ExtraTorrent | TPB Founder Allowed to Read in Prison

[Atreides]

Online activists are happy: their petition to improve the prison circumstances of Gottfrid Svartholm has had effect, and Danish authorities allowed the TPB founder to access the books he brought from Sweden. The police explained they were afraid that those books could contain secret messages. Moreover, Gottfrid is allowed to interact with other inmates, lend books from the library, and even have a PlayStation 2.

After an unfortunate appeal in Sweden, the founder of The Pirate Bay was extradited to Denmark a couple months ago, where he is accused of hacking into the IT company CSC. In Denmark, Svartholm was put in solitary confinement, because the police feared that he would try to exchange sensitive data with someone. They even prohibited him to read books for an advanced mathematics course he brought from home.

However, as time passed by, things improved: solitary confinement and the restriction against meeting with other inmates were canceled, but he still couldn’t access his books and other reading content – even newspapers. The police believed that magazines could contain secret messages and the officers therefore had to check and read them before handing them over, but the problem was that they didn’t read English. This is why The Economist never reached Svartholm, nor do any other papers.

Soon a petition was started by the Free Anakata Campaign, asking the Danish authorities to improve Svartholm’s conditions. At the start, there were less than a thousand backers but then their number reached 100,000. As a result, Gottfrid got his books back, and they say it was thanks to the overwhelming support for the petition. Aside from his own books, he is also allowed to lend books and other reading content from the prison’s library. Moreover, the TPB founder can leave his cell for a few hours each week and have a games console. Gottfrid has bought PlayStation 2 from the prison service. At the moment he is still waiting for his order of a memory card to be able to save games and a second-hand controller to play with fellow inmates.

Svartholm’s mother, Kristina, makes the 1,320 kilometer round-trip to Denmark every week to see her son for just one hour. She is very happy with the positive developments, and thanks everyone for the public support.