Laptop

Finnish anti-piracy police raided the home of a nine-year-old girl accused of illegal file sharing and confiscated her Winnie The Pooh laptop.

Earlier this year, Finland's copyright information and anti-piracy centre (CIAPC), the same company that had The Pirate Bay blocked by Finnish internet service providers, tracked an alleged file-sharer - the girl's father - and demanded a cash settlement of €600.

The man refused to pay the fine, so on the morning of 20 November police arrived at his home, armed with a search warrant granting them permission to enter his house and hunt for evidence connected to the alleged file sharing.

Convinced that piracy had been committed, police turned to the man's nine-year-old daughter and her Winnie The Pooh-themed laptop, which it emerged had been used to download an album by local recording artist Chisu in 2011.

Short of money to buy the album, the girl took to Google and then The Pirate Bay, where she downloaded it; her father said that the downloaded music didn't work, so they went out and bought the CD.

Despite the seemingly innocent story - and that the music was paid for in the end anyway - her laptop was taken, proving that CIAPC is treating all evidence of illegal file-sharing extremely seriously.

The father explained to TorrentFreak: "I got the feeling that there had been people from the Mafia demanding money at the door.

"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?

"This is the pinnacle of absurdity. I can see artists are in a position, but this requires education and information, not resource-consuming lawsuits."

Chisu, the artist whose album was downloaded, said in a statement that she doesn't want to sue anyone and that no artist needs this kind of media attention.

"I hope that the matter will be resolved soon and sorry to my nine-year-old girls," Chisu added, linking her fans to Spotify, where her music can be listened to for free.