Swedish Police Crack Down on File Sharing Site

Swedish authorities have taken action to sink Pirate Bay, one of the world's most popular file-sharing site, by leveling charges of copyright infringement against four of its administrators, DailyTech reports. Prosecutors allege the site, which boasts almost 15 million users, exploits copyrighted material like music and movies by collecting some $3 million in annual ad revenues for access to the media without paying any fees. Despite the charges, Pirate Bay remains defiant and is continuing to offer access to the material.

“In case we lose the pending trial (yeah right) there will still not be any changes," boasted the web site. "Pirate Bay will keep operating just as always.” The crackdown is part of a increasingly vigorous global movement by authorities to stop copyrighted material from being provided on the internet for free. One blogger suggested the BitTorrent supersite was targeted because of its impish attitude toward authority. If convicted, the site's owners could each face up to two years in prison. (More The Pirate Bay stories.)