Sex offender website reported to police
Sweden’s Data Inspection Board (Datainspektionen – DI) has filed a complaint with the police about a website which posts information about sex offenders run by the Original Gangsters criminal gang.
The website, kriminellt.com, features a main page on which the site’s editors ask, “Why are convicted sex offenders protected by the media? Why aren’t any judgments published through which these criminals can be exposed? Don’t we have the right to know if our neighbour is a convicted paedophile? Here we publish judgments against convicted sex offenders.”
According to the Data Inspection Board, the publishing of sex offenders’ names is a crime against Sweden’s laws protecting personal information. Even if the website’s servers are based in the United States, DI contends that Swedish law still applies since the site is directed toward an audience in Sweden.
The board also points out that it is illegal to anyone other than state agencies to handle personal information about crimes and court judgments in criminal cases.
“We see the publication as a serious violation of the personal information law. Therefore we are now reporting the website to the police,” the Data Inspection Board said in a statement.
The complaint comes roughly a month after the agency reported another website which also names and shames sex offenders.
The site, sexbrott.com (previously known as sexoffender.nu), was founded by a group of concerned parents in the autumn of 2008 and publishes names, personal identity numbers, addresses, convictions details and sentences.
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The website, kriminellt.com, features a main page on which the site’s editors ask, “Why are convicted sex offenders protected by the media? Why aren’t any judgments published through which these criminals can be exposed? Don’t we have the right to know if our neighbour is a convicted paedophile? Here we publish judgments against convicted sex offenders.”
According to the Data Inspection Board, the publishing of sex offenders’ names is a crime against Sweden’s laws protecting personal information. Even if the website’s servers are based in the United States, DI contends that Swedish law still applies since the site is directed toward an audience in Sweden.
The board also points out that it is illegal to anyone other than state agencies to handle personal information about crimes and court judgments in criminal cases.
“We see the publication as a serious violation of the personal information law. Therefore we are now reporting the website to the police,” the Data Inspection Board said in a statement.
The complaint comes roughly a month after the agency reported another website which also names and shames sex offenders.
The site, sexbrott.com (previously known as sexoffender.nu), was founded by a group of concerned parents in the autumn of 2008 and publishes names, personal identity numbers, addresses, convictions details and sentences.
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