Latest news with #CarlLundstrom
New York Times
14-03-2025
- New York Times
Carl Lundstrom, Who Backed the File-Sharing Site Pirate Bay, Dies in Plane Crash
Carl Lundstrom, the heir to a Swedish crisp bread fortune who financed the Pirate Bay, a notorious file-sharing service that was popular in the mid-2000s, was killed on Monday in a small plane crash in Slovenia, according to Alternative for Sweden, the far-right party that he supported. Mr. Lundstrom, 64, was the pilot and sole occupant of the plane, a Mooney M20, which had taken off from Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and was en route to Zurich, the party said in a statement. Air traffic controllers reported that they had lost contact with the plane in the mountainous Velika Planina area of northern Slovenia, according to the Slovenian police. Extremely bad weather made it impossible for rescuers to use helicopters, forcing them to take a gondola and then hike on foot to reach the remote crash site, the police said. They discovered pieces of the plane lodged in a wooden hut, which was practically cut in half, the police said. A body was later found amid the rubble, said the police, who added that the cause of the crash had not been determined. Mr. Lundstrom was a grandson of the founder of the Swedish crisp bread brand Wasabröd, and an heir to the company fortune, according to Swedish media reports. He was a financier of the Pirate Bay, which was founded in Sweden in 2003 and became one of the largest so-called Bit Torrent trackers, which allow users to download large digital files by enlisting the help of other computers. The Pirate Bay, which provided links to thousands of songs, movies and video games, was once estimated to have more than 20 million users. Industry groups like the Motion Picture Association accused the site of making a mockery of copyright laws, and Swedish prosecutors took action. In 2008, they charged Mr. Lundstrom and the site's three founders with having facilitated copyright infringement by helping users download music, movies and other copyrighted material. The Pirate Bay trial unfolded amid a carnival-like atmosphere in Stockholm, with bands playing outside the courtroom and bloggers documenting every step of the proceedings. Mr. Lundstrom and his co-defendants, Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and Peter Sunde, maintained that they were not violating copyright law because they did not actually host any of the copyrighted material on their own servers. During the trial, a prosecutor tried to tie Mr. Lundstrom to the Pirate Bay as a 'co-owner,' but he testified that he had only sold hosting and internet services to the site's operators, Wired magazine reported in 2009. Mr. Lundstrom acknowledged giving the Pirate Bay's operators moral support and sympathy, Wired reported, but said he had not become their business partner, finding the prospect legally risky. A Swedish court convicted Mr. Lundstrom and his co-defendants in 2009 and sentenced them each to a year in prison. They were also ordered to pay 30 million kronor, or about $3.6 million at the time, in damages to leading entertainment companies, including Warner Brothers, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI and Columbia Pictures. An appeals court later upheld the convictions of Mr. Lundstrom, Mr. Neij and Mr. Sunde, but reduced their sentences to between four and 10 months and raised the amount they had to pay in damages to 46 million kronor, or about $6.5 million at the time. Mr. Warg did not participate in the appeal, citing an illness. The verdict was a major victory for the entertainment industry in its campaign to curb online piracy on sites like Napster, which became hugely popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. 'We are not triumphant,' John Kennedy, the chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, said after Mr. Lundstrom and his co-defendants were convicted. 'But we are satisfied that the court has clearly said that what they were doing was wrong.' In addition to his role in the Pirate Bay, Mr. Lundstrom was a longtime supporter of right-wing causes in Sweden. He helped back a movement against allowing refugees to settle in Sjöbo, a town on the southern tip of Sweden, in the late 1980s, Alternative for Sweden said in its statement. When Alternative for Sweden, an anti-immigrant party, was formed in 2018, Mr. Lundstrom became involved as a district manager and then as an unsuccessful candidate for office, the party said. It called him 'a legend and veteran of Swedish nationalism.' But Mr. Lundstrom was better known for his role in the Pirate Bay, said Mikael Sundstrom, a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Lund University in Sweden. 'Lundstrom's overt political life was spent in far-right circles, but with limited impact,' he said in an email.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pirate Bay co-founder and far-right politician found dead after plane crash
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The co-founder and financial backer of file-sharing website The Pirate Bay, Carl Lundstrom, has died after a plane he was flying crashed in Northern Slovenia. Lundstrom was flying solo. The 64 year-old Lundstrom was, to put it mildly, a controversial figure with far-right political leanings and some extremely questionable associations. The Register once called him The Pirate Bay's "neo-Nazi sugar daddy" due to his links to various far-right and outright fascist groups. Lundstrom also had a sideline in Holocaust denial, claiming Nazi Germany did not set out to systematically murder concentration camp prisoners. The news was first announced by the Alternative for Sweden party, for which Lundstrom was a candidate in the 2021 elections. "Lundstrom, a legend and veteran of Swedish nationalism, died in a plane crash on Monday," reads the party's statement (thanks, Metro). "He was taking off in his Mooney M-20 from Zagreb en route to Zurich... but crashed in Slovenia." The news was confirmed by journalist Christian Peterson, who called Lundstrom his "friend" and "one of [the] Swedish opposition's most significant and fearless veterans." Reports say the plane split in two after crashing into a wooden cabin on the Velika Planina mountain in northern Slovenia on Monday. Rescue teams were not able to reach the scene until Tuesday due to bad weather. While Lundstrom's status as a co-founder of The Pirate Bay is questioned by some (see the reaction on Hacker News), it is undeniable that his considerable resources (Lundstrom was an heir to the billion-dollar Wasabröd crisp bread empire) and company Rix Telecom were integral to the site's early days. Lundstrom was one of those charged in a Swedish copyright trial and part of the so-called "Pirate Bay Four." He was found guilty, sentenced to prison and fined in 2009, though his custodial sentence was reduced to four months on appeal.
Russia Today
13-03-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
Pirate Bay co-founder dies
The co-founder and financial backer of file-sharing website The Pirate Bay, Carl Lundstrom, died when the plane he was piloting crashed in the mountains of Slovenia, a nationalist Swedish political party with which the entrepreneur was linked announced on Wednesday. Slovenian police later confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday that a body found at the crash site is 'likely of the pilot, a Swedish citizen,' but declined to identify the remains pending forensic research. The Alternative for Sweden party said in a post on Facebook that the fatal accident, which claimed the life of 'a legend and veteran of Swedish nationalism' occurred on Monday. The party cited a close friend of Lundstrom, who said that the 64-year old businessman, who had taken off in his Mooney M-20 aircraft from the Croatian capital of Zagreb, had been heading to Zurich, Switzerland. The plane crashed into a wooden cabin in the Velika Planina area of northern Slovenia, splitting the structure in two, AFP reported, adding that bad weather conditions had prevented rescuers from recovering the body before Tuesday. Lundstrom, the grandson of the founder of the world's largest crisp bread producer Wasabrod, was one of the early financial backers of The Pirate Bay. The site was launched in 2003 to allow web users to avoid paying copyright fees while sharing music, movies and other files. Telecommunications operator Rix Telecom, owned by the entrepreneur, provided services and equipment to the service until 2005. Lundstrom and three other defendants were charged with 'accessory to breaching copyright law' in 2009 and sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay 30 million Swedish krona ($3 million) in damages to several major media companies. As a result of an appeal claim, the fine was increased and the sentence was reduced to four months, which he served. Involved in politics, the businessman funded the Swedish Progress Party in 1991 before it later merged with the Sweden Democrats. According to Alternative for Sweden, Lundstrom joined the party in 2018, serving as a district manager and later running in the 2021 Church Assembly election, which he lost.
