Swedish site offering insurance to content pirates

Here's an innovative business plan for you: start up an insurance company whose sole purpose is to cover your customers' fines should they get busted for illegal file sharing, thereby creating a clientele that by default is composed completely of criminals. Well believe it or not, a Swedish "entrepreneur" has begun to offer this very service to his fellow citizens -- for only $19 per year,  Magnus Braath's company Tankafritt promises to pay any penalties incurred from crackdowns on your rampant piracy, and he'll even throw in a free T-shirt to help you glorify your outlaw status. (Yes, you guessed it, the shirt actually does read "I got convicted for file-sharing and all I got was this lousy T-shirt"). Braath claims that he started the business as a statement against recent changes in Swedish law that had the nerve to criminalize illegal downloading, and that low conviction rates and relatively minor fines will allow him to keep the venture financially solvent. Hey Magnus, if you're looking to expand your operation, we hear that Spain's just passed some legislation that will probably create quite the demand for your unique little service -- who knows, with some hard work and a bit of luck, you could end up becoming the Geico of software and content piracy.

[Via Techdirt and Slashdot]

[BJP @ Jul 3rd 2006 2:32PM]

I am no expert in Swedish law, but in the U.S. (and I would imagine in Sweden too) as a matter of public policy you can't insure someone against civil penalties resulting from intentional criminal behavior.

This looks like a scam. But man could you imagine the possibilities if it weren't.... tax evasion insurance, speeders insurance, the list goes on and on...

[Ollekebab @ Jul 3rd 2006 2:45PM]

I live in sweden and this is how the site works:

1. You pay a monthly fee to them.
2. Noone has yet went to prison for filesharing in sweden so if you'd get sentenced you would have to pay a certain fee. And instead of you having to pay this fee they pay it for you.

So this isn't actually a insurance and it isn't the first of it's kind here in sweden either. We already have one for those who ride buses, subways, trains without paying.

[sebastian @ Jul 3rd 2006 2:50PM]

there are already an "insurancecompany" here in sweden wich functions in the same way for people who rides without paying on public transportation in stockholm, gothenburg and malmö. you pay a monthly fee and should you get caught, you get your fine payed. (www.planka.nu)

[Paul @ Jul 3rd 2006 2:59PM]

let me get this straight. You are paying an insurance company to make it so you dont have to pay for illegal downloads? And its $19 a month? I will admit that I have er... .aquired some software that totals to much more than $19 a month, but it seems to me that the people they are targeting are the people that dont want to pay anything... I do not forsee many people signing up for their survice, but they again, its almost like a get out of jail free card, the only problem is you will still have the conviction on your record, but I dont know exactly how these things work in sweden.

[wille @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:06PM]

#3 and #4, not paying for the bus or subway is not a criminal offense in sweden afaik. Filesharing copyrighted material is. I too live in Sweden.

#5 $19 a year it is. :)

[Eli @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:06PM]

Paul, that's $19/year.

And my god, if this was available in the US I'd be on it in a heartbeat. That's cheap insurance against the mob of people who are criminally abusing the legal system - aka the RIAA.

[CJ @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:11PM]

@Paul, but as our Swedish Engadget readers (above) already said, you don't go to jail for filesharing in Sweden, you simply pay a fine. Apparently, they say, they already have a similar system for turnstile hoppers (who also apparently don't go to jail).

So the takeaway from this story is: If you want to illegally share files (or hop turnstiles), do it in Sweden.

[Rich @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:48PM]

good business model: have citizens PAY YOU to tell you they download illegally and then SELL that info to RIAA.

[Rich @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:49PM]

good business model: have citizens PAY YOU to tell you they download illegally and then SELL that info to RIAA.

[jorellh @ Jul 4th 2006 12:11AM]

Isn't this the same as Prepaid Legal services in the US?

[Playah 1 @ Jul 4th 2006 12:29AM]

Awesome. That's actually a really good idea.

[Daniel Rutter @ Jul 4th 2006 4:10AM]

1: Breach of copyright is not, in sane countries, a criminal act; it's a civil wrong.

2: It's normal for doctors to have malpractice insurance. Does that mean they're all quacks?

[Slusnik @ Jul 4th 2006 5:54AM]

This is a bad solution, because it actually encourages people to break the law, which is simply not right. How the hell are we going to build a perfect society if there are people who say that doing bad is ok because it can be easily fixed?

The right approach is to use data encryption to store the files. At least it doesn't openly tell you that the encrypted files can be illegal. Besides, if you use some flavor of encryption software, you can use it for other purposes, like protecting your intellectual property (note: presence of intellect is required), protecting your privacy, old love-letters, and so on.

I don't know whether this news is bogus or not, but if I were a politician in Sweden, I would do my best to outlaw the company that provides this service.

And finally, one has to be careful when choosing the encryption application. The one I recommend is Private Disk, it is known not to have any backdoors; here you can find more details:
http://www.dekart.com/products/encryption/private_disk/

[Cybro @ Jul 4th 2006 8:35AM]

As a matter of fact BJP we have quite a few companies here in Sweden that offers speeding insurances and parking ticket insurances. How honest these companies are is another question.

[hans @ Jul 4th 2006 5:56PM]

I think Rich is onto a good point. Even if Tankafritt does not intend to sell the info to RIAA it owns a centralized database of consumers with financial transaction information. This makes is a potentially via ble target for RIAA to either sue for info access or to pay crackers/hackers to get he info for them. Once the RIAA has the info it can make Tankafritt's suffer losses sufficient to shut it down. Capitalism does not favor martyrs last time I checked.

[Kibiyama @ Jul 5th 2006 5:39AM]

Slusnik:

I dislike people like you. Why would you submit yourself to the system? You are supposed to control the law, not the other way around. That's what democracy is about. There are people -- lots of people -- in Sweden and America that are against Intellectual Property law. In Sweden there is a political movement specifically united against just that.

I love Sweden. You bring me Machinae Supremacy, Pirate Parties, and Piracy Insurance. Oh, and The Pirate Bay.

First Napster, then Suprnova, now TPB. Bastards are fighting a losing fight, but they are sure are going down swingin.