New law sees dip in internet traffic

Published: 2 Apr 09 07:55 CET

Internet use in Sweden dipped by 30 percent on Wednesday, as the country's new anti-file sharing measures came into force.

Internet traffic at 4pm on April 1st was 30 percent lower than on the last day of March. The figures come from Netnod, a company responsible for the operation of internet exchanges in five Swedish cities.

Anti-Piracy Agency lawyer Henrik Pontén was pleased with the slide in traffic.

"The majority of all internet traffic is file sharing, which is why nothing other than the new IPRED law can explain this major drop in traffic," he told Metro.

"This sends a very strong signal that the legislation works," Pontén added.

The Swedish Anti-Piracy Agency (Antpiratbyrån) is a private copyright advocacy group dedicated to combating illegal file sharing.

The Agency has said it wants to speed up the drop in file sharing by sending information leaflets to file sharers' homes.

The new file sharing law is based on the European Union's Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) and allows courts to order internet operators to hand over details that identify suspected illegal file sharers.