Battleangel

The first person ever to be convicted of file-sharing in Sweden is finally acquitted. So screen dumps are no longer admissible. Now that may set some interesting precedence, and not just in the field of intellectual property.

Last year the man was the first person in Sweden to be convicted of file-sharing, having been charged with making the Swedish film Hip Hip Hora available for download from the internet.

The Court of Appeal decided that it does not have sufficient proof that the film was uploaded from the man’s computer. The lack of technical evidence has led the court to acquit the defendant of the charge of breach of copyright.

As one Slashdotter put it, it is well overdue that we restore a sense of privacy and quit gutting the judicial system for nothing.

You need evidence to convict someone of filesharing? I thought the big companies just pick a name out of the phone book, and then you’re guilty even if you are dead, don’t own a computer, can’t spell “Limewire” and used to live atop Pike’s Peak.