in place to help keep the scales balanced.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Will never hold in the appeal court.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Swedish Courts
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Swedish Courts
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No, it is "Because there's nothing more important than convicting someone of a crime."
Mike, you have become a real apologist for all sorts of illegal behaviour recently. What gives?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
And here I thought that seeing that justice is done was more important.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
If it was a slap-on-the-wrist and/or some community service it would be one thing. I will certainly grant the European system hasn't been doling out excessive penalties like the **AA lackeys on this side of the pond, but anything more than 10x the lowest commercial price for the films in question is completely disproportionate to the actual damage done to society by his "crime".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Apologist for authoritarianism?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
So therefore using your logic, the USG or the individuals in the DOJ should be charged with misprision because they have NOT charged anyone with the alleged crime in the 'Puerto 80' matter.
Think you will find the relevant Federal offence under 18 U.S.C. § 4:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ironic
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Appeal
> sheer absurdity of the case, instead insists
> that it's "absurd" the kid was acquitted,
> and now vows to appeal.
The government can appeal an acquittal in Sweden?
Holy crap. That's much more troublesome than an inappropriate application of copyright law.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Appeal
I'll take Full-Retard for 500 Alex.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Appeal
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You want food? PAY.
You want water? PAY
You want help? PAY
You want culture? PAY
PAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAY PAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAYPAY
Now go to jail to be sodomized and think about it, muhahahahah.
Then come out as a true criminal.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Now sue me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
thank you
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fixed that for you
> support for the Swedish Pirate Party, I don't think
> they could have picked a better strategy.
Honestly, if Swedish prosecutors wanted to draw more
support for the Swedish Pirate Party, I don't think
they could have picked a better TRAGEDY.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]