One of the founders of the Pirate Bay, the most popular file sharing website in the world, has seen his prison conditions modestly improve after more than 100,000 people signed a petition asking authorities to allow books and other basic conveniences.

Gottfrid Svartholm, who is also known as Anakata, is currently awaiting trial in Denmark for charges related to hacking into the Danish social security database, driver’s license database, and an IT system belonging to the CSC Corporation.

Svartholm, who was one of the three founders of the Pirate Bay along with Peter Sunde and Fredrik Neij, filed a failed appeal with the Swedish authorities and was extradited to Denmark in November. He has spent much of the time since in solitary confinement, in part because prison officials were reportedly afraid he would try to transmit secret information with other people.

TorrentFreak now reports that those conditions have begun to loosen, partly because of an online petition that attracted more than 105,000 signatures from around the world, with that number jumping by tens of thousands every few days. It is addressed to Denmark’s prime minister and asks for Svartholm’s release, yet also made the more realistic request of giving him something to read.

“During his incarceration in Sweden Anakata began to take some advanced mathematical courses in order to increase his education and to give him something to do during his detention there,” the petition said.

“As of now, prison authorities have left him without access to any type of reading material. He is now allowed to have newspapers, magazines, books that are in the prison library, or his books that were brought with him during extradition. Since his arrival he has received no letters, only a handful of postcards.”

"With only 9 hours a week of contact outside of his isolation cell, reading and educational materials are important for anakata. He is a computer genius and it is important for not only mental but physical health to keep a mind active," it said.

His mother Kristina told TorrentFreak she once sent him a magazine only to have it denied because the guards were worried it may contain hidden information.

“One of the magazines that Gottfrid subscribes to it ‘The Economist.’ I get his copy at my home address every week, wrapped in plastic, directly from the publishers,” she said. “According to the police officer in charge, this magazine could contain ‘secret messages’ and he therefore has to check it and read it before handing it over.”

Svartholm faces six years in prison if found guilty, although a Swedish court found him guilty in an unrelated hacking case and sentenced to two years in prison there.

TorrentFreak confirmed that he is now allowed to have a maximum of ten books in his cell at a time. He may also leave his cell and socialize with others, although his visitation time does not exceed one hour a week.

“The petition must have put a tremendous pressure on them,” Svartholm’s mother added. “Gottfrid is now allowed to have a PlayStation 2 in his cell. He has bought one from the prison service, but he is still waiting for his order of a memory card so he can save games, and a second-hand controller so he can play with fellow inmates.”