Hans Fredrik Lennart Neij (born 27 April 1978), alias TiAMO,
is the co-founder of
The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay (sometimes abbreviated as TPB) is an online index of digital content of entertainment media and software. Founded in 2003 by Swedish think tank Piratbyrån, The Pirate Bay allows visitors to search, download, and contribute ma ...
, and the
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...
and
web hosting
A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing we ...
company
PRQ. Neij was one of the defendants in
The Pirate Bay Trial which began on 16 February 2009. He and other operators of The Pirate Bay were charged with assisting users in
copyright infringing practices. His time during the aforementioned trial has been captured in the documentary film
TPB AFK by
.
Legal issues
On 17 April 2009, Neij was found guilty. He was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay damages of $905,000.
In November 2014, Neij was arrested in
Nong Khai
Nong Khai ( th, เทศบาลเมืองหนองคาย, ) is a city in northeast Thailand. It is the capital of Nong Khai province. Nong Khai city is located in Mueang Nong Khai district.
Nong Khai lies on the Mekong River, near ...
on an
Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
warrant while attempting to cross the border from
Laos to
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
.
Thai authorities stated that a US-based film association had a Thai lawyer search for Neij and aid in his capture. During his three years in Laos, he had reportedly crossed the border almost 30 times into Thailand, where he had a home on the resort island of
Phuket
Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands of ...
.
, a Pirate Bay-affiliated
file hosting
A file-hosting service, cloud-storage service, online file-storage provider, or cyberlocker is an internet hosting service specifically designed to host user files. It allows users to upload files that could be accessed over the internet afte ...
website registered under Neij's name, was abruptly shut down after the arrest.
Neij served two-thirds (200 days) of a 10-month sentence in
Skänninge Prison in central
Sweden.
He was released on 1 June 2015 and is planning to settle in Laos and work in
IT.
References
External links
1978 births
The Pirate Bay
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
Intellectual property activism
Copyright activists
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