NES

In November last year, The Pirate Bay co-founder, Fredrik Neij, was arrested after five years on the run. Since then, he’s been experiencing life behind bars.

Now, according to the latest reports from Swedish news magazine, Expressen.se, Neij has recently been denied the use of a Nintendo Entertainment System to play video games while serving his yearlong sentence in prison for copyright infringement.

Swedish probation authorities denied Neij access to a NES because there was reportedly no way of assuring if the system was carrying concealed items without rendering it inoperable.

The console is sealed in such a way that it can not be opened without the machine being destroyed... It is therefore impossible to ensure that this does not contain prohibited items.

Neij has appealed to an administrative court to overturn the decision, disputing the console is being withheld for any legitimate reason.

That the institution lacks a screwdriver [to open the console] which costs 100 kroner can not be considered reasonable... One has to wonder how many other victims there are when all video-game units of the brand Nintendo have the same screwdriver.

In the prison where The Pirate Bay co-founder is currently being held, gaming is permitted.

Fredrik Neij was originally convicted in Sweden alongside three others linked to operation of The Pirate Bay. All received yearlong sentences for aiding copyright infringement and were ordered to pay $6.5 million in damages to entertainment industries. Neij then fled to southeast Asia where he was apprehended at a checkpoint on the Thailand-Laos border and extradited back to Sweden.

[source polygon.com]