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posted by n1 on Sunday September 21 2014, @10:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the cruel-and-unusual-punishment dept.

September 18, 2014
Hollywood Insiders: Directors, Actors, Producers, Camera People And More Demand Peter Sunde Be Freed & Treated With Dignity

While we've written plenty about Peter Sunde, the former spokesperson for The Pirate Bay, we didn't cover his eventual jailing earlier this year. Given all the coverage of his trial and efforts post-trial to have the results revisited, the fact that he finally ended up going to jail didn't seem like much of a story. However, the way in which he's been treated in jail is simply inhumane. He's been put in the equivalent of a maximum security prison and basic requests for more humane treatment have been rejected.

The latest outrage was that Peter's father recently passed away, and while prison officials have said they'll make arrangements for him to attend the funeral, he'll have to wear handcuffs. TorrentFreak says he'll have to wear handcuffs while carrying his father's coffin -- but from Peter's brother's quote, it seems clear that the prison officials were actually saying he can't even carry his father's coffin. The handcuff remark was just their way of saying "fuck you."

September 20, 2014
Humanity: Peter Sunde Attends Funeral Without Handcuffs

Following anger at the news that Peter Sunde would have to attend his father's funeral while handcuffed, humanity has prevailed. Mats Kolmisoppi says that following all the attention focused on his brother's predicament, Peter was allowed to pay his final respects with dignity.

His treatment in prison, including solitary confinement, is completely disproportionate to what was, until recent years, a tort and had not been subject to criminal charges.

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by kaszz on Sunday September 21 2014, @10:24PM

    by kaszz (4211) on Sunday September 21 2014, @10:24PM (#96479) Journal

    "Nice prison you have there, would be a shame if something happened to it. Oh btw, our lawyer group has to little to do so they need some practice so they will soon explore all legal angles." .. :P

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Monday September 22 2014, @12:14AM

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Monday September 22 2014, @12:14AM (#96508) Journal

    Or should. There've been a number of cases in the US in which wrongfully imprisoned people were not only exonerated, but granted damages. The state had to pay them millions.

    Meantime, is there somewhere interested people can send emails or letters to protest this treatment of Sunde? I don't know Swedish either, but figure they have people who understand English. And not just the government. I would like to tell their Chamber of Commerce or nearest equivalent that I will not be visiting Sweden or dealing with Swedish businesses until Sunde is freed. I will not be buying anything from Ikea.

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday September 22 2014, @01:09AM

      by kaszz (4211) on Monday September 22 2014, @01:09AM (#96529) Journal

      I don't think a boycott will get the message through. But pestering them in the international arena have a higher probability to do so.

      This will hopefully give you some points of contact and any person of importance in that country understands English:

      "Stefan" is the person most likely to become the head of government:
      https://www.socialdemokraterna.se/Stefan-Lofven/?t=Stefan+L%C3%B6fven [socialdemokraterna.se]

      Socialdemokraterna
      S-105 60 Stockholm
      Sweden

      Media contact assistant
      Anne Ekberg
      +46 72 214 36 14
      anne.ekberg(a-t)riksdagen.se
      (she's NOT responsible but can forward your opinion)

      Questions on politics can be asked here [socialdemokraterna.se]

      The attorney general is currently Beatrice Ask [regeringen.se] but that will most likely end in 1 October and who will become the successor is unclear.

      Department of corrections:
      https://www.kriminalvarden.se/kontakt [kriminalvarden.se]

      Kriminalvarden
      S-601 80 NORRKÖPING
      Sweden

      Phone: +46 77 228 08 00 (switch board)
      Fax: +46 11 496 36 40

      Submission form to department of corrections [kriminalvarden.se]

      Automatic translation services makes wonders ;-)

    • (Score: 1) by pTamok on Monday September 22 2014, @10:58AM

      by pTamok (3042) on Monday September 22 2014, @10:58AM (#96684)

      IKEA is Dutch. The Swedish marketing is just that - simply marketing.

      It was founded in Sweden, but has long since left its roots behind, for tax purposes.

      https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/IKEA.html [princeton.edu]

      "The groups of companies that form IKEA are all controlled by INGKA Holding B.V., a Dutch corporation, which in turn is controlled by a tax-exempt, not-for-profit Dutch foundation. The intellectual property of IKEA is controlled by a series of obscure corporations that can be traced to the Netherlands Antilles."

      http://www.economist.com/node/6919139 [economist.com]

      "Although IKEA is one of Sweden's best-known exports, it has not in a strict legal sense been Swedish since the early 1980s...The parent for all IKEA companies—the operator of 207 of the 235 worldwide IKEA stores—is Ingka Holding, a private Dutch-registered company. Ingka Holding, in turn, belongs entirely to Stichting Ingka Foundation. This is a Dutch-registered, tax-exempt, non-profit-making legal entity, which was given the shares of Mr Kamprad in 1982."

      http://www.altreconomia.it/site/download.php?allegato=phpmqcMPA5076.pdf [altreconomia.it]

      "Ikea's Dutch Trick - The only Swedish thing remaining in
      an Ikea store is just the furnishing
      names and Sweden’s blue and yellow
      national colours. As Ikea, believe it or not, is actually
      a Dutch multinational: the holding that controls the empire
      built on low-cost furniture – 21.2 billion euros turnover in 2007
      - is Ingka Holding, based in Leiden, the Netherlands."

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @12:31AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @12:31AM (#96510)

    His treatment in prison, including solitary confinement, is completely disproportionate to what was, until recent years, a tort and had not been subject to criminal charges.

    Well, the laws have had to catch up to the Internet, mobile computing and so forth. This is often the case in periods of rapid technological change.

    What do people feel about imprisonment for the hackers who broke into systems at TJX, Target and Home Depot and captured information on millions of credit card holders? Are we going to pretend that

    1. Nothing was "stolen"; at worst, what they did amounted to "infringement"

    2. We should discuss the severity of punishment, if any, as if only one infraction had occurred: "He got all that time for passing on information on one credit card". No, they swiped thousands or millions of accounts, that made it racketeering. And the same with Pirate Bay.

    3. Since the victims were at fault - Target for not having better security, the record companies for being so greedy - that justifies what the perpetrators did, as a modern day Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

    So maybe the credit card hackers are the victims too, and we should go after the judges and the prosecutors in their cases.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by archfeld on Monday September 22 2014, @01:57AM

      by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Monday September 22 2014, @01:57AM (#96540) Journal

      3. Since the victims were at fault ?!?!
      Not sure how you equate Target, Home Depot, TJX or whatever lazy corporation is getting tea bagged this week as the victim, they are at best the incompetent accessories, and possibly worse if it can be proved that they knew they were at risk beforehand and chose not taking reasonable precautions, or are/were just plain incompetent. John/Jane Doe are the true victims here, having to deal with getting new cards and possible long term ID theft. Companies are NOT going to take security seriously until it hits them in the pocket book from loss of business or some hefty fines. Maybe Visa or the banks should just declare them too stupid or unreliable to do business with. Highly unlikely but if enough people start shying away from using their credit/debit cards because of the risk of exposure or loss of money it might happen.
          All that said, the hackers responsible for the actual acts should also face real punishment, but should it be worse that a drunken driver gets for negligent homicide or a financial advisor gets for ripping off millions of retirees entire life savings ?

      --
      For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @02:22AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @02:22AM (#96549)

        > All that said, the hackers responsible for the actual acts should also face real punishment, but should it be worse that a drunken driver gets for negligent homicide or a financial advisor gets for ripping off millions of retirees entire life savings ?

        These are all very serious offenses with aggravating factors - the taking of a life in the case of the drunk driver, and the fact that there many victims in the cases of the credit card hackers and the crooked financial advisor. (Is that Madoff? I think he is in the can for life).

        Not saying that what the Pirate Bay did is in the same category - but let's not play semantic games as say that what they did is the same thing as someone taking two newspapers out of a vending machine box instead of one. These guys hurt the livelihoods of hundreds or thousands of musicians, as well as people working in the music and publishing businesses (as diligently as some of us work in the IT industry). In fact I think the guy featured in this story actually acknowledged he was intentionally taking it to the music industry.

        • (Score: 2) by moondrake on Monday September 22 2014, @09:53AM

          by moondrake (2658) on Monday September 22 2014, @09:53AM (#96674)

          >These guys hurt the livelihoods of hundreds or thousands of musicians, as well as people working in the music and publishing businesses

          Nonsense. This guy helped improve the quality of life millions of people all over the world. I would not shed too much tears for these threatened [celebritynetworth.com] musicians and music business people. Why can they not get a 9 to 5 job and make some nice music in their spare time. The world would be better off with that.

          You see my moral differ from yours, as I do not think art should be a business at all. You may not like it, but there is nothing inherently wrong with art being something that all people can do (and we should in fact stimulate this more), without making our livelihood depending on it.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @03:20AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @03:20AM (#96570)

      Well, the laws have had to catch up to the Internet, mobile computing and so forth.

      Do you really not see a problem with punishing people for violating laws that weren't in place during the infringement?

      Nothing was "stolen"; at worst, what they did amounted to "infringement"

      Money measures real effort invested. Creating copies is not real effort invested. Your analogy is bullshit.

      We should discuss the severity of punishment

      No, we shouldn't punish people at all. No person or group of people can be trusted with the safety of others.

      Since the victims were at fault

      Strawman.

      So maybe the credit card hackers are the victims too

      Being the perpetrator in one situation does not make you immune to being the victim in another. If I were to steal a car, that doesn't mean I wasn't a victim when the police officer smacked my head against the pavement later on.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @03:48AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @03:48AM (#96586)

        Do you really not see a problem with punishing people for violating laws that weren't in place during the infringement?

        Sunde was arrested for laws that were on the books when he committed the crimes. The author of the summary suggested that those laws were of relatively recent vintage, adopted after the Internet was in widespread use. I just pointed out that that's fairly common in a period of rapid technological change.

        I'm sure the laws against hacking were also passed relatively recently. That doesn't make them any less valid.

        Money measures real effort invested. Creating copies is not real effort invested. Your analogy is bullshit.

        There are thousands of heirs of fortunes around the world that spend their lives jet setting from one rich playground to another. What honest effort did they *ever* invest in their lives, except maybe to find a drug dealer? Your explanation is bullshit.

        No, we shouldn't punish people at all. No person or group of people can be trusted with the safety of others.

        Until someone hurts you or a member of your family, or takes your property in an unlawful manner. Then I bet you'll have an attitude adjustment.

        Being the perpetrator in one situation does not make you immune to being the victim in another.

        Not sure what you're getting at here. Are you saying the credit card hackers should not be imprisoned for what they did?

        • (Score: 1) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @08:09AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @08:09AM (#96649)

          Sunde was arrested for laws that were on the books when he committed the crimes.

          Really? Which laws were that?

          Up until the case, every time they got a DMCA request, and reminded that they were in Sweden, where the DMCA does not reply, so please tell us which Swedish law TPB is breaking, the lawyers weren't able to find one. One of the letters even came from a Swedish university, and you'd think they were very well versed in Swedish law. Even they failed.

          Meanwhile, The Pirate Bay was very strict about removing stuff that was actually against Swedish law, such as child porn.

          Of course it may have been the case that some of those lawyers did reply to the request for information about which Swedish laws were being broken, and those simply weren't posted to TPB legal page, but you'd think that at least some of those companies would be interested in making their own side of the story known, to make it look like they actually had a case, rather than making it look like the Swedish government rolled over for the US government, and convicted these guys for breaking non-existing laws. Heck, even the Swedish government ought to be interested in making it look like TPB was actually breaking the law.

          As it stands, even at this point, nobody has been able to come up with an actual law. In fact, writing such a law, without hitting Google and Bing at the same time is pretty hard. The US DMCA kinda did, by making indexing pirated stuff illegal, with the twist that if you take the illegal stuff down as soon as you are told about it, you go free. But we don't like that solution over here, as it's technically legalizing a crime as long as you don't get found out. Not "you don't get punished if nobody finds out", but actually legal.

        • (Score: 1) by G-forze on Monday September 22 2014, @08:57AM

          by G-forze (1276) on Monday September 22 2014, @08:57AM (#96664)

          Sunde was arrested for laws that were on the books when he committed the crimes.

          You can read Sunde's own account of the process here [falkvinge.net]. It is quite a horrific read. This part responds to exactly what you are claiming.

          We were convicted to a collective sentence. Everybody was sentenced to one year in prison and 30 million SEK in damages, record-setting damages in Sweden. [...]

          Looking at the verdict from the District Court, I couldn’t really understand why I had been convicted. There were no specific charges against me. There were no periods of time where I had been involved. There was not even a crime proven to have been committed – and yet, I was convicted of aiding and abetting a crime that had not been proven to have taken place.

          --
          If I run into the term "SJW", I stop reading.
    • (Score: 1) by anubi on Monday September 22 2014, @03:21AM

      by anubi (2828) on Monday September 22 2014, @03:21AM (#96571) Journal

      Here's you another one...

      We have surrendered our privacy to our government in trade for security.

      The electric company has been sending inserts in our bills warning us about scammers who call utility customers and threaten to shut off power unless an immediate charge card payment isn't tendered over the phone.

      Now, this involves charge cards. Very easily trackable information. Someone is getting paid. Who? The bank knows. Why isn't the bank being asked to reveal this info?

      Why aren't the perpetrators of this fraud nailed immediately?

      This is a case of real theft. Someone is walking away with funds literally stolen, with tracking info all over the place.

      Yet we spend our resources trying to track down people sharing songs.... might as well try to own a gust of wind.

      Yet we run Peter through a public wringer to intimidate others.
       
      If one is looking for damages done to the public, we need to look at the bribery in our own government and financial institutions, and run a few of those through the public wringer. Just as they are running Peter through the wringer.

      Yes, I believe his sentence is very disproportional. They are using him as theater for intimidation. This kind of stuff should have been done to a lot of bankers whose antics ruined many lives.

      Peter isn't even a candle compared to that inferno of corruption at the Congressional / banking / military-industrial complex level.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @03:56AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @03:56AM (#96587)

        Now, this involves charge cards. Very easily trackable information. Someone is getting paid. Who? The bank knows. Why isn't the bank being asked to reveal this info?

        Presumably the hackers sell the stolen information (sorry, I refuse to say "infringed information" because that just sounds dorky) to crime syndicates, which juggle thousands of short-lived, phony accounts in banks all around the world to receive the cash from scammed home owners. There's not just one bank involved. By the time law enforcement and the banks have gotten on the trail for any given scammed home owner, it's too late.

        If one is looking for damages done to the public, we need to look at the bribery in our own government and financial institutions, and run a few of those through the public wringer. Just as they are running Peter through the wringer.

        That's a good point. Not sure how on topic it is, but I agree - there should've been a large bunch of bankers sent to jail for the collapse of the world economy in 2008. And I don't count Bernie Madoff as one of them, he was doing his own private swindle that had nothing to do with the home mortgage scam.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @04:31AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @04:31AM (#96594)

      What do people feel about imprisonment for the hackers who broke into systems at TJX, Target and Home Depot and captured information on millions of credit card holders?

      I feel the punishment shouldn't be as severe as the punishment the culprits for this _should_ get: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MF_Global#October_2011:_MF_Global_transfers_client_account_funds_to_its_own_account [wikipedia.org]
      Guess what punishment they actually got?

      And there are people who have done far more damage (many know what they are doing, they just don't care enough to not do it):
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzJmTCYmo9g [youtube.com]
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXBcmqwTV9s [youtube.com]

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @05:50AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @05:50AM (#96618)
        how about punishment for the bankers who laundered billions of drug money?
        • (Score: 1) by Webweasel on Monday September 22 2014, @01:03PM

          by Webweasel (567) on Monday September 22 2014, @01:03PM (#96729) Homepage Journal

          No no no. Those bankers are too big to fail and need to be bailed out.

          --
          Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
        • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Monday September 22 2014, @03:13PM

          by hemocyanin (186) on Monday September 22 2014, @03:13PM (#96789) Journal

          Matt Taibi said it best:

          Wow. So the executives who spent a decade laundering billions of dollars will have to partially defer their bonuses during the five-year deferred prosecution agreement? Are you fucking kidding me? That's the punishment? The government's negotiators couldn't hold firm on forcing HSBC officials to completely wait to receive their ill-gotten bonuses? They had to settle on making them "partially" wait? Every honest prosecutor in America has to be puking his guts out at such bargaining tactics. What was the Justice Department's opening offer – asking executives to restrict their Caribbean vacation time to nine weeks a year?

          http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33371.htm [informationclearinghouse.info]
          Original Title: outrageous hsbc settlement proves the drug war is a joke
          Originally published by Rolling Stone, but it doesn't seem available there, at least not with a 30 second effort at searching

  • (Score: 2) by jelizondo on Monday September 22 2014, @03:19AM

    by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 22 2014, @03:19AM (#96568) Journal

    It is a basic principle of modern justice for punishment to be proportional or commensurate to the crime.

    Shop-lifting should carry a higher penalty than parking illegaly; robbery should carry a higher penalty than shop-lifting; homicide should carry a higher penalty and so on.

    Economic damages without violence are usually low on the scale; in many countries you are elegible for early parole, sentence conmmutting and so forth.

    I don't know the particulars of Swedish law but it appears that solitary confinement is a rather harsh penalty, usually reserved for people who might hurt other inmates or prison personnel.(Except in Guantanamo, where it is the rule.)

    Never been to Sweden but from historical references and news, it would appear a quite modern State, so what gives?

    Clue in economic and political pressure on the government to make sure no other sheep stray from the pen; from where comes the pressure? Think stars and bars in the banner.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @11:29AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @11:29AM (#96691)

    prison time should be lazy chair on the beach with sun glasses, hot chicks and a margarita ... NOT!
    though the "harshness" of the sentence should be proportional to the offense committed.
    after all it's PUNISHMENT!
    seems obvious that using a universal copier -aka- computer to make copies is m0er wrong then defrauding
    billions of mortgage houses ...