Finnish Police Confiscate Nine-Year-Olds Winnie The Pooh Laptop For Alleged File Sharing

I know I'm not the only one that thinks record companies and other groups have gone entirely too far in trying to protect copyrights for music and other files illegally traded on the Internet. It seems that sometimes copyright holders and authorities simply go too far for minor infractions. This is exactly what happened this week when Finnish police raided the home of a nine-year-old girl and confiscated her Winnie the Pooh laptop computer.

As the story goes, the little girl's father received a letter from CIAPC stating that his Internet account had been linked to illegal file sharing and demanding a payment of €600 to stop legal action. The man refused to pay the money and some days later a knock on the door saw police with a search warrant rifling through his home.

As it turns out the man's nine-year-old daughter had previously downloaded music from an artist called Chisu via The Pirate Bay. The girl's father said that the downloads didn't work so they went and purchased music the next day. The man also says that the police hinted that he should just pay the fine and get on with his life.

The father argues that you can't expect young children to understand what they're doing online. Anyone with children knows they don't make the best decisions frequently. The man says he felt like the "people from the Mafia were demanding money." Surprisingly, Chisu, the artist whose music the little girl was accused of pirating says that she doesn't want to sue anyone and no one needs this sort of media attention. However, the artists appear powerless to stop any legal action taken in their name. The case is ongoing at this time.

The girl's father said, "We have not done anything wrong with my daughter. If adults do not always know how to use a computer and the web, how can you assume that children or the elderly – or a 9-year-old girl – knows what they are doing at any given time online?"

[via TorrentFreak]