Anti-piracy law cuts Internet traffic in Sweden
The newly adopted anti-piracy law has significantly cut down Internet use in Sweden. A legislation, which is based on the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED), has resulted in a 30% drop in day-to-day traffic. In the two days that the law -- which was designed to give copyright holders and authorities more possibilities to act against illegal file-sharing -- has been in use it seems to have scared off a lot of people.
Both the Swedish anti-piracy office and the Swedish Pirate Party agree that the drop was caused by the law. However, they do disagree whether that's the way the law should affect.
"This is what disturbs me the most — that the industry thrives on scaring the common citizen," told Swedish Pirate Party Chairman Rick Falkvinge to TorrentFreak.
Henrik Pontén from Swedish anti-piracy office said to Svenska Dagbladet that the drop is a good indication that the legislation is a success, "most of the Internet traffic is file-sharing and therefore the is no other reason for the drop than the new IPRED law."
