Filesharers hit back as Swedish police probe web attacks
Swedish filesharers' group condemned Sweden's "repressive" Internet laws as police searched for hackers who allegedly disabled government and police websites over the weekend.
The cyber-attack is believed to have have been retaliation for the government's move to close a website called The Pirate Bay, which allows users to share copyrighted files such as movies and music.
Swedish Justice Minister Thomas Bodstroem has emerged as a possible target after hackers redirected web users to a picture on the Swedish government website showing Bodstroem, who has been criticised by filesharers.
"He has introduced a lot of repressive legislation, which makes him an obvious target," Tobias Andersson, spokesman for The Pirate Agency which represents filesharers, told AFP while also condemning the hackers.
Sweden last year passed a law banning the sharing of copyrighted material on the Internet without payment of royalties, in a bid to crack down on free downloading of music, films and computer games. Violators can face a two-year prison sentence.
Media in the Scandinavian country also have suggested Swedish police acted at the behest of US authorities and Hollywood studios in their move to close Pirate Bay. Bodstroem has vehemently denied the allegations.
Sweden's intelligence service Saepo was heading the search for the hackers, which has led to 50 police officers conducting raids in several cities and seizing some 200 servers. Three people were arrested, but later released.
A 17-year-old told a Swedish newspaper over the weekend that he launched Friday's strike on a police website as revenge for authorities closing The Pirate Bay, but this has not been confirmed.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060605...internetpiracy