In a nutshell: Courts in Denmark have convicted two unnamed men in an ongoing crackdown on digital piracy. One received a nine-month prison sentence for uploading massive amounts of pirated content to Danish torrent trackers. The court sentenced the other to a year for his involvement in the notorious piracy group ‘The Scene.’

The first conviction involved a “46-year-old man,” who shared 74 terabytes of copyrighted movies and TV shows through torrent sites SuperBits and DanishBytes. Torrent Freak reports that a Hillerød court sentenced him to nine months in prison, with at least three months served before parole eligibility. The judge also ordered the man to complete 120 hours of community service. His specific role within the torrent sites is unclear, but authorities said his contribution to piracy was “substantial.”

In a separate case, a Nykøbing Falstercourt court sentenced a 48-year-old man to prison for 12 months, with a mandatory minimum of four. The court found him guilty of hosting two servers and illegally distributing content within The Scene, a highly secretive piracy network. His hardware contained 134 terabytes of copyrighted material. According to investigators, the man mainly ripped and distributed a Danish children’s series from streaming platforms. Police arrested him in November 2023, sparking a broader sweep of The Scene, which led to the demise of several other Danish piracy groups.

These two convictions differ from how Denmark normally sentences online piracy. Previously, many convicted bootleggers received conditional punishments, allowing them to avoid jail time if they stayed out of trouble. However, this time, the courts viewed the offenses more severely, leading to Denmark’s first unconditional prison sentences for piracy without a profit motive.

“This is the first time that the courts have imposed unconditional prison sentences on file sharers who have no criminal record and have not benefited financially,” said Danish Special Crimes Unit (NSK) Prosecutor Jan Østergaard.

The anti-piracy group Rights Alliance, which helped authorities shut down Danish torrent trackers like SuperBits and DanishBytes, applauded the rulings.

“Let the verdicts be a wake-up call to the users and perpetrators who persist: Violations of rights can be discovered – and taken seriously when they [are],” Rights Alliance Director Maria Fredenslund said.

Denmark’s intensified crackdown on piracy over the last five years has led to the closure of several private torrent trackers and the conviction of more than two dozen pirates associated with these sites. Torrent Freak notes that additional cases are still pending, and Danish authorities have indicated that their efforts to combat digital piracy are far from over.

Image credit: Nick Youngson