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Callum Haywood, 22, from Bakersfield, has been formally charged for operating proxy websites that allowed British people to bypass blocks made for illegal torrent websites like The Pirate Bay and Kickass Torrents.

Initially arrested two years ago, Haywood was held by the City of London Police and interrogated. However, Haywood, 20 years old at the time, was released on bail. He had reached an agreement with the police though to willingly give up the domain names that he had been using to access these blocked file sharing sites. Meanwhile, the London police continued their investigation into the case.

Now, according to Torrent Freak, Haywood is being officially charged by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) with one count of converting and/or transferring criminal property and six counts of possession of an article for use in fraud. The British man could face up to five years in prison for possession and 10 years for supplying articles for use in fraud. The other charge against Haywood could land him in jail for a maximum of 14 years.

Among the list of proxies are Piratereverse.info for The Pirate Bay, and Kickassunblock.info and Katunblock.com for Kickass Torrents. Movie2kproxy.com and h33tunblock.info are also included. However, there are several more proxy sites that allow pirates to circumvent blocked content or websites in other parts of Europe and the United States.

A major service involved in the case in Immunicity, a tool that allowed users to evade censorship by using a proxy network.

Haywood spoke to Torrent Freak regarding the case and stands his ground that he did not commit a crime. This is the first time someone got charged for helping pirates work around High Court orders in their blocking of certain file sharing sites like The Pirate Bay. The PIPCU, however, has accused Haywood of purposely setting up the proxy sites to sidestep court orders.

A preliminary hearing at the Nottingham Magistrates' Court has been scheduled on April 21, which Haywood will be attending on bail.