Police search for file sharers across Europe

Raids snatch computer equipment for IP addresses

File sharers face clampdown

Police forces across Europe have conducted co-ordinated raids on business and domestic premises to collect evidence against alleged unauthorised file-sharing operations.

The raids were ordered by police in Belgium, acting on behalf of copyright owners who claim their digital goods are being distributed illegally, and include action in the UK, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Norway, Germany and Sweden.

The majority of police activity seems to have been focused in Sweden, including raids on Umeå University and PRQ, an ISP which hosts, among other entities, WikiLeaks, which recently hit the headlines over the disclosure of classified military documents concerning the war in Afghanistan.

Swedish public prosecutor Frederick Ingblad told Swedish news outlet Expressen.se that the raids were to gather IP addresses of alleged file-sharing operations and had nothing to do with WikiLeaks.

“At 9:00 this morning, five policemen were here,” PRQ’s Mikael Viberg told TorrentFreak. “They were interested in who was using two IP addresses from 2009 and onwards. We have no records of our clients but we’re handing over the email addresses for those behind the IPs. However, it’s rare that our clients have mail addresses that are traceable.”

According to Ingblad, all equipment seized in the raids will be turned over to the Belgian authorities for further investigation.

Copyright holders are increasingly using the police and courts to strong-arm ISPs into revealing the IP addresses of individuals suspected of unauthorised file sharing.

Moves to have ISPs permanently disconnect repeat offenders – so-called three-strikes rules – have been largely rejected by law makers and were recently removed from the text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement currently being hammered out among several national governments and the EU.