PRQ, the Internet service provider that hosts some of WikiLeaks’ files, was reportedly raided by Swedish police today as part of a sweeping raid against file-sharing sites across Europe. TorrentFreak reports that police raids hit “The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Germany, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Hungary and Sweden.” Swedish prosecutor Frederick Ingblad has confirmed, however, that “[this operation] is not about Wikileaks.” [TorrentFreak’s translation.]
Four Swedes were detained in the police raids; however, according to ThinQ, the police who visited PRQ merely “raised some questions about two IP numbers” and left without seizing servers or detaining anyone, although computers and servers were indeed seized elsewhere in Sweden.
Swedish news site The Local reports on “The Scene,” the international filesharing network that the pan-European raids are targeting:
The investigation has been ongoing for over two years and concerns suspicions regarding the illegal filesharing of films within a network which goes by the name of “The Scene”.
“The Scene” is an international network constructed in several layers.
At the top of the group are those who compete to obtain copyrighted material and publish it on the internet. The group has a leader and everyone knows each other through internet aliases. The one who shares the film is known as the supplier, who receives remuneration in cash or in “credz” – points in an internal hit list.
In the next layer of the network is found the “topsites”. These are data severs, often at IT firms, where the material is held and spread through other networks. The Swedish part of the investigation is focused on these “topsites”.
(The Local, TorrentFreak via Reddit)
Published: Sep 7, 2010 08:45 am