Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/07/pirate_bay_accepted_right_wing_money/
The Pirate Bay admits links with right-wing benefactor
'We needed the money'
Posted in Music and Media, 7th May 2007 17:47 GMT
A spokesman for the Swedish torrent tracker The Pirate Bay, has admitted (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg1S9n81ras) on Swedish tv that their servers and broadband bandwidth were financed by Carl Lundström, one of the alleged sponsors of Swedish far-right political party Sweden Democrats. "We needed the money," spokesman Tobias Andersson told Bert Karlsson, a former politician and front figure of the New Democracy (Ny Demokrati) party.
Carl Lundström is the CEO and largest shareholder of Rix Telecom, a large provider in Sweden, where at least one member of The Pirate Bay used to work.
Lundström is also believed to be a major financier of Sweden Democrats, a nationalist movement which opposes all forms of racism. However, it was also modeled after other "euronationalist" parties, most notably the French National Front. Several members have criminal records (http://www.psa.ac.uk/2007/pps/Widfeldt.pdf) or extremist connections. "I think he liked file sharing," Tobias Andersson said about Lundström.
Almost a year after a police raid on the Pirate Bay's servers, a Swedish prosecutor last week announced (http://www.thelocal.se/7205/) that he intends to press charges against the individuals behind the file-sharing site for violating copyright. Tobias Andersson says he expected a move of this kind and doesn't believe that it stands a chance in the courts. The Pirate Bay, Andersson argues, merely points to other pages, and doesn't contain copyright protected material.
Just last week the torrent tracker announced a new all-you-can-download music site with members of the Swedish rock band Lamont. ®