{{Short description|Swedish computer specialist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox person | birth_name = Per Gottfrid Svartholm Warg | name = Gottfrid Svartholm | image = Gottfrid portrait.jpg | caption = Svartholm in 2009 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1984|10|17|df=y}} | birth_place = Stockholm, Sweden | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | death_place = | body_discovered = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | citizenship = | other_names = anakata | known_for = Co-founding The Pirate Bay | education = | alma_mater = | employer = | occupation = Computer specialist | years_active = | height = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | political_party = Classical Liberal<ref>{{cite web | author1=Johan Arvidsson | title=Peter Sunde vill förändra miljöpartiet | url=http://nyheter24.se/nyheter/inrikes/148356-peter-sunde-vill-forandra-miljopartiet | publisher=Nyheter24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310001655/http://nyheter24.se/nyheter/inrikes/148356-peter-sunde-vill-forandra-miljopartiet | archive-date=10 March 2009 | language=sv | date=4 March 2009 | url-status=dead }}</ref> | opponents = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | callsign = | awards = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Per Gottfrid Svartholm Warg''' (born 17 October 1984), alias '''anakata''', is a Swedish computer specialist, known as the former co-owner of the web hosting company PRQ and co-founder of the BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay together with Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde.
Parts of an interview with Svartholm commenting on the May 2006 police raid of The Pirate Bay are featured in ''Good Copy Bad Copy'' and ''Steal This Film''. He is a main focus of the documentary ''TPB AFK''.
In May 2013, WikiLeaks said Svartholm had worked with the organization for the 2010 release of ''Collateral Murder'', the helicopter cockpit gunsight video of a July 2007 airstrike by U.S. forces in Baghdad.<ref name="WikiLeaks">{{cite web|url= https://wikileaks.org/gottfrid-docs/|title=Prosecution and prison documents for Pirate-Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (alias Anakata)|publisher=WikiLeaks.org|date=19 May 2013|access-date=16 December 2013}}</ref> According to WikiLeaks, Svartholm served as technical consultant and managed infrastructure critical to the organization.<ref>WikiLeaks (press release), (29 November 2013). [https://wikileaks.org/WikiLeaks-consultant-Gottfrid.html ''"WikiLeaks consultant Gottfrid Svartholm Warg extraditet from Sweden after alleged access to NSA contractor CSC"'']. WikiLeaks.org. Retrieved 1 January 2016.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=12 December 2013 |title=Pirate Bay cofounder reportedly held in solitary confinement |url=https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/gottfrid-svartholm-warg-pirate-bay-solitary-confinement/ |access-date=14 March 2022 |website=The Daily Dot |language=en-US}}</ref> He was also listed as part of the "decryption and transmission team" and credited for "networking."<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Pirate Bay Founder Helped Wikileaks On Several Fronts * TorrentFreak |url=https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-helped-wikileaks-on-several-fronts-130205/ |access-date=22 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Svartholm was one of several Pirate Bay associates who did work for other Wikileaks endeavors.<ref name=":3" /> One of Svartholm's companies had previously hosted WikiLeaks' computers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Protalinski |first=Emil |date=11 September 2012 |title=The Pirate Bay Co-Founder Gottfrid Svartholm Held for Hacking |url=https://thenextweb.com/news/the-pirate-bay-co-founder-arrives-sweden-may-extradited-hacking-wikileaks-link |access-date=14 March 2022 |website=TNW {{!}} Insider |language=en}}</ref>
On 27 November 2013, he was extradited to Denmark, where he was charged with infiltrating the Danish social security database, driver's licence database, and the shared IT system used in the Schengen zone. Awaiting his court trial, he was being held in solitary confinement.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} A court trial ended on 31 October 2014, and he was found guilty by the jury and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. The sentence was appealed immediately, but the judges, fearing that he might try to evade his sentence, ordered that he be held in confinement until the appeal court trial date.<ref>{{Cite news | title = Dom i hackersag: Tre et halvt års fængsel til svenske Warg – danske JT får sin pc med hjem | publisher = Version2 | date = 31 October 2014 | url = http://www.version2.dk/artikel/tre-et-halvt-aars-faengsel-til-hackerdoemt-svensker-anker-paa-stedet-70386 | language = da}}</ref> After spending three years in different prisons in both Sweden and Denmark, he was released on 29 September 2015.
==''Americas Dumbest Soldiers'' and meeting Fredrik Neij== {{anchor|Americas Dumbest Soldiers}} Svartholm started the website ''Americas Dumbest Soldiers'' which listed deceased US soldiers in the Iraq War and asked users of the site to rate how "dumb" the soldiers were based on how they died. Fredrik Neij provided Svartholm's website access to the internet via British Telecom. According to Neij, someone at the US State Department contacted the head of British Telecom, who in turn contacted the head of the Swedish provider which Neij worked for, who then asked Svartholm and Neij to remove the site. Invoking freedom of speech and parody laws, Svartholm and Neij questioned the request but eventually removed the site.<ref name="YT tbp afk">"{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTOKXCEwo_8#t=13m12s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/eTOKXCEwo_8 |archive-date=21 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard|via=YouTube|publisher=TPB AFK|date=8 February 2013|access-date=13 February 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
==The Pirate Bay== Svartholm co-founded The Pirate Bay in 2003 with Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde. At the time, it was part of the Swedish anti-copyright group and think tank Piratbyrån and became a platform for sharing audio, video, software and electronic games.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Issues in Cyberspace: From Privacy to Piracy|last=Curley|first=Robert|publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing|year=2011|isbn=9781615307388|location=New York|pages=87}}</ref> According to Svartholm, Piratbyrån was mainly involved with political operations such as rallies, petitions and lobbying for changes to copyright law, while The Pirate Bay's stated goal is to "help people freely exchange information".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Conflicts in the Knowledge Society: The Contentious Politics of Intellectual Property|last=Haunss|first=Sebastian|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107036420|location=Cambridge|pages=188}}</ref>
Svartholm also created the BitTorrent tracker software Hypercube (which is open source software under no specific license)<ref name="TPB hypercube">{{cite web|url=https://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3903397/hypercube_tracker_by_anakata|title=Hypercube Tracker by Anakata|publisher=ThePirateBay.org}}</ref> which was used to run The Pirate Bay website.
===Legal issues=== {{see also|The Pirate Bay Trial}} thumb|Court video of Svartholm recount how he started The Pirate Bay. The Swedish police first raided The Pirate Bay on 31 May 2006 on suspicion that it operated as a business infringing on copyrights.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Information Technology Law: The Law and Society|last=Murray|first=Andrew|date=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199661510|location=Oxford|pages=277}}</ref> The police confiscated servers and questioned its administrators including Svartholm.<ref name=":2" /> On 31 January 2008, The Pirate Bay operators – Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Svartholm and Carl Lundström (CEO of The Pirate Bay's former Internet service provider) – were charged with "promoting other people's infringements of copyright laws".<ref name="wired cr infringement">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/01/pirate-bay-futu/|title=Pirate Bay Future Uncertain After Operators Busted|magazine=Wired|date=31 January 2008|access-date=30 May 2015}}</ref> The trial began on 16 February 2009. Svartholm, along with Neij and Lundström, defended Piratebay by arguing that they did not profit from piracy since users were not charged for its services and merely relied on website advertising as their source of revenue.<ref name=":1" /> On 17 April 2009, Sunde and his co-defendants were found to be guilty of "assisting in making copyright content available" in the Stockholm District Court. Each defendant was sentenced to one year in prison and they were ordered to pay damages of 30 million SEK (approximately €3,390,317 or US$4,222,980), to be apportioned among the four defendants.<ref name="tf tpb verdict">{{cite web|url=https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-trial-the-verdict-090417|title=The Pirate Bay Trial: Official Verdict – Guilty|publisher=TorrentFreak|date=17 April 2009|access-date=21 February 2013}}</ref> The defendants' lawyers have appealed to the Svea Court of Appeal together with a request for a retrial in the district court because of a recent suspicion of bias by judge Tomas Norström.<ref name="local retrial">{{cite web|url=http://www.thelocal.se/19028/20090423|title=Pirate Bay lawyer calls for retrial|website=The Local (Sweden)|date=23 April 2009|access-date=21 February 2013}}</ref> Under Swedish law, the verdict is not lawful until all appeals have been processed.<ref name="csmonitor convicted">{{cite news|url=http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/04/17/pirate-bay-founders-convicted-by-swedish-court|title='Pirate Bay' founders convicted by Swedish court|work=The Christian Science Monitor|last=Sullivan|first=Tom|date=17 April 2009|access-date=21 February 2013}}</ref>
In April 2009, Svartholm was the subject of an investigation by Swedish prosecutors looking into his role in The Student Bay, a file sharing site specializing in academic texts. Svartholm claimed he had no knowledge of the site. The site was reported by the Swedish Association for Educational Writers in December 2008 claiming it violated copyright law.<ref name="thelocal new probe">{{cite web|url=http://www.thelocal.se/18974/20090420|title=Pirate Bay operator faces new probe|publisher=The Local (Sweden)|date=20 April 2009|access-date=3 February 2012}}</ref>
In October 2009, Stockholm District Court ordered that Svartholm be banned from operating The Pirate Bay, despite the fact that he was not living in Sweden and that The Pirate Bay was no longer located in the country.<ref name="tf tpb banning">{{cite web|url=https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founders-banned-from-running-the-site-091029|title=Pirate Bay Founders Banned From Running The Site|publisher=TorrentFreak|date=29 October 2009|access-date=3 February 2012}}</ref>
==Arrest in Cambodia== On 30 August 2012, at the request of Swedish authorities, Svartholm was arrested by Cambodian police in the capital Phnom Penh,<ref name="BBC Cambodia">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19457334|title=Pirate Bay co-founder Warg arrested in Cambodia|work=BBC News|date=2 September 2012|access-date=21 February 2013}}</ref> where he had been living for several years.<ref name="tf cambodia arrest">{{cite news|title=Pirate Bay Founder Arrested in Cambodia|url=https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-arrested-in-cambodia-120901|publisher=TorrentFreak|date=1 September 2012|access-date=1 September 2012}}</ref> Cambodia has no extradition treaty with Sweden, but Cambodian police spokesman Kirth Chantharith told the AFP news agency "we'll look into our laws and see how we can handle this case". Subsequently, Cambodian police were reportedly stating that the Swedish government had requested that Svartholm be deported in connection with "a crime related to information technology".<ref name="tf deported">{{cite news|url=https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-will-be-deported-cambodian-authorities-confirm-120804|title=Pirate Bay Founder will be deported Cambodian authorities confirm|date=4 August 2012|access-date=21 February 2013}}</ref>
Torrentfreak speculated<ref>{{cite web|url=https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-arrest-followed-by-59m-swedish-aid-package-for-cambodia-120905/ |title=Pirate Bay Founder Arrest Followed By $59m Swedish Aid Package For Cambodia |publisher=TorrentFreak |date=24 September 2012 |access-date=18 June 2013}}</ref> that Svartholm's arrest may have been connected to a 400 million kronor (at the time, approximately US$59M) two-year "democratic development, human rights, education and climate change" grant from the Swedish government to the Cambodian government. The grant was announced on 5 September 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/05/c_131829212.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120908042213/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/05/c_131829212.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 September 2012 |title=Sweden grants 59.4 mln USD aid to Cambodia for social development – Xinhua | English.news.cn |agency=Xinhua News Agency |date=5 September 2012 |access-date=18 June 2013}}</ref>
Svartholm was eventually deported back to Sweden.<ref name="pic TBP">{{cite web|url=http://i49.tinypic.com/4dvnt.jpg|publisher=grez868|title=Snapshot of TPB|date=24 December 2012|access-date=24 December 2012|archive-date=8 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308090801/http://i49.tinypic.com/4dvnt.jpg%20%3C%21--%20not%20RS--%3E|url-status=dead}}</ref> He has also been investigated for two alleged instances of hacking, including breaking into the Swedish tax office between 2010 and April 2012, and is also suspected of serious fraud.<ref name="idg charging">{{cite web|title=Svartholm Warg to be charged within a month|url=http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.488999/svartholm-warg-atalas-inom-en-manad|date=28 January 2013|access-date=1 February 2013|archive-date=7 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140707134443/http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.488999/svartholm-warg-atalas-inom-en-manad|url-status=dead}}</ref> The latter of which he was convicted of and charged with, given a 2-year prison sentence which was served in the prison located in Mariefred.<ref name="Swedish Television">{{cite news|title=Svartholm Warg receives 2 year prison sentence|newspaper=SVT Nyheter |url=https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/dom-mot-swartholm-warg|date=25 September 2013|access-date=9 January 2023|last1=Löfgren |first1=Nina |last2=Bie |first2=Nanok }}</ref><ref name="Swedish Radio">{{cite news|title=Svartholm Warg döms till två års fängelse|newspaper=Sveriges Radio |url=https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/5570663|date=20 June 2013|access-date=9 January 2023}}</ref>
In June 2013 Svartholm was named as a suspect in a Danish case, where millions of personal identification numbers were stolen from a police database. Danish police asked that Svartholm be extradited from Sweden, so that he can be tried in Denmark.<ref>{{cite web|author=Karina Svensgaard (bt-ksv) |url=http://www.bt.dk/krimi/saa-mange-data-stjal-hackere-derfor-faar-du-ikke-noget-at-vide |title=Så mange data stjal hackere: Derfor får du ikke noget at vide – Krimi |date=7 June 2013 |publisher=bt.dk |access-date=18 June 2013|language=da}}</ref> Svartholm was extradited to Denmark, to undergo a similar trial as the one in Sweden, the timing of which is dependent on the outcome in Sweden.<ref name="torrentfreak">{{cite web |url=https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-will-be-extradited-to-denmark-130618/ |title=Pirate Bay Founder Will be Extradited to Denmark |author=Ernesto |date=18 June 2013 |website=TorrentFreak}}</ref> On 20 June 2013, Svartholm was found guilty of hacking and sentenced to two years in prison.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-guilty-of-hacking-sentenced-to-two-years-in-prison-130620/|title=Pirate Bay Founder Guilty of Hacking, Sentenced to Two Years in Prison * TorrentFreak|website=torrentfreak.com}}</ref> This two-year prison sentence was eventually reduced to one year by appeal.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29832318|title = Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Warg gets lengthy jail term|date = 30 October 2014|access-date = 31 October 2014|website = BBC News}}</ref> According to his mother, he expressed a desire 'to get back to his developmental work within IT' upon his release.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/29/last-pirate-bay-co-founder-released-prison-gottfrid-svartholm/|title=Last Pirate Bay co-founder released from prison|newspaper=The Guardian|date=29 September 2015|access-date=20 April 2016}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category-inline|Gottfrid Svartholm}}
{{WikiLeaks|state=collapsed}} {{The Pirate Bay}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svartholm, Gottfrid}} Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:The Pirate Bay Category:Copyright activists Category:Swedish activists Category:Web developers Category:Swedish computer programmers Category:Swedish computer specialists Category:Swedish people imprisoned abroad Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:People extradited from Cambodia Category:Prisoners and detainees of Sweden Category:People extradited to Sweden Category:People extradited from Sweden Category:People extradited to Denmark Category:People convicted of cybercrime Category:Hackers Category:21st-century Swedish criminals Category:Scientists from Stockholm